How far would you be now?

How far would you be now?

Do you remember when you were a kid and someone told you to go do something and you got half way to your destination and they called you back and asked you; I wonder how far you would be now if you didn’t turn around? Do you notice how we often do the same thing to ourselves by not doing what we set out to do originally?  We usually have an idea of where we want to go, or where we would like to be at certain stages of our life.  Things in life happen that “call us back” and ask us where we would be now if we continued on.  I remembered when I turned 41 and woke up that morning and realized my house would have been paid for if I had got a 15 year mortgage!  But we cannot stay in those places mentally because we will never get to a destination worth going to if we live in regret. I heard one time that if we are depressed we are living in the past, and if we are anxious we are living in the future.  When we do either one of these we sacrifice the life we have now and it drains our energy for the future.  How about I issue us a challenge this Memorial day?  A lot of our fellow Americans gave it all so we could go where we planned without regret and help our country and glorify God with the blessings He gave us to subdue the earth.  Determine what you want to do, weather it is lose weight, get out of debt, get in shape, run a marathon or start a new career or business.  If you stay in the thinking about it or the planning mode without executing you will ask years from now where would I be if I followed through with that idea?  If you are afraid of failure embrace it, the bigger you fail it usually means the bigger the payoff will be.  I would rather fail at an endeavor than to never try and wonder where I would be if I had tried. I am glad our veterans didn’t quit because there is no telling where or who we would be now. Let’s not listen to that voice that calls us back because it is just going to ask; how far would you be now?

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching 5-27-13

Doing it for God?

 Doing it for God?

  When a person feels like they have found their calling they often feel like that’s what God has put them on earth to do. We feel like we need to do this for God.  I believe that our calling is a wonderful gift from God, but a lot of times we make that our god. We use our calling to define our identity and not who we are as Christians, sons of God. We as men, especially, shape our whole life around our work.   We look to our calling to bring us happiness, fulfillment, peace and joy. Our calling cannot hold up under this kind of pressure, it is not made to carry that kind of weight.   We want Gods power to push our calling on to the next level, to be better than everyone at what we do. Doing your work with excellence is what we should do, but if our work is not worship to a most holy God, we may have the wrong motives pushing us to succeed.  Don’t worry if you’re His child He will fix the problem so that you do not continue on that path.   We may not even be in our calling and we just try to add His power to where we are and say we are doing it for God.  I have, more than once, determined that Almighty God is self-sufficient and doesn’t need me or anyone to “do anything for Him.”   “Jesus didn't come into the world to lend His power to already existing appetites. That's the fundamental mistake of the prosperity gospel. Leave people untransformed in what they crave, and simply add the power of Jesus as the way to get it. That is not the gospel. It is a kind of acclamation that Jesus walks away from. John Piper” So one might ask; what needs to be my motive?  Do I have to do anything with the talents God gave me?  Shouldn’t I use the talents He gave me?  Am I just wasting my talent and passion?  I struggle with this a lot.  But, God will always lead us to where he wants us, teaching us a lot on the way. Humans default mode is generally, we have to do things in this world to earn approval of man. We carry this over in our relationship with God and assume we have to do everything in our life to earn Gods approval.   I have found out that I do not have to use my calling as a way to earn “God points.”  If I mess up it does not do well with man here on earth but Christ purchased my standing with God.  I am accepted and redeemed!  With that in mind this frees me to pursue my God given talents and passions as worship and not as a system to earn a smile from God. Our standing, as Christians, with God is the same as in Christ’s standing with the Father.  I don’t have to work at my calling to be accepted, I get to freely pursue the joy that it brings in my life and if I fail God sees me the same, accepted! The great thing about failure is that it teaches me to win by pursuing my calling in a new way or moves me on to where God wants me.  So, if you are a Christian, you can feel free to take the risk of your calling. If you mess up along the way, and you will, its ok you have nothing to earn with God.  Jesus took care of that for us!    Christ made our work acceptable to God as worship.  So let’s go out and worship with our work and enjoy our talents and remember that God uses our work to bless us and help others! Our calling should be used to worship God not to make God smile. Jesus made Him smile for eternity and we can enjoy it forever.   You don’t have to work, you get too!!      

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching

Is it time for a change?

