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The Head and the Heart: Three Things I Learned About How to Manage the Two.

May 7, 2014 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

We think with our heads more than our hearts these days.

Lots of us know the head part of life; how to ask a girl on a date, how to write an email, how to manage cash flow (well not all of us), how to code….

Less of us know the heart side;  how to stand in the face of adversity, how to weather a personal storm, to love despite being wronged, how to communicate well with our loved ones…

  1. I’ve learned that the head wins more because it’s my voice, the only way to hear the heart more is to change locations; bike ride, walk, patio
  2. I’ve learned that I don’t need a five-step program to follow, just a few trusted friends who have permission to call me out regularly
  3. I’ve learned that it’s easier to balance the head and heart when I am journaling and reading my Bible regularly

To be sure, we need both the head and the heart. But if we were going to lean one way…lean with the heart.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters Tagged With: Advice, Do Something, Mike Farag, Reflection

The Collision of Brokenness

March 20, 2014 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

I spent last weekend leading a trip to Haiti for one of my favorite nonprofit organizations, The Global Orphan Project.

What I witnessed there this trip was freakishly amazing, I mean that.

Let me set the stage a bit for you.  We were taking a group of “struggling” teens from a therapeutic boarding school to Haiti.  We had over 20 kids ranging from 15-18 years old along with some staff to help them while we were there. These kids aren’t your run of the mill kids.  They’ve experienced brokeness in some profound ways. On this trip for instance we had more than one rape victim, some addicted to drugs, two young men had lost their dads, one of which to suicide.

They look just like the kids going to your kids school, but they are broken.  Shelterwood is putting them back together with care and Christ. So why take them to Haiti you ask?  I did too.  Seems pretty risky.  I mean you are taking kids who sometimes struggle to function in a regular school because of their behavior and you are going to send them to Haiti?!!  Why?

Because when broken kids meet kids who were once more broken but redeemed by Jesus, magic happens.

We can all debate a bit of what it means to be broken and how that effects our world view but the fact is in some way or at some point we are experience brokenness.

The CEO of this school is doing nothing less than risking it all for the sake of the souls of the children in his care.  Think about it, what do you think would happen if something happened to one of these kids on a trip?  Lawsuits galore, press onslaught.  You bet, all calling for an end to this lunacy.  But instead, he leans in.  In his words, “our trips to Haiti are one of the best therapeutic tools we have in our bag because they encounter Jesus”.

That’s the collision.  Jesus shows up in the middle of that meeting. The orphaned children we interact with on the trip are cared for by the local church, that’s how GO Project works.  It’s transforming lives through orphan care and prevention.  Transformed lives on both sides of this equation.

When we left Kansas City one of the kids had asked the CEO to baptize her off the coast of Haiti; however by the time we made it to the beach 13 kids were ready to do the same.  Thirteen who left KC broken, were healed and baptized.  Freakishly amazing.  It’s hard to tell when the shift happened, it was like a swell of positivity.  It was amazing to just be there, watching it.

I really didn’t just spend last weekend in Haiti, I spent it seeing a small glimpse of what the power of Jesus can do.  I was a bystander to real leadership and all the others who serve. I was in the stands cheering as Jesus showed up in the lives of these kids.

We all experience brokenness to some degree or another, we are all in need of colliding with Jesus to truly heal. Sometimes that means encountering him in strange places, like Haiti to do so.

When broken worlds collide, magic happens. I can only hope to be a part of that more often.

 

Filed Under: Advice That Matters, New Experience Tagged With: Global Orphan Project, Mike Farag, Reflection, Shelterwood

On the Merits of Waiting Before You Hit Send

January 17, 2014 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

There are times when I’m tempted to fire off a response to someone. I’m passionate about ideas, especially my ideas, and when someone has disagreed with me, or made a comment that I disagree with, I like to set the record straight. I’m sure I am the only one this happens to, but hear me out.

A long-time mentor of mine used tell me, more often than I care to admit to; “keep it in draft for 24hrs before you hit send”.  In fact there was a week of my life, years ago, that he made me practice this for an entire week. It was harder than you think to pull off. But it was for a good reason.

At the time, I felt like The Karate Kid doing wax on, wax off. But, what he was really teaching me relates to so many of today’s communication mediums: email, social media, even with phone calls, voicemail and text messages.

