I turn 35 this month.

Age is just a number, but there is significance with each year.

I’m considering my 35th birthday as my “half 70th birthday.”

If I’m half 70, and these first 35 years have flown by, then it’s time to turn the volume up to 11 and get after it.

Today I want to talk about 10 ‘P’ words I’ve been considering as I approach this upcoming day.

#1. Am I Living With Correct PRIORITIES?

Months fly by, weeks fly by even faster.

I need to lock down good habits so that when I look up again in how many ever years I’m somewhere where I want to be.

Am I spending my time and energy where I want to? Am I living by my values and my priorities?

Warren Buffet suggests that you write down 25 things you want to do before you die.

Then he encourages you to choose your top 5.

Then he says never think about the other 20 ever again.

I want and need this kind of laser focus.

I want what I choose to say yes to, to be of great value.

In order for that to happen, I will have to start saying no to a lot of good things, so I can say yes to the few things for which I was created.

I don’t have complete clarity for this laser focus yet, but that brings us to our second P.

#2. How do I excel at my PURPOSE.

What was I created for? Why am I on the earth right now, in this time in history.

What are the unique gifts that God has given me that only I can bestow?

What am I actually passionate about? What am I so convinced is so valuable that I’ll press through any hardship because of it?

I’ve tried my hand at a lot of things in the past 35 years. I’ve put a lot of tools in my tool belt. But which tools do I need to toss aside, and which ones do I need to sharpen and use more?

I’ve got some vague categories.

Jesus, Communication, Individuals.

But how do I narrow those categories down, so that when an opportunity or distraction comes my way I can filter it and say no to it.

Whenever I listen to good music I want to make music. But is that a distraction and a youthful pipe dream? Or is that something I should be pursuing? Same with photography? At least once a year I consider getting back into photography.

Maybe Michael Hyatts framework would be helpful here. He used P words too.

#3. How do I go deeper in PRAYER and God’s PRESENCE?

What does my prayer life look like over the next 35 years?

And how do I dive deep into God’s presence?

How do I behold His beauty? And from this heart posture get transformed into His likeness?

How do I position myself to make the foundation of my life the love of God?

You can’t give what you don’t have.

I know these things need to be a priority, the first priority.

I guess the answer is being super disciplined about prioritizing that quality time with the Lord, communing and listening, and recognizing His presence through out my day.

Prayer seems so simple, yet so profound.

#4. What does it mean to PROTECT and PROVIDE for my family?

I read Kingdom Man by Tony Evans. and I really enjoyed the framework he provided for men, we are called to do 3 things. Protect, Provide and Guide.

Am I capable and equipped to protect my wife and child.

What does protection look like besides physical protection.

What does it mean to protect them spiritually, mentally, emotionally?

A quote I’ve been seeing around is:

“You don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training.”

That’s a good word. So good in fact I’m gonna let you read it again.

“You don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training.”

What kind of training do I need to be investing in?

And what does provision look like for my family?

Am I building assets to change the legacy of the Baker family? I’d like to build more assets, what if I built one a year?

Should I be growing a giant garden? Storing food?

Will I leave an inheritance to my children children like the book of Proverbs says a good man does?

“A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children,
but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.”

Proverbs 13:22

#5. What does the PURSUIT of my wife look like over the next 35 years?

Jess and I recently celebrated 10 years of marriage. And I’m so grateful for my her. How do I continue to be the best husband for her over these next 35 years and beyond?

This first year of having a child was a giant transition. I’m not complaining, Fatherhood is amazing, but it is a huge huge adjustment and change to my way of life.

If you know someone who is in their first year of raising a child, extend lots of grace to them.

This year has been a blur, and I feel like I’m now just starting to wake up even though Jess has had the majority of sleepless nights.

This past year has been the busiest we’ve ever been. It’s also the most time we’ve spent apart on a daily basis because of our busy schedules and varying responsibilities.

So how do I make sure that our trajectory is connection, closeness and intimacy?

Jess and I are realizing our need to connect and schedule a weekly date time without our son in the midst of our busy busy schedules.

#6. What does being PRESENT look like?

