Misc

Who I want to meet in the next year

I know, I know, most of these are a total stretch, and might even be considered random. But just putting it out there. If you believe it, you can achieve it! 1. Denzel Washington

2. John Lasseter (Pixar)

3. Bill and Melinda Gates

4. Chris Martin (Coldplay)

5. Tom Brady

6. Chris Anderson (TED Conference)

7. Oprah Winfrey

8. Will Smith

9. Steve Jobs

10. Tony Hawk

The reason to meet all of these folks- I believe they are the best in the world at what they do, whether acting, performing, directing, coaching, leading, or singing. People at the top of their game who are incredibly excellent at their craft or profession have learned something about greatness, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are. And I love to learn from those outside of my "normal circle" of influence.

Who's on your list?

 

End of Week Links of Interest

- Check out the new Catalyst Podcast episode featuring an interview with John Ortberg, as well as Matt Chandler interviewing Tony Romo at Catalyst Dallas. - Proud of my good friend Blake Mycoskie and his new book Start Something that Matters, that just released earlier this week and is already a best seller.

- Happy 5th Birthday to charity: water. Scott and his team have impacted millions, and changed the conversation around charity and philanthropy.

- Do yourself a huge favor and listen to Andy Stanley's free Leadership Podcast, and specifically the current series on Enemies of the Heart. Incredibly helpful and practical for leaders.

- A new band that should be on your radar- Bellarive out of Orlando. Great guys. Got to meet them earlier this week and was very impressed. They are creating some great music. Got their songs on repeat right now.

- check out this great moment a couple of weeks ago - setting a world record for the world's largest water balloon fight:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cl3VEyseLc[/youtube]

Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel and Bill Hybels together

Really excited about Catalyst One Day Chicago this fall on Thursday November 17 at Willow Creek Community Church. Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel will be teaching on the topic of creating Healthy Organizational Culture. And Bill Hybels will be joining in for this One Day event, so this is a can't miss gathering for leaders!

Register TODAY to get the lowest prices on tickets, as low as $79. The super early bird registration deadline expires TODAY September 8.

Visit the website for more information. Hope to see you there!

What are your top ten hymns of all time?

I grew up attending the Church of God in Bristow, OK. Shout out. We sang hymns every single Sunday. And Sunday night. And Wednesday night.... minus the occasional special song from the Baker Trio or the Men's Quartet! And to this day, I LOVE singing Hymns. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about modern day worship songs, but there's something special about the classic hymns.

Ken Coleman and I recently asked our listeners on the Catalyst Podcast what their favorite hymns of all time were, and we got a lot of responses. Lots of different responses.

So I wanted to bring it up here as well... What are your top hymns of all time?

Here's my top ten:

1. Nothing But the Blood

2. Amazing Grace

3. It is Well With My Soul

4. Jesus Paid it All

5. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

6. Victory in Jesus

7. Blessed Assurance

8. All Hail the Power of Jesus Name

9. How Great Thou Art

10. a. Come Thou Fount

10. b. Holy Holy Holy

And if you are looking for a GREAT album that includes the classic hymns, check out Page CXVI and their collection of songs. Highly recommended.

How about you? What are your favorite hymns?

 

Beware of Shortcuts

I admit, I get a bit impatient at times..... Okay, maybe that is a slight exaggeration.....I get very impatient at times! Lately, I've noticed a ton of impatience in my driving. Now it's not road rage (not yet!), but getting close. It's not just that slow drivers get in the left lane, but more that I seem to think I now know every shortcut in the greater metro Atlanta area. So my solution for impatience on the roads is that I get frustrated and try to find shortcuts or alternate routes to get somewhere. Only to find that these shortcuts end up taking longer and actually don't get me to my destination at all.

We're all like this at certain times in life. We look for shortcuts, for alternate routes, for the easy road, the road less traveled but quicker to the destination. Or so we think.

So here are a few thoughts on Shortcuts that hopefully are helpful.

1. shortcuts aren't bad. Most shortcuts are valuable and helpful. But beware of constantly looking for them.

2. little strategy goes into shortcuts. many times shortcuts haven't been planned out, and actually lead you to a different destination, or worse off, just get you lost.

