O Schmidt

​Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word.  It reveals what’s required to succeed with God and people, as a person, organization, or nation… and how to do it.  Have you ever come to the realization that you or the team you’re responsible for are not living according to the vision of your company or organization?  That you are not living to the standard that God calls you to?  Has God ever convicted you that you are under-performing in an area?  We’re not talking about earning your salvation.  It has nothing to do with Him loving you, it has to do with Him growing you.  God loves you enough to not let you stay the same.  He wants you to succeed.  He has a plan for you, a purpose for you. And a standard for you, for your thoughts, words, actions, habits, and activity, whether personally, or professionally, individually, or corporately, to reflect Him, His kindness, His excellence.  Does your life reflect His excellence, or are you fighting fires, not operating in the way that brings success, honors Him, and serves well?   First, identify the standard that God has called you to.  Ask Him, He’ll remind you.  Write it down - clearly, concisely.  If you can’t explain it, you’re not living by it, and you can’t communicate it to others.  What is God calling you to do?   What standard is He calling you to operate at in this area?  It’s not unimportant, it’s really important.  How do you get there, if you’re not there?  What’s part of the solution, a fix-it habit, an establish-it habit.  What’s an “O Schmidt” Meeting?   It’s a “What Could Go Wrong” Meeting…  A “what could happen that would cause us to not live by the standard of excellence God called us to,” meeting.  What are some things that could happen, or some things we’re doing, that prevent us or could prevent us from God’s Standard for us?  You could just tell people what to do and not do – but that’s a 24/7 job.  Or you could let God reveal to the whole group what is happening that prevents us, or what we must do if this does happen, in order for us to live by the standard that brings excellence.  That God has for us, that defines what we do as a team, company or organization.  What could go wrong for this customer, from start to finish?  And what will we do to prevent that from happening, even if those things that could happen, happen?  What actions are less than God’s best, or God’s will for us?  What could prevent us from delivering excellence for our customers, meeting our requirements or deliverables.  What is keeping us from the standard? And what changes in our thoughts or actions or habits will reverse that? Why have an O Schmidt meeting?  To anticipate and mitigate.  God knows problems will arise.  In this world you’ll have trouble.  But be of good courage I have overcome the world.  Call on me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.  What kind of things?  Things that will establish you and honor Him.  That means God is the One, the power, the wisdom that overcomes obstacles in your life.  He not only delivers you from trouble, He helps you overcome those things which could prevent you from living in a way that best reflects Him, that best honors Him, that best represents Him.  And He is excellent.   He wants you be like Daniel, neither corrupt, nor negligent.  And Daniel was that way because He sought the LORD three times a day.  God knows the future, He promised the Holy Spirit to tell you things to come.  It’s because God wants you to overcome obstacles and adversity, and use that opportunity to love others, help others, and walk in the victory that He has created you for, and His power can enable you for.  He wants you to succeed.  He knows excellence – it’s His DNA.  Excellence is first process, then progress.  Improve the process, and most failures are avoided, because you’re not creating problems anymore, you can focus on the real problems that others generate,, not you.  Those opportunities that God gives to operate in excellence.  The Spirit of Excellence is the Spirit of Christ.   If you are not living by the Standard God has for you, if you are not delivering on your mission and vision in whatever area of life God has called you to, maybe work, marriage, finances, stewardship, or parenting.   Have an O Schmidt Meeting, to assess and correct, and here’s the secret to secure the standard.  Shorten the interval.  The key to compliance, to perform to standard, is shorten the interval you use to assess performance.  So you address substandard habits and actions more quickly, so the standard becomes not the dream, but the default. To eliminate substandard actions, shorten the interval.  Narrow the accountability window, build in immediate accountability.  If weekly assessment is not working, then go to daily assessment.  If that is still insufficient to align behavior with vision, then shorten the interval to morning, noon, and night.   To secure the standard that God has called you to, it requires assessment and correction,  Communication and effort is required, it’s going to take a little bit of work.  You have to do something different than you have been doing.  Or do what you’ve been doing – differently, better, more effectively.  And then keep doing that new thing or that old thing a new way, not keep doing what you used to do, that wasn’t working.   #1 Define the Standard, #2 Communicate the Standard, #3 Make sure you have the right team, and then #4 Implement the standard by shortened assessment intervals until your behavior aligns with the standard.  It’s how you train to the standard, until you learn to actually live by the excellence God called you to - without even thinking about it or trying.  So excellence isn’t a dream, it’s a default, it’s just what you now do as habit.  The Gino Auriemma principle.  Don’t do it til you get it right, do it til you can’t get it wrong.  In order for God to raise you to a greater level, He has to change you at a deeper level.  You have to change how you think, to change who you are, you have to change what you believe, to change your actions that determine what you become.  You have to change what you do, to live at a higher standard.  PiVAT before dinner will help you seek God for his plan – to increase your excellence, and He will tell you what you need to do so you live by the standard He has for you!  Most people are ignorant, they don’t even realize they’re in fire mode, or they ignore, they know God has a standard for them higher than what they are living by, but they don’t ask Him, and don’t want to put in the work.  PRISM will transform your mind to the mind of Christ which is excellence.  Why don’t people live by the standard?  Because they don’t value it above their present habits.  But if God values it, you should.  The excellence God has for you – that reflects Him, as a child of the King.  God wants you to secure the standard.  It’s His standard for you.  If you ask Him, He’ll tell you.  He’ll help you do it.  You just have to change what you do.  If you will, He will.  He will help you live in His order, His excellence, His sacrificial life for others.   Praying that you will shorten the intervals of assessment and correction – that you’ll put in the effort until the Spirit of Excellence which is the Spirit of Christ – is just what you do without thinking.  It’s just habit, and joy, so your focus is God and others, and your actions reflect Him, and His ways. 
 
Love you all,
dad