Over the past few weeks I have been trying to do just that; trying to know myself better.  Over my next few post, I want to share what that journey has looked like for me.

Step 1: Take a test.

Two weeks ago I took a test out of a book called Strength Finder 2.0.

I think the guys that write these test must be experts in flattery.  Or maybe I just like reading stuff that describes me.  I liked all of them except strength 1. It didn’t sit well with me (I’ll explain later) but I agree with the results. And love the book/test.  You should get the book and take the test!

A brief exclamation of each of my strengths:

Achiever

People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Focus

People who are especially talented in the Focus theme can take a direction, follow through, and make the corrections necessary to stay on track. They prioritize, then act.

Input

People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

Positivity

People who are especially talented in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.

Individualization

People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

3 Tips for Improvement

1. Your mind is open and absorbent. You naturally soak up information in the same way that a sponge soaks up water. But just as the primary purpose of the sponge is not to permanently contain what it absorbs, neither should your mind simply store information. Input without output can lead to stagnation. As you gather and absorb information, be aware of the individuals and groups that can most benefit from your knowledge, and be intentional about sharing with them.

2. Deliberately increase your vocabulary. Collect new words, and learn the meaning of each of them.
Identify situations in which you can share the information you have collected with other people. Also make sure to let your friends and colleagues know that you enjoy answering their questions.

3. Your presentations and speaking opportunities will be most engaging when you relate your topic to the experiences of individuals in the audience. Use your Individualization talents to gather and share real-life stories that will make your points much better than would generic information or theories.

They gave me a HUGE list of tips for improvement. Those are just my favorite.

Margaret & I saw the movie Invictus. It is a GREAT leadership movie. At least a dozen leadership lessons!

PHOTO’s

You make notice a few changes around planterguy.com.  I have a new blog design!

I want to thank my roomate Jason for the new design.  He did an awesome job!

We are still working out some kinks. (I forgot to back everything up before the transfer so some stuff is missing)  We are working to get everything running smoothly.

In the mean time check out this video I just found:

Lotza Money – Music Video from River Valley Church on Vimeo.

The best part is at 2:00  2nd best is right at the end.

ENJOY!

P.S. Comment are turned off until I can stop all the spam.  Sorry.

Click to view globalrichlist.com and find out.

How Billy Hornsby uses twitter:

Social media gives him a chance to receive feedback almost instantly. It is especially helpful while traveling since he has to leave quickly after speaking or after long speaking engagements like church planter’s roundtables when he will have up to 8 sessions in one day.

After speaking he logs on to a popular social media site called, twitter, where he will check what people are telling their followers.

He finds quotes like this:

“I can use twitter to find which examples are getting my point across. They tell me what they like,”  Billy says while we were walking through the Ronald Reagan International Airport.

Often pastors wonder what people are saying about the church when they leave.  Social media gives them a chance to

Quick Tip: Use social media as a tool. Don’t get consumed.

This hasn’t been a good thing for some church leaders as not all conversations are helpful. Unhappy church members start gossip or leave and use social media as an easy way to cut down the church. Some get bolder behind the keyboard saying things they never would face to face. Getting caught up in gossip is never helpful.

Click here to learn how to search twitter <– really helpful.  Learned a few things I didn’t know.

Like how to search emotions

*Sidenote: If you are Mark Batterson, everything you tweet gets retweeted (41 times the Friday i checked.) Thats right 41 RT’s in one day.

