Category: Weekly Blog

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Weekly Blog

What’s Your Life Plan?

In the last couple weeks, we’ve discussed your life’s experiences (lifeline) and how to discern your “why”, that which gets you up in the morning, what motivates you on a daily basis. Those things are foundational to helping you develop a plan for your life and manage it to success, subjects of this blog and next week’s.All of this speaks to the unique God given gifts you have, coupled with your special purpose on this earth…all for God’s glory and the only way to bring you true peace, joy, and fulfillment. To that end, let’s get started.Like with anything, I would suggest that you take your life planning process to prayer. Like with any goal, it helps to understand where you want to finish. For purposes of a life plan, it also makes sense to understand how you want to be remembered. Finally, in understanding where you are currently, you can identify the steps you need to take to reach your long-term goals.Steps for your Life Plan include:

  • Identifying those you want to leave an impact on; then describing that impact over the course of your life and theirs’.
  • Identifying the priority areas in your life, including the people who are priorities
    1. Identify the goal…what you want the future to be
    2. Detail the current situation
    3. Discern and detail the steps to go from the current situation to your goal
  • Revisiting of the Life Plan

Example from Mark
Identifying those you want to leave an impact on; then describing that impact
My list includes the following:

  • God (my Faith life)
  • Cyndi (my wife)
  • Danielle, Tricia, Robert (our kids)
  • Kids’ Spouses and Grandchildren
  • My Parents and Brothers, their Spouses and Kids
  • Colleagues and Associates, including Volunteer Organizations
  • Friends and Acquaintances
  • Parish Community and the Broader Catholic Church

Picking from one of the above, a sample from my Life Plan is:
 

  • Colleagues and Associates, including Volunteer Organizations    
    • I want my colleagues and associates to remember me as a strong and compassionate leader, who loved them more than the cause or the organization. I want them to have known me as their brother in Christ, someone who lives his faith, always puts God first, and exudes the love of Christ. I pray that they remember me as always helping them be a better version of themselves, helping them internalize God’s unconditional love, with it being my desire to love them into loving themselves, having a healthy self-love, and realizing that they were each made for greatness, thereby living lives of peace, joy, and fulfillment. I hope that what I’ve done in my life serves as an example to them, living out Jesus’ Great Commandments…to love God, love our neighbors, and Great Commission, to make disciples; and how these things combined with finding my life’s purpose, gave me great peace, joy, and fulfillment. Finally, I hope that they view our work together as significant and impactful, helping people feel the love of Christ and sharing that love with others, being disciples and making disciples, ultimately revitalizing and reenergizing the Church.

Identifying the priority areas in your life
The priorities I’ve established for my Life Plan include:

  • God
  • Cyndi
  • Health (Self)
    1. Physical
    2. Intellectual and Emotional
  • Kids – D, T, RJ, and their families
  • Ministry/Career
  • Family and Friends
  • Finances

As indicated above, the steps include:

  • Identifying the goal
  • Understanding your current status
  • Discerning the steps to go from current to goal

An example from my Life Plan is the following:

  • Physical Health

Long-Term Objective:
To be the healthiest and most energetic possible version of me, allowing for the great and impactful life that God has planned for me. Detailed Desired Outlook:I am 177-179 pounds, in great cardio shape, and have very good muscular tone, working out 6 days per week (3 cardio, 3 weights/bike), always endeavoring to improve. I eat in moderation, a very healthy diet, 99% of the time. I don’t drink, smoke, or take any drugs. Under the guidance of my health coach and wife, I take supplements and engage in homeopathic remedies. I am highly energized throughout the day and sleep well at night. Knowing how to relax and being at peace, my stress level is low. I have a zest for life and love my wife.Current Situation:

  • I exercise at least 5 days per week. I eat healthy most of the time as well, although I sometimes eat too much. I have room to improve on both.
  • I have a chronic sleeping problem, waking up 2-4 times each night, sometimes not able to get back to sleep.

Steps:

  • Exercise 6x/week, building on past success, getting stronger and in better cardio shape
  • Eat in better moderation; continue very healthy diet and regiment of supplements
  • Investigate ways to sleep better

Revisiting of the Life Plan
My suggestion is the following:

  • Quarterly Review – that you revisit your Life Plan quarterly, reviewing it to remind yourself of what it includes, then having it be reflected in your Monthly Plans.
  • Annual Study – that you take additional time, more than a review, to study and amend your Life Plan. Make it a working document, updating it and dating those updates as you go, so that you can track how the Lord is working in your life.

As always, please feel free to contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
God made you for GREATNESS!!!

 

Mark Joesph

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Weekly Blog

What’s Your “Why”? 

What gets you up in the morning? What motivates you through your day? When things get tough (and they often do), what keeps you going? 

Although I’m sure he was not the first to explore the topic, Simon Sinek made our “Why” popular in 2009 with his book, Start with Why.

Since then, he’s created an entire body of work related to the subject. He makes the following distinction:

  • “What” – the jobs (tasks) we perform
  • “How” – the things that make us different or standout 
  • “Why” – our purpose, cause, or belief

Although the “what” and the “how” are important, our “why” drives everything. For individuals and organizations, it’s the “why” that matters. It gets us up in the morning. It’s how people persevere. “Why” is what excites people. It’s the reason people are willing to engage, including buying goods and services.  

What is your “why”. To follow Simon’s process, it’s based on past experiences in your life that create themes, that you then narrow down to the foundational elements of your “why”. Last week, we talked about your lifeline. Reference that for this. You’ll see certain occurrences as brighter, bigger, and more important. In reflecting you’ll think, “that’s me…that’s who I am”. 