3. being impatient is not always a good thing. shortcuts are usually due to impatience and frustration, vs. relying on a system that has proved worthwhile over time.

4. there's value in the journey. the longer route may be better for you in the end. You'll see or hear or learn things that you wouldn't have otherwise. And maybe see more scenery, and find that it's intentional and on purpose.

5. quality may suffer. in organizational life, shortcuts may end up leading to a lack of excellence.

6. short term gain vs long term rewards. Shortcuts are usually tied to short term gain. Again, not bad, but long term perspective and long term goals are what vision and legacy are built on.

So next time you think you see a shortcut, and you're convinced it's the better road to take, beware.

What Happens When Someone Drops the Ball

The Power of Accountability. Sets the tone in any organization. So what about when someone completely drops the ball? We all have experienced this as leaders. How do you respond?

You give a big assignment or project to someone on your team, and they lay an egg- totally drop the ball and don't get it done. We've all been there. I know I have.....both as the goat who goofed up, as well as the one in charge trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

So how do you handle it? Let's look at this situation from both sides, both the one who dropped the ball and the one in charge.

1. As the one who dropped the ball, just own up to it. Don't make excuses. Be self-policing and self aware. Be accountable. And be mature. And realize that your leader or your boss or the person in charge is trying to figure out how to deal with your mistake or lack of action- lean into that and bring it up first and tell them it won't happen again. Don't wait on them to have to confront you. Be proactive. Leaders would always rather find out from you that you laid an egg, vs. finding out from someone else, many times when it's too late to do anything about it.

Own up. Grow Up. Shut up. And don't be the goat again.

2. As the leader, four things to think about: 1. confrontation; 2. conversation; 3. restoration; 4. affirmation. Got these from Kevin Myers in a talk he did a couple of years ago at 12 Stone Church. The key on this- confront, and then move on. Get through the confrontation and onto to the conversation and restoration as quick as possible. If you have the right kind of person on your team, they feel terrible anyway, so spend very little time confronting, and way more time on restoration and affirmation.

Reality is, a majority of accountability, both with individuals and with teams, should be built around conversation and affirmation. This is not just telling people they are great. That's part of it. But instead, affirming this person and your team about where you are going as a team, how you are going to get there, how you are winning, and how they are incredibly important to the success and accomplishments of the team, and accomplishing the mission and vision of the organization. Being accountable to the Vision.

As a leader, DO NOT withhold affirmation. This is so hard. I struggle at this constantly, making sure I am affirming our team and not just confronting.

Assuming you've established trust, a strong level of commitment, and a proper corporate culture, then ultimately affirmation is the greatest power and source of strength for team accountability. If all you are doing is confronting and not moving towards conversation and restoration and affirmation, you'll struggle with team accountability and a culture that is committed and loyal and willing to conquer the hill.

Tough to do this, especially for type A hard charging leaders.

Tuesday recommends

1. Books I'm reading: Onward by Howard Schultz. This really is a great book, and lots of practical leadership stuff included.

Torn by Jud Wilhite. Jud is one of my favorite authors, and this is his newest.

Rumors of God by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson. Inspiring, hopeful, and challenging.

2. Songs I'm repeating:

Unending Love from Hillsong Live. Anthem song.

Pumped Up Kicks from Foster the People. New band with great music.

10,000 Reasons from Matt Redman. Instant classic.

3. Blogs I'm visiting:

Mashable- seems like I'm always recommending them, but from a tech standpoint, the best out there.

Perry Noble- great stuff recently.

4. Articles I'm reading:

A Lifestyle of Enough, by Eugene Cho.

5. Video I'm watching:

Adele from the VMA's a couple of days ago. Epic performance.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/28361942[/vimeo]

The Essence of Teamwork

I love the book of Philippians in the New Testament. The entire book is one of Paul's greatest letters. Specifically, chapter 2 is a gem. Paul lays out some strong language regarding teamwork and working together.

Verse 2-5: "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." (New American Standard)

These verses are not just related to your specific team, but also the "team" you work with in impacting your city, your region, and the global large C Church. So try these virtues on for size!