57 Questions for your Mentor/Coach

1. What was your hardest leadership decision & why?
2. What did you learn from firing your friend?
3. When do you write?
4. How do you write?
5. When do your first and best thoughts come?
6. What is the hardest thing about marriage?
7. Why should I get married?
8. Who should be my accountability partner?
9. What if I asked the church planters to teach me how to plant a church?
10. What should I do with my savings?
11. How can I have a better relationship with my dad.
12. How can I have a better relationship with my mom
13. When do I know it is time to take a relationship to the next level?
14. When do I quit my job?
15. What could I do to grow right now?
16. If I could spend $100 on anything right now what would you recommend?
17. If I could spend $1000 on anything…
18. If I could spend $10,000 on anything what should I spend it on?
19. What if I had $30,000 to spend today where would you tell me to spend it?
20. What should I invest my life into?
21. What is the most important thing you have invested your life into?
22. What are 3 time management lessons you have learned?
23. What are 2 things that have helped you with your time lately?
24. What does a winter season in your life look like? Other seasons?
25. What kind of tree are would you be? (random I know)
26. What has been the key to accountability for you?
27. What books have changed your life?
28. Why should I read them?
29. Should I invest in a lot or few people?
30. How am I doing on time management?
31. If you could be any animal which one and why?
32. What character in the bible do you identify with most?
33. What have you learned in developing and sharing your story?
34. What parts of my story should I share?
35. Why Florida? Or your city you live in?
36. Where could you survive?
37. What is your favorite analogy?
38. What is the best sermon you have preached (or story told)?
39. Favorite story about yourself?
40. If you could unlearn anything what would it be?
41. What are you writing right now?
42. What skill do you wish you had?
43. What is the worst job you have had?
44. Your most defining moment?
45. As a leader what aggravates you most?
46. What do you like to see as a boss?
47. What do you like to see as a dad?
48. As a dad what causes you to be discontent?
49. How did you know your wife was the one?
50. What is the hardest thing about leading your self.
51. What do you do that you hate doing?  Why do it?
52. If you could have any mentor who would it be?
53. If you could have any super power?
54. Solomon experience: God comes to you in a dream what would you ask for?
55. What do you look for in someone who is speaking into your life?
56. What has been your hardest life lesson?
57. What would you do if you were me?

This post is a little longer than most, sorry.  Answer a few of the questions if you want. I could use the advice.

This weekend I was home for a short time between between 2 trips to Florida.  Saturday I capitalized on a recipe or two from mom.  She emailed them to me:

Chicken & Rice Casserole

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast
garlic salt
1 stick butter
1 box long cooking long grain wild rice  Uncle Ben’s
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup milk

Directions:
Cook rice according to package and place in a 9by13 casserole dish. Melt butter in a skillet, add garlic salt to taste and slowly cook chicken in garlic butter. When done cut chicken into bite size pieces and place on rice Make a gravy using garlic butter left in the skillet and add soup and milk to skillet. Pour it over the chicken and rice. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes uncovered.

Apple Turnovers (Same idea as pigs in a blanket only with apples and cinnamon.)

Ingredients:
2 granny smith apples
2 tubes of cresent rolls
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
cinnamon
2 sticks butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small can mountain dew  or apple cidar

Directions:
Peel and core 2 granny smith apples and cut into 8 slices each. Wrap each slice of apple  in a crescent roll. Soften the butter and mix the cinnamon, vanilla and sugar with it and glob it on the apples rolled in the crescents. pour the liquid between the rows of apples. bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

I saved them on my phone and headed to Publix. It was cool to have the list on my phone, but my friend was a little nervous. I almost ran over a few people with my buggy while trying to check for the ingredients needed.  We survived the store and had fun cooking. In short they are both really easy to make and taste great (especially the apple turnovers.)

Here is a picture of Brian eating the tasty treat.

Some how I made it to this Bio:

“A former Christian artist who ditched the sacred sounds of CCM for secular mix of sass and spunk… She grew up in a Christian household as the daughter of two pastors. Though she was not allowed to listen to secular music as a child…”

I realized we had a lot in common (everything in red.)   We are even close to the same age. Her birthday is 2 days after mine.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

Pastor Chris of Church of the Highlands mentioned one of her songs  in a message.

If you need a hint.

Shaun King has his WoW factor story.  Read it. You won’t be able to stop. His story is much more than a WOW factor for his blog, but it is still a WoW Factor.

What is a WoW Factor Story?

It is the story you tell on a first date.  It show the other person you are interesting & helps if it REALLY HAPPENED.

I’m still trying to figure out my wow factor. Maybe I’ll use my Giraffe Story.

What are your guidelines for a WoW Factor Story?