Setting The Direction

Weekly Thought – June 16, 2026

Fred and Mary Alice were married 67 years when she died in 2004. On June 25, 1937, they had $5.00 between them. Fred always laughed and said, “If she had wanted more, she should have saved more!” For their honeymoon, they took a ride on the trolley to downtown Nashville and split a Krystal hamburger. But they knew the direction they wanted for their lives. They were committed to family, contributing to the good of others, and serving Christ.

Setting The Direction

Most career counselors make choosing a goal in life our most important decision. I differ. Choosing the direction is more important than the goal. Our mature success comes in the direction we move, not in the goals we attain. Goals are more impressive, but direction is more satisfying.

Harvard Business School found many of their bright students learned to solve problems rather than identify opportunities. Setting goals is secondary to setting direction.

I oppose setting an ultimate tangible, measurable, quantitative goal for one’s life. Too many people reach the goal and find the joy was in the journey, not the arrival. “Is this all there is” is the natural response to those who set a title, an income, a financial networth, or possession as the goal.

Goals are set to confirm we are moving in the direction we desire. They are the road markers, not the destinations.

I prefaced my decision about life I wanted by visiting a graveyard and thinking about what is really important in life. When young people ask me for advice on finding a direction I ask, “Do you want to be useful or self-fulfilled? As long as they see these as opposites, it is going to be difficult for them to have a mature view of life. There is great truth in the paradox of the lost life as the found life. Being useful to others is the best way to receive fulfillment.

The best way to be useful is to use the talent we have been given. What we do well is sometimes so natural it is often overlooked. We are troubled calling something work that is easy and pleasant. If a person is talented in several areas, it becomes difficult to discern the key uniqueness. I ask them, “How do you want to be recognized by others? What do you feel most worthwhile in doing? What do you feel strong enough about to perfect? What do you enjoy completely, even the details?”

Then I ask, “What do you want for your epitaph?” for those are the words that ultimately identify the direction.

This week think about: 1) What do I want my epitaph to say? 2) How pleased am I with my direction? 3) Where am I deriving my greatest satisfaction?

Words of Wisdom: “The best way to be useful is to use the talent we have been given.”

Wisdom from the Word: “For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NET Bible)

Boy in the Mirror

Weekly Thought – June 9, 2026

Fred loved golf. He began playing when he was 50 and never stopped studying the game. At one time they had a weekend home on a golf course. He started picking up lost balls – when he ended up with 1000, Mary Alice called a halt. And, just like every other area of his life, he grew by asking questions and by continually learning.

Boy in the Mirror

When I wake up at 2:00 am and the little boy inside won’t speak to me, I know I am in trouble. For me, self-respect is measured by my relationship to that little boy. I like to stay on good terms with him.

Self-respect is the basis of excellent internal relations. It calls us to fulfill our mission, to use our talent, to improve ourselves, to become a person we enjoy living with. Self-respect must be a permeating influence in our life, centered in our heart and radiating out through our actions.

I was active in the development of 26,000 acres in Colorado which drew families from all over the country. The grandeur of the mountains, the beauty of the lakes, and the mountain climate attracted many who came for tranquility. Too bad many of them thought the surroundings and the excitement of a new development would ensure a fresh start and a peaceful life. Instead, the contrast between their external environment and their internal turmoil drove them away. They looked into the mirror and only saw ugliness. So, they packed up and took their problems to the next place.

There are some questions we can use to measure (or at least approximate) the state of our internal relationship:
1) Is my self-respect increasing? Where are the hollow spots? Are they growing or decreasing?
2) Am I content with who I am becoming?
3) Am I willing to be known for who I am rather than an acquired mask?
4) Do I have to maneuver my relationships to avoid closeness?
5) How deep are my relationship roots? Can they withstand adversity?
6) Do I feel alienated from my own relational history?
7) Am I trying to buy my way with others, binding them to me with a golden chain?
8) Am I making peace with my own mortality?
9) Is gratitude a growing emotion knowing I have nothing but what I have been given?
10) Am I increasingly willing to give before I get?
11) Do I feel my life becoming more integrated, bound together by my faith?
12) Can I love?