Think about it:

  • Social Media: Don’t ever forget that even though comments can be deleted later, they are forever in the internets
  • Email: That recall button doesn’t always work
  • Missed Phone calls: depending on the urgency of course
  • Voicemail: Remember that “emergency” can mean different things to different people
  • Text Messages: Make sure you have the complete message and context

There are times that responding immediately is the right move. But more times than not you will save yourself — and others — a lot of strife if you will wait before you hit send.

 

Filed Under: Advice That Matters Tagged With: Advice, Change, Do Something, Mike Farag

The Light You Need vs. The Light You Use: As Told By Soren Kierkegaard

December 23, 2013 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

We all need light.  We need it to see, to work, to do nearly anything.  When we are in complete darkness, which really isn’t often, we accomplish far less than when we are in the light. We need it, but the question is, are we using the right light?

This parable was referenced recently, and it’s crazy how powerful and simple it is. It’s troubling to me because I see myself in both characters.

It’s really the Stars vs. the Lantern as Kierkegaard writes:

“When the prosperous man on a dark but starlit night drives comfortably in his carriage and has the lanterns lighted, aye, then he is safe, he fears no difficulty, he carries his light with him, and it is not dark close around him. But precisely because he has the lanterns lighted, and has a strong light close to him, precisely for this reason, he cannot see the stars. For his lights obscure the stars, which the poor peasant, driving without lights, can see gloriously in the dark but starry night. So those deceived ones live in the temporal existence: either, occupied with the necessities of life, they are too busy to avail themselves of the view, or in their prosperity and good days they have, as it were, lanterns lighted, and close about them everything is so satisfactory, so pleasant, so comfortable — but the view is lacking, the prospect, the view of the stars.”

How easy it is to be pulled into using some form of “light” in our lives, only to be shown how wrong it was after we give it up.  Think about it:

  • When we quit or are forced to leave a comfortable job only to find our true passion and wonder what took us so long to do that. Stars vs. Lantern
  • When we think that great marriages are only reserved for a chosen few only to find out it’s possible even for us if we choose to work at it daily. Stars vs. Lantern
  • When we are blinded by the need for cooler things only to find out that by shedding them we are actually happier. Stars vs. Lantern

I know it sounds really weighty and I can hardly believe that I’m quoting Kierkegaard, but the story was so true for me and maybe it is for you too.

We can accomplish far more with the right light.  So the question is, are you using the stars or the lantern?

Filed Under: Advice That Matters Tagged With: Advice, Change, Do Something, Mike Farag, Soren Kierkegaard

The Calamity of Communication: As Told Through Dropped Calls

December 13, 2013 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

At some point in your life, if you own a mobile device, you have probably experienced the calamity that ensues when you try calling someone back immediately after dropping a call, and you’re sent straight to their voicemail. If not, you are to be congratulated and rewarded.

For the rest of us there is but one word that describes this experience: frustrating.

And yet we try again. Time and time, again hoping they will stop trying to call us at the same time, thereby blocking each other’s call. We keep counting on the other side to stop and our call will make it through, sometime we even wait a minute or two before resuming.

Frustration rises.

If only the mobile companies would fix this!? Don’t they know how frustrating it is for us?

Perhaps the issue isn’t entirely the phone company. Perhaps the issue is as much how we tend to communicate as the tool we choose to use. Perhaps we could do better. Perhaps it goes deeper than just making a phone call. It may even bleed into your communications with your spouse and with your colleagues.  If we asked them, what would they say?

Perhaps we should consider a few things:

  • Two people trying to do the same thing at the same time never works for the mobile companies or, come to think about it, for any of our other communications.
  • Listening completely to someone’s thoughts means that we must have some patience.  Listen, wait, and understand that there is an order of things. Consider how to engage and learn to adapt to it. Patience as we know is a virtue. And who doesn’t want virtuous conversations and communications?!

From here on out let’s take a stab at doing two things differently to address the calamity of our communications:

  • First, and perhaps most importantly join me in “fixing” the dropped call debacle. When you drop a call with someone, the person who initiated the call is responsible for calling back. The other party exerts patience for the caller to call back when they are able. Simple and virtuous.
  • Second, and perhaps the hardest for many of us to accomplish, listen completely before responding during your next conversation. On the phone or in person, take an extra minute to hear them out, then respond as normal. Hard to do but worth it.

I think both of these will serve you (and me) nicely, don’t you?

Until the mobile companies fix dropped calls, it’s really up to us to mold our communication habits to mitigate our own frustration. I believe we can do it. Perhaps it will lead to more than just better experiences after dropped calls.