A revelation I’ve had recently is a lot of my frustration comes from not being fully present.

When I’m wishing I was somewhere else, or dreading something upcoming, I’m robbed of being in the moment, and that steals my joy.

So how do I make sure that I’m fully present for everything I’m doing?

Sabbath is a helpful discipline that we’re implementing. I turn my phone off for 24 hours and try to say no to other outside obligations.

The priorities for Sabbath are intentional recognition of God’s presence, thankfulness, rest, and family. Oh and good food too.

I think creating a place for my phone will be helpful as well. Putting my phone in a basket instead of my pocket when I’m home will make it so I’m not as tempted to pull it out and look at it all the time.

Also I’d like to be consistent about implementing phone hours. The phone gets turned off at a certain hour in the evening, and only turned on the next day once I’ve done some things in the morning in my ideal morning routine.

This will make it so I don’t start my day reactively, but proactively.

I don’t want my phone to steal from quality time with my son. But right now I catch it doing so.

(Don’t blame inanimate objects)

I’ve got to manage my availability to the world, otherwise I will be pulled in a million directions, and I’ll find myself reacting to everyone else’s desires instead of my own. Prioritizing other peoples priorities, and left with my soul desolate and my family suffering.

It’s so tempting in ministry to give everyone besides your family your best self. That’s not fair to anyone.

Clarifying my purpose and priorities will help me choose what to say yes to so I don’t secretly wish I was somewhere else. I’ve got to say no to life sucking things. And even say no to good things, that will rob me of time and energy for the best things.

These are some things I’ll be implementing in 2020 to help with that.

I will no longer accept anonymous feedback, and if I do I will make it public. I’m going to start an anonymous feedback post that I will update so I bring that feedback into the light.

I will choose to not work for clients that want the best deal. If frugality is their priority than they want as much out of me for as little in return, and that’s not a fun business relationship.

If I’m not 90% excited about an activity, I shouldn’t commit to it. Because attending things out of obligation isn’t good for me or anyone else.

#7. How do I schedule time for PAPER?

As I’ve talked with some Bible scholars I admire, I realize they read a TON. The books they are reading aren’t easy leisurely reads.

I’ve consumed a lot of audio books, but unfortunately a lot of these Bible related tomes aren’t on audio. Which means I have to schedule time to sit down and have some focused reading time.

I also need to be scheduling time for writing. Long swaths of focused uninterrupted time. Right now I’m writing this through my lunch break, because focused uninterrupted time is not at a premium. So I need to find these few hour segments and make the most of them.

What subject matter am I intrigued by that I want to learn about over the next 35 years?

#8. How do I grow in PATIENCE?

Gosh, real talk. I’ve hit levels of frustration this year that I’m not proud of.

Busyness, lack of sleep, unclear communication, and outside feedback have at times gotten the best of me. And by best of me, I mean the worst of me.

How do I plan to mitigate against chaos?

“Most of our panic stress is due to poor planning.” @jimjessbaker

So what’s my plan?

I’m growing in this area. I’m learning to identify what actually is frustrating me. And once I’ve identified it, I can come up with a strategy to battle the frustration. Often times breaking it down into steps so I can see the bite size chunks I need to take instead of trying to eat the whole cow and feeling overwhelmed.

#9. What am I doing about the POOR and needy?

Widows and orphans are pretty important to God. The poor and needy and exploited are also important to Him. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to what’s happening in the world, but homelessness in Hawaii is at an all time high, and slavery in the world is the highest it’s ever been. There are people on the earth right now starving to death because of corrupt governments. What am I doing for the voiceless, underprivileged and exploited over the next 35 years of my life?

Currently we partner with a ministry here in Hawaii that is helping the homeless but is there more I can be doing, either hands on or through giving?

Is there some type of awareness that I can be bringing to this subject?

Where can my resources and time have the most impact on this issue?

#10. How do I smash PASSIVITY?

Don’t withdraw. That’s been a recurring theme in the past month.

How, when life happens, do we not run to bed and crawl under the covers?

How do I get out of fantasy mode, and put plan and action to these dreams?

How when there is a disagreement or strong opinion, can I show up and be respectful but still not back down, especially if it’s something I think is important.

