Your Heroes

Weekly Thought – December 3, 2013

Fred considered those others chose as heroes to be strong indicators of their values. He believed in the power of having someone to admire and emulate. This excerpt from You and Your Network speaks to his thoughts on the role of heroes.

As the year end quickly approaches, everyone at BWF Project wants to thank you for your constant encouragement. A man in Florida wrote to say, “Thanks for the weekly emails. I really learn alot from them.” Another recently wrote to say, “These emails keep Fred alive and his wisdom applying to our lives.”

Your Heroes

We cannot live fully without heroes, for they are the stars to guide us upward. They are the peaks on our human mountains. Not only do they personify what we can be, if we diligently pursue our ideals in the furnace of our opportunities.

Heroes are those who have changed history for the better. They are not always the men and women of highest potential, but those who have exploited their potential in society’s behalf. Their deeds are done not for the honor, but for the duty. Through our study of heroes we enter the realities of greatness.

Heroes are the personification of our ideals, the embodiment of our highest values. A society writes its diary by naming its heroes. We are individuals do the same. When Socrates said, “Talk, young man, that I might know you.” He could have added, “Talk of your heroes, that I might know not only who you are, but who you will become.” (more…)

Meaningful Associations

Weekly Thought – November 26, 2013

Fred was asked about his recommendations for personal growth. He answered, “Books, travel, and associations.” He believed we stretched ourselves and others through what we read, new experiences, and associating with interesting people. He always wanted to be the “smallest one in the group.” He said it took great ego control, but it also enabled him to develop.

On this Thanksgiving week, it is most appropriate for us to express our profound gratitude to each member of our Breakfast With Fred community. Your emails, your calls, your financial donations, and most of all — your prayer support allows us to continue our work. When the BWF Project started, we established three goals: expand the reach, deepen the impact, and preserve the work. You allow us to do all of that!

Meaningful Associations

Associations make a broader person. Most of them don’t just happen- they need to be planned. The “birds of a feather flock together” isn’t always the best formula for profitable, purposeful associations.

Character is the foundation upon which worthwhile association are built. Choosing the right people can create strong building blocks. Here are some of the positive traits of healthy associations:

1) Integrity – the person consistently seeks to do what is right

2) Love of Truth – We must all search for truth, for it isn’t always on the surface. It helps to be in the company of those who know and respect the truth. (more…)

Time Counts

Weekly Thought – November 19, 2013

Fred learned “waste not, want not” from his Mother. She raised five boys in a preacher’s home (on a preacher’s salary) during the Great Depression. She almost miraculously managed to make resources stretch. Fred became thrifty about money and time.

These weekly emails began nearly ten years ago when Fred literally did “out loud thinking.” They continue using the richness of his writings, notes, and memos. Thank you for expressing your appreciation. Fred would thoroughly enjoy knowing he is being helpful.

Time Counts

I am not a believer in the “time pressure” phenomenon. I believe there is a faddishness to the race against time I see in so many. As a modest accomplisher, I find it arrogant to think that I couldn’t get my work done in the same amount of time afforded to Einstein, Michelangelo, Salk, and Schweitzer.

Time, like money, varies in value. High energy hours, like after tax dollars, are more productive and more valuable. In thinking about the organization of time to maximize the value, here are a few points I feel are important:

1) Make a specific decision about what you are trying to do. I first make a list of the things that only I can do. Then, I hand off (first by assignment and then by delegation) everything else. It takes ego control to accept that other people can do most of what we think we have to do.

2) Keep a reasonably busy schedule of meaningful things. Work pace is important. When we move too fast we make haphazard decisions and confuse our priorities. If the pace is too slow, we procrastinate and let our time be filled up with even small tasks. (more…)

Choose A Pleasant Road

Weekly Thought – November 12, 2013

Fred and Mary Alice showed their three children the country, teaching them the value of travel. However, Fred was influenced by his love of efficiency and looked at family road trip from the “How fast can I get from A to B?” perspective. They whizzed past national monuments, teepee tourist courts, and must see stops. Later he realized the children chose to enjoy the journey, not play beat the clock with their own family trips.

Planning is underway for the Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institute at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, FL. on February 20, 21, 2014. Please join in prayer with us. Thank you for your continuing encouragement.

Choose A Pleasant Road

Too often, after selecting our destination, and making our plans, we fail to look at all the possible ways of getting there. Recently, on the West Coast, I decided to turn off the interstate and follow an exciting scenic route. Generally we miss the byways and endure the highways to “save time.”

Is time always that important?

Sometimes we become so goal-oriented we forget to consider the ways of getting there. The road should be interesting. We spend much more time on the trip than at the destination. Why shouldn’t it bring satisfaction? Remember, this isn’t always the fastest route. Learn the joy of the journey and amplify the value and benefit of the goal. (more…)

Direction not Goals

Weekly Thought – November 5, 2013

Fred sat on a tombstone when he was in his twenties thinking about the direction he wanted for his life. To codify his thinking he wrote out an epitaph: “He stretched others.” He said, “I enjoyed seeing people productive and growing.” His tombstone in Dallas, Texas bears those three words for indeed, he did!

“Thank you for last week’s email. I really needed to hear that and I am sure many others did, too.” The Weekly Thoughts are sent as an encouragement and as a way to allow Fred’s work to keep on stretching others. As you know we are currently having a critical fundraising drive and your help in large and small contributions is needed.

Direction not Goals

Choosing a life direction is more important than just focusing on goals. Enticing short term goals can take one off course and in a faulty direction. Mature success and satisfaction come in the direction we move, not in the goals we attain.