It may just stop a bit of calamity and add some virtue to our communications. At a minimum our phone calls will be better. That’s a win.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters Tagged With: Advice, Change, Do Something, Mike Farag

Learn From Each Other….

November 15, 2013 By Mike Farag 1 Comment

There is no substitute for serving. Serving changes lives on multiple levels. For example, we learn from those we serve, and they learn from us. Often, we also learn from those with whom we serve. Such was the case for me on a recent trip to Haiti with a fantastic nonprofit The Global Orphan Project.

One was a CEO…

Many men and women have been given the title CEO. Many have fallen horribly short of the leadership qualities that we pray thattitle exudes.

This week in Haiti, I met a man who fulfills that title unlike many who share it.

  • He laughs as loud as he loves.
  • He prays as fervently as he advocates for the children his organization cares for.
  • He preaches with as much passion as he has for his work.
  • He plays with children as easily as he leads. His faith is as powerful as his presence.
  • His actions are real, tangible and faithful.

For my new friend, Jim, who took over 40 of his staff and teens in care to Haiti, it really doesn’t matter if he had the title CEO or not he would still embody everything we desire that title to truly mean…. a true CEO isn’t a title you’re given it’s lived out in action.

Another was a teenager…

“t’s not every day that a 16-year-old young man provides a profound insight into true love. But he did.

It’s not every day that an orphaned child from Haiti teaches him that lesson. But she did.

‘I need to learn to love with no strings attached like they do.’ His words hit me hard. They are still messing with my soul.

How does a child of 16 know so much? How does a six-year-old Haitian teach him? God knows. He delights in using interesting messengers with simple messages.

Our next steps are now the same…strive to love with no strings attached.

To learn more about the joy of learning from, serving with, and loving others, visit my friends at GO Project.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters, Change Tagged With: Advice, CEO, Do Something, Global Orphan Project, Haiti, Mike Farag

Find Your Wife’s “Crosses” & Keep Your Marriage Strong

October 14, 2013 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

What you may think isn’t important may just be the one thing that your wife needs from you. Here is a personal story that I hope helps some guy realize he’s missing something, change his actions and perhaps save his marriage.

The things you own end up owning you. It’s not just a great line from Fight Club. I’ve always cared a lot about having nice things. Nice cars. Nice clothes. A nice house. Not that these things are inherently bad things but they are just things. I cared so much about keeping them nice that sometimes I put them in front of people in my life. In hind sight, it contributed to the demise of my marriage.

The House. We built a brand new house in the burbs. Great looking. Big. Shiny and new. A pristine thing. Way bigger than we needed at the time.  It had this really cool great room with like 30 foot ceilings in the entryway, where I put some really cool leather and wood Bernhardt furniture. I was about 4 years into my marriage to my high school sweetheart and things were pretty perfect. Just the way I liked them.

The Crosses. My wife had been collecting crosses for a bit – old ones, new ones, ugly ones and very, very few cool ones. I can’t remember exactly but I think there were 25 crosses of varying sizes and shapes. Then she drops it on me; she wants to put them front and center in the great room. She didn’t make a big deal about it, she just asked for me to put them up. I avoided it. I really didn’t want them there, it would totally mess up the room. I suggested another room. We must have had this same conversation 4 or 5 times, and then we stopped talking about it. Score. I win.

The Divorce. Fast forward several months later, we were in the throws of our divorce and I was fighting to save it in any way possible. She had moved into an apartment not far from our great big (now empty) house. I asked her to dinner in hopes to throw a hail mary and spark something that just may save it, although it was really to discuss dividing things up. I even convinced her to let me pick her up like a date.

The Two by Four to the Face. When I arrived to pick her up at the apartment, my heart was pounding as I knocked on the door. When she opened it, I noticed there wasn’t much furniture or anything in the entire place… except EVERY ONE of those CROSSES had been hung on the wall. They were everywhere. Then it hit me, I had totally missed it. She wasn’t upset that I didn’t hang the crosses, it was far deeper than that. I hadn’t paid attention to her desires. I missed understanding and paying attention to what was important to her. I wondered how many “crosses” I missed in our marriage? And at that moment I knew my hail mary attempt wasn’t going to cut it. I should have been paying attention before that moment.