I’ve got to add an 11th after writing this post.

There were some other great suggestions as people have interacted with this content. imProving on Purposeful Prayer. Someone mentioned prosperity, which I think goes in the providing category. Productive passionate, patient, peaceful papa. I think peace can go with the patient category. So here’s my bonus 11th.

#11. What will I be a PROFESSIONAL at when I’m 70?

Yesterday I listened to the Entreleadership Podcast where they interviewed Steven Pressfield. War of Art is on my top 3 books, so I loved the interview.

My takeaway from the interview was that you have to identify yourself as a professional.

An amateur will skip work to go play golf, a professional is disciplined and puts in the work.

What are the daily disciplines of super high achieving professionals? How many hours of deep work are they putting into their trade?

Do those things.

//

So I guess this whole post boils down to a couple things.

1. With a foundation of prayer and God’s presence, clarify my purpose, so I can live by correct priorities, identifying as a professional and putting in the work.
2. Bring peace and protection to my family through pursuing my wife and providing for my family, and use this foundation to care for the larger community including the poor and needy.

So… the ten ‘P’ thoughts as I approach my half 70th birthday…

Am I living by correct PRIORITIES?

How do I excel in my PURPOSE?

How do I go deeper in PRAYER and God’s PRESENCE?

How do I PROTECT and PROVIDE for my family?

What does the PURSUIT of my wife look like over the next 35 years?

How can I be more PRESENT?

How do I grow in PATIENCE?

How do I make time for PAPER?

What am I doing about the POOR and needy?

How do I smash PASSIVITY?

And the bonus 11.

What will I be a PROFESSIONAL at when I’m 70?

Which ‘P’ word is speaking to you as you read this? Comment and let us know.

This blurry photo is of my friend Melanie.

We were celebrating her 22nd birthday and I was picking up dinner to celebrate.

I parked, and got out of the car.  I walked past a woman who was seemingly speaking to me but making no sense.  I kept walking, avoiding eye contact.

The food was taking way longer than expected, cause well, ya know.  Island time.  I was trying not to feel inconvenienced and probably not succeeding.

I came outside because I may have parked illegally and left Melanie in the car.

When I came out I saw Melanie kneeling down on the ground speaking with a homeless man who I had previously walked past.

We were picking up Melanie’s birthday dinner.

We weren’t on a scheduled outreach.

If there was one night that you could definitely justify not doing ministry it might be your birthday celebration dinner.

But it’s not about that for Melanie.  Melanie doesn’t see loving people as her job, it’s just the overflow of her life.

She doesn’t pray for people compulsively feeling like she HAS to do it either.

There’s no anxiety in it, just peace and compassion.

There’s no flair of pride, as in, look at me.  She would have done it if no one was watching.

Because she’s not doing it for approval from anyone.

She knows she’s approved of by her heavenly Father through Jesus, and she wants others to know that too.

Dang.  I’m humbled.  Challenged.  Thanks for giving me such a gift on your birthday Melanie.

Hang out with people that do the stuff.  Not for an audience.  Not for show.  Not out of an anxious earning or because they should or have to.  But because they’ve been transformed by love.

Love crosses uncomfortable and inconvenient barriers.

Why I’m Concerned About Internet Privacy

So we’re the weird parents that don’t want photos of our kids anywhere on social media.

Why? Because the internet is a fairly new technology and we don’t know how this plays out.

And honestly there’s already to much information out there about us. You could easily figure out a ton about me with a basic search and some time. You could probably easily show up to where I work and know when I’m there and where I live too. That’s fine if you want a high five. That’s not okay if you’re one of the people that send me aggressive e-mails on a monthly basis thinking I’m someone else. (I got 2 yesterday)

Have you noticed facial recognition is becoming a more common thing. I’ve seen people scanning their faces at airports.

Maybe I’ve got my tin foil hat on to tight but when everyone was posting photos of themselves using that aging app it made me wonder if that was being used to better train AI how to recognize faces. Same thing when the 10 year challenge was going on and everyone was posting photos of themselves today and then a decade ago.

