A TO Z

Five of them exactly as they sit in the library, out of more than two hundred. Click a word to open it.

BETRAYAL

1. Judas. In the Gospel of Matthew, Judas approaches the chief priests and asks, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15). The Greek word used for “deliver” is paradidōmi, which means to hand over, deliver up, or betray. Judas’ question reveals something about his posture toward Jesus. His relationship with Christ had become transactional. Rather than recognizing the value of who Jesus was, he approached the situation like a negotiation: what will I get in return? In that moment Judas acted as if he possessed something of value that could be exchanged for personal gain. Interestingly, the same Greek word appears in Romans, where Paul writes that God “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Again the word paradidōmi is used. But the heart behind it is completely different. Judas hands Jesus over in order to receive something for himself, while God hands Jesus over in order to give something to the world. The same verb is used, yet the motives could not be more opposite. This contrast reveals a powerful spiritual principle. Judas approaches Jesus asking what he can get, while God approaches humanity by choosing to give. Judas betrays Christ for thirty pieces of silver, but God delivers his Son for the salvation of humanity. In many ways Judas’ question exposes a lack of revelation about who Jesus truly was. When someone fully understands the identity and worth of Christ, the question is no longer “What can I get from him?” but rather “What has been given through him?” The gospel ultimately reverses the posture of the heart, from seeking to gain to recognizing the immeasurable gift that God has already given in Jesus.

2. Peter.

   1. Peter betrayed him too!! And he was the rock for the church.

   2. Is it possible that the same grace that God had for Peter he would have had for Judas?

References

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2001) Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

FAILURE

1. Winners see failure as temporary. US President Harry Truman in 1922: he was 38 years old, in debt, and out of work. By 1945 he is the most powerful leader of the free world.

2. “Many people dream of success. To me, success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents 1 percent of your work, which results only from the 99 percent that is called failure” (Soichiro Honda, quoted in 50 Cent and Greene, 2009).

3. Most of a tiger’s hunts end in failure! No matter how experienced at hunting a tiger is.

4. Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do? Hemingway: “It depends. I rewrote the ending to Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied” (Hemingway, 1958).

5. Failure is a sign of a creative mind, of original thought and strength.

6. Failing often: you don’t know what you might uncover. 3M’s Post-it note was produced through failure. One of its engineers set out to create a stronger adhesive than its current products. Upon attempting, the bond he created was the weakest adhesive they had at the time, and he did nothing with it upon failure. 4 years later, when there was a call to find an adhesive that would stick to a book but not be too sticky to pull off and rip a page, they already had the answer from the “failure” four years ago. 3M’s most lucrative product came through failure. Two questions to ask when a mistake or failure happens:

   1. Let the mistake lead you to a better attempt.

   2. Ask whether the mistake is a correct answer to another problem.

7. Golf.

   1. Justin Rose, after turning pro and finishing fourth in the Open as an amateur, would go on to miss 21 consecutive cuts.

   2. Jack Nicklaus has 18 majors. He also has 19 runner-up major finishes.

8. Henry Ford. In 1899, Henry Ford made his first serious attempt at building a car company. However, the board of directors lost faith in him and pulled their investment, leading to the company’s failure. Two years later, in 1901, he tried again with a different group of investors and a new board of directors, but that company also failed. It wasn’t until 1903, when Ford launched the Ford Motor Company with more control, that his vision began to take shape. His major breakthrough came in 1908 with the release of the Model T.

   1. So two different backings = failed.

   2. Started his own company, and it wasn’t until 5 years after that that it took off.

9. Elon Musk. He knew he wanted to be in technology but couldn’t get a job anywhere, so he decided to start his own company. Wait, Elon couldn’t get a job lol. Sent his resume and was denied by a few companies. So he starts his own. Isn’t that a blessing? Where would he be today if he had come under someone else’s work?

10. Leonardo da Vinci. At 24, when most apprentices would have flown their master’s nest, Leonardo was still living with his teacher and producing Madonnas so lacking in distinctiveness that it is hard to tell whether they were painted by him or by someone else in the workshop. Finally, Leonardo broke away and opened his own workshop in 1477. Commercially, it was a failure. During the five years before he headed off to Milan, he would receive only three known commissions (Isaacson, 2017, p. 74). Hold on a second, that’s less than one per year. However, since he never finished any of the commissions, two of the unfinished paintings would be enough to enhance his reputation and influence the practice of art.

