High Performance

Dana Torres attributes her Olympic gold medal winning skill to having her body and muscles professionally stretched 5 times daily. And while, in part, hers is a God-given talent, she maximizes her "raw material" with techniques that lead to high performance. Are you operating in your professional life in such a way that you are achieving high performance? Let's gather to consider and share what areas of our work and thinking need activating and / or realigning so we too are maximizing our natural, God-given talents and excelling as high performers.

Join us Thursday April 2nd at the Location Laura Parson Pratt Conference Center
281 Park Ave South (@22nd St.) please plan to join us after the meeting for a Pathfinders Social at Barbounia.

GET TO KNOW THE VOICE OF GOD

I usually don't like to quote or post material form other sources, however I made an exception this morning because I read a very inspiring:

"God wants us to know that no matter how difficult things may get for us, he will sustain all who trust in him—by the power of his still, small voice, speaking to our inner man daily.

This is confirmed by the prophet Isaiah: “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21). You have to understand, Isaiah delivered this word to Israel in the very worst of times. The nation was under judgment, in absolute ruin, with everything breaking down. And so Isaiah told Israel’s leaders, “Turn to the Lord now! He wants to give you a word of direction—to speak to you, saying, ‘Go this way, go that way, here’s the way…’” But they wouldn’t listen. They decided they would turn to Egypt to deliver them! They thought they could rely on the Egyptians’ chariots, horses and supplies to see them through.

Yet, God did not send all of his judgment on Israel at that point. Rather, he decided to wait patiently until the bottom fell out of every plan. He said, “While they’re running around scheming how to survive, I’ll wait. I want to show them my mercy, in spite of their wickedness!” (v. 18). Sure enough, everything failed, and things only got worse for the nation. Finally, when all their schemes had fallen through, God told the people, “Now, let me take over! Open your ears, and I will speak to you. I know the way out, and I will direct you. I want to guide your every move, to the right and to the left, to deliver you. I’ll lead you by my voice—speaking to you, telling you what to do, down to the last detail!”

What matters—what’s vitally important—is that you get to know the voice of God. He is still speaking. He made it clear, “My sheep know my voice.” There are many voices in the world today—loud, demanding voices. But there is that still, small voice of the Lord that can be known and heard by all who trust what Jesus said." -David Wilkerson

Be Strong and Courageous

Assistant Pastor Anthony Ceccutti of Christian City Church Manhattan spoke a wonderful message on Sunday on Joshua chapter 1, where God tells Joshua to be "Strong and Courageous." In difficult times we often have a choice between fight or flight. Often when God allows an obstacle to obstruct us it is for us to attack and conquer.

Often we stand in front of an obstacle in defeat asking why God has allowed such a trial to enter our path. Instead we need to ask God what is the lesson we are to learn from this obstacle and how are we to overcome it? Are we to rely on our own abilities and ingenuity or are we to trust that God is going to provide a way of escape?

Obstacles will come and go but the lessons learned will last a lifetime.

Ten Tenets of Investing

I thought this was a brilliant piece by James Montier of SocGen and wanted to share it with you with some added comments of my own.

Ten Tenets of My Investment Creed

1. Value, value, value Value approach minimizes the risk of overpaying for the hope of growth. (I would add to this don't buy things just because they are 'cheap' because they could just get cheaper)

2. Be contrarian Sir John Templeton observed, "It is impossible to produce superior performances unless you do something different from the majority"

3. Be patient wait for the fat pitch, value managers' have the curse of being too early

4. Be unconstrainedWhile pigeon-holing and labelling are fashinonable, Iam far from convinced that they aid investment. Surely I should be free to exploit value opportunities wherever they may occur.

5. Don't forecast Forecasting is like relying on your seriously flawed ability to soothsay.

6. Cycles matter Howard Marks says, "we can't predict but we can prepare" (I would add, be aware of the cycle you are in and the one you are about to enter).

7. History matters The four most dangerous words in investing are "This time is different"

8. Be skeptical Learning to question what you are told and developing critical thinking skills are vital to long term success and survival

9. Be top-down and bottom-up Both viewpoints matter, either has a monopoly on insight.

10. Treat your clients as you would treat yourself the ultimate test of an investment is would I be willing to invest with my own money? (Do unto other's as you would have done unto you).