Have you downloaded your google file? I’ve heard of people having 60 gigs of information on them. Where they’ve travelled down to the minute, all of their search history, and voice files.

Facebook has a file on you that you can download as well. I’ve heard google has more information than facebook. Instagram is owned by facebook. And I’m sure twitter and apple are offenders too.

They say if the app is free, data about you is how they are making money.

Over the past 10 years of me living a pretty public life on the internet through blogs and social media, what kind of “profile” has been collected on me?

But if you have nothing to hide it doesn’t matter right?

It doesn’t matter until someone decides what you don’t think needs to be hidden is now offensive.

I read somewhere, I’m not sure if it’s true, but it doesn’t seem to far off, when you upload a photo to facebook they put data on that photo so facebook can tell if someone downloads that photo and uploads it elsewhere even if it’s not facebook.

Meaning if I upload a photo to facebook. You download it and send it to a cousin. Your cousin then uploads that photo to his blog. Facebook knows where that photo originated and now knows that somehow I’m associated with your cousin.

The thing that scared me the most is how China is using surveillance to make people groups disappear. Watch this 30 minute vice piece. I knew someone near that region and didn’t know how bad it was.

I also read that at certain border crossings the government will confiscate and search your phone and if you have anything they deem not okay (videos, books, webpages visited, contacts) they will take action.

As a Christian missionary in the largest missions organization in the world, who has contacts everywhere, how does this progress? How does this unfold for me being associated with people in nations that are hostile to the gospel? Am I putting them at risk?

As technology advances how bad could things get? What steps should we be taking now to protect ourselves and our friends that are on the front lines?

I was on a trip in Asia and our team was literally tailed by a person, who handed us a small recording device where we could hear our conversations. It was a heads up to us just to let us know we were being watched. That was almost 20 years ago.

Real concern? Or tin foil drama?

Momentum

I’m sure I’ve written about momentum before.

But it’s real easy to forget.

Momentum feels good. And to get the ball rolling, you’ve got to just start. Inertia works in your favor once you’ve started. The hard part is getting going.

What can you just jump into right now?

We started out the week this week by going to a beach park and I walked, and Jess ran. We scheduled this with some other people that were wanting to get out and start their day by moving too. They loved it. And it’s mutual accountability.

Sometimes if it’s just Jess and I, we don’t set alarms, and we only go if we get going. Now that there are other people involved we set an alarm. It’s external accountability. It’s obligation. And it works two ways. For our friends that are wanting to get out and get moving in the morning, they feel obligated to us too. So it’s a good obligation and external accountability.

Who can you ask to partner up with you to get the ball moving?

I got home and got some laundry going, got the clothes from the ocean and the beach towels in the wash right away.

I ordered these turkish towels last night in hopes to make our beach experiences even better. Hopefully these will be a good replacement for our bulky beach towels. We heard about them from our friend Mahea in Kauai.

Then I got interviewed for the Connecting Flight podcast about some of my travel. I had to log into my skype account that was set up under my first e-mail address from like 7th grade.

Then I turned around and interviewed my friend Jeff from Travel Hacking Flight Plan about using credit card mileage points as missionary support. You can watch that interview here.

Now I’m creating some more content and uploading some facebook lives to youtube so I can link that interview here.

Getting things done.

Go get moving!

One Bag? Thoughts On Packing For Domestic Travel

I don’t travel a ton. But I did just make silver status on delta.

In my lifetime I’ve been blessed to travel to a lot of places though.

But living in one of the most remote places on earth means I’m hopping on a plane to go anywhere. And grandparents on the mainland wanna see their grandbaby and right now he flies for free 

I’m always thinking, trying to be strategic. Trying to find systems that will make life easier and better.

I think somewhere along the way, in fact, it was high school, when I was flying from Maryland to New York once a month because I was in a band with some guys from New York that I decided to tell myself even though I felt pretty special to be flying once a month, that it wasn’t cool to think it was cool. And it was at that time I decided to tell myself I didn’t like flying.

Isn’t it weird that we can trace back “vows” that we make that affect us years later?

I still don’t particularly love flying. Jess used to love flying, having time to just relax and guilt free watch movies. Now flying with a kid, I’m not so sure it’s as relaxing and enjoyable.