11. Ray Dalio. I recorded that he was really big on reflection. He has a quote that says “for the most part life gives you so many decisions to make and so many opportunities to recover from your mistakes that if you handle them well, you will have a terrific life.”

12. Sam Walton. Sam Walton built a store, did everything right, and still lost it overnight because the landlord took it back. At 32, with a wife and kids, he had nothing, so he borrowed $20,000 from family and started again. No guarantees. No safety net. Just belief and action. What looks like a setback is often the setup.

References

50 Cent and Greene, R. (2009) The 50th Law. New York: HarperStudio.

Hemingway, E. (1958) ‘The art of fiction no. 21’. Interviewed by G. Plimpton. The Paris Review, 18, Spring.

Isaacson, W. (2017) Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Simon & Schuster.

RANGE

1. Big idea.

   1. “No tool is omnicompetent. There is no such thing as a master key” (Epstein, 2019).

   2. “One good tool is rarely enough in a complex, interconnected, rapidly changing world” (Epstein, 2019).

   3. Two competing ideas. Tiger Woods played golf since 2. Roger Federer didn’t choose tennis (age 15 or 16) until after a sampling period of different sports.

2. Wicked vs kind world (Epstein, 2019).

   1. Kind world. Hyper specialization would make sense here.

      1. Chess, golf, free throw, piano.

      2. The patterns and the movements are predictable and repeatable.

      3. The rules don’t change.

      4. These specializations don’t necessarily cross over into other domains. Tiger Woods making a 6 foot putt doesn’t bring much knowledge to another realm. It’s just making a putt.

      5. Narrow focus. When faced with a problem outside the specialization, your training means nothing.

   2. Wicked world. Hyper specialization won’t bring success here.

      1. Unpredictable, different patterns emerge.

      2. Rules change.

      3. You need transferable knowledge. For example, understanding the law of diminishing returns can serve you well in all things business and sports.

   3. Musician example.

      1. Doing slightly less repetition of one narrow skill can lead to deeper learning if you replace it with related variety.

      2. Musicians who learned multiple instruments often became better musicians overall, because they learned patterns, not just repetitions.

3. Walking with God. We can get ourselves into trouble when we over emphasize or under emphasize a Christian discipline. Much like making a meal in the crockpot, if you put too much salt in, it overwhelms the entire pot. If you don’t put the salt in, it might be missing something. But if you put in just the right amount, it complements the entire meal.

References

Epstein, D. (2019) Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. New York: Riverhead Books.

RESPONSIBILITY

1. Defined. Responsible means response able. You’re responsible for your response. You’re not responsible for the weather, traffic, somebody else’s attitude, but you are responsible for your response.

2. Conversation with ourselves. What if you retold the same story (of some injustice you had), but instead of being the victim, you told it from the viewpoint that you were responsible the whole time?

   1. Story as a victim (everything was someone else’s fault. I was powerless): “The basketball felt different than the one we usually use.” “My body felt tight during warmups.” “Coach didn’t run any plays for me.” “My teammates weren’t even looking for me.” When you blame, things stay the same.

   2. Same story taking responsibility: I hold the power. I could’ve practiced with that same ball before the game so it wasn’t a surprise. I could’ve taken 10 minutes pregame to loosen my body, stretch, breathe, and open up. I could’ve created my own shots instead of waiting for a play call. I could’ve demanded the ball by sprinting the floor, relocating, and communicating. Same game. Same stat line. Different story. One version traps you. The other version transforms you.

3. God’s design. Made in his image, we were never created to live as victims. We are creators and conquerors. Victimhood, whether we realize it or not, puts us in bondage to whoever or whatever we blame. But responsibility frees us, because it reminds us that in Christ we always have the ability to respond, adapt, and change the situation.