<b> Is it time for a change? We often do the same things day in and day out, year in and year out, and become comfortably numb to the way we live. A lot of the things we do we may not enjoy such as our job and the way we handle our money. We keep on going to our place of work and instead of enjoying it we just learn to endure the day. This also affects the way we handle our finances. When we are not happy in our daily work routine we will try to find something to buy or go on as many vacations we can to find joy. Money can buy fun but it cannot buy happiness. So how do you know when you need to make some changes? Here are a few things that may indicate to you to change your life. 1. If you get this sinking feeling Sunday evening around 6pm when you realize that you have to work in the morning. Don’t let going to work ruin your time off create a plan to find new work or start a business. 2. If you have a short fuse with your friends and family when the week starts. When we dislike our work we tend to be snappy with others, although you don’t want to be this way the wrath falls on the family and friends. Don’t get frustrated because of the pressure you feel from not enjoying what you are doing. Set up a time line to explore other opportunities. One thing that helps is be thankful you are able to work and have a place to work, but if you know your job is not your calling use the experience as a stepping stone to move on. 3. If your resume is a list of things you do not like to do, it’s time for a change. Just because someone is hiring and paying good does not mean it is a good fit for you. If you hate math but become a CPA because they pay well you are setting yourself up for a tough ride. 4. If you go out and buy stuff to give you a happy feeling and you are going farther into debt. We cannot buy joy and happiness, but we can buy fun. Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not an appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not friends; servants but not faithfulness; days of fun, but not peace happiness and joy. Henrik Ibsen I am not saying quit where you are at, but begin to plan where you want to be whether it is in your career life or your financial life. We get so busy doing the things in life we declare as “urgent” that we always live in crisis mode. When you are constantly in crisis mode without a plan it is hard to take time to make a plan for what is really important in life. Remember you don’t have to, you get to. Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching

The problem with Freedom

The problem with freedom I know it sounds strange, that a problem would exist if you are free. I believe that we, as Americans, have a problem with freedom. The problem is that we do now know how to live free! We say we want freedom of speech, freedom from an oppressive government, freedom in our finances, freedom to do work we love, freedom of religion and so on. When we think we have these freedoms we subconsciously begin to go back into bondage in these areas. I believe with true freedom there is a responsibility to make the best choices we can, not the easiest choice. The best choice is the one that leaves us free to prosper. I have come to learn that freedom is not free or an easy choice to make. It cost you something, but the cost is well worth the payment. We think freedom is easy because we define it as doing what we want, not what is best. When things get hard, because we made a difficult choice, we begin to go back to the easy bondage that we were used to before. Take your finances for example; suppose you want to become debt free and you decide to stop using credit, save money to pay for purchases and pay off your debt. We start off like our hair is on fire to reach that goal, but when it doesn’t happen quickly (six months, one year or even two years) we start feeling trapped, we feel like we will never have anything or do anything fun again. Before you know it all you are looking at is what you cannot do without realizing that by paying off your debt. You are becoming less of a slave to the bank you borrowed your money from. You free your money up when it no longer belongs to the credit card company. Proverbs 22:7 says “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.” That does not sound free at all. We also do this in our careers, I want a job where I can do work I love and be free to do work that matters. Maybe we decide to open a new business in an area that we love to work and serve others. We jump off into it on pure emotion knowing this is what God called us to do! Well maybe He has called us to do it but we believe just because God called us to do it we cannot fail. We make our calling our god and plan poorly without counsel. Before you know it bills are coming in the way you thought money would be coming in and you panic and decide to quit. You run back to the job that you were in bondage to before. You think it just wasn’t meant to be. Everyone else can do it but me. Remember freedom is neither free nor easy, it is hard and costly, but the return can be out of this world. Don’t give up on what you have been called to do, create a plan, make mistakes, change the plan, and make a bunch more mistakes, keep changing and tweaking the plan till you reach your goal. It will probably take longer that a couple of years, this life of freedom is a process, and it is exciting, crazy, tragic and beautiful. Look at all of the ups and downs the Israelites had going from slaves in Egypt to the “Promised Land”. It was tough but they were learning how to be free. Finally, how about being a Christian. Jesus came to the earth to set us free from the wrath of God. He came and paid the price so we could live free indeed in the Kingdom of God, and enjoy Him forever. Now look He done it for us and we still mess it up. Christ came and lived the perfect sinless life, paid the debt we could never pay, gave us credit just as if we had done it , even though we could not have. What is the first thing we do when Jesus saves us and frees us from the penalty of sin? We start doing good works to try and earn what is already counted as ours. Instead of doing good works because we get to do them, we think we have to do them, earn it, and we enslave ourselves in a works mentality that He died to free us from. We live like if we do enough good things God will like us more. If we work up our faith muscle enough God will smile more at us. If I pray more and read my bible more God will like me better. If you are a Christian He looks at you and sees Christ weather you are doing the disciplines or not. Don’t get me wrong the disciplines are good for you, but we need do them because we are free to do them and not because we are earning righteousness that only Christ can earn for us. There is a joy when you do something because you want to instead of because you have to do it. Go do the hard things that others who don’t want freedom choose not to do!! Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. Ronald Reagan For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. Alexis de Tocqueville Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. John Quincy Adams “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ― Benjamin Franklin, “Freedom lies in being bold.” ― Robert Frost Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching

Committed

Committed I recently watched the documentary, Monumental, and Kirk Cameron stated that the pilgrims had a 500 year plan. I think I am looking ahead when I do my yearly goals! They were not just thinking about themselves and what they could get, they thought generational. They had a dream about starting something so great that would be a blessing for generations to come, and not just to get them some quick relief and prosperity. They wanted freedom to pursue a life they felt God called them to live. A huge number of them died and they all suffered unimaginable difficulties, but they were committed to what they felt was a just cause. I am glad that they did, because we have all reaped the benefits of their unselfish life. I look back at what they did and realize if I had to do it now with others, it looks impossible and the country would not be here now. Their failures put them in jail; cost them their lives and possessions. We are ready to quit after a little hiccup, but they tried again and again until they succeeded. Their failure eliminated the wrong way to do things. They did not give up when things were bad, really bad. They obviously didn’t adhere to the idea that the government will handle it! As a nation that has had, is having and will have tough times, we need to plan and work for a future that will be a blessing to us and others, instead a quick fix. We were started by people who took responsibility for their own lives and obeyed God and stuck to what they believed. We wait for a candidate to improve the economy instead of getting control of our finances and living on a budget. We don’t step out in faith and start a business or pursue work that stirs our hearts and fulfills our calling because we think it’s safer if you stick to a “secure job.” During this economy we have found out that your only safety is in your ability to produce. You have to leave the shore to find a new land when the old place is unbearable! If we want things to change we are going to have to do hard things, sacrifice and invest for the future, and not just our future. What do you want America to look like in 200 years? We have the ability to shape what our country looks like. A boat load of determined people shaped what our beginning looked like. The best time to plant an oak tree for shade was 50 years ago. The next best time to plant one is today! We may not get any shade from that tree but our children’s children might. I hope your great grandchildren have a wonderful country to live in. I also hope you wish the same for mine. How about let’s leave them with the same blessing we have had, a wonderful country where they are free to pursue what God has called them to do on earth. We will have to sacrifice but they will reap a great blessing. Just a few proverbs for wisdom; “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.” Proverbs 21:20 “The plan of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5 “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” Proverbs 13:22 “May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” Psalms 20:4 I will be doing a free budgeting class, Checkbook checkup on October 6th. Let me know if you are interested. Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching

Tough Times or Learning Opportunity

Tough Times or learning opportunity If you are human you go through tough times and problems. Dozens of books have been sold with techniques and principles to help you avoid them. But, somehow we still have tough times no matter what advice we follow. If you are a Christian, like me, we sometimes have been led to believe that if we try hard enough or believe more we will be rescued from trouble and tough times. In the book, When Hard times come, Dudley Hall says God doesn’t offer escape as His solution to difficulty, but rather grace. The grace provided through the gospel of Jesus Christ embraces trouble and transforms it into a display case for Gods glory. That is one thing I need to do is embrace trouble and learn to grow from its training. We should look at our tough times as training; instead we view them as an obstacle we cannot get over and begin to count it as an injury and walk with a limp. We make excuses such as; I will save money when I make more. I will look for work I like better, when the job market improves. If you listen to the news as your indicator of when things get better they never will. Bad news makes the headlines juicier. We think everyone who has reached the levels we want to reach did it without many problems. Something encouraging, for me, was Dan Millers Living Loving Working, Dan and Joanne share a lot of problems they faced that prepared them for what they do today. I want to encourage you to look at the problems you have today and recognize that no matter how long you have been going through them that you are getting the strength to handle the success you have been dreaming of your whole life. Another thing I have to recognize is that you are either going into a trial, in the middle of one or coming out of one. Professional athletes don’t have to get in shape one time for their whole career; they have to do it every year and battle through the injuries. Don’t just focus on the problem but on where you are going. If we focus on the problem, that is all we see and it becomes an idol. Keep on keeping on and learn from your tough times. Also share them, it helps us who are going through similar issues and gives us hope!! As Dennis Peacocke says “Power is guarded by Problems.” "The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears." Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching

Ordinary Living 6-20-12 How do you live? Do you live an ordinary life? By ordinary I mean similar to what everyone else does in their daily routine. You try to manage life to go as smoothly as you can and avoid all of the hassles and rough spots that may happen. I believe it is easy for us to fall into what everyone else is doing and shoot for a calm as possible lifestyle. Hey, who wants to take a risk in times like these, you could lose everything. At some point in your life you realize that, it’s hard to live an ordinary life when you are not ordinary. The world says get a steady job with good benefits, that’s the responsible way to live. Well as we have found out those are hard to come by nowadays; companies found out that being like the other ordinary companies is hard. I believe that each person is created uniquely different and are talented in different areas than others. Ok, so that is not rocket science to figure out that we are different. So why do we try to be like everyone else. We waste the person that we were designed to be when we try to be ordinary. Ordinary is living pay check to pay check, that’s what 7 out of 10 homes in America do. You could be different and actually use the budget you have written down somewhere, but never implemented. Start searching for that job or career you always wanted but didn’t think was for you. Hey, which life are you going to do these things in? Just start where you are at and draw a map to where you want to go. It is really more responsible to pursue what you were created to be. Make it impossible to for the life you want to refuse you. Create an environment to succeed. It’s not fast or easy, but it is where you find the extraordinary life you were meant to have. You are guaranteed to have an ordinary life if you do not try the out of the ordinary routine. Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching

Is your mind a coffin?

Is your mind a coffin? What are some of your dreams and ideas that you do not act on? Everything that we do starts in our brain as a thought. We can choose to act on it our not. Some things are just crazy and wild that we come up with. We can either act on ideas or keep suppressing them. If we act on it we either fail or succeed. If you fail keep trying and perfecting/shaping the idea or dream until you succeed. or determine to move on to something else. If we keep suppressing the idea or dream, it can turn into loss of hope or depression. Why do we work so hard to fight living our dream and acting on ideas? Are we afraid of the unknown, or of failure? Do we not want to risk the “safe comfort” that we think we have? We all will die someday, live until you die, don’t just sit around waiting to die and miss life. Your idea may be a business idea or a change of life style. So it leads to the question; “:Is your mind a coffin or an incubator for your dreams and ideas?” A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation. A incubator, for our purpose is-. A place or situation that permits or encourages the formation and development, as of new ideas. So are you burying your ideas and dreams by thinking that it will never work, or I cant do that only other people can. Why don’t we start using our minds as incubator's by putting them in a mental environment that is conducive to growth and development. God has given us these dreams and ideas to develop and not bury. Don’t bury your dreams or passions, feed them by reading, getting a coach, or getting around people who are having success in the areas you are interested in developing. 48 days.net is a great place to incubate! Don’t expect God to “miracle” you to your dream without any effort on your part. Don't let that dream or idea die, incubate it and let it hatch and grow. Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching 3-17-12

You can't do business going out of business

You cant do business going out of business With all of the talk of the economy up and down, and gas prices going up again, we tend to think that things are just going to stay the same or get worse. When we think and act that way those results show up in our lives; our actions make them come true. Sometimes we try to change our thoughts and we give it a good try, thinking our situation will change. When the results don’t show up like we think they should we fall back into the same mode, “this is just the way things are” and we give up. The world of instant information, microwaves, calling people on the go and technology in general have made us forget that these things are tools to help us. These great tools don’t replace the seed time and harvest principle that God uses. I see so many people get caught up with the mind set that everything is doomed to fail. The church thinks that way sometimes. Just hang on til Jesus comes and everything will be OK. There is one thing we need to remember, you cannot do business going out of business! I have been taught this from my father in the faith, Wade Trimmer. Now whether you are a Christian or not the principle applies. How do you plan for the future when you think things are over now? You can't, you go out of business if you think things are over now because you just don’t care. What if you opened a business just knowing that it will go out of business eventually? How do you think that would turn out? Every thought and action done without zeal care and hope will push your mindset closer to the “its over” mentality. “Oh just give up, the little man cant get ahead.” I say keep working toward the dreams and things in life you want. Keep trying to get out of debt, even though you income has went down. Make plans for that new career or business you have dreamed about. So keep doing business we need you. Remember Colonel Sanders, he didn’t cook any chicken till he was 67! He didn’t go out of business in his older age! Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching 3-10-12

