Definitions and Acronyms for me to remember:

NR = New Rich

DEAL & DELA

D for Definition

E for Elimination

A for Automation

L for Liberation

W4W = Work for work’s sake

Dysphoria is the direct opposite of Euphoria

Eustress is a term coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye which is defined in the model of Richard Lazarus (1974) as stress that is healthy, or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or other positive feelings. Eustress is a process of exploring potential gains. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress)

Key thoughts for me to remember that strike a cord with me:

D:  To retire early or young.

NR: To distribute recovery periods and adventures (mini-retirements) throughout life on a regular basis and recognize that inactivity is not the goal.  Doing that which excites you is. (Ferriss 22)

D:  To make a ton of money.

NR:  To make a ton of money with specific reasons and defined dreams to chase, timelines and steps included.  What are you working for? (Ferriss 23)  For many years this had been my focus to simple make a ton of money.  Now though, because of personal and spiritual changes that have gone on in my life, my focus is still to make a ton of money but it is to accomplish specific goals in the area of giving, starting charities or non-profit organizations and pursue activities alone, with my wife and with our kids that we haven’t and can’t do now.

D:  To have freedom from doing that which you dislike.

NR:  To have the freedom from doing that which you dislike, but also the freedom and resolve to pursue your dreams without reverting to work for work’s sake… (Ferriss 23 and 24)

Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. (Ferriss 24)  This is the freedom multiplier!

Let the hard questions begin!

2. How has doing what you “should” resulted in subpar experiences or regret for not having done something else? (Ferris 37)  My attending college immediately after graduating high school and attending the college that I felt my parents wanted me to attend has been something I have definitely had regretted.  I do have to admit though if it had not been for me to attend where I did, I would now be married to my wonderful wife and we wouldn’t have our awesome inspiring kids.

3. Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would happen if I did the opposite of the people around me?  What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years? (Ferriss 37)  This is a hard question.  I am in some ways already doing the opposite of what the people around me are doing, though I know I can do more.  I have already proven to myself that I can have a professional career while only having attended one year of college.  Do I want to ever get a college degree?  Defiantly, but on my terms and where I want to attend!

At the age of twenty I had already gotten married to a woman with two children.  At age twenty-one we had three children.  In the process of fighting against current of what others do I have been all of the following: Call Center Representative (four  times), truck driver, pizza delivery professional, electronics store stock person and sales person, part of a mall cleaning crew, retail associate at two different clothing stores, insurance sales person for three different companies, an outside sales professional at one computer support company, a Regional Account Manager, an Inside Sales Professional twice, and have joined and quit two MLM companies.

I have been on the verge of ending my marriage more than I like to admit.  I have dealt with suicidal thoughts.  Overcoming a particular destructive addictive behavior is a daily fight for me.

“What would happen if I did the opposite of the people around me?”  When I do it against God’s principles it destroys me and those around me.  When I do it and I am aligned with God’s principles, I am more blessed than I know how to express!

“What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years?” If I were to sacrifice and fight against God’s will and principles I would be miserable.  If I continue to only trust marginally in God and His will and not continue to fight the current of mediocrity I too will be miserable.

So, why the sarcasm for “vacation” at the very beginning of this post?  Simply for the fact that over this next year I am going to strive to enjoy my vacations with as little drama as possible from outside forces – Here’s to the beginning of an awesome year!

The 4-Hour Workweek – Beginning the Journey is a post from: domingo rogers

This first video, performed by Chris Tomlin, needs no less of an introduction suffice to say this is his version of Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).  Enjoy

This second video is performed by a fairly new artist to me, by the name of Mindy Smith.  Today this video and the song, Come To Jesus, meant a lot to me….

Even in hard times there is hope in His arms.

Ok, now for some really cool trailers!  My good friend Jake Carpenter (@jakecarpenter) tweeted this link recently and I feel that it is cool enough to be mentioned here.  This movie is going to be released for standard theater screens and Imax.  Can you guess where I want to be watching Avitar in December?

