Glory to God at Work

Thanks to Denn Carlyle for presenting this material at Blacksburg Christian Fellowship:

Soli Deo gloria, a Latin term for Glory to God alone, was used by artists Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and others to signify that their work was produced for the sake of praising God. The abbreviation, S. D. G., was placed at the end of a work.

"Through [this printing press] God will spread His word."
                          ---Johannes Gutenberg









Walter C. Meloon founded the Craft boat company in the 1920s with the goal to build world class boats "for the Glory of God."

During World War II, General Eisenhower asked Craft to build 400 boats in 15 days for crossing the Rhine River. Craft got the job done---and gave God the glory.  

Domino's Pizza, under the leadership of Tom Monaghan, became enormously successful enabling Monaghan to begin building a colossal mansion.

About one-third of the way into the project, Monaghan began reading Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. Reading the chapter on pride transformed his life: "It made me realize that pride is the source of all sin. I did so many things to impress people---cars, yachts, this house. C. S. Lewis was saying that the reason I was working so hard was to have more. More what? More than other people."

Monaghan decided to stop the project immediately. Instead he puts his money into developing Catholic projects like Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida.

Samuel Truett Cathay, founder of the Christian restaurant that provides no meals on Sundays---Chick-fil-A---said, "Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone--our time, our love, our resources--and I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return."

Questions to Decrease Perfectionistic Thinking

Perfectionists tell themselves: "I must do better than everybody else"; "I must make a 4.0"; "I must make the starting team"; "I must be the top salesperson"; "I must be the top executive"; "I should have done much better"; "I ought to work harder than everyone in the company"; "My house must be in perfect order before I invite friends for dinner"; "Everyone should like me." "I ought to be the most popular."…and so on and on they hit themselves with impossible demands day after day.

Here are some questions perfectionists can ask themselves to counter their self-imposed burdensome demands.

• Every time?
• Who specifically told you that?
• What makes you think that?
• Where did you learn that?
• When did you learn that?
• How do you know?
• Are your feelings based on facts?
• Will your thinking help protect your life and health?
• Will your thoughts help you avoid conflicts with others?
• Will your thinking help you feel the emotions you want to feel?

How to apply these questions to everyday situations will be discussed in future blogs. Stay tuned.

The Way Perfectionists Think

 Perfectionists possess pessimistic thought patterns that must be recognized before they can be changed. These patterns include:

• Self-centered thinking--relating negative events to oneself when there is no basis. Juliet doesn't acknowledge Romeo's greeting in the elevator. He immediately concludes Juliet doesn't like him instead of considering she was deep in thought about a romantic play she had just seen.
• Polarized thinking--seeing things in the extreme. Bumstead gets passed over for a promotion. He sees only two choices: ask for a transfer or quit. He fails to see other options such as asking his boss how he can improve in his job, or getting advise from a trusted friend. 
• Selective thinking--only focusing on a negative aspect of a situation. Webster attempting to make the college debate team participates in a practice debate. At the critique he gets many positive responses. His professor makes a suggestion for a way to improve his closing arguments. Webster ignores the positive feedback and dwells on this one comment that he considers negative.   
• Magnified thinking--distorting the importance of particular events. Homer is a center fielder who wants to be drafted by a professional baseball team. He has a batting average of .389 but gets no hits during a two-game regional playoff. He becomes demoralized and thinks his baseball career is doomed.
• Overgeneralized thinking--Punch, a prize fighter, can't remember Judy's name. Punch overgeneralizes and says he can never remember anybody's name. (There is a pun waiting to be stated here.)

Recognizing these thought patterns allows them to be challenged with a series of questions that will be discussed next. 

Perfectionism: Good vs. Bad

Before we discuss ways to overcome perfectionism we must differentiate between good and bad traits. Unhappy perfectionist feel badly about themselves when they fail to reach unrealistic goals. Failure exacerbates their low self-esteem. They feel that people won't like them unless they are perfect and view failure as a sign of personal defects. They don't learn from mistakes, they fear mistakes. 

Highly successful perfectionists pursue excellence without allowing failure to compromise their self esteem. Although they desire perfect outcomes they don't feel badly about themselves if things don't work out the way they planned. In addition, good perfectionists derive pleasure from their efforts. As poet Robert Frost suggested they enjoy the "pleasure of taking pains." Thirdly, healthy perfectionists learn from mistakes and use imperfect outcomes as an incentive to work harder.

The Curse

Perfectionism, a tormenting trait, robs some achievers of contentment and abiding relationships. Because perfectionist possess a driven personality style, many have gathered applause and accolades, but feel inadequate and empty inside as if their laurels are "not good enough." The following traits mark the perfectionist:

A predilection toward a negative view of the past, present, and future.
A proclivity to remember and magnify negative events at the expense of positive ones.
An inclination to use should, ought, and must as in I should study longer; I ought to go to the library more; I must pass this test. 

Can perfectionist change. You bet. Stay tuned.

Defeat Procrastination: Part IV Indecisiveness

To overcome indecisiveness use the ready, fire, aim approach.

Ready

Fire. Make some mistakes.

Adjust. Then hit the target.

Defeat Procrastination: Part III Perfectionism

Nobody is perfect.

Stop fretting about getting everything just right.

Learn to do your best and accept the results.

Defeat Procrastination: Part II Difficult Tasks

Break down a difficult task into easy steps. Just do a little at a time. Take the Swiss cheese approach. Take one bite at a time.

Defeat Procrastination: Part I Laziness

To defeat laziness, begin.

Once moving you'll keep moving.

For example, if you are writing a novel, put something on paper. Forget about sharpening pencils, arranging paper, or adjusting the lighting, just write.

Defeating Procrastination

Procrastination, doing low priority tasks before working on high priority activities, robs us of valuable time.

We usually do the least important things first because they are easier. We put off the most important things because they are harder.

When we work on the unimportant, we worry about the crucial tasks that aren't getting done. We get ulcers. Tension headaches. High blood pressure. But we still haven't done what's most important.

There are four reasons and four cures for procrastination. Stay tuned.

What has this blog inspired you to do differently?
Write it down.
Begin now.

The Top 10 Time Management Rules

1.  Take care of first things first.

  2.  Follow the 80/20: Spend 80% of the time with the top 20% of the most important activities.

3.  Say "no" to the unimportant.

4.  WIN the time management game.

5.  Handle every piece of paper one time only.

6.  Set limits on interruptions.

7.  Use your most productive time on prime projects

8.  Listen carefully

9.  Delegate.

10. Take time to rest.

What has this blog inspired you to do differently?
Write it down.
Begin today.

Knowing God's Will

Prayer is not putting a nickel in a gum machine, twisting a handle, and waiting for the gum to pop out.

Prayer is not a numbers game.  Baylor's football victory over Notre Dame has nothing to do with who has the most people praying for success. Baylor wins because they have the fastest players.

God is not Santa Claus. Asking God for a bicycle is similar to mailing a list of Christmas wishes to the North Pole.

Can we receive what we ask for in prayer?: Yes. But a relationship with God comes first. To have an abundant spiritual life requires that we take time to develop a relationship with the Almighty. Daily prayer along with daily scripture study allows us to align with God's will.

As we pray daily and read the scriptures daily we develop a deep, abiding relationship with God. We begin to feel his presence in all that we do.

When we discipline ourselves to pray and read the scriptures daily, we begin to communicate with God at deeper levels. God meets us where we are and gradually moves us toward a holy life.

We begin to pray as he wants us to pray--we become aligned with God's will.  He begins to answer our prayers.

What has this blog inspired you to do differently?
Write it down.
Begin today.