Ken Lawrence - Life Coach

Equip - Enthuse - Empower

Life Coach Ken

13 ways to make 2013 a positive and productive year

It’s a new year full of potential! 2012 is gone and now 2013 lies before you just waiting to be conquered. Here are my 13 ways that you can make 2013 a positive and productive year:

13. Wake up every morning and thank God you are alive. Every day in the US over 6,500 people don’t wake up. World wide over 153,000 people die every day.  If you wake up you are blessed.  Embrace life and be thankful to be alive. This is the day The Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.

12. If you have a job or business to go to don’t complain about it, be thankful. Over 12.5 million people are unemployed and looking for work. See your work as a blessing, not a necessary evil. Embrace it and give it your best.

11. Do your best at work. If you feel unappreciated at work don’t let your work quality suffer. Keep pride in your work. When you do more than you are paid to do you will eventually be paid more for what you do. Maybe not by your current employer, but you never know who is watching. Good workers are hard to find. Build your reputation of doing good work in all situations and you greatly improve your chances of future rewards. Knowing you have done your best will help your attitude, even if you feel no one appreciates it. Work as if unto The Lord. It will pay off in the long run.

10. Help others. Think outside yourself. The more you give to others the better you will feel about yourself. Helping those who are worse off than you gives you a new appreciation for what you have. Give generously, full measure, pressed down and overflowing.

9. Take a mission trip to a foreign country, impoverished Indian reservation or inner city slum. Spend at least a week with the impoverished. Seeing how little the rest of the world has will help you see how truly blessed you are. It will also help you re-prioritize your life. Most of the world lives on less than $2 a day. You are blessed. You will discover you can live with a lot less than you think.

8. Exercise. Nothing helps your attitude like exercise. Get your heart pumping for at least 20 minutes each day. It will relieve stress and help clear your thinking. You will feel the difference.

7. Get outdoors, breathe the fresh air and soak up the sun. Don’t stay cooped up indoors. Don’t spend extended time in dark, dull environments. Get outside as much as you can.

6. Sleep. Studies show most adults don’t get enough sleep. Get at least 6 hours and preferably 8 hours of sleep each night. When you are well rested you will have a better outlook on life and be better prepared to handle life’s difficulties.

5. Schedule fun. Nothing takes the joy out of life more than overwork. The old adage, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is true now more than ever. Take time to relax and have fun. Take a day of rest every week.

4. Eat healthy. A junk food diet causes a rollercoaster of energy highs and lows. Each crash causes mental fatigue that affects your mood and attitude.

3. Live the year intentionally. Don’t let the year run itself, take control of the new year. Set goals and priorities, develop a plan of action for what you want to accomplish and then work the plan. Budget your time. Set priorities. Take control of your life.

2. Start every day with the Lord. Pray and read His word to start off the day. Get God’s perspective on the day and any problems you may face. Remember, Jesus is bigger than any difficulties you may face. “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

1. Hire a life coach to help you develop a plan for the new year, keep you on track with your goals and help you keep control of your life. Studies show that having someone who will hold you accountable for reaching your goals increases the probability of success 85%.

Ken Lawrence is a member of the John Maxwell Team of coaches, teachers and speakers. Ken specializes in helping people and organizations be the best they can be.  He can be reached via email at Succeed @ LifeCoachKen.com or visit his website www.LifeCoachKen.com

Two Sides to Every Story

Proverbs 18:17 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” Another way of saying this is “there are two sides to every story.” How many times have you experienced this proverb? You hear someone tell about some unjust situation (usually they are complaining about what someone did to them). Hearing their side of the story you instantly side with them, agreeing that they were unjustly treated and the perpetrator is a scoundrel. You side with the one you heard first.

But then later you hear the second party’s side of the story and you realize that they were justified in their actions, it wasn’t malicious or unjust, the other person just didn’t agree with the decision. Have you experienced this before?

Or perhaps you were the second party and you have experienced the wrath of a “disinterested third party” who believed the first party’s story and took up offense for them without ever coming to you to verify the facts of the situation.

We can all learn from this proverb by not jumping to conclusions with only half of the story. Successful leaders must learn this skill to maintain the respect of those they lead. If you become known as someone who believes the first thing you hear you will be a manipulated puppet of those you are supposed to be leading.

Likewise, if you are known as someone who believes the last thing you hear you will be seen as week and easily swayed. This person is like the character of Coach from the 1980s sitcom Cheers. Someone would say something to Coach and he would echo their sentiments as if they we concrete elements of truth. Then someone would rebut what the first person would say and Coach would agree with them and declare his new “fact” in complete contradiction to his first statement.

While this behavior makes for good comedy on TV, it is terrible for leadership in the workplace, in the church, or in the home. As a successful leader we must keep Proverbs  18:17 in mind, search out both sides of the story and weigh all the facts before we make a decision. Taking sides without knowing all the facts will kill a leader’s reputation and weaken your ability to lead effectively.

A good thing to remember in managing conflict between others is: If you are not part of the problem or part of the solution, stay out of it or you will add to the problem and hinder the solution.

Helping you live life abundantly,

Life Coach Ken

Are You Ready?

Death comes suddenly, are you ready for it? It has been a rough few weeks for me emotionally.  In the last three weeks two of my friends died suddenly. On was on vacation and collapsed in his hotel room. One died in his sleep. His wife went in to find out why he wasn’t up yet and found that he had died. Both of these men were only in their 60s when the Lord determined their time on this earth was over and it was time to bring them home.

Are you ready for when your time runs out? Too many of us live as if tomorrow is guaranteed. We put off our dreams and goals for later thinking someday we will get to them. For far too many someday never comes.

It is so very important that we make the most out of our limited time in this life. We need to make every day count because we do not know how many days the Lord is going to give us on this earth. He wants us to be good stewards of all He gives us, including the days He gives us to live this life. That is why having a life roadmap is so vitally important. It helps you live a life of purpose, making the most out of every day of your life.

A life roadmap is a vision for where you want to go in life and a step-by-step plan for getting you there. I like to think of it as the AAA Trip-Tik for your life. A life roadmap sets you up to achieve your life purpose and to fulfill your God-given potential so even if your life ends sooner than you expected you will have accomplished much with the time God has given you.

Have you been living life or has life been living you? Do you feel like you are stuck in a rut? Do you feel lost or out of control? Or maybe you just want to accomplish more with your life than you have up to this point. I’d like to help you crystallize your vision and develop your life roadmap.

I will be leading a series of Life Roadmap Retreats where I will help men and couples create a roadmap for their life. The retreats will be unique in that they are limited to just three men or couples at each retreat. These retreats will be a weekend for you to get away from the daily busyness of life and focus on your life’s purpose, your passions and your calling.

The first retreats for men will be in November. Beginning next year we will offer more retreats for men and some for couples. If you are interested in attending one of our Life Roadmap Retreats visit www.MinistryHaven.com/LifeRoadmap to register or to find out more information.

Everyone plans their wedding but few plan their marriage. Everyone plans their vacations but few plan their life. If you don’t plan your life then life will plan it for you. Don’t be one of those who go through life without a plan, without a vision and without a purpose. Check out our Life Roadmap Retreat and get your life on the right road, the one God wants you on.

Helping you live life abundantly,

Life Coach Ken

 

Why I Do What I Do – My Big “Why”

When I coach others about vision and purpose one of the key ingredients is having a big “why” behind your vision. Your “why” is the motivation that drives you to take action to accomplish your goal. It is important for you to have a written “why” statement so you can articulate your life’s purpose and keep focused on your goals.

At church last week Pastor Steve Shaw spoke on vision. He said vision begins with a burden, begs the question “what if” and is bigger than “me.” At the end of his message he challenged us to think about the vision God has given us for our life and then share it with someone this week.

As part of my life coaching business I have been working on tools to help men crystallize their vision, gain control of their life, and develop a roadmap for carrying out their God-given vision. I thoroughly enjoyed Steve’s sermon. As a result of his challenge I took a look at my website, which I thought answered Steve’s homework assignment. As a result I discovered that there was a part of my story missing. My website did not convey my story, my big “why.” So I have added a page to the website called “My Big Why.” It is the “why” behind what I do. It is the burden, it is the “what if” and it is definitely bigger than me.

If you would be so kind, would you please visit the My Big Why page on my website at www.LifeCoachKen.com/mybigwhy and take a look at what I’ve written. Let me know what you think. Is it clear? Does it speak of where I’ve been and why I do what I do? Does it speak of my passion, my burden to help men reach their God-given potential? Is there anything you think is missing?

Finally, is there anyone you know who could benefit from a coaching relationship with me? If so, please pass the link on to them. I definitely have a God-sized vision and it will only be by Him working through me that I accomplish anything.

Thanks for your help!

Life Coach Ken

I lost 5 1/2 pounds in 5 days

As a life coach I help people succeed in the five Fs of life. One of those Fs is Fitness. When most people hear the word “fitness” they may think of a gym or jogging or other strenuous physical fitness techniques. That is not what I mean by fitness. I use the word fitness as a general term for anything that affects our physical or mental health and wellness. It includes things like a healthy diet, nutritional supplements, exercise, stress management, getting proper rest, taking time out to smell the roses, and things like that.

I am not what you would consider grossly overweight or unfit, but I still am not exactly where I want to be in the fitness area of life. Well it doesn’t make sense for me to try to coach others in this area if I am not at the fitness point I want to be. So I am putting into practice what I teach. I am getting back to the healthy living that helped me lose over 40 lbs a few years ago.

Over the last five days I did a health reset. What is a health reset, you ask? A health reset is a health program that resets your metabolism, resets your eating habits, and resets your cravings. It is done without putting your body in starvation mode or cutting a bunch of calories.
As a result of my health reset I lost 5 1/2 lbs and 2″ off of my gut in just five days. My wife lost 4 pounds. I feel great, I don’t fall asleep in the afternoon like I usually do, and I lost my cravings for sweets. This is just the start of the new, better fit me. Again, as I define it, fitness is more than just weight loss, but a great deal of our physical and mental health is based on healthy eating habits and being at a healthy weight.

I’ll be writing more about getting control of the fitness area of life in future posts. For now, I just wanted to let you know that I am the type of coach who practices what he teaches. I’m getting fit so I can help you get fit too.

If you would like more information about the health reset that my wife and I did email me at Succeed @ LifeCoachKen.com and I’ll send you the information.

Helping you live life abundantly,

Life Coach Ken