This week think about: 1) Which question is the hardest to answer? 2) How am I doing with the little boy (little girl)? 3) Where am I growing?

Words of Wisdom: “Self-respect is the basis for excellent internal relations.”

Wisdom from the Word: “May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!” (1 Peter 1:2 NET Bible)

Urged and Spurred

Weekly Thought – June 2, 2026

Fred believed in discipline. Those four words are a powerful understatement to those who knew him. He lived his life considering and paying the price to make a contribution and to steward his uniqueness. He didn’t believe in “happy talk” which fooled people into believing accomplishment came without work. The wish ethic took a total backseat to the work ethic. He believed in motivating himself to “love and good deeds.”

Urged and Spurred

As humans on earth we are motivated and gravitated. The weight we can lift is the amount we can overcome, whether it is the press of gravity or the pressure of negative circumstances. Unfortunately, we sometimes underestimate the power of both and assume we are weightless. Mythological creatures crashed to earth when attempting to fly and human beings fall flat when they neglect to assess the need to overcome.

When the positive motivation for accomplishment is let go, the negative motivation for immobility takes over. This is why we cannot stand still.

It is important to measure our motivations. Here are three pegs for our thinking on this subject:
1) How do I define enjoyable activity? Have you ever attended a function and noticed some who were clearly miserable? They felt obligated to be there, but didn’t enjoy a minute of it. Positive motivation must be healthily enjoyable. As individuals, we have the right, even the responsibility, to decide what we healthily enjoy and avoid the unhealthy.
2) What am I doing that matters? So much of what we do makes such a little difference and it drains our energy and spends our time. I decided a long time ago to invest my time, not just spend it. What I mean is this: I invest my time in the people who are closest to me, the causes that are most important, those things that use my unique talents, and those efforts that accomplish meaningful contributions in the lives of others.
3) How am I implementing the needful? For example, I believe it is needful to do something every day that I don’t want to do, simply to continue developing my willpower. The will is a muscle. It may be our most important one and it must be exercised to be ready when called upon. Will power becomes flabby in a hurry. It cannot be made permanently strong. Another need is to take time with people from whom you get absolutely nothing but with whom you need to be human. Ridding ourselves of negative emotions is needful. The farmer must chop the weeds not just because he dislikes weeds, but because they use resources in the soil necessary for profitable crops.

This week think about: 1) How motivated am I? 2) What matters most to me? 3) Where am I most disciplined? Least?

Words of Wisdom: “One of the secrets of self-motivation is realizing when something doesn’t satisfy, more of it still won’t satisfy.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Finally then, brothers and sisters we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1 NET Bible)

Favorable Odds

Weekly Thought – May 26, 2026

Fred walked his talk. Early in his life he analyzed the necessary elements for success and set about applying them to his life. His hallmark resonant voice was the result of much practice and study. His ability to distill much data into wise counsel developed as he applied himself to the discipline of listening. Success is not a birthright – it is earned through “paying the price.” This week’s thought is longer than usual, but was too good to excerpt.

Favorable Odds

Success requires putting the odds in your favor. I am not a betting man. I always tell people if I lived in Las Vegas I would rather own the slot machine rather than play it – the odds are infinitely better. Of course, this Baptist boy only knows about Las Vegas from hearsay.

