2,000 Percent LIVING

2010-10-08T14:57:00.008-04:00

From the Back Cover

After thinking about the possible contents for the
book over several weeks, I was surprised to be
awakened at 1:30 a.m. on May 19, 2009, by a voice
that dictated to me in great detail what should be
in this book. This dictation continued for many
hours and finally paused for me to begin asking
clarifying questions, which were then answered.
The instruction lasted over six hours.

From that experience, I believe that by writing
this book I am merely serving as a fleshly vehicle
for a message from the Holy Spirit that is intended
for all people on Earth. I pray that I have been
faithful and accurate in sharing with you what I
was directed to write.

This is a book about fruitfulness, about how to
accomplish more of what God intends. For your
willing contributions to those fruitful results,
He will reward you in heaven.

Would you like to understand Godly ways that
have led some Christians to enjoy life more, to
accomplish so much that they amazed themselves,
to have lots more free time, to be with loved ones
more often, and to earn a living in less time and
with less effort? When it is God’s will, those are
some of the potential benefits that 2,000 percent
solution living may offer you.

2,000 Percent Living is available for purchase
in paperback at:

http://www.amazon.com/000-Percent-Living-Donald-Mitchell/dp/1453822410/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

2,000 Percent Living is available for purchase
in the electronic Kindle format at:

http://www.amazon.com/2-000-Percent-Living-ebook/dp/B00472O5NA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1287004215&sr=8-2-catcorr

I am also looking for volunteer translators
who would like to help make the book
available to many more people. Send me an
e-mail at save_more_souls@yahoo.com if
this is of interest.

The appendixes for 2,000 Percent Living can be
found at:

http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,
http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/, and
http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Front Matter

2010-10-08T12:07:00.004-04:00

2,000 Percent
LIVING

Donald Mitchell

Coauthor of The 2,000 Percent Solution

Salvation Press
Weston, Massachusetts
United States of America

Other Books by Donald Mitchell

The 2,000 Percent Solution (with Carol Coles and Robert
Metz)

The Irresistible Growth Enterprise (with Carol Coles)

The Ultimate Competitive Advantage (with Carol Coles)

The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook (with Carol Coles)

The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution (with Carol Coles)

The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution (with Carol Coles)

Adventures of an Optimist

Witnessing Made Easy (with Bishop Dale P. Combs,
Lisa Combs, Jim Barbarossa, and Carla Barbarossa)

Ways You Can Witness (with Cherie Hill, Roger
de Brabant, Drew Dickens, Gael Torcise, Wendy Lobos,
Herpha Jane Obod, and Gisele Umugiraneza)

2,000 Percent Living
Copyright © 2010 by Donald W. Mitchell. All rights
reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or
mechanical methods without the prior written permission
of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the
New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas
Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the
HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.
NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NAS)® are taken from the
New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman
Foundation, A Corporation Not for Profit, La Habra,
California. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

For information, contact:

Donald W. Mitchell
Salvation Press
P.O. Box 302
Weston, Massachusetts 02493
781-647-4211

Published in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to:

My beloved Mother, Felice Mitchell (1925-2010), who
taught me to pray and helped lead me to gain Salvation
May she find continual delight in her new heavenly home

Contents

Acknowledgments.................................................... ix

Introduction.............................................................. xi

Lesson One: Follow the Lord, Jesus Christ ............1

Lesson Two: Free Your Mind.................................21

Lesson Three: Improve Your Goals .....................29

Lesson Four: Put First Things First .....................36

Lesson Five: Learn from Others by Reading ......50

Lesson Six: Read Helpful Sources .........................58

Lesson Seven: Design and Implement
a Valuable 2,000 Percent Solution.........................69

Lesson Eight: Multiply Your Access to
Valuable 2,000 Percent Solutions..........................80

Lesson Nine: Personally Create More
2,000 Percent Solutions .........................................90

Lesson Ten: Improve 2,000 Percent Solutions
Again and Again .......................................................95

Lesson Eleven: Use Complementary Solutions
to Multiply Exponential Benefits..........................105

Lesson Twelve: Cleanse Your Heart through
Selfless Service in Creating 2,000
Percent Solutions....................................................117

Lesson Thirteen: Connect Better with Other
People ......................................................................128

Lesson Fourteen: Stop and Consider What
You Are about to Do from God’s Perspective.....137

Appendix A: Author’s Testimony ........................149

Appendix B: 2,000 Percent Living Blueprints for

Ideal Practice Identification,
Breakthrough Leadership, and
Breakthrough Servants..........................................154

Acknowledgments

Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!