This next trailer made me so stoked when my brother emailed me.  For those of you who didn’t know me in high school and in college, I was a huge MechWarrior and BattleTech fan (both on the computer and the table top game).  Well without further ado, MechWarrior -

And finally the video to make you think about this next week

Cool Music Videos & Just Cool Videos is a post from: domingo rogers

Psalm 62:9; Psalm 90:10; James 4:14

Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 29:11; Rom 8:29-30

Day 2 of 100DTD Challenge (Spiritual) is a post from: domingo rogers

Nothing out of the ordinary but I do have to say that my day felt more full of life and purpose!

Day 1 of 100DTD Challenge (Spiritual) is a post from: domingo rogers

100DTD Change My Body

Here I am committing to:

• Working out 1 hour a day every day – no excuses

My goals:

• Build applied strength
• Increase flexibility
• Put on muscle mass

100DTD Change My Spiritual Life

Here I am committing to:

• Spending a half hour to 1 hour a day in reading the Bible and prayer

My goals:

• Build Spiritual strength
• Seek God’s will in earnest
• Grow closer to my Savior and Creator

You will be able to follow my progress on my 100DTD Change My Body and my 100DTD Change My Spiritual Life.   This will be for my benefit so I can see where I am making progress and where I can do better.  For both Categories comments are welcomed and appreciated!

For my 100DTD…Change My Body I will be recording my workouts and the food that I eat every day.  I’m leaving this very open ended because I am not doing a lot of planning on what workouts I am doing as to not use it as an excuse for not working out.  Suffice to say I will be running, weight lifting, rock climbing, stretching, and practicing Tang Soo Do.  My food recordings starting out will be as precise as possible but I’m not going to get crazy and get all nutritional or anything!  That’s not the way I eat – I eat basically what I want in moderation and this is what will be recorded.  I will also be posting a beginning picture and a picture on day 101.

For my, 100DTD Change My Spiritual Life, I will be recording the passage of scripture that I read and any source material, whether online or as a physical book/article.  Here again I am being very open ended because if I plan this out to much I am probably fall into the excuse of not engaging in a meaningful time of focus on the Word and in prayer.  I plan on providing links to as much as possible on the on my Spiritual food as well.

All of these posts will not be announced through Facebook, Twitter, or FriendFeed.  I do encourage you to follow my progress and to comment on my 100DTD Challenge(s).

Want to join me on a similar journey?  Go to:  http://100dtd.ning.com/ and sign up for FREE!  Together we can achieve more!!

100DTD Challenge(s) is a post from: domingo rogers

This first one is by a band that some of you may or may not know of: Newsboys.  The song is called Something Beautiful and really pulls at my heart for it really just points to the simple point – That love, true genuine, unconditional love is something truly beautiful.  Take a look.

This next video is by U2 and in my opinion is their very best song of all time.  Some may argue that this song is rivaled by “With or Without You,” however, I would strongly disagree.   This awesome song was performed by U2 at Slane Castle in Ireland back in 2002.  Enjoy.

Finally this next video is a cover performance of  Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.”  This video has made my pick because of two reasons:

1. It was performed at a church with the congregants giving the band players and singer a standing ovation at the end.
2. I am one of the camera operators filming.  None of the video was edited in post production and what you see is what the Hope church attendees saw on stage and on the two large screens on either side of the stage.  Following this sweet performance Pastor Mike Lee had some really cool things to say about “Crazy Train.” Now, watch the video!

Let me know if you like this series of posts with videos.  If you have recommendations for cool videos, please comment!  I’d love to hear your thoughts and see what you think is cool!

Cool Music Videos is a post from: domingo rogers

I must digress for a moment though and explain some background. This was the second time that my wife and I had separated because of my indiscretions. I had this time been spending my nights alone. My parents had been gracious enough to allow me to reside basically at a location that I should not have been staying at. Nothing illegal mind you, just probably against certain lease agreements.

During this period I had a lot of time to read and think. God had a lot of time for me to have little to do but have a listening ear to His voice as well. I tried to fight it, but as demonstrated with Jacob wrestling with God, Genesis 32:23-34, God had the upper hand (pun unintended). Much of the work that God was doing in my life I truly believe was because of the prayer that my beautiful wife, even in the darkest moments of the storm, kept offering up in faith and in love to my Father above. And she let me know she was doing so and I kept telling her to stop. It was pointless, or so I wanted her to believe. But, she didn’t. It just made her pray all the more for me! On one of the days that we arranged to meet so that I could spend time with our five kids she even gave me the book by Josh Hamilton, Beyond Belief, along with a copy of the service that some of my friends from our local church, Hope Community Church, had recorded. At the time she gave it to me I was frankly angry that she done this for me and told her she was stupid for doing so. Needless to say she didn’t appreciate that. What do you know? Two weeks later I was reading it and shortly after reading it the fox ran across the road as I was heading to work.