1. Be like-minded.

2. Be loving.

3. Be united.

4. Be focused (on one purpose).

5. Be selfless.

6. Be humble.

7. Look out for others before yourself.

8. Have a great attitude.

9. Be Christ-like.

Teamwork 101.

A simple call to action from Paul but incredibly difficult to put into action.

My favorite athletes right now

A few athletes I love cheering for and enjoy following: 1. Bubba Watson- PGA Golfer

2. Landry Jones- quarterback for the OU Sooners

3. Kyle Korver- shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls

4. Derek Jeter- Yankees

5. Tony Romo- quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys

6. Phil Mickelson- PGA Golfer

7. Ryan Broyles- wide receiver for the OU Sooners

8. Josh Hamilton- outfielder for Texas Rangers

9. Sam Bradford- quarterback for St Louis Rams

10. Albert Pujols- 1st baseman for St. Louis Cardinals

11. Rickie Fowler- PGA Golfer

My thoughts on BE PRESENT

I'm so excited about Catalyst Atlanta and our theme of "Be Present."

So what does Be Present really mean to me?

- Focused and Undivided. Focused on what is right in front of you.

- Engaged In Your Community.

- Focused on Your Family & Marriage. In the mess.

- A Close Community of Accountability & Friendships.

- Leading where you are. Staying in the moment and not losing focus on the here and now.

- Embracing the role and opportunity God has given you right now where God has placed you for this season, vs. focusing on what’s next.

- Creating margin that allows for interruptions and moments of inconvenience, which can be moments when God does the greatest work through us.

- Having consistent connection with your organization, team, and staff.

- Being consumed by Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Because He is Present.

- Balancing a culture of distraction and consumption with a commitment to solitude and thinking.

- Being vs Doing. What should I do? The tension of a cause driven culture saying do something now vs. the contented state of "being."

- In the TODAY. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is on it’s way. But today is the present. Focus on Today.

- It's about staying. Showing up and not leaving. Having a presence in a place, a location. About context. Connected to an address, neighborhood, city, zip code.

- Where you are. Wherever you are, be all there. It’s our responsibility to embrace what God has put squarely in front of us. Take action right where we are. Being fully present in one place.

Be Present. We get caught up with what happened yesterday and preoccupied with what will happen tomorrow. We live in a constant state of being plugged on, plugged in, status updates, requests, and real time perspective. Is this really the real you though? What if the people in your life knew the real you? What if you stripped back all the layers of fake, and fluff, and façade? What would people see? What would people think? To know this purpose, we must first know Him, Jesus, and living life fully in who He has called us and created us to be.

Let's strip away all the "stuff" and be real. Aware of what is happening around us, within us, and through us. Be Present.

And we want you to BE PRESENT with us this October for Catalyst. Register by tomorrow Thursday, August 25, to still get the discounted rates on tickets. After tomorrow, prices go up. So don't delay in registering you and your entire team! It's going to be an amazing time and I hope to see you there.

 

The Way I Get Things Done

I'm a big fan of David Allen's Getting Things Done, and Scott Belsky's Making Ideas Happen, and Michael Hyatt's tips on his blog. I've established my own system that seems to work for me. Thought I would share it. Let me admit- I don't necessarily recommend the system I've instituted for myself. I would recommend implementing a system the experts recommend. Whatever your preference- just establish some kind of system! That is the key in my opinion... having a system that works for you.

But for me, the following system works.

1. I keep a "to do" list in my drafts on my entourage. Right now I have around 75 items on this list. This is where every task, to do item, action item, or follow up is recorded. If not at my computer, I will record in my moleskine or iphone and then put in the to do list once a week.

2. I keep three folders on my desk - Action items folder, Reference folder, and Backburner folder. This is taken directly from Scott's book and his methodology. These folders are for papers, documents, printed emails, etc that need to be kept in physical format, not just digital format.

3. Moleskine for capturing ideas, taking notes and thinking/dreaming. Any to do items are transferred to my to do list on entourage once a week at least.

4. Email inbox- I keep my inbox to under 20 emails daily. If it gets to be more than that, it becomes too much of a distraction. I don't use my inbox as a "to do" list. Anything that can go on a "to do" list goes on the "to do" draft in #1 above.

5. Evernote to capture notes from meetings, cool websites, videos, etc. Mainly use evernote for capturing things from the web.

6. I receive all of my email. But in terms of responding to email and other requests, I try to forward as much as possible to my assistant. Not because I don't want to respond personally, but more because it frees me up to focus more of my time on items that only I can do- speaker selection, programming, strategy, planning, new business development, strategic partnerships, etc.

7. I keep a very detailed system of folders in my inbox. But more for reference, and not for follow up or action. Emails only go in these folders once they have been completed or followed up on. But having them in folders for reference is incredibly important, especially when trying to remember what's been done in the past.

8. One excel spreadsheet that is a "catch all." Your name is probably on it!! I have a spreadsheet for capturing names, speakers from the past, speakers for the future, bloggers, influential leaders, young leaders, etc. It drives my assistant crazy, but it works for me, as this is the place where I can braindump every name or idea or new relationship.

9. Creative boards for planning and programming. I've mentioned the creative boards before. They are instrumental in programming events, as well as planning for the future. Provides a visual strategy that is easily changeable.

10. Our team does very FEW meetings. We don't meet "just to meet." We meet only if needed. This helps tremendously in allowing time to move things towards completion and ultimately getting things done. I've found that many organizations put meetings on the schedule just because it's been done that way before. Not with us.

(portions of this post were taken from a previous post in 2010)

7 Thoughts on Collaboration

Collaboration is crucial to getting things done. Lots of individuals and organizations talk about how they are great at partnering and collaborating, but most really don't do this well.

So here are some keys to collaboration from my perspective, that you can hopefully put into practice:

1. It's about us, and we; not I, or me. Personalities and personal agendas have to be set aside. Organizations built around personalities usually don't partner well. Keep this in mind.

2. The true leaders have to model collaboration. If the influencers lead the way in collaborating, then others will jump in and follow. The industry leaders have to be "first in the water" and lead out on this. Influencers influence.

3. It's about creating win/wins. Have to create win/wins. Ultimately, partnering well means combining efforts to achieve something greater than what can be done separate or apart from each other. And both sides have to see the collaboration as a win, not just one.

4. Generosity is the new currency in our culture. Sharing is in. The business world and our culture in general continues to move towards open source, generosity, shared influence and collaborative projects. Collaboration and partnership and open source are defining where we're going.

5. Collaboration means you are giving up something. True collaboration can and many times does involve pain of some kind. If you are a true collaborator, you don't always get your way and might have to give up something. Unity and collaboration are different in this way. Unity is more about agreement, collaboration is more about achievement.

6. Appropriately understanding the scale of your impact and influence. Many churches and Christian ministries refuse to collaborate with others in their community because they feel so strongly about their own vision, and end up inadvertently neglecting the greater vision of the global Church and larger agenda happening in their communities. Understanding the scale of your vision vs. a bigger vision is incredibly important. In this case, Large C church vs. the small c church. For example, LifeChurch.tv does an incredible job of collaborating, and seeing their church's vision in partnership with others, both in their community and around the world.

7. Define the wins, and create clear expectations and agreements. Make sure all parties involved are clear on what is expected, and what looks like success. It's always easier to clearly define the expectations before you start instead of once involved in a partnership.

Bill Hybels explains Summit change

Many of you may have already seen this, but wanted to post it here in case you haven't. I understand the tough situation that Willow and Leadership Summit had to manage last week regarding a late cancellation of one of their speakers. Bill explained the situation and talked about how best to respond, both as Christians as well as Leaders.

His explanation was graceful, honest and appropriate. While it was unfortunate that Howard Schultz had to cancel, what could have been a really awkward and unproductive moment turned into a chance to be the Church.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFhSfr13Y6o[/youtube]

I'm proud to count Willow Creek Community Church, the Willow Creek Association, and the Leadership Summit as partners and co-laborers with us at Catalyst. We will be there on November 17 at Willow Creek for our Catalyst One Day event featuring Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, and Bill Hybels. You won't want to miss it.

Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel together

3 OPPORTUNITIES to hear Andy and Craig this fall! Plus Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. 1. HOUSTON- Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel will be in Houston next Thursday, August 25, 2011, at The MET Church, for our Catalyst One Day Houston event. You don't want to miss this full day of leadership training around "Creating a Healthy Organizational Culture."

A few seats are still left for Houston so register now.

2. ORANGE COUNTY, CA- If you live in the Southern California area, Catalyst One Day will be in Orange County at Saddleback Church on Thursday, October 27.

Rick Warren will be joining Andy and Craig. Register by this Thursday, August 18, to get the lowest tickets rates available.

3. CHICAGO- And on Thursday, November 17, Catalyst One Day will be in Chicago at Willow Creek Community Church.

Bill Hybels will be joining Andy and Craig. Make plans now to attend! You can register here.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/25868037[/vimeo]

Are you suffering from Sideways Energy?

I posted about SIDEWAYS ENERGY over a year ago, but I wanted to bring this topic back up. Are you busy but not intentional? Do you feel like you are just spinning your wheels and not getting any traction? Does there seem to be a lack of any kind of momentum in your organization? Could be you are dealing with way too much “sideways energy.” There is good energy and bad energy- and bad energy usually shows up as sideways… not because it is necessarily bad, but because it is usually a distraction.

So what is Sideways Energy?

- Sideways energy is showing up to work but spending two hours talking about what you should have done an hour and a half ago.

- Sideways energy is gossiping about your boss or co-workers.

- Sideways energy is procrastinating.

- Sideways energy is the same meeting eight times in a row regarding the same idea that still has yet to be implemented.

- Sideways energy is having three sales to close and not calling them back because you are asked to help clean up the office for the Christmas party .

- Sideways energy is a staff handbook that collects dust but took hours to create.

- Sideways energy is an organizational system that takes 4 weeks to move a sale through the process because there is too much bureaucracy.

- Paper shuffling is sideways energy.

- Dealing with the same problem multiple times is sideways energy.

- Too many cc’ed emails is sideways energy.

- Creating new policies for the company that everyone knows will never be implemented is sideways energy.

- Micromanaging is sideways energy. Lack of trust is sideways energy.

- Brown-nosing is sideways energy. Office politics is sideways energy.

And many times, the reason sideways energy becomes such a regular happening is because there is pressure coming from all sides with an organization- the very top, your boss, and those who you are leading. And the side seems to be the only place to find some relief and maybe focus on something, even if it is not the right thing to be focused on at the time. And growth can cause pressure that facilitates MORE sideways energy. Ultimately, this all leads to a lack of focus, which causes pressure because you choose not to deal with reality and instead want to focus on things that ultimately don’t matter.

How to combat sideways energy? First, realize it exists and will paralyze an organization. Second, identity it and deal with it. Third, measure your productivity and create a system that will help you determine how much sideways energy you are creating, both for yourself as well as for your team. And finally, be clear on your goals and what the right kind of energy looks like for your team- if you model the right kind of energy, your team will follow in the same direction.

Young Influencers List, August edition

Here you go, the August edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past editions here. 1. Brad Jones- works with Passion Conferences, Navigator for Louie, as well as helps lead student ministry at Passion City Church.

2. Kalyn Hemphill- model, singer, actress, and winner of season six of the TV hit Project Runway.

3. Joseph Barkley- pastor of Ecclesia Hollywood in LA.

4. Casey Darnell- worship leader with North Point Music and recently released an album entitled Coming Alive.

5. Anthony Robles- NCAA Wrestling National Champion at 125 pds. And he has one leg! Amazing story.

6. Erin Levin- Community and Social Media Manager, Better World Books.

Have a suggestion for future Young Influencer Lists? Leave a name in the comments below.

A few links of interest

- Latest Catalyst Podcast features interviews with Lecrae, hip hop artist and founder of Reach Records, along with Michael and Lisa Gungor from the Grammy nominated band Gungor. Listen here or better yet, subscribe for FREE via itunes. - Check out the Present: Hope Bike Tour that will be happening during the two weeks leading up to Catalyst in Atlanta. Created to raise money for tornado victims in Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, AL. We want to demonstrate "being present" in communities by showing up and bringing funds and awareness to those who are still suffering now several months removed from the devastating storms. You can give or be part of the ride. The BIKE ride will culminate at Catalyst in Atlanta. PLEASE GET INVOLVED!

