I have heard so many good talks on leadership and have read so many great blog posts on leadership and so have you. The question is do you remember where you saw it, read it, or heard it? If you’re like me, often times the only thing I remember was that it was good. So good I wish I would’ve captured it, but didn’t. I’ve learned to do a better job of organizing my personal development and capturing the nuggets so that I don’t lose it. I’m generally not an organized person, so I’m still refining how I organize, but here are a few ways that help this ADD – fly by the seat of his pants – mistake maker organize his thoughts on the fly.

1. My Moleskine. I write thoughts, blurbs, comments down while they are fresh on my mind. I often will interrupt a conversation in order to write something down. Thoughts that I write down today have the potential to become…a future sermon series, a new idea, or a spiritual breakthrough. By writing them down and reviewing them periodically. I give room for a thought to turn into an action.
2. My Resource Email Address. This is a separate email address that I set up that I use solely to store articles, website addresses, and anything else that I may want to access later. If I read a great blog post, I’ll use the share button to email the article to my resource email address. If there is no share button(shame on you if you have a blog and don’t use one)I’ll copy and paste the article in an email and mail it to my resource email address. It’s a way for me to organize and catalog information that I may want to process more or not forget.
3. My iPhone Notes App. There is a simple App on the iPhone that allows you to type a note an email it. If I’m somewhere and I don’t have my Moleskine, I’ll write a note and email it to my resource email address.

How do you capture thoughts on the fly?

Think about the errands that you ran today. Maybe a trip to the grocery store. A quick pick up at the cleaners. A deposit at the bank. Gas at the convenience store on your way home. Now let me ask you a question. Did you come home with anything other than a few groceries, a claim ticket, a deposit slip, and a full tank of gas? What was it about those establishments that brought you back? Was it purely convenience? Was it price? Was it the fact that there was no other choice for you to go to? Or was it that the experience was so special that you are compelled to go back time and time again?

In Scott McKain’s latest book Collapse of Distinction, he outlines beautifully what it takes for your organization to stand out and be noticed. He shares three destroyers that have the potential to be the demise of your organization. He also delivers four foundational cornerstones that will bring distinction for your company in the marketplace.  I found myself reading familiar individual thoughts, but packaged together in a way that we’re fresh, unique, and made perfect sense. I was very pleased with Scott’s “nuts and bolts” style of writing. After every chapter I was left with several very practical steps that can be implemented today.

Is your business experiencing a decrease in sales and you can’t quite figure out why? Are you a new business that desires to be noticed in the marketplace? If so, this book is a must read. This is a great book to read as a team and promises to provoke some serious questions about how you are doing business. This book is about the “heart” of your business. It focuses on the “why” and not just the “What” of your business. I believe that this book will bring back excitement and passion to your organization as you stand out and move up!

We want our guests to feel welcome don’t we? We understand how important first impressions are. So we launch a greeting ministry complete with “My name is…” name tags. We go after the bubbliest people that we can find and we strategically place them outside and at the front door. (If you are a smoker it’s a double bonus. You get to smoke and greet…two things you love to do at the same time.) Then, just to make sure that people feel welcome, we force you to stand up in the middle of the service and shake someone’s hand and pretend like you are happy to see them. As you are shaking their hand, you might as well say, “Hey, aren’t you the same person that I walked by and completely ignored earlier as I was in a hurry to catch up with my real friend?”

We do a pretty good job of being nice to our guests. But they aren’t looking for nice, they are looking for friendly. And friendliness cannot be achieved through a program anymore than lowering your cholesterol can be achieved by eating a Big Mac. A nice greeting program in an unfriendly church is like putting a pretty bow on a cow patty and thinking that we’re giving someone a nice gift.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if our church was so friendly that we didn’t need a greeting ministry to make guests feel welcome?

We’ve got change this! If the Church is God’s plan to bring the gospel to the World, being nice isn’t gonna cut it. We need to stop thinking that the world revolves around us and start genuinely being excited and honored that a guest would choose to step out of their comfort zone and visit our church. That’s a big deal! It should excite us to no end to think that a guest would choose to visit our church, giving us an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with them. The natural response should be authentic friendliness, not forced niceness.

How do we change this in our churches?

What can you do to help change it?

Human nature is to take the path of least resistance unless there is a compelling reason not to. The job of the Church is to engage people and give them a compelling reason to avoid the wide path of least resistance that leads to destruction and take the narrow path of most resistance that leads to eternal life.

How does the Church engage culture and give a compelling reason to take the path of most resistance?

Like you, there have been times in my career in the business world as well as in ministry where I have experienced periods of great momentum. I felt like an unstoppable freight train whipping around the corners and holding on for dear life. There have been other times where I felt like I was trying to push a freight train up a hill in the middle of a desert. Sometimes, it’s easy to identify the “lack of” or “abundance of” momentum. Other times, we can’t quite put our finger on it. Or, we’d rather not try to figure it out because we have our suspicions that we are the problem or at least a big part of it.

Dave Ramsey defines his Momentum Theorem as, “focused Intensity over time, multiplied by God, creates unstoppable Momentum.”

If Dave’s theorem is true (and I believe it is), then there are several things that could be the cause of No-Mo-mentum or Slo-Mo-mentum. Interestingly enough, I happened to be thinking about the Momentum Theorem and vision while I was cleaning glass the other day with my 4 year old daughter. Here are the lessons I learned from a spray bottle and a 4 year old.

1.   Stream the vision instead of spray the vision – The “Spray” feature on the Windex bottle works best for coating a lot of glass with a little bit of glass cleaner. When it comes to vision, we want to turn the nozzle to “stream”. Focused intensity means we stream as much vision as we can into a smaller area.

2.   Apply liberally - My 4 year old daughter understands this principle when she helps me clean the glass. There is never enough glass cleaner in my daughter’s mind. She sprays and sprays and sprays until the window sill is covered in blue liquid. When it comes to our vision, there is never enough. we need to spray and spray and spray until we have flooded the area and we are standing in the vision.

3.   Don’t dilute – With window cleaner, dilution is important. Without the proper dilution in the bottle, a cloudy residue will appear on the glass as the sun shines through. When it comes to creating momentum, residue is a good thing. We want our vision to be so heavily concentrated that it leaves a residue on lives when they come in contact with it.

4.   Allow Daddy to refill your bottle - When my daughter sprays the entire bottle of window cleaner on the window, she brings me the empty bottle and asks me to fill it up for her. When your bottle is empty, allow your Heavenly father to fill it up. He is the supplier. He never runs short on supply. He knows exactly what you need, when you need it.

My vision and your vision is weak and accomplishes nothing apart from God. God’s vision is strong and changes everything.

Here is my Momentum Theorem as learned from a spray bottle and a 4 year old. “Streaming undiluted vision in large quantities over time with God filling up the spray bottle, creates unstoppable momentum.”