I don’t think my dog likes it when we travel either, his behavior changes when we start getting the luggage out.

Do you enjoy flying? There isn’t much that’s comfortable about airplanes. At least in coach. I wonder if those people in first class are living the dream.

So what is in my control that I can make the whole experience better.

I sat next to a grandmother aged lady on a recent flight and she had a large purse, and another like linen grocery bag that was full, plus her carryon that she needed help getting in and out of the overhead bins. For me that’s way to much stuff and makes traveling way more difficult.

Anyway, I’ve kicked around the idea that it’d be nice to have a separate bag that’s already packed and is my “travel bag.” I can just grab it when it’s time to travel and go.

Thinking about this made me question also, what else can I “stage” in my life to make things easier. One thing is our beach towels. There’s no need to put beach towels in our home. We only use them when we’re going to the beach, which means we’re going to take them out of the closet and put them in the car. What if those towels lived in the car, that’s one less thing we have to think about when we’re getting ready to go to the beach to relax. The beach trip suddenly becomes less relaxing when we’re packing up a million things and can’t find what we need.

Do you stage anything like this in your life? 

A few years ago I read something that changed how I travel. If I was traveling for a week and a half, I would try to bring that amount of clothes.

I think I must have been following some one bagggers who took 3 pairs of clothes. That way they could always be wearing one, washing one, and having one line dry.

For me I’ve found that 4 days of clothes is the sweet spot for me. The clothes I travel in, plus 3 other days of clothing.

So maybe I could reduce some of the drudgery and anxiety of travel if I already had a bag packed. It would reduce some steps of packing.

I pretty much have a uniform. Gym shorts and a vneck tee. And even if I’m traveling to a cold climate, we’ll most likely be spending our time inside with the heat on, so I’ll still be okay with shorts and a tee.

Actually reducing this uniform down to about a week or week and half worth of clothes has greatly made life easier too. I don’t need any more than that.

So what if in my travel bag I had 3 sets of clothes ready to go. These would be my travel clothes. When I returned home I would wash these, and put them back in my travel bag so I could just grab them next time. I’d already have separate toiletries in the bag so I didn’t have to pack my at home ones.

I actually bought a $20 backpack at costco last week to be my travel bag. I liked it because it had a separate outside pocket for my laptop, which makes getting through the TSA line even easier.

The problem with cheap bags is that the zipper experience sucks. I think if I was a girl I’d totally be a purse person. I actually think I own more backpacks than my wife does purses. I’ve had a couple of more expensive bags throughout the years and the zippers on those bags a BUTTER.

I did a lot of looking into ONE BAG on my most recent trip to NYC. One bag is a movement of people who travel only with one bag. But I think I’ve concluded that I’m not a one bagger.

I don’t mind checking a bag, and I find personally, almost necessary, and it makes the travel on the plane and in airpots easier.

Here’s why.

I want to make my way through security as easily as possible.

I want my hands as free as possible when in the airport, I don’t want to be dragging a roller bag.

The only time I’m wearing shoes is if I’m preaching or on the mainland and it’s cold. But here in Hawaii, rubbah slippaz all day. Easy on, easy off. That cuts down on a ton of steps going through security. Even its cold and slushy returning to Hawaii, I can wear shoes to the airport and then fly with flip flops. But I usually want to pack a pair of shoes if I’m going to do any amount of walking.

So I could one bag it and put those shoes in my carryon, but suddenly my carryon bag just got really bulky and heavy. And I’d rather have a light back with me getting on and off planes and walking around in airports.

So what are my necessities when I’m on the plane?

Iphone wallet in my left pocket with head phones and charging cable.
Pair of socks in my right pocket for if my feet get cold
Hoodie for if I get cold on the plane or need something to use as a pillow
Flashlight clipped to my waist band.
MAYBE a liter of water. I’ve actually started experimenting with fasting while traveling.

I carry this flashlight with me everyday. Most people EDC knives, but I find I have much more use for a flashlight than a knife and you can get a flashlight on a plane and it can be utilized as a weapon if it came to that.

