The Seabourns

Keith Seabourn

High Impact People

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Have you had breakfast with Fred? I’ve been greatly enjoying breakfast with Fred since a friend invited me.

Yesterday, Fred shared these thoughts on high impact people.

  • Link their passion and their uniqueness. They understand that who they are and what they do well correlate.
  • Minimize religion and maximize spirituality. They know that Christianity is about relationship, not ritual.
  • Endure pain to win the gold. They have an answer to the Olympian’s question, “What do you do when you start hurting? High impact people keep going.
  • Understand that discipline is not punishment. Correction signifies concern.
  • Save, Invest, and then Speculate. They never invert the financial pyramid and never go to Las Vegas with the meal money.
  • Control their time. They don’t expect others to spend their time any more than they expect others to spend their money. They understand the power of dramatic moments.
  • Focus. They understand that bigger game is brought down with a rifle, not a shotgun.
  • Are energetic. They have discovered the power of creative energy — its source and uses.
  • Balance their lives. They stay out of the rat race and off rabbit trails. They integrate all the spokes of their life wheel, so the ride isn’t rocky.
  • Nurture their curiosity. They see the magic of life and want to know why.
  • Take calculated risks. They put the odds in their favor. They would rather own the slot machines in Las Vegas, rather than playing them.
  • Capture the concept of plateauing. They know the rules of growing, assimilating, and growing again. They know when you grow too fast, holes occur.
  • Keep stress vertical. They know that vertical stress is positive while horizontal stress causes distress.
  • Have and use a sense of humor. They appreciate the fact that “what you cry about today, you will laugh about tomorrow.”
  • Don’t take destructive action. They may “think it,” but don’t do it.
  • Anticipate. They don’t like and work against surprises. They know how to go “where the puck will be, not where it is” as Gretzky said.
  • Work with cause and effect. They understand the principles of sowing and reaping.
  • Operate and articulate the meaning of life. They have clear internal dialogue that is purposeful and intentional. They know what real life isn’t about wealth and fame.
  • Have emotional control. They have a broad repertoire of emotions and know how to use them. They have a disciplined imagination, are courageous, and eliminate the negative. John Wayne said, “Courage is being sacred to death and still saddling up.”
  • Choose their attitude. They adopt Frankl’s observation that attitude can be controlled even when circumstances cannot.

[Adapted from Breakfast with Fred daily newsletter, April 1, 2008.]

Thanks, Fred.

Salama Alekum

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Salama alekum. “Peace be unto you.”

Kay and I lived in northern Nigeria for a number of years. We learned some basic Hausa, the lingua franca (trade language) spoken throughout northern Nigeria. When you enter someone’s home, you greet them with “Salama alekum.”

Today is Easter. Our Pastor spoke this morning out of Luke 24, where Jesus appears in the upper room. I was reminded of of the AHA moment I observed many years ago.

It is amazing to see the story of the goodnews through the eyes of those hearing it for the first time, or even hearing it for the first time in their own language. For many years, I produced the Jesus Film in languages of Nigeria. I was involved in showing the film many times in rural areas (called “the bush”) as well as cities.

As the Jesus Film progresses, through the crucifixion, people are very anguished. Particularly women and children writhe and sometimes cry in pain as Jesus is tortured and crucified. Then comes the hopelessness of his burial. How could they do this to such a good, loving person? During the burial, the audience frequently sits in stunned silence. Not a sound among hundreds of people.

Then Jesus appears to his followers. He says “Salama alekum.” Peace unto you.

And the audience gasps. It’s an audible, shocked gasp. Yes, he is risen. But I think even more astounding are these words salama alekum, spoken many times each day as a thoughtless greeting. But now they take on power and meaning. They are comforting. Often people clap and shout with joy. He has overcome death.

I’m convinced that for the next several weeks, when Nigerians hear someone enter a room with the greeting “Salama alekum”, the Holy Spirit takes them back to the one who gives peace, the one who overcame death.

This morning, my mind raced back to this scene. I projected the Hausa Jesus Film many times over the years in Nigeria. I always anticipated this moment, when he demonstrates the death of death. Luke goes on to record more from Jesus near the end of chapter 24. Jesus speaks

  • peace into their troubles
  • confidence into their doubts
  • comfort into their loss
  • certainty into their unbelief

And he gently reminds them to get about the plan. Things are happening according to God’s eternal plan. You are witnesses, Jesus says. Repentance and forgiveness is being extended to all nations. You are part of this eternal plan. But first, you need to be clothed with the Holy Spirit’s power.

And the final effect of Jesus appearing to his followers was worship, great joy, and continual praise.

Even today, worship, great joy, and continual praise continue. So does the plan of forgiveness and salvation which is spreading for person to person, until everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.

South Africa:: 30 years later

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Keith & KayKay and I are in Pretoria, South Africa. Pretoria is just outside Johannesburg. We are here with 33 leaders of our ministry around the world working together on building a stronger global ministry that can sustain the Great Commission in amazing ways.

We first came to South Africa 30 years ago. We had lived in Nigeria for about 9 months and traveled to the first All-Africa Staff Conference. It now has the distinction of being the only-ever All-Africa Staff conference. No other one was ever held. Jennifer turned 2 years old on the flight back from Johannesburg to Nairobi, Kenya. We celebrated on the airplane with the only cake we could find to purchase – a fruitcake! But I guess 2 year olds don’t know the difference! So we have very funny and interesting memories of our first trip to South Africa.

We have not been back in 30 years. Yesterday, Kay and I were walking around the beautiful gardens in the guesthouse where we are staying. Kay commented that the air just smells like “Africa”. There’s just something about being on the continent that we’ve not felt anywhere else we’ve lived or traveled. Whether West Africa, East Africa, or South Africa, it’s a similar feel – a “rural feel” even in a major city, the way people interact with each other, even the smells in the air.

Grammy KayWe spent Saturday visiting with friends Stefan and Marié Dell, and Kenneth, Monica and new baby Peter. Kay easily slips into Grammy-mode wherever she is. Monica thought Grammy Kay was great at reading books. Newborn Peter found Grammy Kay’s lap a great place to sleep.

I have placed some photos online. Click here to see some of the beauty we’ve found here at the Schoongezicht Guesthouse where we’re enjoying Afrikaner hospitality.

Gmail’s Humble Beginning

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I read a great blog this morning: Gmail’s Humble Beginning . It’s by the developer of Gmail.

By the way, if you don’t know what “incipient” means, I had to look it up also! Dictionary.com defines it as beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage: an incipient cold.

Paul Buchheit, who left Google and currently works for a startup with other ex-Googlers, thinks it’s important to release applications in an incipient phase to get feedback from users.

So what’s the right attitude? Humility. It doesn’t matter how smart and successful and qualified you are, you simply don’t know what you’re doing. (…) What is the humble approach to product design? Pay attention. Notice which things are working and which aren’t. Experiment and iterate. Question your assumptions. Remember that you are wrong about a lot of things. Watch for the signals. Lose your technical and design snobbery.

Some thoughts from the blog:

Paul (and Gmail) refused to add a Delete button for a while. They wanted users to Archive, not Delete. Didn’t work. Users wanted a Delete button. So Gmail added a Delete button.

Gmail wanted users to Tag, not File in a folder. Users want to File (yes, Microsoft has trained us all!!!), so after trying to educate users, Gmail is now added “filing” type functionality like drag-n-drop rather than sticking to the “assign a tag(s), not drag to a folder”.

This is good advice for me personally, who tends to die on the wrong hills while trying to change user behavior. There is bound to be balance, but I have trouble finding it. What do you think?

[Thanks, Mike, for first alerting me to the blog.]