I oppose setting an ultimate goal for one’s life, in the sense of a specific, definable, measurable, figure-oriented place in life — the place for arrival. This puts too much importance on one decision. This closes off the serendipity of life which leads to magnificent adventures.

I have known too many executives who set a title as their ultimate goal only to realize that the joy was in the challenge of achievement, not the actual job attained. The old song says it well, “Is this all there is?” I laugh at the picture of the man spent a lifetime climbing a ladder only to realize at the top it was leaning against the wrong wall. (more…)

Clarify Your Thinking

Weekly Thought – October 29, 2013

Fred’s understanding of human nature resulted from lifelong study and observation. He found patterns in thinking and behavior. He talked of the modus operandi – the method of operation. He strongly believed in finding the basis from which our life’s philosophy derives.

The tenth year of Breakfast With Fred is nearing its completion. In these years a website, a book, hundreds of weekly thoughts, and eight Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institutes have touched thousands worldwide. Beginning during Fred’s lifetime, the work goes on striving to expand, deepen, and preserve. Thank you for supporting us. We are reader-supported and we are currently having a critical fundraising drive. Your help is needed.

Clarify Your Thinking

Behind every plan of action, every commitment of time, and energy should be a solid philosophical base. From it comes our answer to “why?” Why should I be a leader? Why should I pay the price of success? Why not stay where it is comfortable? Why push ahead risking failure?

Is it just for ego? Or do I feel I have been given a talent, an opportunity, and I don’t want to miss to excitement of worthwhile accomplishment? Do I see this accomplishment can be made in any period of my life? (more…)

Who You Are Meant to Be

Weekly Thought-October 22, 2013

Fred was blessed with a network of friends who strengthened him and lived out the “iron sharpening iron.” He gathered a cadre of truth-tellers who walked in integrity. He knew who he wanted to be and chose an inner circle of those who, like him, understand their gifts and their missions.

As October nears a close, we thank you for your support. These Weekly Thoughts are a unique way of continuing Fred’s legacy. Please continue to share ways they are meaningful and helpful. Breakfast With Fred is reader-supported and we are asking you to support us with donations large or small at this important time. If you receive encouragement from these emails, we need the encouragement from you in the form of your support.

Who You Are Meant to Be

We are in a time when ne’er-do-wells (particularly young ones) persist in saying, “Love me for myself!” When I hear that I think of the sign in the store, “Sold as is.” That always denotes damage to the product or something that reduces value. I want to see people striving to fulfill their gifts, not sitting idly by accepting “as is.” (more…)

You and Your Network

Weekly Thought – October 15, 2013

Fred enjoyed connecting friends with others. Way before networking was a commonly accepted business practice, Fred understood its value. And it was always for mutual benefit, never for manipulation or selfish ends.

As you are reading this, the Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institute team of 21 will be “stretching and blessing the next generation of leaders…for the glory of God” at East Texas Baptist University. Thank you for praying for God’s work. Breakfast With Fred is reader-supported and we are asking you to support us with donations large or small at this important time.

You and Your Network

Networking is the way most things happen. Great achievers have always understood the necessity of organized assistance.

Successful businesses depend on a network built of suppliers, customers, government agencies, stockholders, employees, and management.

The human body is probably the oldest network — the many parts are connected. The foot depends on the eyes to keep from stumbling… and the eye depends on the eyebrow to keep sweat from running down. (more…)

Joyful Health

Weekly Thought – October 8, 2013

Fred believed in his body’s ability to heal itself, sometimes to the “I can only speak personally”, but I have found when I have the right attitude my body has great recuperative power. When our children complain of a humdrum life I tell them; “There’s nothing wrong with you that a little excitement won’t cure!” Fred was severely immobilized in his last four or five years. He was quoted in a national magazine: “I am not disabled; I am delightfully dependent.” He had a joyful attitude.

Please continue to pray for the BWFLI team that is heading to East Texas Baptist University on October 22nd. Thank you for ongoing encouragement and support.

Joyful Health

Joy can live in a sick or disabled body…the spirit can overcome the physical limitations. Joy can also reside in a body that is well-respected, protected from abuse.

Very few people miss a vacation due to illness. Most of the school children who are sick to their stomachs are often “sick of school,” or afraid to face a pressured situation. I have no scientific survey to prove this, but I would daresay a class led by an exciting and loving teacher experiences less absenteeism. (more…)

Joy Through Financial Integrity

Weekly Thought – October 1, 2013

Fred’s financial wisdom and practice were well known. One of his life-long friends commented recently on his sage counsel to a group of Dallas businessmen: “Keep a year’s living expenses in savings and if possible live on half your income.” “We were all shocked when he said that because most of the people we knew lived right up to the hilt supporting a high profile life style. No one thought about reducing their standard of living to the one Fred and Mary Alice chose.”

“Money can be a tool or an idol” is one of Fred’s pithy sayings. To those who give in the support of BWF, BWFLI, and the Weekly Thought, we want you to know it is most certainly a tool for the furtherance of this ministry. Thank you.

Joy Through Financial Integrity

Those inundated by financial worries seldom exude a joyful attitude. Our value system is exemplified by our relationship to money. I laughingly told someone, “You never know a person until you count money with them.” It brought a smile, but I was dead serious. Scott Peck wrote about the underlying flaw in the American character – the failure to delay gratification. We see this throughout our culture, but none so clearly as in our use of money. Buying on time and using credit were unfortunate additions to our financial system.

We are so anxious for the fruit we pick it before it is ripe. Oswald Chambers defined lust as “I must have it now” and how true that is of our instant satisfaction society. (more…)

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