Other than that I don’t want anything extra with me in my seat, those seats are small enough already.

What else is in my carryon backpack? My laptop. Mostly because I don’t want it getting stolen or thrown around in my checked bag. One change of clothes. qtips with balm on them for my nose. These keeps my nose from drying out and keeps all the airplane germs from getting into my system. A nice tip we got from our midwives.

I also recently added a tourniquet and quik clot to my everyday laptop backpack and I think if I set up a dedicated travel carryon I will include these items as well. I also want to get some travel meds like benadryl that could save someones life if they are having an allergic reaction.

Toiletries are one more thing that I have to take out at security, so those are going to go in my checked bag. If my checked bag doesn’t make it or I’m stinking to high heaven in the airport, I can buy things in the airport or once I’m on the ground. This thinking about travel is basically for domestic travel to places where I can go easily grab items from a CVS or walmart once I’m on the ground if I need to.

My overseas to third world countries bag would be set up different. But right now we don’t have any of that kind of travel planned.

So in my checked luggage. A pair of shoes. 2 sets of clothes. A pair of pants and a collared shirt if the occasion calls for it (I hope not). My external keyboard, because I’m not going to be doing any typing on the plane, even if I get stuck in the airport, or have to stay in a hotel without my bag, I’d just use my phone. Yes I have a stupid external keyboard (my laptop keyboard doesn’t work, kind of defeats the purpose of having a laptop, but I haven’t found a good time that I can be away from my computer for a week while it gets repaired) If I was a billionaire I’d have a separate 13″ macbook air dedicated just for travel. I can’t quite make the jump to an ipad for some reason. I’m also thinking about putting some kind of travel water filter in here just for emergencies. And have been kicking around the idea of some kind of small EDC waist pack with some essentials to carry around while out and about.

There’s always this fine line between what you’d want in an emergency and how much you actually want to carry around. I don’t want heavy and bulky things to carry around, but I do want some supplies on me in case of a worst case scenario. Sometimes a little planning and carrying some extra stuff can save the day.

What do you think? How have you made packing for travel easier?

Woot! I just made silver status on delta.

This might not be a big deal to people who travel for a living. But this is the first time I’ve made status with an airline.

I remember my friend Dan Baumann years ago, encouraging me to get status with an airline. So we picked Delta at his recommendation.

We have benefited from Delta points. Two summers ago we flew round trip from the mainland to Hawaii just on points. That’s pretty awesome. The delta credit card sign up bonus helped a lot too. Sad that we can’t get that bonus again.

I think two years later we are almost near another free round trip flight of that length.

Some benefits of Silver Status that I’m excited about are:

FREE FIRST CHECKED BAG FOR ME AND TRAVEL COMPANIONS

Woot! That saves us a decent amount of change every-time we travel. $30 per checked bag per trip. That’s $120 extra if we both check a bag round trip. Oof.

Remember when checked bags used to be free? Remember flying before 9/11? Ahh the good ‘ol days.

ZONE 1 BOARDING

Yay!

Being the last one on the plane stinks, no overhead bin space, because everyones trying to save their $30 by cramming a giant bag in the overhead bin.

When we’ve been traveling with our son we take advantage of the early boarding for parents traveling with their kids.

I’m thinking through the most comfortable way to travel and considered one bag, but I don’t think I’m going to go that route. I’ll write more on that soon.

POSSIBLE UPGRADES

I’ve flown first class once, when I in middle school, my parents and I flew from Maryland to California and somehow we got upgraded to first class.

Jess flew first class once a few years ago because a family wanted to sit together, so they handed me a ticket to first class to give up my seat, I gave it to Jess and let her fly first class from Honolulu to the west coast.

I remember I was in a middle seat. There was a petite young woman sitting in the window. She sighed and shook her head as I sat next to her. Then a islander who probably had 100 lbs on me sat down in the aisle seat. He just looked at me and apologized and we unintentionally snuggled the whole flight hahahahahaha.

