Instigating Better
Week 22 of 2023 is almost in the books. It’s been an awesome week. I trust you are ready for a great weekend. I read this the other day and trust that it will encourage you.
Don’t let “opportunity” steal your focus. When your attention goes to many things, no real progress is ever made. Not all opportunities are worth pursuing — especially if it means being pulled away from something that is currently working. -Shawn Blanc
Week 21 of 2023 is almost in the books. I’ve spent most of the week in Uvalde, Eagle Pass, and Del Rio, Texas. I am amazed at the resiliency of these Texas Border Towns. I read this the other day and trust that it will encourage you.
Quantity Leads to Quality
If we sit around and wait for quality, it won’t come. Quality must be pursued.
With your notes and research. With your YouTube videos. With your notebook or your journal. With your photography… Whatever it is that you are creating, you have to start with “not yet amazing”.
But if you continue to show up every day and keep creating, then the more you create, the more valuable your overall body of work is. Not to mention that, as you create things (writing, photography, etc.) your ongoing practice is the single greatest way to up-level your skills (which, of course, ultimately leads you toward a higher quality of work).” —Shawn Blanc
Week twenty of 2023 is almost in the books. Wowzer, it’s been crazy this week. I read this the other day and trust that you will be encouraged by it.
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability —
and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually — let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.“
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Week eighteen of 2023 is almost in the books, and it has been a crazy week. I trust that yours has been awesome and that YOUR WEEKEND AHEAD WILL BE AWESOME! I read these words earlier this week, and I trust they are an encouragement to you.
What do very happy people have in common? The Wall Street Journal followed up with the 12% of respondents in a WSJ-NORC survey who called themselves “very happy” and asked them what they were all about. Here are the traits they share.
What doesn’t seem to matter to become very happy? Political party affiliation or avoiding following politics. —Neal Freyman
1. Nothing can improve your Day More than Margin. Whether it is financial, relational, or time management, margin is your friend. Fight for it!
2. Stop Trying to Impress People. If you are still playing the comparison game, you are losing.
3. Think About Your Circles of Influence Through this Quote: “Those who follow Jesus should attract the same people Jesus attracted and frustrate the same people Jesus frustrated.” —Shane Claiborne
4. Never Stop Learning. This isn’t just a strong way to stay sharp but a way to grow to become more like Jesus. Win-Win!
“Every time we use religion to draw a line that keeps people out, Jesus is with the people on the other side of that line.”
Week seventeen of 2023 is almost in the books, and it has been a busy but productive week. I trust that yours has been awesome and that YOUR WEEKEND AHEAD WILL BE AWESOME! I’d like to share a prayer for peace that might benefit you – God, it seems that every time I turn on the news, the world gets a little worse each day. I know sin has ravaged this planet, and the world will lack complete peace until you return. Nevertheless, I ask that you intervene in the world and grant us peace. Help us to find more ways to love our neighbors and show the world your goodness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
1. Choose peace each morning. It is a choice, not just an aspiration. Look in the mirror and chase after peace.
2. Live a life of service. Every person on earth was created to serve others. The person that serves is more often equally blessed than the recipient.
3. You are not your job. Recent research says that we Americans put far too much emphasis on our careers as a way of creating our identity. Big mistake. You are far more than what you do!
4. It’s okay to stop and think. Our desire to keep moving leaves little room for God to move as we wait on eagle wings. Progress and productivity are not the same as following the desire of God for your life. It is always a great idea to stop and hear from the Lord. His plans are worthy of waiting on!
Week sixteen of 2023 is almost in the books, and it has been a great week here in Uvalde, Texas. I trust that yours has been tremendous and that YOUR WEEKEND AHEAD WILL BE AWESOME! I’d like to share a prayer from Peanut’s Carlie Brown – Be yourself. “No one can say you’re doing it wrong.”
1. Never live with your assumptions. It’s like believing everything you think. It’s rarely true, accurate, or timely.
2. If you want peace in your life, give yourself away. Every study on the planet proves that when you serve others, in any way, but with the right motive, you are the one that is blessed.
3. Bible reading is for far more than greater knowledge. The proof of this is how I flounder when not having time, or taking time to read scripture, daily.
4. When counseling people or trying to help, you might not be appreciated or liked. But speaking truth in love is how to place your head on the pillow with the certainty that you did what God asked of you…and that is more than enough.
Make a list of Earth’s most pressing challenges and the precise consistency of the cheese on a fast-food burrito probably doesn’t rank too high.
But if this detailed New Yorker profile on Taco Bell’s Innovation Kitchen teaches us anything, it’s to never underestimate the 12 chef scientists and 60 food-innovation developers behind the chain’s menu magic.
They take their work seriously — you have to if your output is a primary growth engine for a ~8.2k-location, $14.65B-in-annual-sales restaurant serving 42m people every week — and they regularly solve complex problems.
Why we’d elect them as our (Crunchwrap) Supreme Leaders
Whether you love or hate the food, the stream of additions to Taco Bell’s menu makes it one of food’s most compelling spaces. At its root is a legendary creative culture they’ve nurtured — one well worth learning from.
Some key components:
• Iteration: Taco Bell annually releases ~10 new products; to do so, their innovation team generates thousands of ideas and tests ~70 of them.
• Patience: The idea for the Crunchwrap Supreme was tweaked in the lab for 13 years until it made the cut.
• Practical constraints: A creative process without limitations is often too blue-sky; the scale of Taco Bell’s business requires careful consideration of the cost, quantity, and preparation of each component, as well as speed — can it be prepared in ~1 minute?
• Attention to detail: Scientific precision is lent to ingredients’ material properties — from bounce to juiciness, springback to spreadability. And every ratio is carefully considered, like how the balance of fats and acids impacts mouthfeel and brain chemistry.
• Breaking convention: The team pushes past technical limits — famously trying a paint-spray gun to try applying the correct amount of Doritos powder to their taco shells.
• Consumer focus: Every successful creative product is evocative for its audience, even an oddball limited-edition Grilled Stuft Nacho. Per The New Yorker, “nostalgia” and “emotion” are frequently raised in their Innovation Kitchen.