The Lesson. Find out what your wife’s “crosses” are. It’s also a continual process – not just one day.  She changes just like you do, as do her dreams. Find out the little things and the huge dreams she has for you, for her, for your family. Find out the things you may be glossing over because you are letting something (your house, your car,  your job, your friends, your agenda) get in the way of really hearing. I can promise you it’s worth it.

My Redemption Story. God has rebuilt this broken life and in a big way. It started with being open to His plan for me instead of my own. When I say rebuilt, it’s no lie. I left my comfy corporate job several years ago, traveled to Haiti, started a business, and then life really took a turn for the stellar. I met my wife on my 5th trip to Haiti – we are so uniquely fitted for each other it’s crazy. She’s incredible and He renews our hearts if we will just allow Him. I have learned a lot and am still learning how to do marriage better each day I take a breath.

There’s no super secret sauce here, the truth is Jesus renews. How or if we let that happen is our choice.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters, Divorce Tagged With: Advice, Change, Divorce, Do Something, Learn Something New, Mike Farag, Reflection

Everything is Always Running Out

October 9, 2013 By Mike Farag Leave a Comment

Everything is Always Running Out.

  • Time
  • Job satisfaction
  • Feeling appreciated
  • Satisfaction with current income
  • Marriage satisfaction
  • Enough retirement dollars
  • Our health (or health insurance)
  • The number of good miles left on your car
  • Friends

Except Jesus.  After adding Him to the equation, anything is possible.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters, New Experience Tagged With: Advice, Mike Farag, Reflection

I AM The Problem

September 19, 2013 By Mike Farag 4 Comments

Recently, I watched the documentary I AM by Director Tom Shadyac (of Ace Ventura and Bruce Almighty). Actually, to be truthful, my wife made me watch it.

It’s inspired me in something I have been considering for a long time – to ask more questions of people on how to impact the world for the better. In fact, Tom’s overarching goal with this film is to search for answers to two questions:

  1. What’s wrong with the world, and;
  2. What we (you and I) can do about it?

Seems simple right?! Not so fast. When you really think about it (and as the documentary does a pretty good job of asking some really smart people), most of the time it’s not others that are at the root of the issue. It’s ourselves. Our fears, our selfishness, our lack of action, or sometimes even our actions.

However…

There is hope. Our connectedness to one another is key. Our innate desire to be in community and be connected has the power to root out our selfishness and make things that weren’t possible alone, possible. I think there is more to this equation. I think that the underlying reason for our connectedness is God. He put it there for a reason. I think that’s why so many people like Tom (and myself) are so unsatisfied when they reach what the world identifies as important and go searching for something more. He put in our soul the desire to be more than wealthy, to be more than our titles, to be more than famous. He put the desire for community, for impact, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

That’s not an accident. Alone, I am the problem. But in community (and faith)….well that’s a whole different story.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters, Change Tagged With: Advice, Change, Do Something, Mike Farag, Reflection

Listening vs. Leading: Why You Have to Do Both

September 10, 2013 By Mike Farag 1 Comment

Too many CEOs, entrepreneurs, husbands, managers and do-it-yourselfers think we have to have all the answers in order to lead.

We’re fixers. Present us with a problem and we will tell you how to fix it.  You probably don’t even have to ask us — we will volunteer the answers, because we want to help.  It validates us as a leader. We believe in order to be a leader, we need to know the answers and be in the business of fixing things. As men especially, we are drawn to the process of fixing things.

There are two issues with this line of reasoning:

  1. You probably don’t need to be fixed, just listened to.
  2. Leading is more about listening than most of us care to admit.

So what do we do with this?  How do we move from fixing leaders to leaders who, truly listens?  I’m happy to offer some “fixes” for your consideration:

  • Learn how to listen — that’s right, it takes practice like anything in our lives.
  • Try not offering solutions verbally.  Write them down and send them later.
  • Journaling — a personal journal — is a must for growing.  Write down and reflect on your specific challenges of leading and listening. (If you need a journal or idea book, send me a note and I’ll shoot you one).

Too many of us (especially men) are trying to fix things when we really need to lead…. ahem, I mean listen.

Filed Under: Advice That Matters, Change, Featured Tagged With: Advice, Change, Lead, Listening, Mike Farag, Reflection

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An Ex Corporate Climber turned Entrepreneur (Founder of Fervor). An Adventure Junkie. A Reader. A Passionate Advocate for Change and Impact. Married to Kim and Coffee. On A Mission of Self Discovery...
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