Ten elements help you create favorable odds:
1) Make a favorable impression. You can do this in several ways: ask good questions, listen well, be colorful but not showy, accent one area of brilliance, develop a believable voice, exhibit poise.
2) File your flight plan carefully. It isn’t enough to have a personal plan for progress. It is also important to know with whom to file it for others affect our success. Don’t assume others know what you want for the future.
3) Make results your measure for activity. Each day I start out asking myself, “What are you trying to do today?” And I remind myself that results is the only excuse for activity. My friend Mason Roberts taught me, “Having done my best today, it will be easier to do better tomorrow.”
4) Maintain good work habits. A habit’s chief function is to save time. Harry Peckheiser said, “Good work habits are unnecessary when I want to work; they are only for when I don’t want to work.”
5) Leverage Objectivity. What can’t be done doesn’t need thinking about. Be neither a pessimist nor an optimist if it means seeing everything one way – be a realist.
6) Stay connected to your roots. America is becoming a “cut flower culture” – temporarily beautiful, but fading because she is severed from the roots that grew her. You can’t change roots and stay the individual God intended. Greatness is not grafted.
7) Rein in the Big Three: health, money, and sex. Health controls energy, and energy determines how much of our time can be constructively used. It is important to keep personal money problems from disturbing your job concentration. The path to success isn’t usually paved with unpaid bills. And sex, save some time and energy from it to concentrate on business. Be temperate.
8) Accept failure soon enough. A banker friend once gave his best loan advice, “Don’t delay a failure with your money.” Generally, it’s our failures we laugh about later on… a way of smelling the roses which come up in the graveyards of our experience.
9) Avoid panic. Don’t believe you can wait for a crisis before learning to think in an emergency. You may be dead. Proper reactions are the response to proper action ahead of time. I always do “panic practice” where I live out every possible contingency, develop a plan, and train myself to react if needed.
10) Be a team player. Even if you prefer individual effort, it is important to know how to be a contributing member of a team… most organizational work is accomplished this way. Through the synergy of team, ordinary people can produce extraordinary results.

These ways of creating favorable odds are small and undramatic, but effective.

This week think about: 1) Which of these ten hit me the hardest? 2) How can I share these with others to help them? 3) Where do I need to grow?

Words of Wisdom: “Results are the only excuse for activity.

Wisdom from the Word: “The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:17 NET Bible)

The Winning Leader

Weekly Thought – May 19, 2026

Fred met many interesting people on airplanes, especially in the early days before celebrities used private transportation. On one flight he sat down next to a well-known actor. He opened the conversation with, “You are in wonderful physical shape. I would be, too, but I have to work. (At that time he was affectionately known as Fat Fred for the 220 pounds he carried on his 6’1” frame) I travel a lot, so I can’t focus on fitness.” “Oh, I travel a lot, too, but when I go into the hotel room, I sit on the luggage rack, put my toes under the bed and do back bends.” Not to be cowed by this, Fred ventured even deeper into the weeds. “Oh, but what about your shoulders? You need to be in the gym to develop them like that.” “No, I roll under the bed and push it up in the air.” Fred’s conclusion: Successful people say “I will” and less successful say, “I ought to; I plan to…”

The Winning Leader

Strong leaders understand the key elements of organizational development.
1) Selection – there is nothing more important than selecting the team. The smaller the organization, the more critical is this element. If you have 10 people, then each one represents 10%. In the corporation, I always use a multiple interview process to protect my blind spots. “Fit” is the word we use a lot, but it means understanding the culture, benefiting the organization, and promoting the common good.
2) Removal – The employer who fires too many is actually lacking in good selection. I have fired very few, but everyone knew I was willing if necessary… that is important. I find an underperforming associate is generally dissatisfied with the company, as well. The greatest payback is having that person come back years later and say, “Thank you – you did me the best favor in my life by letting me go.”
3) Strengths versus Weaknesses – I never deal with people’s weaknesses. This may sound cynical, but after a lifetime of executive experience I am convinced people are the way they are because they want to be that way. People have some strange need to be the way they are, even if they continually talk about changing. Leaders recognize strengths and make people better where they are currently good. My goal is to accent the strength and help them move to a higher plane. I develop my strengths and buttress my weaknesses, but spend no time trying to turn weaknesses into strengths – it rarely happens.
4) Motivation versus Manipulation – If you ask people to define motivation, they often say, “Getting people to do what you want them to do.” No, that’s manipulation. You cannot manipulate an organization long term. Motivation is mutual advantage. You show somebody how you can both win. And if there is no win-win, you shouldn’t be in association. People want to be part of a winning organization. They want to experience the excitement of contributing to the win.

