What do you have in your house?

Am here in beautiful, busy Hong Kong sipping a cup of coffee at Starbucks Lan kwai fong, and while I sip my warm, grande latte, no foam, no sugar, am listening to the coffee machine steamer whistling and whipping those fat molecules into creamy foam for many delicious drinks for eagerly awaiting customers. while at the same time, listening to people talk about many different subjects. Yes I am eavesdropping, but not fully. ;-) as I listen to people talk about looking for opportunities and waiting for this and that to happen, others complaining about how hard it is to get a job, should I study more and maybe then i get more experience and credibility? and so on and on and on

I remembered a story about embracing life. By embracing life I mean to take an inventory and look at tangible and intangible resources, in essence an inside out look at all areas of life. Don't worry am not getting deep. A leaders first priority is to define reality. John maxwell taught me that in his book leadership gold, a quote I believe from Max dupree. And after understanding it, I truly believe this is the foundation of vision. The beginning of every inward as well as every outward journey. the first step in creating an extraordinary life is to know where we are at. would you agree?

"what do you have in your house?"

Knowing our position provides us with an inventory of what we have at our disposal and brings to the surface what we need to obtain or learn in order to move forward. I love the ancient Hebrew writers that have for millennia influenced leadership. I believe it is because of their ability to tell stories that clearly illustrate life applicable principles in simple language.

Relevant to embracing is the story of a widow who inherited nothing from her husband but debts. Something am sure none of us will do to our families right? So grave was her situation that the debt collectors where on their way to collect her children as payment!!!!

I know some of you may think that is not a bad exchange after all but , hey! Let's not go there.

In her desperation she turned to a man she knew could assist and had known her husband to be a devout and hard working man. Here is the good stuff, the story teller tell us that he listened to her plea and said to her "what do you have in your house?" her answer the writer tells us is " nothing but a jar of oil" the man proceeds to tell her "good, now go and borrow as many bottles as you can get, not just a few, then go home shut the door and pour the oil into these bottles, when you are done come and see me". So the woman and her kids went to their neighbours and borrowed as many bottles as they had. The woman did as the man suggested and amazingly she got to fill all the bottles and there was still more oil flowing, she asked her sons, please get some more bottles; and the sons replied, there aren't any more, we took all that was available, and at that moment the oil stopped flowing.

The story goes on to tell that the woman went to the man and told him she was done, what next? The man told her "go sell the oil , pay your debts and live on what remains." She did and she lived. Now, think about this, how many times have you answered the question, what do have in your house as the widow did? Do you even know what you have? How much you have or don't have?

If I ask you now, what is in your house, what would your answer be? Don't really know? Don't worry even a well known genius did not know what was in his house. Einstein is celebrated for his work on the theory of relativity that led to the famous E= mc2 but his highest claim to fame was his winning of the nobel price "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect" . He also neglected to see what was in his house as this paper was sitting on his desk for more than four years! The money that it earned him, was later to serve its purpose by paying medical bills for one of his sons who had to be hospitalized after developing schizophrenia. Lets be wise and keep embracing our lives as a whole to see and discover the gifts in our house, those dormant or hidden talents, in us and others close to us, dig deep.

At this point let me introduce a simple formula that you can apply immediately to your life "ACT". This stands for Apply, Change, Transfer. Apply what you know you have been to afraid, procrastinating on, to that area in your life or business that keeps causing trouble. Begin to Change, remember change is personal, possible and profitable.

Winner's persevere and push through disdain, pain, complain, and just plain whining! Today look at those unfinished or finished projects or ideas that have been sitting dormant like seeds waiting to be planted. Hey, even on your desk?

If you would like to learn more about how we can work together and explore the many ways we can add value to your life and business, please contact carlos@mrc.hk