1.29.25 ~ Moving out of Egypt

Good morning!

It’s ironic after I shared with you thoughts on isolation yesterday that I got invited to go spearfishing off the Cays in the Caribbean. The fish that were swimming in schools were safe. It was the fish that were isolated and on their own that were vulnerable and became dinner. I bet there’s some good application to that.

I was asked a question yesterday how I knew that only 1/5 of the people of God's people applied the blood of the lamb in Exodus chapter 12 left Egypt? And after I gave the answer, we began to hypothesize in our minds why that was the case that 80% of the people chose to stay behind in a land that was decimated. My pastor friend, who is hosting me, will spend more time on this topic for certain :-)

This morning, I wanted to take a theme from this week’s Torah portion Bo/come where I want to give you some historical wisdom to help you move out of your personal Egypt.

During World War II, there was an evaluation Method that saved countless lives of men and women. Potentially, those that were saved may have become your grandparents. This lesson might have very well made your existence here today possible and can certainly make your greater success here in the future more possible. During World War II military analysts were trying to figure out how to armor their planes better to prevent casualties. They noticed that many of the returning air aircraft had bullet holes in the wings, tail and fuselage. The immediate ideas were to reinforce these areas. sounds logical, right? Of course. If you identify where you see the bullet holes, make sure that those are reinforced...wala, fewer casualties.

However, a US based statistician named Abraham Wald, made an important observation. The planes that were inspected were the planes that made it back. The planes that didn’t return were the ones hit in other vital areas like the engine, the pilot, the cockpit, and flight control. By focusing only on the survivors, they were missing the most crucial information. Wall's insight was to reinforce the parts of the plane where there were no bullet holes on the returning planes; where they were visible. It's in those areas that he realized the planes hit in those parts didn't make it back. This became known as the inversion principle.

By flipping the problem on its head, Wall saved the lives of countless pilots and fly boys. The late Charlie Munger often quoted this advice by saying, “always invert. His book was even titled, all I wanna know is where I’m gonna die so I’ll never go there.

The story is a perfect metaphor for how we often tackle our own problems. We typically focus on all the things that we need to do to achieve our goals without giving enough attention to where we are vulnerable, where our blind spots are; All those things that can or are sabotaging us. Inversion means to invert or flip something upside down. It takes the question, how can I be successful and turns it into how can I avoid 'my plane from being shot down'?  Inversion lets you start with your goals in mind and works backwards; reverse engineering. From there, proactively avoid those bad choices, the behaviors and habits that will prevent you from achieving your goals. Simply put by considering negative situations, you’ll clarify your positive path to success. That’s a very important distinction. Let's share some ideas on how to apply this inversion principle to supercharge and safeguard your life and your career.

1. Identify your goals. Make sure that they are smart. You know the drill.
2. Identify your foes. Reflect deeply on the actions, the choices, the behaviors or the habits that could throw you off track. Make a list. Be honest. Make it complete...it's your plane.
3. Identify your don’t do list. Turn your foes into don’t do actions.

Let’s say you want to improve your overall fitness and your overall fitness, and you want to lose 20 pounds. Here are your foes, late night snacking, being too busy to make workouts, drinking sugary beverages or whatever it is for you. So now you don’t do or don’t eat after eight, don’t miss a scheduled workout, make them fixed, like a fixed meeting with your boss. Don’t drink sodas or high calorie coffee drinks...Your don’t do list will contribute more to your success in achieving your goal than anything that is on your diet or success plan.

Let’s say your goal is to increase the intimacy in your marriage. Here are your foes, being on your phone or laptop during together time. Prioritizing work over planned couple time together. Avoiding discussions about feelings or important topics. Here are your don’t dues. No phones at the dinner table or in bed. No canceling date night without an emergency. No shying away from difficult conversations.

Let’s say your goal is to grow your real estate business  transactions 25%, (thinking of my daughter in Austin). Your foes are poor lead follow up, lack of prospecting, paperwork, and administration distractions. So your don’t do list would include: Don't let any lead or inquiry sit for four hours or more. Don't end your day without three new prospecting conversations.  Don't spend more than one hour a day with admin or paperwork.

Since these are daily studies to help you grow in the Lord, can you use my examples and create one for your spiritual race (1 Cor. 9:24-10:11, Matt. 6:33)?

1. Goals:
2. Foes:
3. Don't dos:

Hopefully you see how by defining these don’t dos, you effectively set boundaries that help you safeguard your goals against your most common pitfalls. As Dwight Strue from the office would say: "Whenever I’m about to do something stupid I would ask myself, 'would an idiot do that'? And if he would, I don't do that thing'".

So your don’t do list acts as a daily compass guiding you away from behaviors that most significantly detract from your objectives and reinforce the behaviors that do support your ultimate success. Applying this inversion principle approach, not only clarifies what you need to avoid, but also solidifies your commitment to the habits that will help you achieve your goals! Fly high!

Shalom!

Pastor Dave, his honey bunny and myself will be flying back to America on Friday. Prayer appreciated for the remaining time here in Honduras to make the greatest impact and the proper mindset to hit the ground running when we get back to our Kingdom serving roles in the states.