I would LOVE to figure out how to fly first class all the time on that long 9 hour flight from Honolulu to Atlanta. Maybe one day 

MILEAGE BONUS

I think we also get a mileage bonus, which I’m hoping will help us keep our status into the future. Jess is almost to silver status too, I think after our trip to the mainland for the holidays she’ll have silver status too for 2020.

I’m going to be interviewed this week for the Travel Hacking Flight Plan podcast. LIKE my friend Jeff’s Travel Hacking Flight Plan facebook page to keep up with content on how to get free flights.

Do you have status with an airline? Or do you have a cool miles redemption story? What are some travel tips that you have for making air travel more enjoyable? 

I have a love hate relationship with social media. Okay, basically it’s just a hate relationship, but for what we do it’s necessary.

We went a magical year or more without social media in 2018. And in that time it was interesting to see who still interacted with us on a regular basis.

Something I hear when I’m away from social media is that people miss us.

Uh… wut?

We are very much still alive, is what you’re really saying is that you missed the convenience of interacting our online avatar? See this is my struggle with social media, this is where it gets weird.

At the end of last year we lost a quarter of our donors. I wonder if our year off of social media in 2018 contributed to this. In fact, I’m sure it did.

So at the start of 2019 I hit it hard. Shooting daily facebook lives. And producing content and posting it all over. And after I returned from the mainland in May I had a hard time getting back into my groove.

Our schedule changed a lot. Sometimes if a habit is tied to an event, and that event disappears, so goes the habit.

I was shooting a lot of my facebook lives on the way to my side job, I’ve since delegated some of that work. And I was creating a lot of content during my morning routine, but when jetlag messed up my sleep schedule my morning routine fell apart. So I’m now trying to figure out what our online communications will look like.

I have serious serious serious concerns about online privacy using social media. I’ll write more about that soon.

I’m trying to figure out the best course of action on how to set up my life and work day with all of the changing variables. Office space, childcare, Jess’ work schedule, and daily changes in energy and mood.

So I’m back at it, trying something new. Trying to batch process the writing at least for now. Readjusting.

What works for you? I envision everyone else’s lives being so consistent and predictable. Is that the case?

In Monday’s post I wrote “why isn’t there a pretty picture here.”

I know full well that blog posts with pretty photos drive more traffic to your content.

It makes me think of a quote that I can’t find, and gave up trying to find because it also was delaying me from hitting publish.

The quote goes something like this.

80% done and good is better than 100% awesome and never published.

I’m trying to reprime the creative pump right now and just get back in the habit of writing and producing content. It’s been 2 months away. And I just haven’t been feeling it. I think I’m coming out of a small season of a dip into the blues.

Unfortunately how I feel plays a huge role into what I produce. I’ve noticed in my life, I need to try and reduce the amount of steps between me and what I desire. If there are too many steps I won’t end up doing it.

So if I took the time to create graphics for all of these posts I wouldn’t end up publishing any of this content today. But right now the words are flowing.

So what are some unnecessary steps that you’re getting caught up on that’s halting all of your momentum?

The good thing is I can always go back and create a graphic later. Or when I’m a billionaire I can hire someone to create that kind of content for me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about “working against the goads”

What in my life is my personality and probably isn’t going to change and I need to accept and work with.

And then what is a character issue that I need to put the hard work in and grow?

Basically the question I’m asking is where am I working against the goads? What in my life am I just making myself miserable trying to change instead of just accepting it and making a strategic adjustment based on that?

Where in life am I trying to be someone I am not.

I wish I had an indestructible self discipline. I however don’t. So in the meantime while I grow in this area, how I can be strategic and still get the results I want out of life?

For right now I just need to get back in the flow and habit of creating content. Putting out there the thoughts that are going through my mind. And I need to on days that I’m feeling inspired create a ton of content and schedule it out so that it appears I’m producing consistent work. It creates a buffer for me when life happens and I’m having trouble making time to sit down and write.

I wonder if this is how other people work too. Batch processing and scheduling. Michael Hyatt said that he mega batches his podcasting. So I guess it is.

I want to create systems for my life that work for me. I can spend time wishing I was different or I can figure out a way to efficiently and effectively work with who I am, scabs, warts, lack of discipline and all.