- Still time to register for the Catalyst One Day event in Houston, TX on Thursday, August 25 featuring Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel. Hope to see you there!

- Great new music service called Rdio, you can stream anywhere and listen to your friends playlist from your computer, your phone, or iPad.

- My great friends Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson just released their brand new book Rumors of God. You can read the first 2 chapters for free here.

- If you haven't purchased Matt Redman's latest CD, 10,000 Reasons, then do yourself a favor and go buy it right now. Powerful.

- Two great articles to check out on the Catalyst website: Bob Goff writes about Secretly Incredible Leadership, and Priscilla Shirer shares about the Heart of the Matter.

- Check out the world's largest stop motion animation video ever, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. This is amazing:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieN2vhsITTU[/youtube]

 

10 Characteristics of Great Teams

I recently talked about A Few Keys for Being a Great Teammate. Focusing on how you should approach being on a team. But what about actually the team itself? What actually makes a great team? We've all been on teams, whether in school, in athletics, in our churches, organizations, and communities. We've watched great teams win championships, we've marveled at their ability to create amazing resources, new technology, and jaw-dropping experiences.

There are lots of qualities that make up a great team, but thought I would point out ten that seem to be consistently evident across the board.

1. Humble yet confident leader- Humility and authenticity starts at the top. Confidence and courage starts at the top. Everyone wants to assume that team culture is created bottom up, but at the end of the day, great teams look to a leader.

2. Skilled linchpin- Most of the time this is the quarterback for a football team. Or the point guard for a basketball team. Or the project manager on a new technology being released. Or the producer releasing a new movie. Peyton Manning, Magic Johnson, John Lasseter at Pixar. Every great team has to have at least one linchpin who is crucial to the success of the team. Most great teams have several.

3. Clear Vision and Clear Goal- think about it. Pretty much every sports team we've ever played on had a clear goal- win the game, win the division, win the championship. Great teams have vision that inspires and goals that are attainable.

4. A cause greater than themselves- We all desire to be part of something way bigger than us. For the Saints, they played 2 years ago for the city of New Orleans. The 1980 USA Hockey team played in the Olympics for an entire nation.

5. Constantly getting better- great teams continue to improve on a daily basis. Great teams don't allow for mediocrity to set in. They push themselves on a daily basis, and that accountability is held by the team, not necessarily just by the leader.

6. Get it done oriented- all about action. Great teams don't just talk about it. They make it happen. They are relentless in pushing projects across the finish line.

7. Willing to fight- Great teams fight consistently. About ideas. About direction. About strategy. And the best ideas win. Trust is crucial. And everyone on the team trusts each other enough to fight for their ideas, and argue, and debate. And leave it at that. Great teams are competitive, but equally collaborative.

8. A standard of excellence always- great teams set amazingly high standards and goals. And they aren't wiling to settle for second best. They never coast. And are always great at the little things, which makes them great at the big things.

9. Nimble yet mature- regardless of how big or complex teams get, they always stay nimble enough to make decisions quickly and change directions on a moments notice if needed.

10. Actually like each other- team chemistry is incredibly crucial. They want to serve each other. They believe in each other. There is a cohesive spirit and a sense of unity that others take notice of immediately.

What else would you say makes a great team?

A "Used to" Leader

Don't be a "used to" leader. Heard a great sermon from Kevin Myers at 12 Stone Church this past Sunday on the idea of Gumption.

Kevin defined Gumption as "the character to commit and complete." And ultimately, that being consistent is the key to completing what you've committed to.

The opposite of Gumption is inconsistency, and being a "used to" leader.

A "used to" leader is someone who lives in the past, and has drifted away from commitments you once made.

"Used to" Leaders are always talking about how.....

I "used to" workout.

I "used to" have a regular prayer time.

I "used to" be a hard worker.

I "used to" date my wife/husband on a regular basis.

I "used to" be a learner and read consistently.

I "used to" read the Scriptures daily.

I "used to" have fun with my kids.

I want to be a "I am" leader. Making it happen today. Focused on today. Being present.