4. Do you really want a lighter load? I’ve heard it said, Lord don’t give me a lighter burden, give me a stronger back. Remember the definition of responsibility. Jordan Peterson talks about how you get to be responsible for something. Rejoice that you would have something to carry! Instead of seeing the weight of the load, see the impact you’re getting to have.

5. “You’re never going to find lasting success until you take full responsibility for what happens in your life” (50 Cent and Greene, 2009). I made a note that you can accomplish every single thing on your goal list. It is on you to make it happen. It’s your responsibility.

References

50 Cent and Greene, R. (2009) The 50th Law. New York: HarperStudio.

TIME

1. Don’t value effort over effectiveness. He used to assume that people’s work ethic wasn’t as good as his, and that if they simply did more, they would be successful. But he realized his error when he traveled to underdeveloped countries where many people worked hard but saw very little return for their efforts. Use your senior year in college practices as your example. Three hours was actually detrimental. Just because you went long didn’t mean you got better. Ask yourself, what gives you the greatest return?

2. “Planned neglect” - many things demand our time. Until the most important piece is completed, deliberately neglect everything else.

3. Urgency is made up! People did have urgency before clocks, they just didn’t have constant measurement. There was a time before clocks and calendars when people didn’t measure every hour of their lives. A farmer still had to wake up early. He still had to milk the cows, tend the land, feed his family. But there was no rush to optimize the hour. He didn’t think: “Let me hurry and milk faster so I can get ahead.” Because the work was tied to rhythm, not efficiency. The cows would need to be milked again tomorrow. The sun would rise again. The seasons would come whether he rushed or not. So he worked hard, but he didn’t feel behind.

   1. Just ponder the freedom of not trying to get ahead but just living.

   2. “We invented tools to track time, and accidentally created a world where no one feels like they have enough of it.”

   3. “Time didn’t become more scarce. We just started keeping score.”

4. We are all given the same amount of time.

5. The longest conversation recorded in the gospels is Jesus’ convo with the woman of Samaria in John 4.

6. What do they take away from you when you go to prison? Time. It’s called doing time.

7. Mortality gives life weight. Moments matter partly because they cannot be repeated indefinitely.

8. Carlo Rovelli. “The world is not a collection of things, it is a collection of events” (Rovelli, 2018). He uses an analogy: a stone is a “thing” because it stays put, but a kiss is an “event.” He concludes that the universe is made of networks of interactions (like kisses) rather than static objects.

9. Naval Ravikant on time.

   1. Finding your one percent: he says that 99% of your life is wasted and only one percent is useful. Finding your one percent is very hard. But when you find the one percent of your discipline, which will not be wasted, you’ll be able to invest in it for the rest of your life. Constantly find and delete energy and time wasters.

   2. Yes, you have to put the time in, but the direction you go in is more important. Picking the direction you’re heading in for every decision is far more important than how much force you apply. Just pick the right direction to start walking in, and start walking.

   3. The moment I figure out something is a waste of time, I leave immediately. Value your time. It is all you have. It’s more important than your money and it’s more important than your friends. Do not waste your time.

   4. What held me back was staying in bad relationships and bad jobs for years instead of minutes.

   5. Inspiration is perishable. Act on it immediately.

10. “Lost time is never found again.” - Ben Franklin

References

Rovelli, C. (2018) The Order of Time. Translated by E. Segre and S. Carnell. New York: Riverhead Books.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2001) Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

COME BACK WHEN YOU NEED IT

• You're stuck. Breakthrough. Action. Momentum. Ownership.

• You failed at something that mattered. Failure. Brokenness. Resilience. Affliction.

• You're waiting and it's taking longer than you thought. Waiting. Patience. Timing. Hiddenness.

• You're leading people. Leadership. Honor. Standards. Conviction. Teamwork.

• You can't stop comparing yourself. Comparison. Average. Calling. Authenticity.

• Someone wronged you. Bitterness. Forgiveness. Offense. Unforgiveness.

• You want to think better. Thoughts. Creativity. Curiosity. Range. Imagination.

Look it up. That's what it's for.

That's five. The library has more than two hundred.

JOIN THE LIBRARY

$12 a month or $79 a year. Founding rate $49 a year until October 31. Cancel anytime.