Do I wish I was more consistent and disciplined and could truly just knuckle down and push through on days I wasn’t feeling it? Yup. But I think that’s working against the goads. And I’ll save that emotional energy not for creating online content, but for being present with my family.

What systems have you found work specifically for you? What have you had to give up on that didn’t fit who you are?

Why isn’t there a pretty picture here?

I was recently on the mainland, and whenever I’ve travelled the 5,000 miles from Honolulu I try to make the most of my trip while I’m there. So I flew to NYC to meet up with a board member of our ministry.

I also made silver status on Delta! First time getting status with an airline and while it may no big deal to a lot of people, I’m pretty excited about it!

WALLET BAND AID

We were eating in a restaurant with our family and my niece had a boo boo and requested a bandaid. No one else had one but I carry a bandaid in my wallet because it takes up almost no room and can save the day. I think I probably saw this on a youtube video or something, but it was also reinforced when my wife cut herself opening something in the car and I had trauma gear that could stop hemorrhaging, but nothing for nicks and scrapes.

Boom! Wallet band aid saved the day! I made sure to replace it with two bandaids when I returned home.

CLEAN CHANGE OF CLOTHES IN CARRYON

My flight was suppose to be from Pittsburgh to Detroit to Newark. And I was suppose to land around 2pm.

While I was on the tarmac in Pittsburgh I got notification that my Newark flight was delayed. When I arrived in Detroit I learned that the flight was cancelled.

I was rerouted to Minneapolis (why am I flying West to go East?) to catch the next flight to Newark. Got to Minneapolis and guess what? Flight to Newark was cancelled.

It was at about this time I was going to give up and grab a hotel so I could get some rest. I was feeling uncharacteristically passive on that travel day which must have been the grace of God because I was just going with the flow. I was happy that my family wasn’t on this leg of the journey with me, because traveling with an infant on that many flights would have been much more difficult.

I also was realizing that I was seriously toying with the idea of paying the extra $70 to fly first class for that trip. And realized that if I had all of these extra flights would have been first class. Womp womp.

My flight ended up being Pittsburgh, to Detroit, to Minneapolis, back to Detroit, finally into La Guardia at midnight. Needless to say, my bag didn’t make it.

I always pack an extra change of clothes in my carryon. In all my travel all over the world this is the first bag that didn’t make it to it’s destination. I was sure glad I had a clean set of clothes to change into when I arrived at my destination after a day full of travel.

My bag did get delivered to me the next day. And it got me thinking a lot about how to most efficiently pack for travel which I will write about soon.

EMERGENCY $20

Then I was trying to figure out how to get from Newark where my friends apartment was to meet him in NYC to grab dinner. I admitted that I was a bit apprehensive about using the public transit, but he gave me really awesome directions. A couple of things threw me off and I ended up getting on the wrong bus, which was cash only even though I had set up the NJ transit app and already paid for a ticket for another bus. Oops.

Boom, my emergency $20 came to the rescue. I think I picked this up from Pastor Rick Rohlin over a decade ago, who I remember saying he always carries an emergency $50.

I once had to use my emergency $50 for gas while on the road at a cash only gas station and the teller said that I should have smaller bills to make sure I could pay for things. So I downgraded my emergency $50 to an emergency $20. Maybe I should just have $50 worth of smaller bills.

These small bits of planning ahead for emergencies made life a bit more comfortable in the midst of chaos.

What do you carry on you that has saved the day? What’s your EDC? (Everyday carry?)

What are we trying to escape from? What are we trying to avoid?

Have we brought the hurts and hardships, real or perceived into our consciousness, into the light, so they can be dealt with? Or are we hiding and avoiding that too?

How do we arrange our lives, our days so that we don’t have to dread, avoid or escape?

How do we get brave and take action to healthily confront the things we would rather pretend aren’t there?

How do we get out of the habit of distraction and numbness?

I went on a police ride along with my friend James while I was in Charlotte. It was nuts. James attended the first church I pastored at in 2009–2010 in western PA.

I asked him how he confronts hard things.

His simple response. “Just do it, sitting in it isn’t gonna make it easier, you just gotta do it.”

What do we need to DO today? Take massive action. Do it.