News By Tom Brownsword

(NOTE: This blog post was written on December 25, 2007 but is just now being posted. — Tom)

Right now I’m like the butcher who backed into his meat grinder… and got a little behind in his work…

Life interrupts business. I don’t live for my business; my business lives for me. That’s one reason I want a business instead of a J.O.B. someday.

I’ve was in Poland for several days (after which I simply “enjoyed life” for a few more), and short of using one of the available wireless networks in my mother in law’s apartment building (which I won’t do without permission), I had no way of getting on the Internet for several days. However, the new year has started, life is settling back into a routine, and I’m back in front of the computer, ready to write.

And Babcia may soon find herself with a computer and DSL…

That’s the way life should be. Live life when the opportunity arises. While I’m grateful for every reader of this blog (and this includes you!), I much prefer life in small town Poland and playing with my children to sitting in front of a computer in my basement office. Thanks for understanding.

I have a lot to talk about over the next few days:

• As promised, I need to tell you about why some random data would be posted on James Brausch’s blog. I didn’t receive any responses to my mini-contest; I’ll go ahead and give the answer anyway and figure out another way to give away that book.
• The Schengen Treaty, Poland, how the United States is taking a giant step backwards in that regard, why I think it’s a huge problem, and why the things the U.S. is doing in regards to border security baffles me (HINT: We’re America, people. We solve problems; we’re not supposed to create them).
• Another book I’ve started reading that I recommend for just about anybody. It’s about money and the things I’ve learned are astounding. Sorry, no titles just now… There’s only one copy left on Amazon as I write this (More on the way, they promise!) and I want one of my adult daughters to get that one. Yeah, favoritism strikes again!
• Planned neglect. It’s a concept I heard about on a John Maxwell CD. This one thing could propel you to incredible levels of success.
• Procedures. I haven’t talked about them much lately. I’m still using them, still writing them, and they are so crucial that I’m going to start talking about them more. Just today I’ve had to work on totally new procedures for my autoresponder (the company that hosts it did a major upgrade that made my old procedures obsolete; I apologize if you aren’t getting announcements, I’ll work it out soon). That is the first one that is going to go to my “secret web site”. Incidentally, the reason for that secret web site is tied to the first point in this list… I’ll tell you all about it — except for the website URL, of course.
• And a brief discussion about all of those Christmas emails, New Years resolutions, and the like — which I don’t like — and why I don’t like them.

Actually, I don’t want to wait for that one and it won’t take long to state my case.

First, Christmas. Christmas has as much in common with the birth of Jesus Christ as… well, Christmas has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Suffice it to say that this “thing” we seek to observe is ridiculous and I find all this churchy drivel about “Jesus is the reason for the season” to be absurd. Hello, Christians, let the world have Christmas!

Jesus isn’t the reason for the season; ancient non-Christian festivals are. Take a look at its true origins and you’ll see that “we” basically took a bunch of pre-Christian celebrations and slapped our label on it in an attempt to make ourselves palatable to the world. In other words, this asinine insistence on “Keeping Christ In Christmas” is really nothing short of false imprisonment since He had nothing to do with the holiday we call Christmas in the first place. Enjoy the presents, enjoy the trappings and decorations, and above all, cherish the time with friends, family, and loved ones while remembering those who are unable to do so — but don’t try to shove a round Jesus into a square hole of a holiday. You just make yourself look silly and make people like me — people who really do care about their spirituality and their relationship with God — feel extremely uncomfortable.

Next, New Year’s resolutions. Double yuck. Most of them are simply plucked out of the sky and slapped on a blog / email / piece of paper in an attempt to make yourself look and sound good. Oh, how pious! “Look what she’s doing — she’s going to solve world hunger in 2008 while losing twenty seven pounds and winning the Boston Marathon!” Spare me, OK? We both know that you’re going to contribute to the problem by eating more than your share and it’s going to start before the major college bowl games get going on New Years Day. And even if your goal is something else, chances are good that you’ll look back next Christmas (if you can even find your list of resolutions) and realize that you aren’t going to get rock hard abs in a week. Thankfully I see less of this New Years Resolutions silliness every year.

Here’s how a “resolution” SHOULD work. Get wisdom. It’s an ongoing process. Let wisdom inspire you. Set a goal. Move towards that goal. Achieve it. Take aim at the next goal based on the constant renewal of wisdom and the confidence you gain as your string of successes increases. THAT’S a resolution, and if you limit yourself to doing it once a year, then you’re cheating yourself. You can also use this type of resolution to adjust your 12 month plan if you want, but that should be a monthly process anyway. If you only check your 12 month plan once a year, what happens when you get sidetracked for 364 straight days? I’ll tell you; you never get those rock-hard abs. Trust me, I know; I have the belly to prove it.

My resolutions? I’ve already implemented them. No point in waiting until next week — which leads to another point: The “normal” New Years resolution seems to be dreaded. That’s why it’s a New Years resolution — you are avoiding action. If it’s worth doing — as my list of tasks are to me — then start now. Today. Don’t wait until New Years Day.

Here’s my list:

• I am a writer. A writer writes. I write every work day before I do any other work.
• I have a list of things to do before I sit down at my desk and work on that list before I do anything else.
• I plan. I have long-range plans, short range plans, and daily plans.
• I allow Life to totally mess up my plans as needed. They are “plans”, not “mandates”.
• I seek true wisdom and obey it when I find it. I find it because it wants me to.

In other words, I’m doing what I need to do. It may make for boring resolutions — but I prefer success to boredom. These small but sure steps, evolutionary as they be (as opposed to revolutionary) will make a huge difference.

Also notice that none of them say “I will”. They are all in the present tense. I am doing them.

Thanks for listening,
Tom