Things Everybody Needs to Understand About People

Knowing what people need and want is the key to understanding them. And if you can understand them, you can influence them and impact their lives in a positive way. John C. Maxwell and Jim Dornan in their book How to Influence People writes, “If we were to boil down all the things we know about understanding people and narrow them down to a short list, we would identify these five things:

1) Everybody Wants to Be Somebody

“There isn’t a person in the world who doesn’t have the desire to be someone, to have significance. Even the least ambitious and unassuming people wants to be regarded highly by others”

2) Nobody Cares How Much You Know Until He Knows How Much You Care

“To be an influencer, you have to love people before you try to lead them. The moment that people know that you care for and about them, the way they feel about you changes.”

3) Everybody Needs Somebody

“Contrary to popular belief, there are no such things as self-made men and women. Everybody needs friendship, encouragement and help… If you understand that, are willing to give to others and help them, and maintain the right motives, their lives and yours can change.”

4) Everybody Can Be Somebody When Somebody Understands and Believes in Them

“Once you understand people and believe in them, they really can become somebody. And it doesn’t take much effort to help other people feel important. Little things, done deliberately at the right time, can make a big difference.”

5) Anybody Who Helps Somebody Influences a Lot of Bodies

“The thing you need to understand about people is that when you help one person, you’re really impacting a lot of other people. What you give to one person overflows into the lives of all the people that person impacts.”

Let each of you look not only to his own interests,

but also to the interests of others.
(Philippians 2:4)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Quotes from:

John C. Maxwell and Jim Dornan, How to Influence People: Make A Difference in Your World (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013) Pg. 85-91

 

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What is Maturity?

“God isn’t interested in our success

He’s interested in our maturity” (Fred Smith).

Maturity is what lack in our society today. I’m concern, do you? Maturity doesn’t necessary come with age or number of our birthdays; it comes, in my mind, with acceptance of responsibility. Where acceptance of responsibility absents or denied in the family circles or in workplace or church, it shows the level of our immaturity. Matured people accept responsible willingly and exercise authority with a humble heart. What else is maturity? Ann Landers writes:

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction.

Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of the long-term gain.

Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks.

Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse.

Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say “I was wrong.” And, when right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying, “I told you so.”

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities; then they do nothing.

Maturity means dependability, keeping one’s word, coming through in crisis. The immature are masters of alibi. They are disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business, and good intentions that somehow never materialize.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which should be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Are you a matured person?

Pastor Chuck Swindoll puts it this way: “A sign of maturity is when you go

from a thick skin and a hard heart to a tough skin and a soft heart.”

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

How to Influence People: Make a Difference in Your World



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 “’Come and follow me,’ said Jesus. And they straight away went and follow Him. That’s influence! Jesus was not just a great Savior and a humble leader – He was also a revolutionary influencer. Jesus is our Lord and we’re His slaves. Thus, slaves must follow their Lord’s examples. Everyone of us is influencing everyone around us. The question is not are people influenced by us, but are we influenced others for good or bad? Positive or negative? When we claim to be followers of Jesus, we must be sure that people can see that we are truly following Him. Then many others will want to follow Jesus as well because they like what they see in us. When we influence others positively and the Holy Spirit is with us, we can say to people, “Come and follow Jesus”” (Richard Angelus, Word Speaks Today blogger)

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the most effective way to make an impact on the world is to make an impact on individual people. How do you do that? Through influence.

In How to Influence People, leadership guru John C. Maxwell and his friend Jim Dornan tell you how to make a positive impact on every person in your life, from your children and coworkers to your customers and the barista at the coffee shop.

How to Influence People will empower you to become a potent and positive influence in the lives of those around you without using a position or title. By “pouring you life into other people” (Dr. Maxwell’s definition of mentoring), “you can truly make a difference in their lives.” And when you make a difference in the lives of others, it makes a difference in your life too.

Learn to perceive the stages of influence in your relationships and skillfully navigate your progress from perfect stranger to helpful confidant, to inspiring mentor and multiplier of influencers.

Let this book impact your relationships, great and small, and make you a positive influencer and better leader in the lives of those around you.

[From back cover of this book]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

FREE BOOKS!

Happy Chinese New Year 2014! This month of February 2014, I would like to offer you 3 BOOKS (ONLY) entitled How to Influence People: Make a Difference in Your World by John C. Maxwell and Jim Dornan.

You are welcome to get a copy of this book for yourself by simply do these 2 things:

1.  First, comment below “Rich, give me one copy (Your name). I hope that through this book I can/may… [Not less than 10 words]”
2. Then, send message to my inbox Facebook account your real name, phone no. and your postal address. [For book distribution purposes only]Thank you.

Around the Cross We See

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Isaiah 53

Who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
    like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
    nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.

But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
    he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
    my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
    for he will bear all their sins.
I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
    because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Getting Started as a Writer



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“If you want to be a writer,

you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
(Stephen King, On Writing. Sell your iPhone and buy this book!)

I once read and record about novelist Sinclair Lewis was supposed to deliver an hour-long lecture to a group of college students who planned to be writers. Lewis opened his talk with a question: “How many of you really intend to be writers?”

All hands went up. “In that case,” said Lewis, “my advice to you is to go home and write.”

With that, he left.