Think about this: 1) How do I confuse manipulation with motivation? 2) Where am I spending too much time working on a weakness? 3) What methods do I use for team selection?

Words of Wisdom: “Accentuate your strengths and buttress your weaknesses.”

Wisdom from the Word: “But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3 NET Bible)

Psychological Barriers

Weekly Thought – May 12, 2026

Fred saw potential in others. He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with talented men and women. Visionaries got his juices going. He kept mental files in which he stored ideas to share with them when they were together.

Psychological Barriers

Visioning is one of the critical tasks of leadership. But they must be careful to avoid psychological barriers. One of the things I enjoy most is blowing up the “bridges to nowhere” that these barriers create. Let me lay out a few for you:
1) Age – One of the nation’s top psychiatrists was visiting in our home (nonprofessionally, of course). He asked, “Fred. how old are you?” “50” was my answer. “Okay, start making longer plans.” When I objected he cut me off with this observation “When you start making shorter plans, you’re subconsciously telling yourself to die.” Interesting thought. People come and say to me, “I wish I had done this and done that 20 years ago.” My response is always, “Well, what are you going to do with the next 20?” A good friend was asked by his mentor Bill Bright, President and Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ “How old are you?” He answered, “68.” Bill looked at him and challenged him, “You have 20 good years left – make it count.” Age can be a stumbling block when it should be a platform for acceleration.
2) Education – In America we’ve gone crazy on credentials and degrees. We have three children who all have advanced degrees and we are proud of that, but I occasionally remind them to get an education while they are getting the degrees. I was unable to go to college a day in my life, except to lecture. I have probably lectured at more than 25 universities. Even today I meet men and women who feel “less than” because they have no degree. I remember feeling the indignity of being in a group of dignified academics who proudly identified themselves with their alma maters. I finally decided I had the right to not have a degree.
3) Location – “It can’t happen here” is a deadly barrier. As I travel the country I like to see where bold things happen, especially in places where they are not supposed to happen. Wonder why somebody didn’t tell the Mayo Brothers Rochester, Minnesota was a ridiculous place to put a world-famous clinic. Who told Maxey Jarman an international apparel company could be headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee?
4) Unbelief – “It can’t happen to me.” True leaders know there aren’t enough extraordinary people to achieve their greatest dream, so they must find the ordinary and light their fires. Yes, it can happen and must. Mason Roberts told me “Take one hundred people, spur them to each do 1% more, and you have a whole new person.”

Think about this week: 1) What barrier is stopping my progress? 2) How can I help others to do 1% more? 3) When am I most effective as a visionary?

Words of Wisdom: “Age can be a stumbling block when it should be a platform for acceleration.”

Wisdom from the Word: “That day the Lord brought honor to Joshua before all Israel. They respected him all his life, just as they had respected Moses.” (Joshua 4:14 NET Bible)

Keep Looking!

Weekly Thought – May 5, 2026

Fred loved to turn experiences into experiments. He once underwent dental work with a stopwatch. He decided to run the watch just when it really hurt, not when he thought he was going to hurt; now when he was afraid he was going to hurt – just when it hurt. He reported it was only four seconds! Not many of us would volunteer for that!

Keep Looking!

As leaders of businesses, institutions, and families, we need to:
1) Find Opportunities. An SMU professor said the difference between corporate and entrepreneurial is the perception of a situation as either a problem to be solved or an opportunity to be maximized. A Harvard study showed focusing on problem solving dulled the ability to see opportunities. But, opportunities have to be within the purpose of the organization. I once sent a quick note to my daughter who was always seeing “open doors.” “Opportunity is not mandate” was my cryptic counsel. Many businesses and ministries hang up “Out of Business” signs because they didn’t define what they did and adjust opportunities to fit the mission.
2) Define Problems. A problem is something I can do something about; a fact of life is something I cannot solve. Understanding the difference is critical to leadership. I have no use of my right hand because I fell on a Mason jar at age 3 and a drunk physician allowed an infection. Is that my problem? No, that is a fact of life. Have you seen people who spend their time fighting with facts of life? Stick with the problems – something you can do something about.
3) Look for the Key Log. An amateur will always try to move all the logs around to get them moving down the stream. A pro climbs a tree, finds the key log, and blows it out – then the movement continues. But you can’t kid yourself about what the log is and you can’t duck it. A friend who was a President of a bank called to say he was working himself to death. I asked, “Who’s work are you doing? Anytime you are overworked, you are doing work that isn’t yours.” He thought and said, “The cashier’s.” That was the key log. Time to blow it out.
4) Value Confidence. Confidence doesn’t increase your ability one iota. So, what is its value? It gives you the ability to concentrate. Concentration is thinking the right thing at the right time. Fear and cockiness are enemies of concentration. One distracts from accomplishment by saying “you can’t.” The other distracts by falsely saying, “you can.” True confidence gives us focus and allows our abilities to operate freely.

