Four Things

Weekly Thought – November 19, 2019

Fred thought systematically. He once said about a friend, “He has an impeccable mind… everything is in place.” Fred, too, had a mind which organized for maximum usage. Mary Alice loved order, too, but in the house. She finally gave up on having his environment (covered with books, articles, scraps of notepaper, etc.) match the pristine nature of his thinking process.

2019’s Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institute schedule completed with a successful time at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Thanks to Mark Modesti and the BWFLI team for their work. And deep gratitude to President Fleming and his outstanding staff for their devotion to the growth of their students.

Four Things

(Fred categorized as an effective way to organize content. This week’s thought is built on sets of four things.)

1. Four great questions:
   
   1. Adam, where are you?
      
   2. Am I my brother’s keeper?
      
   3. Who do you say that I am?
      
   4. Do you love me?
      
2. People are searching for these four things:
   
   1. a. Identity and individuality
      
   2. Community – a sense of being home
      
   3. Meaning and significance
      
   4. Hope
      
3. Those who have a high need for achievement display four characteristics:
   
   1. They set realistic, not impossible, goals for themselves
      
   2. They prefer work situations in which they can take personal responsibility for the effort and the goal achievement
      
   3. They desire feedback about their own performance
      
   4. They show initiative in researching their environment, traveling, trying new things, and searching for new opportunities
      
4. Four elements of entrepreneurial pursuits
   
   1. The emotional strain of playing with your own chips.
      
   2. Wearing more hats and being required to handle more detail than customary
      
   3. Realization that working with people takes twice as long and at least 50% more money.
      
   4. Consider early change in lifestyle and social status understanding money alone is not the full satisfaction in life.
      
5. Four steps to helping people reach their potential
   
   1. Locate the path of potential. People cannot do anything they want to or anything they can think of, despite current clichés.
      
   2. Have faith to believe in the potential. Faith is an act, not a feeling or simply a word. Faith is acting as if it were so.
      
   3. Initiate discipline to accomplish the potential. This is the operating system.
      
   4. Have gratitude to enjoy the potential. Gratitude recognized that we have nothing but what we have received.
      

This week think about: 1) Which set of four things particularly stirs my thinking? 2) How can I organize my thoughts to be more helpful to myself and to others? 3) Who should I be investing in this week?

Words of Wisdom: “Have faith to believe in the potential (of others) knowing faith is an act, not a feeling or simply a word.”

Wisdom from the Word: “There are four things on earth that are small, but they are exceedingly wise.” (Proverbs 30:24 NET Bible)