People often asked me how to write. My answer is the same as Sinclair Lewis “go home and write” or simply put – start to write. True that getting started is the hard part of writing. You may stare at your notebook or computer monitor for hours and the right words doesn’t seem to come out. But just like learning to ride a bicycle, at first it was so hard and impossible to do: falling, bleeding, crying and standing up again. Then after awhile (added with encouragements and determinations) you begin to mastered balancing, handling and paddling. Lo and behold, you ride a bicycle! You get the firsts of everything and take time to learn a skill but once you mastered it (or know just how to do it) the rest come out easily.

What to write? You can start to write from what you see, smell, hear and feel. Hendry David Thoreau suggests, “The forcible writer stand boldly behind his words with his experience. He does not make books out of books, but he has been there in person.” Now, get a pen or keyboard and start to write! J

Remember this rule of writing:

“Never try to impress people with the profundity of your thought

or by obscurity of your language.

Whatever has been thoroughly thought through can be stated simply.” (Unknown)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.



Stand like a Horse

“Let nothing come between you and God;

let God come between you and everything.”

(Unknown)

“Stand like a horse,” my secondary school teacher told me. I don’t know exactly what she meant by that. Maybe because I’m a skinny and weak kid I assumed she told me to be strong. Horse is not just strong but as I think about it now horse also represents stability, stamina, obedience and immoveable spirit. I’m not a feng shui guru, but in the matter of principle and spirituality, ‘Stand like a horse’ for me, mean stand for a conviction. (Do you know that horse can sleep standing up? Even while sleeping a horse can still standing up.)

It is important that people know what you stand for. It is equally important that they know what you won’t stand for. I read about Martin Luther the Reformer, in his loneliness, on his way to the Diet of Worms to appear before King Charles V and the Roman Prelate and all the princes assembled around, said,

“My cause shall be commended to the Lord for He lives and reigns who preserved the three children in the furnace of the Babylonian king. If He is unwilling to preserve me, my life is a small thing compared with Christ. Expect anything of me except flight or recantation. I will not flee, much less recant. So may the Lord Jesus strengthen me.”

Martin Luther did not say, “So may the Lord Jesus deliver me.” He did not say, “So may the Lord Jesus make it easy for me.” He actually concluded his response with the words, “Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God.”

“Here I stand” what a conviction! Conviction is more than just a belief; it is a commitment to a belief. What you think, say, and do shows the level of your conviction. Convictions prepare you to effectively live a life of faith and to defend your faith when necessary. Keep your convictions sharp, and your life will be a great story of faith in God. In your conviction – stand like a horse!

Happy Chinese New Year 2014

May the Year of the Horse reminds you of your faith in Christ

Stand firm! Stand like a Horse!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Mun Kitak Brani Ngakuk, Nya Sanggup Menerima Kitak

“Mun kita ngakuk dosa kita ngan Nya, maka Tuhan setia ngan adil

sampei Nya mengampuni semua dosa kita,

ngan menyucikan kita ari semua nok jaik”

(1 Yohanes 1:9, terjemah dirik ku pun tok)

Mun kita sik mok ngakuk dosa kita, maka kita agik idup dalam kehidupan lamak kita. Mun kita brani ngakuk ia boleh melepaskan kita ari ikatan dosa ngan membuka jalan untuk menerima kemaafan. Kita pun dapat juak ngubah banyak perkara jadi benar agik.

Tok kamek mok madah ngan kitak: nang benar kitak perlu blajar ari kesilapan, tapi kitak sik perlu idup dalam kesilapan ya. Mun kitak ngakuk kesilapan kitak, kitak nunjuk bahawa kitak tok sedia mok berubah. Kitak idup dalam kasih kurnia Tuhan. Apabila kitak sedia mok ngakuk dosa kitak, Tuhan juak sedia mok mengampuni dosa kitak.

Kitak mungkin mikir nok dosa kitak tok terlalu banyak atau sikpat dikira gik – iboh kedak ya – Tuhan sik ngira samada kitak layak atau sik. Ia sik bergantung ngan brapa besar atau banyak ney kitak pun dosa, tapi pengampunan Tuhan tok bergantung ngan brapa besar kasih Tuhan ya. Baca ngan nangga jak kasih Tuhan ya sampei Anak-Nya, Yesus Kristus, pun sanggup mati di kayu salib bagi semua dosa kitak ngan kamek. Nya nanggung semua hukum dosa kita supaya kita benar di depan Tuhan ngan ada hubungan peribadi ngan Nya. Tok kasih Tuhan!

Mun kitak memerlukan pengampunan, Tuhan sedia mok mengampunkan kitak. Kitak cuma perlu mintak ngan nama Yesus Kristus ngan kerendahan ati. Alkitab madah: “Mun kita ngakuk dosa kita ngan Nya, maka Tuhan setia ngan adil sampei Nya mengampuni semua dosa kita, ngan menyucikan kita ari semua nok jaik.”

Mun lepas tok kitak dah mintak ampun ngan dah diampuni Tuhan – terus jak maju ke depan. Iboh nangga nok yang lepas ya. Iboh membenarkan kehidupan dolok menghantui kitak. Nok lepas ya berat gilak mun mok dibawak pergi bersama. Lepas jak kehidupan nok lamak ya. Kinek tok kitak ada kehidupan yang baru. Dosa diampuni. Kehidupan berubah. Masa depan bersama ngan Tuhan terjamin. Biar Roh Kudus Tuhan terus ngembak kitak mengenali Tuhan Yesus lebih dekat gik. Amin.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.