Motivation is the key to carrying out any worthy enterprise. Great men and great women have clear goals and strong motivations. They know what they want and they have a clear plan before their eyes. CEO’s in successful companies know what they want, have goals, deadlines, and concrete steps to attain those goals. Professional athletes […]

It is no exaggeration to say that it comes down to one thing: your morning routine. As a house is built upon a solid foundation, the days of your life are erected upon your daily morning routine. Conversely, if your house has a foundation wall that is bowing or buckling, it will eventually settle and perhaps collapse. As a car rides on four tires, your days will ride on your mornings. Again, if just one of your car’s four tires is flat, your vehicle will not drive. Therefore, if you do not have a solid, consistent, life-giving morning routine, like that car, your life will go nowhere. Your mornings determine your days, and your days determine your months, and your months determine your years, and your years determine your legacy. Conversely, your grand vision of your life depends on the smallest of factors—how you begin your day, everyday.

Great men aren’t born, they are made great through the crucible of life. It is a mystery left only to God’s providence that you would be reading this article in a particular place, and particular time, much of which has little to do with your choosing. You and I were born into a place, a people, and a time with all its particular benefits and challenges. We don’t choose when or where we come into the world, but each of us will be judged by how well we live in it. We are judged by how well we develop our gifts and talents in service to God and one another. This, of course, is hard work. It requires both self-knowledge and self-possession, the two pillars of maturity upon which the foundation of our holiness is built.