— 1 Chronicles 16:8 (NKJV)

I thank Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, for creating
the universe and all the people on the Earth; our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, for providing the way for us to
gain Salvation; and the Holy Spirit for guiding our daily
paths towards repentance and righteousness. I also
humbly acknowledge the perfect guidance I received
from God through His Holy Spirit to write this book.

I am grateful to Bishop Dale P. Combs of Jubilee Worship
Center in Hobart, Indiana, for generously reviewing all of
the writing in the book for its consistency with the Bible.
Bishop Combs’s comments greatly helped me to be sure
that I was acting in one accord with the Lord’s purposes.
This is the third book I have authored or coauthored
that Bishop Combs has improved for Biblical accuracy.
His continual encouragement for the book’s writing made
work easier and more pleasant.

Let me also thank Assistant Pastor Scott Richardson of
Calvary Chapel in the City in Boston, Massachusetts, for
reviewing the Introduction and suggesting that I add
the theme of fruitfulness to help Christians more clearly
understand the book’s focus.

I would like to express my gratitude to my family for
allowing me the time and peace to work on such a huge
and awe-inspiring project for God. They made many
sacrifices without complaining and were a continual
inspiration.

I appreciate my many clients who held off on their
demands for my help so that this project could receive
the attention it required over more than four years.
Their financial support also made it possible for me to
give this time to the Lord and to invest in the expenses
required to make this book available.

Finally, I am most appreciative of the many fine
improvements that the editor, Bernice Pettinato, made
in the text. This is the tenth book where she has helped
me to make the messages clearer and more pleasant to
read. As always, she was a delight to work with. Her
kindness made the writing much easier. I value all she
has taught me about writing.

I accept sole responsibility for any remaining errors and
apologize to my readers for any inconvenience that they
cause.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Introduction

2010-10-07T10:47:00.003-04:00

Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting,
get understanding.
Take firm hold of instruction,
do not let go;
Keep her, for she is your life.

— Proverbs 4:7, 13 (NKJV)

What is wisdom? It is doing God’s will through abiding in
Christ as Jesus described:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes
away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that
it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of
the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in
Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides
in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me
you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is
cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather
them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will
ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this
My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you
will be My disciples.” (John 15:1-8, NKJV)

This is a book about fruitfulness, about how born-again
Christians can accomplish more of what God intends.
When you follow His directions, you will assist in creating
valuable results that He wants. For your willing
contributions to those fruitful results, He will reward you
in heaven. In some cases, your life on Earth will also be
improved, but remember that exercising faith may,
instead, require suffering on Earth:

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that
they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had
trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and
imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in
two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented — of whom the world
was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all
these, having obtained a good testimony through
faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided
something better for us, that they should not be made
perfect apart from us. (Hebrews 11:35-40, NKJV)

In any case, Jesus promises that all your Earthly needs
will be met if you focus on the kingdom of God:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33,
NKJV)

Would you like to understand Godly ways that have led
some Christians to enjoy life more, to accomplish so much
that they amazed themselves, to have lots more free time,
to be with loved ones more often, and to earn a living in
less time and with less effort? When it is God’s will, those
are some of the potential benefits that 2,000 percent
living may offer you.

And while you may or may not gain Earthly benefits,
remember that you will certainly gain heavenly benefits
as Jesus promises:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and
steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves
do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20, NKJV)

To gain those benefits, you’ll have to make some changes:
Stop doing some harmful things and start doing some
more beneficial actions. In the process, you will use God’s
help to bring glory to Him and joy to you and those you
love.

How do I know what’s possible and what’s involved? With
God’s guidance through reading the Bible, prayer, and
listening to what I believe is His Holy Spirit, I’ve been
helping people make such improvements for many years
as demonstrations of the opportunity for everyone on
Earth to make improvements at twenty times the usual
rate. In addition, I’ve gained benefits from 2,000 percent
living for myself through the Lord’s grace.

Are you ready to start now? Read on to learn what to do.

