John Wayne was not necessarily a business or personal role model. He was an actor and was paid as an actor and probably was never in an economic risk situation where real leadership is tested.

That said, he did have a quote that I like. The quote was “courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” I can hear him saying it now. “Wwweeell I‘ll tell you pilgrim.” Ha

That quote is actually pretty good life advice. There are things we are all scared of in our life. Hope, change, habits, failure, health to name a few. It is a funny thing when you look at something that you know in your spirit that you have to do and you know it scares you and you decide to do it anyway. It is exhilarating to face a fear and look it in the eye and overcome it. Let me say that again because it is important. It is a funny thing when you look at something that you know in your spirit that you have to do and you know it scares you and you decide to do it anyway.

Last year I had a friend who had a bad fall while cycling. Let me tell you, it scared me. It made me hyper aware of my surroundings when I cycle. I am talking about looking at every dip in the road and every pebble. To be honest with you, it still scares me to this very day. We have this guy that cycles with us and his name is Neil. Neil has had several crashes on the bike and cracked a couple of helmets. He still gets out there and shakes it on a bike. The other thing is that Neil is 80 years old and qualified for the US senior cycling Olympics last year. Can I hear an Amen?

This is important. I find that fear is contagious and it spreads like poison ivy in your life. It will start as a little hesitation, a little pull back and a small fear over some small area of your life. I find that once you allow it (yes, you have to allow it) and you decide to let that fear in your life, it is like a cancer that wants to spread to other areas of your life. It could be a fear that starts with something as simple as how you dress and if left unchecked and unchallenged, could end up causing you fear of how you parent your children. It is because fear spreads.

I am telling you that when you allow fear into your spirit, it is not satisfied with only one area of your life. It wants to grow and control more and more of your life. As I stated above, it is a powerfully exhilarating experience to look at a simple area of fear in your life and call it by name and say out loud, no more. When you face it down and root it out, I believe God watches you from heaven and says, “That’s what I’m talking about. KT

Most of us have one area in our life where we are the most vulnerable and where we experience the most fear, anxiety and even loss of control. For some it is a sin like alcohol, drugs, lying, cheating etc. For others is an entirely different thing that has a pull, draw or weight on our lives that we deal with on a daily basis. It could be worry, fear, anxiety, over eating, under eating, weight, emotional instability, how you look, how you dress, what others think of you etc. The list could go on forever because there is usually no real “thing” that is causing these emotions other than years ago letting it get started in our minds and allowing it to continue in our lives today.

For me, I guess I am a super human because I have more than one. Ha. It is hard for me to just “be.” I have a family member that is just happy letting life run its course and he is at peace all the time. He is happy and life doesn’t stress him out. As much as I wished I was like that, I simply am not. I also over eat at times and I can let anxiety sometimes have a place in my thoughts.

There is a thing that we all have that we struggle with. I believe if you identify that thing and call it by name, you will have the foundation to begin rooting it out of your life.

This may sound funny and strange to you, but when I get angry or hurt by someone, I have found that if I call that thing at the root of the anger or hurt by name, it loses a lot of steam. By way of example I have had situations where the root of my anger is actually my own insecurity or jealousy. Trust me, those are hard feelings to identify because it is much easier to put the blame on the other person. When I am alone and say out loud, “I am angry because of X” and put a name to the feelings, the anger somehow loses it hold.

If you called your stumbling block by its honest name and root cause, you will be amazed at how much easier and clearer you can see past it. KT

Defining business is easy if it is someone else’s money. Just like it is always easy to tell someone else how fix their problem. When it is your money or your problem it is never easy. I know this is true because giving someone else advice on how spend their money is really easy to do but when it is your money, well, that is a different thing.

When the business issue or personal issue is your issue, it takes much more thought, prayer and patience to get them resolved. I don’t know why we seem to be able to see and resolve issues in other people’s lives but many times we cannot see the same logic when it is our own life.

The bible speaks to this when it talks about removing the beam in our own eye so you can see clearly to remove the splinter in someone else’s eye. Ha. We usually we see our big problem as a small problem and one in which we can easily handle without anyone else’s help. It is much easier to give advice that to accept advice and it is also much easier to tell someone else how to fix their situation than to fix your own.

Many times when we face our own problems, it helps to imagine you are giving advice to someone else. Let me say that again because it is important. When you are facing your own issues, it helps to imagine you are giving advice to someone else because we all know it is easier to give advice than to accept it.

I have this thing I do when faced with a decision. I picture myself in a coffee shop meeting with a friend and discussing his/her issue. I imagine the friend telling me all about his/her issue and then asking for my advice of how to handle it. Many times when I play this role in my mind I can see the answer much clearer that before. The reason why is that it is always easier to give advice to someone else because you are detached from the issue and it allows you to see it more clearly. KT