What’s green in your life?

What’s green in your life? When you don’t take care of a pool or fish aquarium, algae grows, bacteria gets in the water and eventually it turns green, or even brown. To get rid of that algae, you must treat the water with chlorine and pool shock. Depending on how contaminated the water is, it can take several days for the water to clear up. In order to keep algae from growing, you must take care of it on a weekly, sometimes daily basis.

Our lives are the same way.

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Is your marriage contaminated? When was the last time you took your wife on a date? When was the last time you appreciated your husband. At your wedding when you said “I do”, the real dating started at that moment. Never forsake being friends with your spouse; this is what keeps the fire burning.

Is your family life turning green? How much quality time are you spending with your children? Right now your children need you more than ever; don’t ignore them because you’re too busy. How about your other family members? Don’t be so occupied with work and life that you don’t call those family members that you don’t talk to often. We’re all busy and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon. I know you’ve said before that you don’t have time to do something. The reality is though, you DO have time, you just choose to do other things with it. Make time for what’s important.

How about your finances? Is your bank account green? What are you doing today to get you and your family’s finances in good shape? Set small goals and take small steps toward fulfilling those goals. It’s not impossible; you just need to adjust your mind-setting from I CAN’T to I CAN.

Finally, has your spiritual relationship become contaminated? Again, yes we’re all busy but you must make time to spend in your Bible, meditation and prayer. There’s an awesome 5-day Bible plan I read a couple weeks ago that I’d like you to check out. It’s called The Lies of Busyness: Devotions From Time Of Grace. It’s very challenging and straight-forward. It has encouraged me to make spending time with God a priority. This really hit home for me and I’ve found myself reading the plan over and over. Here’s the link.

What’s green in your life? This week, I want to encourage you to start the maintenance process to get you water clear. Get rid of all that algae and make your water blue, again. It may seem impossible, but it’s not. YOU GOT THIS! Be encouraged and have an AWESOME week!


 

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TPE Startup Guide for Business, Products & Ideas

If you’re ready to take your life to the next level but don’t know where to start, I’ve put together a startup guide just for you.

This guide includes my Business Plan Outline and From Concept to Reality, my 12-step program designed to develop and launch a business or idea.

BUSINESS PLAN OUTLINE

Writing a business plan is where most people get stuck. They tend to think a business plan has to be a complicated, drawn-out process only an expert can complete; but that isn’t reality. A business plan simply states what your business is, how you will run it, how you’ll make money and what your goals are. It’s as simple as that.

 

FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY – 12 Steps to Develop and Launch a Business or Idea (+ Infographic)

Whether you want to start a business, build a product, or launch a ministry, the following 12 steps will be vital to your development, success, and longevity. Follow these steps and your dream will go from concept to reality.

Don’t Get Stuck in Stage 2 Living

One of the most popular butterflies there are is the Monarch butterfly. If you see a butterfly, most of the time it’s a Monarch. Its wings are black, orange, red and sometimes a little tan. The Monarch is a very fascinating creature. It goes through a metamorphosis that is very similar to the transformation we as humans undergo on our journey of success. There are 4 stages for the Monarch butterfly and I want to talk about them and draw a comparison to the stages and metamorphosis we go through in life.

STAGE 1: EGG

Adult butterflies lay eggs on the leaves of plants so that when the eggs hatch into caterpillars they can feed on the plants. Female butterflies lay a lot of eggs at once because not all of them survive. Butterfly eggs are very small, about the size of a pinhead. When you were born, God gave you a purpose and a gift and throughout out He gives us ideas. These ideas are eggs that will one day birth our dreams. You must appreciate the days of small beginnings and not get discouraged because they will grow into something great.

 STAGE 2: CATERPILLAR (LARVA) – THE FEEDING STAGE

When butterfly eggs hatch they become caterpillars. The job of the caterpillar is to eat as much as possible because it is preparing for its next stage in life. As the caterpillar grows, it goes through another phase; it splits its skin and sheds it about 4 or 5 times. Food eaten at this time is stored and used later as an adult. Caterpillars can grow 100 times their size during this stage. Remember, the size of the egg is about the size of a pinhead. But, within several week, the caterpillar will grow up to 2 inches long. At the end of this stage, the caterpillar will shed its skin for the last time and go into the pupa stage/cocoon.

SATGE 3: PUPA/CHRYSALIS

When the caterpillar is fully grown and has stopped eating, it becomes a pupa, also called a chrysalis. It’s shaped like a little kidney bean and depending on the species, the pupa may hang under a branch, hidden in leaves or buried underground. The pupa of many moths is protected inside a cocoon of silk.

The pupa stage can last from a few weeks, a month or even longer. Some species have a pupal stage that lasts for up to two years. In this stage it may look like nothing is going on, but major changes are happening on the inside. Rapid growth takes place in this stage. They develop their legs, wings, eyes and other parts of the adult butterfly. All of the eating the caterpillar did will provide energy for the mass amount of growth in this stage.

STAGE 4: ADULT – THE REPORDUCTIVE STAGE

The adult stage is what most people think of when they think of butterflies. They look very different from the caterpillar. The caterpillar has a few tiny eyes, stubby legs and very short antennae. The butterfly has long legs, long antennae, and compound eyes. They can also fly with their wings. One interesting fact about the butterfly is that the only thing they can’t do is grow. It does all of its growing in the caterpillar stage.

My motivation to you is to seize the moment. Just as the caterpillar eats and grows in stage 2, we also must learn and grow in stage 2. Because there’s going to come a point in time when we have to execute. There’s a time to learn and there’s a time to DO. Seize the moment right now and learn everything you can and take advantage of every opportunity at your fingertips.

Don’t wait for the “right time” to DO when you’ve been stuck in neutral for so long. NOW is the right time to DO and EXECUTE. You don’t have to know all of the steps to get started, but you do have to get started in order to get the ball rolling and be successful. At this point in the game, the NEXT step is the right step.

Again, the caterpillar’s job was to eat; the adult’s job is to mate and lay eggs for the next generation of butterflies. Most adult butterflies live only one or two weeks, but some species hibernate during the winter and may live several months. Butterflies can fly two to three thousand miles. Every stage in your life has a specific purpose. There is something that you must learn at every turn in life. It may be an easy lesson; it may be a difficult lesson, but if you don’t learn it, it will always come back around. In school, you learn the lesson then take the test. But, in life sometimes you must fail the test in order to learn the lesson.