Fulfill Your Potential by
Gaining the Right Knowledge
and Performing Breakthrough Service

“… he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger,
and he who governs as he who serves.”

— Luke 22:26 (NKJV)

Many people have the wrong idea about what talent is
for, seeing it as a resource for themselves. Instead they
should apply their talents to serve others in doing God’s
will.

Most people have no idea how little of the talent and
knowledge that God has given them they are employing.
I see that lack of awareness all the time among my
students. I believe that you are underestimating your
potential as well.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Dr. Burra Ramulu
worked as a shift supervisor at a fertilizer factory in the
Middle East for many years. However, his most important
responsibility was to train young Arabs to hold the
organization’s senior roles. He was effective in such
preparation, and all of those with positions above him in
the organization were younger men whom he had
originally trained.

After deciding to earn a doctorate, Dr. Ramulu became
interested in 2,000 percent solutions (ways of
accomplishing 20 times the results with the same or
less time, money, and effort). His first 2,000 percent
solution project was to study how his factory’s profits
could be increased by more than 20 times while
spending very little money for new investment. He
found a way to greatly increase capacity, improve
quality, expand productivity, and lower costs that only
required an investment equal to about 10 percent of
the plant’s existing capital base. As a result, cash flow
expanded by more than 20 times.

Realizing that his opportunities to advance his career were
constrained in the Middle East, Dr. Ramulu moved back to
his native India and took a position with a global producer
of basic commodities. As his dissertation subject, Dr.
Ramulu investigated how to create a new business model
for his employer, the first major business-model
improvement for that industry in more than fifty years.
As a result, he discovered a way to lower costs by over 40
percent, to reduce capital needs by even more, and to
expand his company’s business volume by several
hundred percent. The new business model was approved
by his employer and is now being pursued.

Not satisfied with what he had learned and accomplished
during the process of attaining his first doctorate, Dr.
Ramulu decided to study for a second one. This time his
dissertation work was based on an even more
fundamental problem: How to lift poor, uneducated
people out of despair and to make their lives hopeful and
economically successful. Choosing to serve Kasimpet, the
village where he grew up, Dr. Ramulu faithfully trekked
hundreds of kilometers across India on weekends to
teach the people there about 2,000 percent solutions.

Also supported by other volunteers who had once lived
in Kasimpet, an initial fifty people soon reformed the bad
thinking habits that had held them back, began using
better thinking processes, formed a cooperative, and
began designing and implementing profitable 2,000
percent solutions. In just a few months, most of those
fifty people increased their incomes by more than twenty
times, reduced their debts by more than 96 percent,
slashed the interest rates they were paying on the
remaining debt by 96 percent, and increased their net
worths by more than twenty times. They also gained
new, positive outlooks on life and sought to cooperate
with one another rather than be divided by the
accidents of birth from which castes are defined.

As this book was going to press, these fifty people had
pledged to teach what they had learned to at least
another twenty other people each who will be asked to
do the same for twenty more people. Dr. Ramulu hopes
that at least fifteen of the fifty will act on their pledges
so that the rest of the village will be able to gain the
same knowledge.

After everyone in the village is helped, the plan is to
adopt surrounding villages by sending Kasimpet’s experts
to help them.

Should enough people be faithful, much poverty and
despair can be eliminated from that part of India in just a
few years. You can keep track of the progress by going to
Dr. Ramulu’s Web site about this project, http://hstrial-
rburra.homestead.com/about.html.

Naturally, Dr. Ramulu enjoys a wonderful sense of
accomplishment from encouraging so many positive
improvements. Can you imagine the sense of satisfaction
that he enjoys each morning as he thinks about the
villagers?

What else might Dr. Ramulu accomplish? It’s up to what
God calls him to do. There is no practical limit to his
potential to succeed in serving others with God’s help.

There are millions of people with as much potential as
Dr. Ramulu has who could have done what he did to
serve others. But few of them choose to serve by learning
and teaching breakthrough skills. Dr. Ramulu made that
important choice, and that decision liberated him and
those he has taught into 2,000 percent living.

I pray that this book will do the same for you if that is
God’s will.

Foundations of 2,000 Percent Living

Become complete.
Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace;
and the God of love and peace will be with you.

— 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NKJV)

God wants us to focus on Him as we abide in Christ. To do
this, we need to be “of one mind” and avoid being double
minded:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon.”

