by Clarence E. Stowers | Dec 5, 2018 | Empowerment
The Power of Evaluated Experience
Hey, what's up, everyone?
I want to take the opportunity to share from my experiences in leading people.
I've been in the game a long time. 20+ years pastoring, 30+ years in various leadership positions, so I know enough, I believe, to kind of help someone because I've made a few mistakes.
We hear the word wisdom tossed around a lot because people think just because I have experience means that I have wisdom, and that's not necessarily true because the only way you get experience is by making a lot of bad decisions. Experience is not necessarily the end goal to wisdom. It's evaluated experience that makes you wise.
Think about that. "Evaluated experience is what makes you wise", according to Andy Stanley. Why? If you never take time to evaluate the bad decision, then how can you take that knowledge into tomorrow?
So by me being able to evaluate the bad decision sets me up to make even greater decisions, and my prayer is that we find or rather help people look at the bad decision, evaluate it in its entirety, and then use that evaluation to springboard them into making better decisions.
Now, here's the thing. Why am I sharing this? I'm sharing this because any time you endeavor to become a leader, any time you make a decision to own your own business, a decision to lead others down the path of greatness, think about this.
You're going to have to make some tough calls, and if you haven't had enough evaluated experience, then you're going to continue to repeat the history. Think about it. If you don't have enough evaluated experience, you'll continue to repeat history. And that's why yesterday looks the same as today.
So go out there, make some decisions. Make evaluations, and then come back and evaluate that decision so that you can set yourself up for a better tomorrow.
"Evaluated experience is what makes you wise", according to Andy Stanley.
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by Clarence Stowers | Jan 16, 2018 | Personal, Current Affairs, Decisions, Empowerment, Goals, Self-Leadership, Success
All of us want the security of having a safe environment not just for us, but for our families as well.
In today’s post, we’re going to be breaking down five ways that are going to ensure you provide a safer life for you and those around you.
1. Befriend Those You Want to Be Like
As Jim Rohn famously said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.” This is particularly true when you want to live a certain lifestyle. If you associate with the wrong types of people, they’ll rub off on you. Those people don’t have to be alcoholics and drug abusers. Let’s say you have a friend who arrives perpetually late to things. The more time you spend with that person, the higher the odds that you will start arriving late to things. If you want to be safe, surround yourself with like-minded people.
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2. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol can be dangerous for the user and their family. In fact, alcohol can often end up separating the family more often than bringing them together. As far as safety is concerned, alcohol can impair judgment and responsibility, increasing your chances of making a stupid decision that you’ll regret in the future. In the end, it’s best for you and your family if you just leave alcohol alone.
3. Invest in a Home Security System
This is definitely a significant step! A home security system ensures around-the-clock safety for you and your family. It allows you to know if any burglar is breaking into and entering your home, posing a threat to you and your loved ones. By installing this, an alarm monitoring company will be monitoring your house even when you’re not home. According to ADT, you can even monitor your security from a smartphone or tablet. Overall, your family and your home will have maximum protection from intruders.
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4. Schedule Regular Check-Ups with Your Doctor
Regular check-ups to the doctor ensure that you are personally safe from any diseases or illnesses. Also, bring your family too if possible. This guarantees everyone is healthy, which results in a safer and happier household.
5. Invest in Yourself
Further education is always a good idea, especially when it comes to living a safe life. Find out further ways to provide safety and security for your family whether it be finances, relationships, health, happiness, etc.
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By focusing on the above five steps, you can guarantee that you and your family live a pretty safe life.
by Clarence E. Stowers | Jan 10, 2018 | Christian, Christianity, Empowerment, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Self-Leadership, Spiritual Growth
When someone decides to detox, they are intentionally removing toxic substances from their bodies.
Our blood tells everything. When we visit the doctor’s office, they draw blood to see if there are any contaminants. We are triune beings (spirit, soul, & body) and like our bodies, toxins get in and contaminate our spirit and soul.
During this message series, we are focusing on detoxing the three different parts of our being: our spirit, our soul, and our body.
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We need the detox because all of us allow toxic substances into our lives, whether knowingly or unknowingly. This week we’re detoxing our spirit, which technically doesn’t “need” detox because it is the part of us that is like God.
Our spirit is already clean and righteous. But the enemy still attacks our spirit, especially in our mind – and our mind feeds our spirit. Three things we must starve so that our spirit can thrive are doubt, negativity, and sin.
Today’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 10:1-6; Ephesians 6:10-20
Today’s Question: What are some of the causes of toxic thoughts in your life?
2 Corinthians 10 tells us, the battle against our toxic thoughts is like none other. It is not a physical battle, but rather it is a spiritual battle that requires God’s help in fighting.
by Clarence E. Stowers | Jan 9, 2018 | Empowerment
Sometimes, we need to hit the spiritual reset button.
In a world where we are bombarded every day by messages of doubt, negativity, and sin, it is important for us to cleanse ourselves from things that contaminate our bodies and spirits so that we can grow in our relationship with God. Why?
Our thoughts matter so much.
Our thoughts matter because what you think determines what you become.
Unfortunately, most of us tend to be held captive by toxic thoughts, rather than focusing our thoughts on God’s truth. For the next six days, I’m encouraging you to read from God’s Word about the dangers of toxic thoughts and how you can replace them with God’s truth.
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Today’s Reading: Proverbs 4:1-27
Today’s Question: How have your toxic thoughts negatively affected your life and relationships?
by Clarence E. Stowers | Aug 16, 2016 | Encouragement, Book Reviews, Decisions, Empowerment, Leadership, Motivation, Self-Leadership, Success, Vision
Depending on who you ask, success looks different and has many definitions.
Although some define it differently, successful people have common trains. According to Dr. Henry Cloud, author of Never Go Back: 10 Things You’ll Never Do Again,
Successful people have certain realizations, or awakenings, that change the course of their lives forever in a positive way. These realizations are essential to a good life and are both scientifically and spiritually backed.
He describes ten of those awakenings in Never Go Back: 10 Things You’ll Never Do Again. The first awakening, Never Again Return to What Hasen’t Worked hit me like a ton of bricks.
Never Again Return to What Hasn’t Worked
Make sure that if you ‘go back’ [to an old relationship, an old job, an old way of thinking] you’re not going back to the same thing . . . Remember there’s a reason it didn’t work. If you’re going back make very, very sure that reason is no longer there. . . Ask these questions: Am I different in some way that would make this work? Is the other person different in some way that would make this work? Is the situation fundamentally different in some way that would make this work? (pp. 17-18).
Everyone makes mistakes, even the most successful people out there. But, what successful people do better than others is recognize the patterns that are causing those mistakes and never repeat them again. In short, they learn from pain—their own and the pain of others.
[shareable cite=”Dr. Henry Cloud”]Never Again Return to What Hasn’t Worked[/shareable]
I once heard someone say,
A good thing to remember is this: pain is unavoidable, but repeating the same pain twice, when we could choose to learn and do something different, is certainly avoidable.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, do you agree or disagree?
[shareable]Successful people recognize bad patterns and mistakes and never repeat them again. In short, they learn from pain.[/shareable]