That morning I woke up at my normal time of 6:30am. I had thrown on my clothes after rolling off the couch, brushed my teeth, folded up my sleeping bag and stashed it and my pillow behind the couch and the love seat that I had been calling “my pad.”

I took US 1 out of Apex instead of my usual route of driving the back streets. My commute of less than 10 minutes was uneventful until I was on the main street leading into my office complex in Cary, North Carolina. Out of the corner of my left eye I saw a streak of red come out from the woods. It was a slim, sleek fox! It was so cool looking. The auburn coat and white underbelly, it’s tail strait out as it ran! I had never seen a fox outside of a museum, zoo or dead on the side of the road. It darted across my driving path and other commuters, as well as myself, were forced to brake so as not to hit it. The fox survived the crossing and I continued on my way wondering how many times the fox had and would try to make the crossing of this road and others in it’s territory.

As I was pulling into my parking place, God in no uncertain terms spoke to me. It wasn’t a voice booming out of the clouds but it was His voice! How many times are you going to stray from that which I have blessed you? How many close calls will you have to witness before you realize that I am protecting you, even when you are straying from me. The fast lane of this World offers much but it can take much from you. Stop straying out into the road that the World has to offer! I have so much more to give to you but you must make the choice to come back to Me!

Hearing this was almost too much for me to handle. I prayed then and there, repenting for my selfish actions, my self centered lustful thoughts, my focus on me and no one else. The prayer wasn’t on my knees, it was an internal crying out to God as a re-dedication of my life to His will. Shortly after walking into my office building and heading to the gym area to take a shower and change into my work clothes, I was on the phone with my wife. It was a call I hadn’t thought I would ever have made. It was a phone call of apology, of an earnest plea to allow me to fight for our love. It was a cry to her that I was serious about the marriage vows that I had made, but for most of our marriage didn’t take seriously. I was done with blaming her and saying if “You hadn’t done ___ I wouldn’t have done ____!” I was ready to rededicate my love to her and to our family. I was ready to show her through my actions that things would be different. It was a call that changed my life and it goes to show you that when God works in someones life, things can change drastically and dramatically!

A couple days later I took the US 1 route to work. As I approached the area I had seen the fox dart across the road I saw it again! This time though it was dead. How pleased was I to have the realization that I was back where God intended for me to be. That my journey with Him was reestablished. I knew the work ahead of me to right the wrong to those that I hurt would be difficult but I knew that all things are possible with God who gives me strength! Matthew 19:26

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, do not give up on those that you pray for. Do not waiver in your faith that He who knows all things and directs the very symphony of the universe will work in your life and the lives that you pray for. I do implore you in this. Do not allow yourself to be manipulated or cast down by those members, perhaps even those in your very family. Connect with those Believers around you and find those that you may trust. Gather together and pray that God would lead you in the path that He wants for your life and trust Him to work in the lives of those that may have even done you wrong. Even in writing this I pray for you that I don’t know and for those that you pray for.

Why did the fox cross the road? is a post from: domingo rogers

I was, in my opinion, doing pretty well. I had a respectable job, I went to church, I had accepted Christ as my personal Savior when I was 5, had grown up in the church, and I was a decent guy. Yeah, I know I wasn’t perfect, but again – I thought I was doing pretty well. But I was lying to myself and those around me.

Let this be message of hope to you the praying parent, to you the praying spouse, to you the sibling on your knees, to you the friend praying before the Lord – interceding on someones behalf. I am walking testament and there are many others that can attest to their lives being changed l because of prayers such as yours. Do not give up on us. Do not give up on the Lord our God who can do anything! I was steeped in sin and it was through the power of prayer of those Christians that knew of my story and the story of my wife and God using a red fox running across the road to change my life.

A Witness to the Power of Prayer is a post from: domingo rogers