(Matthew 6:24, NKJV)

Since I was young, people have often asked for my advice.
I have always been happy to share my ideas, and many
people have benefited. I have always been grateful to
God for granting me the ability to serve and for providing
His guidance for what to say and to write.

I was deeply humbled in 1995 when I believe that the
Holy Spirit directed me to lead an effort to help everyone
on the Earth accomplish at least twenty times more. (You
can read about the origins, methods, and conclusions of
what I call the 400 Year Project, ways to make 400 years
worth of normal improvements during the years from 2015
through 2035, in Adventures of an Optimist, Mitchell and
Company Press 2007, and at www.fastforward400.com.)
I was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task that
I had no idea what to do first. Fortunately, I believe that
He directed my steps and learning so that the necessary
solutions have been identified and described in the books
I have contributed to about the 400 Year Project.

Despite my willingness to help in every possible way, it
recently struck me that I may not have been sharing what
I have learned in the ways God intended: When I asked
people who have been reading about my work for years
what questions they would like me to answer about
accomplishing twenty times more, I found nothing new
in what they asked. In fact, I had previously written
answers to each of the questions I received.

From those responses I realized that people who want to
make breakthroughs in all aspects of their lives need a
brief compendium of the most important ways to
accomplish twenty times more. This book, 2,000 Percent
Living, is intended to facilitate those accomplishments.
After thinking about the possible contents for the book
over several years, I was surprised to be awakened at
1:30 a.m. on May 19, 2009, by a voice that dictated to me
in great detail what should be in this book. This dictation
continued for many hours and finally paused for me to
begin asking clarifying questions, which were then
answered. The instruction lasted over six hours.

From that experience, I believe that by writing this book
I am merely serving as a fleshly vehicle for a message
from the Holy Spirit that is intended for all people on
Earth. I pray that I have been faithful and accurate in
sharing with you what I was directed to write. Since
some receive false messages intended to deceive, you
should test what you read in this book through your
reading of the Bible and through prayer as we are directed
to do by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:29 (“Let two or three
prophets speak, and let the others judge.” NKJV).

The Lessons for You

But who can teach a lesson to God,
since he judges even the most powerful?

— Job 21:22 (NLT)

These lessons are intended to focus you first, last, and
throughout on God and doing His will. Don’t think of
these lessons as putting human reason or experience
ahead of His will and guidance. Instead, see each lesson as
being directed by the Holy Spirit of faith.

Most people rarely read nonfiction books, especially
Christian ones, dipping perhaps into one or two in a
decade. If that’s your reading pattern, this section is for
you. I summarize the elements of the book’s fourteen
lessons here.

If this information is enough for your purposes, stop after
reading this section. If you want to learn more about why
these solutions are important or how to implement them,
go to the lessons you want to learn more about.

If you would rather read a fuller treatment of the book’s
contents, you can skip this section and just begin reading
Lesson One.

Lesson One: Accept Salvation by repenting of your
sins; believe Jesus is God’s Son and in His
resurrection from the dead; and give your life to
Jesus Christ to do His will, not yours (or rededicate
your life to Him if you have accepted Salvation but
have not been walking with Him). Start every day
by praising and thanking the Lord; praying for what
is righteous that you want done in the name of Jesus;
and studying the Bible. Attend church whenever
possible; make a weekly written commitment of
added ways to follow His direction; and continually
witness to others about your faith, seeking to help
lead at least twenty people to whom you have
been speaking to choose to accept Salvation.

Doing these things will help you to hear and understand
the Holy Spirit who will guide your steps toward the most
productive directions on Earth, will provide you with
supernatural support for making performance
breakthroughs, and will help you earn eternal rewards to
be enjoyed in heaven. As a result, you will have all the
wisdom and power you need to do any righteous thing you
want that is in God’s will. Isn’t that awesome?

Lesson Two: Cleanse your mind of distractions,
accusations, worries, fears, and annoyances
through twice-daily meditation.

Most people have trouble accomplishing breakthroughs
because their minds are so full of idle, distracting chatter.
Meditation can reduce the volume of that irrelevant,
useless chatter by at least 96 percent so that you can
focus better on the worthy things that you want to do
with your life and hear the Holy Spirit better. You’ll
redirect lots of mental focus to work on opportunities
that you’ve been ignoring or not pursuing actively
enough.

