Tag Archives: Margin

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Balance Work and Life

There is a lot written about gaining balance in your life. Everyone has their story and I’m happy to share mine.

In the early years of starting our home building business, 60 hour weeks were the norm! When we hired staff 10 years later, long workweeks were STILL the norm. There was never enough time to get everything done at work. Work was cheating my family time. It was nearly impossible to achieve the elusive work life balance.

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Picture the work life balance like a scale…one side wins and the other side loses. We need to learn to “cheat” at work and stop cheating at home. We often cheat our family by spending too much time at work, or on fitness, or a hobby. Cut back on being so “busy” and be balanced!

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See How Easily You Can Learn To Have More Energy

There is a shortage of energy in our lives…..personal energy.

“I’m so busy! Stressed! Tired! ”  – does that sound like some of your friends?

Maybe even you?!

For many people, work is stressful, time is limited and there’s always an endless list of things we think we should be doing. Countless emails, interruptions, distractions and decisions; it’s hard to get our work done. Often the first thing to be dropped is you! The things you do to keep healthy can suffer. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

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In the Bible, Paul us teaches that all growth is – spiritual growth. Growing to become more like Jesus Christ!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  

Galatians 5:22-23

As it relates to our health, self-control is the hardest part of personal growth.

The Power Of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz says that managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal. This resource, helps you learn how to mange your own energy to have better health. Avoid a personal energy crisis.

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How To Be RICH? – Start GIVING!

Headlines surround me with the enticing message of how to get rich. Those same headlines say, to be happy I need the newest and best “stuff”. I am tempted to focus my admiration on people who are richer than me. Most people think of someone as rich if they make double what they do. It’s called the Doubling Up Wealth Theory. If we make $30,000 we think someone who makes $60,000 is rich.

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But who is really rich?

We spend so many years trying to get rich but we rarely realize how rich we already are. On a worldwide scale, we ARE rich.

The statistics are staggering. More than half the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day.Go to Global Rich List and insert your family income. If you earn more than $30,000, you’re in the top 2% of all individuals in the world. If you earn more than $40,000, you’re in the top 1%. To poor people in the rest of the world, anyone from the west is “rich.” Bill Gates or you.

Once we realize we’re rich, where do we learn how to be rich?

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How To Be Done With Debt

Flash back to 1985 when I received the best piece of personal finance advice! Picture me, working my summer job as a laborer for a bricklaying company trying to pay for university. What was the best advice and who gave it to me? It came from an Italian bricklayer in his tattered and torn work clothes. You’ll need to read this aloud in an Italian accent while waving your arms enthusiastically to get the full effect.
“Stevie it’s not-a how much-a you make, it’s-a how much-a you save.” The significance of his statement stuck with me! Many of my university professors talked about personal finance but had not been in the marketplace.iStock_000008650446Small

These educated professionals were not practicing personal finance as well as this man who earned probably half of what they did. Arriving in Canada from Italy, penniless, this man owned 3 houses in downtown Toronto worth a substantial amount of money. He had learned one of the dirtiest words in personal finance: discipline. As my parents often had, we will have arguments, fights, worries, pain and disappointments until we practice what this wise bricklayer taught me. I believe it is based on the following Biblical personal finance truth.

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Proverbs 21:20

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Want a Courageous Life with No Regrets?

Do you have time to do the things you really want? Are you living the life you feel you were called to? Who really is? A recent survey of the top 5 regrets people have on their deathbeds reports that their number one regret is that they hadn’t had the courage to live a life true to themselves. They lived the life others expected of them. What a tragedy!

Character traits series - COURAGE

Dr. Richard Swenson, in his book Margin reveals insight into the space that exists between our limits and our self. Imagine it as the space around the edge of the pages of a book. It’s the little bit extra. Margin is a great book for anyone who is looking for: good health, financial stability, fulfilling relationships and God’s purpose.

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Who Has Time For That?

If you feel that there are never enough hours in a day, you are right! The clock keeps ticking whether we like it or not. But what are we spending our precious few hours on?

Here are some astounding facts:

  • The average person watches TV over 4 hours a day. That’s 28.5 hours each week.[1]
  • The average internet usage is 43.5 hours per month.[2] That equates to an hour and a half each and every day.
  • The average Canadian spends an unbelievable 32 days each year commuting to and from work.[3] That’s over 768 hours trapped in your car every year!iStock_000004879552Small

It’s no wonder we feel we don’t have enough time.

It’s because of that last statistic that Zig Ziglar suggests we turn our vehicles into “rolling universities.”  Tossing in a CD or tuning into a podcast can help turn your commute into learning time.

But what should we focus on?