Cost Versus Value

Cost versus Value Most of us have heard the saying we know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. We can apply that to many areas of our lives. Sometimes we have paid more money than we have intended when purchasing something but received a lot of value out of the purchase. To value something, is to esteem and put worth on the item. What are you doing that will or will not bring value to your life now and in the future? Small deposits whether, financially or relationally cost us something. We may deposit a small amount of money to save for something in the future. It will cost us a trip out to eat or a little “thingy” we feel we must have, but it is worth it if you are saving for your golden years or you children s college fund. We fail to plan our lives because it cost to much time and is costly to stick to the plans we make. Sometimes it just doesn't feel good. As Dave Ramsey says “children do what feels good, adults devise a plan and follow it.” It may not be just a financial cost, but a time and energy cost as well. We all have 168 hours a week to invest in our lives. Please if someone can find more than that I need to know where! Subtract 40 hours a week for work, say 56 hours a week for sleep. According to Nielsen Co. we watch 28 hours of T.V. A week! That would leave you 44 hours a week left to live. Our time is very valuable! How you spend it will determine what you value and determine what you get in return. When coaching people we set goals and priorities. Just like when making a budget, telling your money what to do, you can do that with your time and invest in things that will bring you value in your life. So what are you doing now that will bring you value down the road? What do you need to eliminate that is costing a lot and not bringing any value? (28 hours a week of television would be something good to eliminate) Is what you are spending your time on going to bring value to your life? Is your work worth spending your life on? Is your money being spent the best way it can be to bring you things of value in your life? Are things in life costing you everything and bringing little value? Remember you are in charge of you, make the necessary changes. Let me know if I can help. Tim West Go West Coaching 2-20-12

Focus

Focus You have probably heard the saying to focus on where you are going to get to where you want to be. That is true. You have to know were you are going to arrive at that destination. Or as Yogi Berra would say, if you don’t know where you are going you may wind up some place else. When helping people get out of debt or working with them on career direction, I help clients (friends) keep their eye on the goal. But sometimes, and I have been guilty of looking too far ahead myself. We get so focused on where we want to be that we take our eyes off what we should be doing now and get discouraged. We also miss the lesson we should be learning from the process. We can be so focused on being debt free that we don’t do the small things like put the extra money aside that we squeeze out of our budget for the debt. When we do this it slows our progress down and we get frustrated and have a pity party and buy something instead! (yes I have done that!) Always keep in mind where you want to go, but keep looking at each step you take. If you write a book you want to focus on finishing it, but you have to go one page at a time, and one word at a time to get to the end. So I want to encourage you to look to where you want to be, but focus on the step that you are on. God has you in the place where you are now for a reason, so keep on focusing and don’t sweat the small stuff. You will get there, not in the amount of time you would like, but in the right time. Don't miss the woods for the trees! Tim West Go West Coaching 2-11-12

Whats a coach??

What is a coach?

When people hear the word coach, they either think of a sport or think about a counselor. Can a coach help you? Lets find out. I help coach people in personal and small business finance .I also work with people in finding the right career to match their calling or to find their calling. Now a counselor is someone who deals mainly with the past and events that have happened to people in the past to lead you to where you are today. Consulting is objective observation of where the individual or organization is and gives specific recommendations on where to go. A Coach is someone who actively listens and focuses on where the client wants be, understanding the past, but moves with a plan to where the individual is going. The client is the initiator of direction. A coach has a partnership with the client. The coach assists the client in maximizing skills, talents and gifts already there that they may not recognize or have been forgotten about or overlooked. A coach listens observes an shapes the process for the individual. Or to put it in a football application, the coach designs the play to the abilities of the athlete and walks them through it while cheering for them on the sidelines.

There are many areas where coaching can be beneficial. I am constantly running across new fields where coaches are emerging. If you decide you want to be coached by someone in a particular area that you want to improve and prosper in make sure you and the coach are compatible. Are you comfortable with them, do you trust them, do they really care about you and helping you win in the area you seek help. Set up a meeting to see if the coach fits you and your personality. You are investing in yourself when you hire a coach and it should produce returns the rest of your life. So determine if you need a coach, counselor or a consultant. It can change your life! As Robert Kiyosaki said amateurs don't have coaches, professionals do. Let me know if I can help.
Tim West 11-8-11

Go West Coaching