Lesson Three: Pick better life objectives through
prayer and consultation with your family and
friends.

Many people are working long and very hard to achieve
results that aren’t going to please God, won’t be very
productive and satisfying for their lives, and will not be
supportive of their relationships with family and friends.
For example, one parent may be working long hours and
traveling to the ends of the Earth in search of faster
career progress so the family can have more possessions
and vacations; but the effect may simply be to undermine
the family and its spiritual life by not providing enough
time to be together in loving ways. Talk to the people
who know and care about you to get ideas for better
objectives, pray about what you hear, listen to the Holy
Spirit, and redirect your energies into far more fruitful
paths for His will.

Lesson Four: Increase by at least a factor of
twenty the time you spend on your most
important goals in serving the Lord.

What’s most important deserves top priority and more
than enough attention. Instead, most people spend the
bulk of their time attending to what others demand be
done immediately. By reorganizing and redirecting how
you spend your time, you will soon have the ability to
focus adequate attention and activity to make
breakthrough gains with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Lesson Five: Expand your ability to read,
comprehend, and remember by at least twenty
times.

In order to make breakthroughs, you need to gain a lot of
information you don’t yet know. Reading is very helpful as
one source for gathering the needed information. No matter
how well or how poorly you read now, there are methods to
help you make great improvements in permanently
capturing valuable information through reading. With the
Holy Spirit guiding your reading, you’ll then be led to
appreciate new things to do and how to accomplish old
things in better ways.

Lesson Six: Select reading materials that will
help you identify and understand the future
best practices (the best ways anyone in the
world will do that or any similar activity in
the next five years) and the ideal best
practices (the best ways anyone can ever
hope to do that or any similar activity by
using technology that will be available in the
next five years) in those areas where you
want to gain breakthrough results.

One reason most people accomplish far less than their
potential is because they are ignorant of what others
already know how to do. It’s far more productive to start
aiming for improvements after first drawing on the best
knowledge that’s available. With that knowledge in hand,
the Holy Spirit will show you valuable breakthroughs that
serve God.

Lesson Seven: Learn how to identify stalls
(bad thinking habits), to eliminate and
replace stalls with good thinking habits, and
to design and implement 2,000 percent
solutions to serve others on God’s behalf by
producing your first one.

Most people can develop their first 2,000 percent solution
with between 60 and 120 hours of reading, study, and
work under the Holy Spirit’s direction. If the
improvement area is an important one, the increased
performance gained from the solution will easily repay
the time, money, and effort that were invested. You
can learn to identify your bad thinking habits and replace
them with good ones and learn to develop 2,000 percent
solutions by reading, answering the questions in, and
applying The 2,000 Percent Solution (AMACOM, 1999)
and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook (iUniverse,
2005). You can obtain free e-copies of those books by
registering (and confirming your registration by replying
to the e-mail that’s sent immediately — check your spam
folder) at www.2000percentsolution.com.

Lesson Eight: Teach someone else how to
identify and eliminate stalls and to design
and implement 2,000 percent solutions
that are attuned to the Holy Spirit.

The only thing better than creating your own 2,000
percent solutions is having others create them for God
without you. When you teach someone the process, you
gain the potential to create more Godly benefits from
their work. At the same time, the Holy Spirit will help
you deepen your understanding of the process. If you
ask those you teach to teach others, you create the
potential to enjoy a family, circle of friends, and an
organization that’s so wonderfully productive for God
that most important tasks require little time, attention,
or expense.

Lesson Nine: Apply the 2,000 percent solution
process each year to one additional important
activity that the Holy Spirit leads you to improve.

In this way, you will become more effective in designing
and implementing solutions and surround yourself with
the benefits of having many more solutions. Otherwise,
you’ll probably fall into your old habits of using far too
much time, money, and effort to accomplish what’s
needed, wasting your life and not fulfilling God’s purposes
for you.

Lesson Ten: Repeat the 2,000 percent solution
process annually to enhance benefits from the
solutions you developed by at least an additional
twenty times.