Think about this: 1) How does confidence help me concentrate? 2) Who needs to hear Fred’s words today? 3) Where have I transposed problem and fact of life?

Words of Wisdom: “Concentration is thinking the right thing at the right time.”

Wisdom from the Word: “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10 NET Bible)

Tired of Boredom

Weekly Thought – April 28, 2026

Fred rarely allowed himself to wallow in the blahs. “There’s nothing wrong with me a little excitement wouldn’t cure.” And that excitement often came in later years with a phone call from friends, a visit, or preparation for his Fred in the Bed sessions. He refused to accept life as a dead end.

“I learned what it looks like to finish well as I watched Fred,” said one of the faithful Fred in the Bed folks. Each minute of life is a teachable moment.

Tired of Boredom

Boredom is the dry rot of our soul. It comes when we feel we’re not doing something worth the time. Or when what we are doing isn’t interesting, meaningful, or challenging. Boredom can also be the result of living life too efficiently and not effectively enough. When life becomes a series of habits and routines, our creative juice dry up and we prune up.

I remember hearing our children say to Mary Alice, “I am so bored — there’s nothing to do.” She generally offered a dish rag or a dust mop which generated a flurry of “let’s get out of here” activity. I usually said, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” We need to learn early on the solution to boredom is our responsibility, not that of others.

The pseudo-sophisticate who feigns boredom just to look suave wears me out. The danger of allowing ourselves to live in that mood is that melancholy waits at the door. We can spiral down by refusing to lift ourselves out of the emotional quagmire which grows out of constant boredom.

Here are three suggestions if you are bored:
1) Break up the repetitions of life. Sometimes the slightest alterations can create interest. When I was speaking constantly and a talk became routine, I would rearrange the points to pique my own interest and increase my concentration. Routine is necessary for efficiency, but life is more than efficiently managed time.
2) Add something to your life. Start a new activity, begin a new hobby, see the old things in a new way, cultivate a new friendship, do something specific for others each day. Don’t forget — the more bored you are, the less interesting you will be to others. As you add more dimension to your life, others will notice.
3) Take something bad out of your life. We all have junk that weighs us down and holds us back. For Fat Fred it is often those 20 pounds that pound away at me. The sedentary life is a doorway to boredom. Professional “goofing off” probably needs to go. Mary Alice and I spent a New Year’s Eve in Naples, Italy. Their custom is to throw everything they don’t want into the street so they don’t carry it into the next year. Bored? Try junking the junk.

Boredom is the sure sign of poor self-management and lack of personal responsibility.

This week carefully consider: 1) How do I respond to “I’m so bored.”? 2) When is the last time I felt bored? 3) Who needs some encouragement to take personal responsibility?

Words of Wisdom: “Bored? Try junking the junk.”

Wisdom from the Word: “When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, ‘Do you want to become well?’” (John 5:6 NET Bible)

Joy and Respect

Weekly Thought – April 21, 2026

Fred’s influence on others continues, even 5 years after his homegoing. “I find myself using his phrases and quoting his thoughts,” said JH. “He was so down to earth and the things he said just seem to fit in.”

