Be careful when you are following someone else’s tracks. H. Jackson Brown said, “In business or in life, don’t follow the wagon tracks too closely.” If I were adding anything to that quote it would be “because you may get stuck.”

In business this could not be any more clear. Look at the iPhone and the Blackberry, My Space and Facebook, AOL and Google, palm pilots, polaroid camera, 8 track tape players, CD’s, vinyl records and the list could go on and on. Following where other people have gone, will only get you where other people have gone. Did I miss something there or could it be that simple?

Look at your life as an example. If we didn’t follow the tracks of others for a while, none of us would have completed high school or know how to button our shirt. We all need to be lead to a certain intersection in life where we decide to continue following the tracks in front of us or to take a different route. Be careful when you look at someone else and want to be like them. I have found that the person you want to be like, many times turns out to be a goob when you get a close look at really who they are. My advice is don’t look at the stuff a person has, rather look at the eyes of who they really are. Look at these movie stars and athletes who seemingly have everything in life only to find out they didn’t know how to handle it.

Be careful whose tracks you are following because you could end up exactly where they are. I think of one female movie star that had everything. Fortune, fame and all the material things that the super wealthy have. She was a child prodigy and was one of the most sought after actresses in the industry. Well as she got older, she just could not handle the money, the success and the fame. Today she is a broken shell of the person she once was.

What am I am saying? There are times when staying on the tracks before us is the best thing we could do and then there are other times when you need to create your own tracks. You and God are the only ones that knows when to make that turn in your life. Unlike the person that left the tracks before you, God knows where the tracks lead 20 years from now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with following in someone else’s tracks so long as you know where the tracks lead.

So in summary I would say, don’t just follow for follow sake. Think on your own and think of your own. Think of your husband/wife and children and choose the best track to following to accomplish where you want to end up. KT

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