You’re “why” statement is relevant in your personal and professional lives. As per Simon, it is to be:

  • Simple and clear
  • Actionable
  • Focused on the effect you have on others
  • Expressed in affirmative language that resonates with you

The format is: To ________________________ so that ________________________. 

In reading my blogs, you know my story. When I understood and internalized the penetrating and unconditional love of Jesus Christ, it rocked my world. It changed my life forever. It gave me my “why”, which I’d state as follows: 

 

Mark’s “Why” – To share the gifts of God’s love and the lessons He’s taught me with as many people as possible, so that they can live lives of true peace, joy, and fulfillment. 

 

You’ve seen me write about it previously. God made each of us for greatness, giving us special gifts and talents, in His image and likeness, putting us on this earth for a specific purpose, each of us individually. That purpose (or cause or belief, as per Simon) is our “why”. What’s yours’? Figure that out and you’ll be on your way to peace, joy, and fulfillment, which is what God wants for all of us. 

Simon Sinek did a TED Talk that speaks to our “why”. It is the 3rd most listened to in history. You can watch it here.

As always, please contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests. 

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God Made You for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph

 

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Weekly Blog

You are Where You Are…Now What?

 

The age-old question is “how an all-loving God allows evil in this world”, including the tragedy that all of us experience at some point in our lives. An inferred aspect of that question is “why do these things happen to me, good or bad, and what am I to make of them?”

As you know, I work at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where there and previously, I’ve had the opportunity to lead teams through strategic planning processes. Over the years, I’ve always begun the process with having all the team members present their lifelines, so as to get to know each other more personally. Simply stated, one’s lifeline is the identification and description of critical or pivotal events in one’s life. Having prepared, in 10 minutes, each person describes their most impactful experiences, starting from their youth. For many, this will often include aspects of their faith journeys.

I’ve also incorporated the idea of our “Why” into this process, both individually and for the organization. We’ll talk more about this, as introduced by Simon Sinek in his 2009 book, Start with Why, in next week’s blog.

Related to our “why”, which is our purpose, cause, or belief, according to Simon, it is important to understand our lifeline…all those things that have occurred in our lives. Why did they take place? What lessons are we to learn? What are we to do going forward?

Here’s the reality…every single, individual thing (occurrence) in your life is CRITICAL to who you are today. My wife and I often joke that it would be so nice to eliminate this tragedy or that wound. That’s not the way it works…thank God. You wouldn’t be who you are today without experiencing every single thing…the good, the great, the wonderful, as well as the bad, the terrible, and the ugly. Part of my prayer of gratitude every morning is the line above, in addition to the line below.

We are were we are because it’s where we’re supposed to be. We are who we are because it’s who God is making us to be. Every single occurrence, again…good or bad, goes into who we are.  We all have God-given gifts, talents, and passions. How we use those and maximize our God given purpose are a result of our experiences. God gives us the opportunity to make a ministry out of our mistakes, our messes.

So, given the above, pray through your lifeline. Write it down, maybe in a prayer journal…start one if you don’t have one. Share your lifeline with someone else. Remember it for next week, as we do a deeper dive into our “why”. And take to prayer what God is calling you to do.

As always, please contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God Made You for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Have You Walked on Water?

I got to spend some relaxing time with family a couple days ago, for a long weekend, on a beautiful lake in Michigan. Sitting at the dock, late in the afternoon, watching the sun’s reflection on the water, my mind went to a different place, to a time I’ve read about in Scripture. 

The story is told in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sent the disciples out on the boat. They were on rough waters, with the wind stirring around them. Startled, they saw Jesus walking towards them on the water. In Matthew 14:27, Jesus responds to them saying, “Have faith. It is I. Do not be afraid”. As an aside, the Bible says 365 times some derivative of “be not afraid”. God clearly doesn’t want us to live in fear. 

In verse 28, Peter says, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you over the waters”. With Jesus telling him to “come”, Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. After some steps, beginning to fear, he was sinking when he said, “Lord save me”. In verse 31, extending His hand and grabbing Peter, Jesus said, “O little in faith, why did you doubt?”

Sitting at the edge of the lake, watching the sun reflect off the water, I got to pray through the above. I love the imagery. Can you imagine being on that boat, with the waves whipping and the winds bustling? You’re concerned for your safety when you see something (Someone) walking towards you on the water. What? People don’t walk on water. 

Peter, always the first to speak, the first to act, yells to Jesus. I love Peter’s boldness. Believing, having faith, Peter asks Jesus to have him walk on the water too. Can you imagine? Who does that? A person of great faith. Peter does that. Jesus is asking each of us to walk on water, to step out of the boat and into the deep. 

  • What is Jesus really asking us…to exercise our greatness, to fully utilize our God given gifts and to fulfill our God given purpose.
  • Why does Jesus do this…because he knows that it’s our only path to peace, joy, and fulfillment. 

There’s only one way we do what Jesus asks…that’s with great faith. To me, there’s only one way that such faith exists in us…that is to understand and internalize the unconditional and penetrating love of Jesus Christ. God loves us more than we’ll ever know, no matter what we’ve ever done. When are we going to get that? 

For those of us who know that love, we’d never go back to a life otherwise. We know Jesus’ invitation is the only means to true happiness (peace, joy, and fulfillment). Nothing else but following Him, living a life in Christ, will do it. Speaking boldly (like Peter)…that’s an absolute fact. 

For those who don’t know that love, there is hope…you can get there too. Please reach out to me and I’d be happy to help you on your journey….the path Jesus wants you to pursue.  

As always, feel free to contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests. 

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph