That's What Jenni Said

Reviewing business books has mostly been depressing as I’ve found so many of them directly contradict my values and theological understandings as a Christian and prescribe strategies for “success” wholly incompatible with the Christian walk. So I was particularly pleased with the themes Lee Colan advanced in his new book, Stick With It as they avoided such deficits. Colan reminds us (or informs those who weren’t already aware) that perseverance is the hinge on which the doors of success are opened. While strategic planning is necessary for success it is never sufficient; follow through is key. Colan breaks down perseverance (or adherence as he refers to it) into three essential components: 1. Focus (on our mission) 2. Competence (to complete necessary actions derived from our mission) 3. Passion (for the whole of the work before us and what it stands for) For each component, Colan provides a detailed blueprint for building and sustaining the intensity necessary to succeed. He inc...

  Craig Groeschel has recently released Altar Ego. It’s a phenomenal step by step guide on stepping out of our fallen sinful identities and stepping into a life guided by the Holy Spirit and subject to the will of God. It’s well written, biblically sound, and highly relevant for both new and established Christians. “You are not yet who you are supposed to be.”, explains Groeschel. To further us along the path of Christian discipleship, Groeschel breaks down his transformation plan into three parts: Accepting the persona of a disciple Adopting the behaviors of a disciple Embracing the power of a disciple To accept the persona of a disciple is to accept the truths regarding who we are as God’s people. It is the act of overcoming the labels and self-identified traits of old personas. Groeschel explains that every follower of Christ will have their own unique unexplored identities under a new life in Christ. Just as God transformed Abram into Abraham and Saul into Paul bringing ...

This week during my daily commute I have been reading Captivating (Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul) by John and Stasi Eldredge. The book promises to reveal what it means to be a woman and how to live the life of a woman as God intended on a day to day basis. The thesis of the work is a philosophy of gender reasoned as follows: 1. Gender is imprinted at the spiritual level on the soul and not just in our physical form and genes.  According to the authors, this principle is suggested by the contextual language of the versus in Genesis describing creation. Specifically, the verse dictating that God made mankind, MALE AND FEMALE, in his image. The authors argue that based on this inclusive language, both men and women represent the spiritual image of God and so it follows both genders display/embody attributes of God at a spiritual level. 2. Women reflect the following attributes of God: romance, adventure, and beauty. Using numerous scripture references, the authors do a good...

Continuing notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey The final habit for effective living offered by Covey is one of renewal, or what he refers to as ‘sharpening the saw’. In essence this means taking care of ourselves from a holistic perspective: physical health: stewardship of our body including physical fitness, nutrition, proper rest, etc. mental health: stewardship of our mind and talents including continuing education and training, reading, writing. spiritual health: stewardship of our spiritual life including prayer, meditation, worship, and study. social health: stewardship of our social relationships including civic duties, service to others, practicing habits four through six. According to Covey we should ensure that we carve out time in our weekly schedules for each of these stewardship areas alongside our Quadrant II activities. Since my mission statement (again, here for reference) already incorporates these four areas of stewardship a...

Continuing notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Having put forth three habits that comprise personality responsibility and independence, Covey turns to address interdependence (cooperative action). Building interdependent relationships: seek to understand people, their thoughts, and their motivations so that we can empathize and know what matters to them attend to details; small kindnesses and courtesies are important keep commitments clarify expectations in relationships to avoid confusion always strive to demonstrate personal integrity (first three habits) apologize whenever it is warranted Habits four, five, and six build on these concepts: Habit Four: Think Win/Win seek mutually beneficial outcomes whenever possible Win/Win or no deal strategy for collaborating with those we do not hold commitments to Win/Win or compromise strategy for collaborating with those we hold commitments to this habit takes tremendous integrity because it ...

Continuing notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Habit three of effective living can be summarized as life management. Remember that habit one was recognizing our agency, habit two was demonstrating the leadership to chart our course and now here we are at habit three- active management on a day to day basis in line with our chartered course. From a computer/IT perspective this is running the program we’ve written. The most important part of running our program is keeping our commitments; is adhering to the features we’ve documented in writing the program. Doing this is a show of self-discipline. We have to master self-discipline in order to succeed in running the program as written. I ntegrity is having the discipline to submit our will to our principles we’ve centered our life on. Here Covey introduces his organizational paradigm of Quadrant management. Quadrant I activities under our management are those which are urgent in nature and important ...

Continuing notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. Covey states that the second habit of a highly effective person is to organize life around a vision of what we value most, or in his words, to ‘begin with the end in mind’. Along these lines we should document what matters to us with a personal mission statement or statement of purpose. This is leadership; this is setting a vision of what we want to accomplish. From an IT/computer perspective this habit is writing the program for our system. The best programs we could write per Covey focus on solid principles (again, unchanging deep truths) and we must be careful not to center life on anything but those principles lest we make them little idols in our life. He cautions against a life that prioritizes marriage, family, money, work, possessions, pleasure, friends, enemies, church, or ourselves at the exclusion of everything else. I went through this exercise many years ago – creating a statement of purpo...

Continuing notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey . According to Covey, the first habit we must cultivate for success is that of proactivity. This means abandoning the paradigm of strict determinism: stimulus------>response Instead we must embrace a paradigm that includes the interjection of man’s free will: stimulus---->thought/will---->response We are not mere robots led around by our noses; we can choose to stop and think before acting. We must take initiative to act in our circle of influence. Note that this is not simply superficial positive thinking or an attitude adjustment but addressing realities and thoughtfully choosing the best course of action. Our circle of influence: that which we have direct control over – our actions and character that which we have indirect control over – our collaborative work with others From a computer/IT perspective this habit is simply the embrace of the reality that we have a hand in programming ...

I’ve been reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. It’s my second reading of the work - my first reading was early last year but with the stress of my father’s death I didn’t absorb any of the material. There’s a lot to review and comment on so I’ll be writing my notes in sections. According to Covey, the field of success literature began with an emphasis on building character (fidelity, integrity, humility, etc). However post WWI the field turned toward a cult of personality and most modern success literature addresses the superficial of social relations like how to get people to like you and how to build your “brand”. Covey criticizes this new paradigm and reminds us that social ethics are secondary success factors; we can only experience true success and enduring happiness if we have a foundation of underlying character. “Search your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23 “What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I ...

Summary Notes from Time Management for System Administrators by Thomas Limoncelli: 1. Keep all your time management stuff in one place - your work and personal appointments, to do list, calendar, goals, etc. 2. Focus on the current task; use external storage to record/remember everything else. 3. Develop routines for things so there are no oopsies or important items left undone or forgotten. A good routine is to start each day with our to do list, estimate duration to complete each task, prioritize the tasks, schedule them to be completed, and work the schedule. 4. Pre-compile decisions by developing habits and mantras. Habits such as using the first quiet hour of the day to work projects, or to put gas in your car on the same day every week. 5. Maintain focus during work tasks- do not allow distractions like email, internet surfing, IM, etc to derail you. Study in a quiet environment whenever possible.

  Just finished reading The Art of Critical Thinking by Vincent Ruggiero. Summary Notes follow. Thinking is production of ideas and judgment of ideas. Read problems fully then decide how to begin attacking them. Check assumptions for validity. Think on paper for clarity: freewrite, brainstorm. Good thinkers accept the following foundational beliefs: 1. Strict determinism and strict free-will are both false. Our ideas and actions are heavily influenced and constrained by nature/nuture but we have a strong measure of free will that we exercise to determine our course of actions. 2.There is objective truth, although we may not always be able to discern it. 3. We approach truth from direct experience, from directly observing others’ experiences, and from report by others. We are biased by our own senses, our attitudes and beliefs and the reliability of reporting. 4. Memory recall is frequently flawed. 5. Opinions can be expressions of taste/preference (which are not based ...