Joy and Respect

Joy comes to those who can truthfully (yet humbly) know they deserve respect. We have an inner reading on our personal attributes which measure up. Feeling respect for oneself is somewhat like feeling we belong. Sadly, some people never feel the satisfaction of understanding their place in life. Some of this comes from never gaining self-respect.

Becoming respected begins with becoming respectable. Living life worthily is the way of joy and respect. Gandhi understood this.

Bill Glass, my friend who dedicated his life to prisoners, speaks often of the way the incarcerated think of themselves and others. Unfortunately, positive respect gets perverted into admiration for criminal behavior. He believes their path began with a lack of human respect. Most of them never understood respect is earned because of our human potential for being a contributing, loving person. And just as important, that we exercise self-restraint in preventing harm to others.

I always say service is the rent I pay for the space I occupy on this earth. Too often we measure worth in dollars. Respect doesn’t come through accumulation alone. For example, mothers who may have never made an outside dollar in their life but raise children well and hold their families together deserve great respect and honor. Some of those who deserve great respect earn the least. I think of teachers and preachers.

Once I talked to a retiring executive who said his lifetime ambition was to “leave a better team on the field than the one I joined.” He built a lifetime legacy. A boy scout told me they were trained to leave their campground cleaner than when they arrived. That is a tremendous way to develop respect for oneself and the organization. I love the story of the old man who donated his eye to a young man so after he was gone he knew the eye would go on seeing. Purposeful giving garners respect.

The wonderful thing about joyful respect is the opportunity to weigh ourselves daily as long as we live. If the scales show us a bit short, we can do something about it immediately. Those who show no interest in earning respect by making a contribution have very little joy and usually a lot of guilt.

This week think about: 1) What do I most respect about myself? 2) How am I paying my rent? 3) Who models respect most profoundly?

Words of Wisdom: “Purposeful giving garners respect.”

Wisdom from the Word: “The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will remain unfulfilled.” (Proverbs 10:28 NET Bible)

Spiritual Dishonesty

Weekly Thought – April 14, 2026

Fred referred to himself as doing “crooked thinking on the straight and narrow.” Leadership Journal titled an article in 1983, Straight Answers in a Crooked Age. Fred’s article on intellectual integrity within the community of faith is excerpted this week.

“Is this Fred Smith who wrote You and Your Network?” The question from a stranger at Asbury Seminary began a conversation on Fred’s impact. God’s wisdom never ages. Fred is in heaven, but his earthly work continues.

Spiritual Dishonesty

I was playing golf with the head of a financial company. Out of the blue he asked me, “Fred, do you think God will take away my money because I’m not active in church?” “What makes you think he will?” I asked. “My family tells me he will.” They’re using religion to police him. No wonder so many have a jaundiced view of our God.

This goes on all the time. I was listening to the tape of a Christian friend’s funeral. The officiating minister said, “Jesus got lonesome in heaven and took Chuck home to be with him.” What is that widow supposed to think about such a capricious God? What do his children and grandchildren think about a God who gets so lonesome He takes away someone they love? I thought to myself if Jesus wasn’t with Chuck during life, then Chuck isn’t with Jesus now! What intellectual dishonesty.

Growing up in a parsonage I had a bird’s eye view of people who took out their hostilities intimidating others with the threat of God’s displeasure. It took me a long time to understand a God of grace.

I was speaking at a meeting in our state capital. After the meeting, a young man with a bright, but noticeably serious, face came up to me. “Mr. Smith, do you have anything I can say to my wife? We have just lost our two year old son.” He paused and then quietly said, “Do you think I am getting paid back for my past sins?”

I don’t know who put that idea in his head, but I would love to write that person a long letter about the nature of God. I would write about a God I know who doesn’t carry out grudges against unsuspecting and innocent children. As I said this to him, he was relieved.

We are called to spiritual integrity. We are called to rightly represent God.

This week think carefully about: 1) What inaccurate views of God am I carrying? 2) How do others attempt to police me for their own ends? 3) What freedom in Christ am I being called to display?

Words of Wisdom: “We are called to rightly represent God.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NET Bible)

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