Wednesday, December 2, 2009

WHAT IS YOUR MEASURE OF SUCCESS?...

The question that I ask myself is..."What do I want to be remembered for?". My answer to this question has become my lifelong measure of success. When I first dug into this question, I jotted down many things ranging from "remembered for creating meaningful and beautiful art" and "remembered for being fair and just in my business practices". I do feel these are very important in my life, but they were not in my Top 3.

My Top 3 "What do I want to be remembered for?" or my "Measure of Success" are:

1. I am known as a great husband, father, grandfather (one day in the distant future), and friend.
2. I tried helping people on a global scale
3. I showed the world I was a man of God by living a Godly life

Going forward, try to periodically ask yourself what do you want to be remembered for when you leave this life on earth. Answering this question honestly will put things in perspective and may cause you to make adjustments in your life to allow yourself to reach that level of success that you truly want to be remembered for. Reaching this won't come over night, but it will put you on a journey that will be full of many success stories along the way.

Take care and be blessed.

Help someone, encourage someone, pray for someone, pray with someone

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Tapping Into Creativity

Today, my little 3 year-old man wanted some grapes. Normal routine when he gets home…he wants a snack. I was preparing dinner as he ate his grapes when he said, “Daddy, I made a field goal”. I acknowledged him and said that was good. A few seconds later he said, “Daddy, I made a square. Do you want to see?” As I continued to prepare dinner, I told him good job again but chose not to go over to him to see the square he made with the grapes. A couple of seconds later, I realized I was not encouraging my son’s creativity at that moment. I immediately asked him,”What did you make now?” He replied, “An 11”. At that point I went over to him to see the “11” he made with the grapes (two grapes side by side). I told him that was a great job and he immediately ate another grape and said that he just made a “1”. It was over at that point.

I know it doesn’t seem as though there is much to this experience I had with my son, but it was a small creative event for him. I realized I should have gone over the first time he asked me if I wanted to see his square. He wanted me to see what he made out of those grapes…he wanted to show me his creativity.

We have to catch those moments of creativity in our kids at an early age and encourage them to continue being creative. Creativity exercises the brain. The more exercise the brain gets, the better it is at functioning. The more functioning it gets, the more knowledge it can take in and give out. I think we would be doing our kids and the world a big favor by encouraging our kids to continue tapping into their creativity.

Sparking that creativity may be the boost that leads them down the road of finding a cure for a disease, publishing a bestselling novel, or becoming one of the highest ranking officials in government. You never know. Let’s just be sure we are not too busy to notice our kids when they are trying to tap into their creativity.

Be strong and talk to you soon.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Acknowledge and Honor the Small Accomplishments

Nothing is more satisfying to a young child than hearing his or her father saying "I am proud of you". These are words that can give lasting confidence to a child.

I found myself giving my youngest son a lot of praise the other night as he continued to learn new words while reading his Thomas the Train book. I was truly proud of his accomplishment and I wanted him to know that. Even though I don't think he knows how much of an accomplishment he is doing at the age of 3, he does know he is doing something good and he was happy when he heard me say that I was proud of him. At that point, he wants to do more of what he just did in order to hear me say again that I am proud of him. Do you see where I am going with this?

As fathers, we need to acknowledge as many things as possible that our children are doing to give them the confidence they need to continue accomplishing activities in their young lives. And don't wait for the big things to happen to acknowledge your child. Honor every little small thing that your child does. All the small acknowledgements build up to make a large bucket of acknowledgements.

This needs to start at birth so that when your child reaches the teenage years, they are overflowing with confidence...they will have the courage to take on any obstacle that may come their way.

While it is good that both parents provide this acknowledgement to the child, it is key that a father does it. A father's approval goes a long way with both sons and daughters.

Give your child the confidence that will last a lifetime.

Be strong and talk to you soon.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Daddy's Little Girl

A new chapter has started in my life and this chapter brings a new perspective to me as a man. Earlier today my daughter was brought into this world. I currently have to boys in the household and I have a clear picture and plan on what I need to do to ensure they leave my house as young men. I now realize that with a little girl in the house, a new plan has to be put in place to ensure she knows what a good man is and that she knows how she is to be treated by a man once she becomes a woman. I must say that there is a strong sense of protection that I feel I must provide with my daughter and I know that I will do everything in my power to ensure she is protected along with my other children and my wife.

As a "true" father, I vow to love, provided, protect, and pray for my little bundle of joy for life.

All my love to little "Addy"...daddy's little girl.

Be strong and talk to you soon.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Teach Your Son to be a Man

I have two boys in my household. What does that mean to me? That means I have the responsibility of ensuring they leave my household on a path to become a better man than I am…a better father to their children…a better spouse to their wife…a better contributor to society…a better follower of God. Many of us these days may not want to take on that responsibility. This is something that we must do. If we don’t, what is the repercussion?

As the father of a son, each day should be a day of teaching. I was listening to a popular radio morning show yesterday morning and they were talking about men not being involved in their children’s lives…in some cases this being the preference of the mother. As men, we should not allow something like this to even be an option. As a true man and true father, you should always demand to be in your son’s life no matter what the situation. It is only thru your presence will your son learn how to treat a woman…how to be a leader amongst other men…how to be manly.

Let us take control of what we are destined to do with our sons. We have to lift this load off of the mother of our son. The mother is not equipped mentally, physically, nor spiritually to truly raise a boy to be a man. Only a man can do this…this is how God intended it to be.

Let’s not disappoint!

Don't forget; send me those T.R.U.E. Father pics of you and the kids to post on the blog.

Be strong and talk to you soon.