Most people never repeat the 2,000 percent solution
process. That’s a big mistake in ignoring the Holy Spirit’s
potential to make you more fruitful because the gains
from the first repetition will be twenty times larger than
the initial gains. And the gains from the second repetition
will be 400 times greater than the initial improvement.
And so on. In addition, repeating the process in the same
solution area usually takes much less time than on the
preceding occasion.

Lesson Eleven: Link together at least seven
complementary 2,000 percent solutions to
create multiplied, exponential Godly results.

This is a 2,000 percent solution for making 2,000 percent
solutions by increasing the combined gain achieved from
each solution by at least 63,999,980 times. How’s that for
increased productivity on God’s behalf? The Holy Spirit
will be essential to picking the right complementary
solutions to work on. You can also read about some possible
complementary 2,000 percent solutions for an organization
in Chapters 10 and 11 of Adventures of an Optimist and in
The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution (Mitchell and
Company Press, 2007).

Lesson Twelve: Increase the benefits of what
you do by twenty times to assist some of those
who cannot help you.

Many people take the easy way out when it comes to
providing for the poor and helpless, not heeding the Holy
Spirit’s directions to serve others. As a result, they may
simply write a check to help with the symptom of the
person’s problems (such as buying a meal for a hungry
person) while not helping to eliminate the source of the
problem (which might be the lack of reading skills
needed to get a good job).

By using your 2,000 percent solution skills under the
Holy Spirit’s direction to serve those who cannot help
you, you improve the quality of your life by purifying
your heart through becoming more humble. Otherwise,
all your success with 2,000 percent solutions may make
you prideful, spoiling your relationship with God, the
Father, the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Lesson Thirteen: Approach others with fresh
interest, warm gratitude, and a deep desire
to draw twenty times closer to them.

Your successes may isolate you from many people God
wants you to be in contact with if you don’t take steps to
offset that tendency. Begin by seeking the Holy Spirit’s
help to become well acquainted with everyone who is
near you (family, friends, neighbors, fellow churchgoers,
coworkers, those who serve you, people you travel with,
and those you see on the street). Then, find out how they
look at life to find the views that you share with them.
Encourage them to regularly pursue locating views they
share with you and others. Appreciate them for who they
are each time you see or think of them. Seek
opportunities to be with them and to talk with them more
often. Pray for them daily. Ask the Holy Spirit what else
you should be doing with them. You can also read a number
of ways to accomplish these results with little time, money,
and effort in Chapter 9 of Adventures of an Optimist.

Lesson Fourteen: Examine your conduct
before acting to see if it will be pleasing to
God.

Throughout the day, try to look at your choices through
His eyes before acting and ask the Holy Spirit to direct
you. When you find that you’ve made a mistake,
immediately repent and ask His forgiveness and seek to
correct the error for those who are affected. Pray for
guidance in how to do better next time. In addition, pray
several times a day for a pure heart and to be acting in
His will. The mistakes you avoid will save you from acting
in rebellion to God’s will and wasting endless amounts of
time. In addition, fixing right away whatever mistakes
you do make will limit the damage so that you won’t have
to do as much later on and can, instead, follow the Holy
Spirit to the next Godly task you are intended to do.

Fourteen items make a long list, don’t they? Relax.

Acting in each area is not as challenging as you might first
think. You will have Christ in you, guiding your every step.
The Holy Spirit will keep you on the right path. You’ll also
find that most of these activities quickly become
comfortable habits. And you don’t have to master all of
them at the same time. You can just work on one item at
a time until you feel comfortable adding the next one. If
you take that approach, I recommend that you work on
Lesson One first, followed by Lesson Fourteen, before
working on Lesson Two.

In addition, you’ll soon be gaining wonderful benefits from
your focus on being closer to God. Each breakthrough will
make you feel great and encourage you to seek even more
significant gains.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the
name of Jesus!

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved

2,000 Percent Living Lesson One: Follow the Lord, Jesus Christ

2010-10-06T13:18:00.002-04:00

Accept Salvation by repenting of your sins;
believe Jesus is God’s Son
and in His resurrection from the dead; and
give your life to Jesus Christ
to do His will, not yours
(or rededicate your life to Him if you
have accepted Salvation
but have not been walking with Him).
Start every day by praising and
thanking the Lord;
praying for what is righteous that
you want done
in the name of Jesus; and studying the Bible.
Attend church whenever possible;
make a weekly written commitment of
added ways to follow His direction; and
continually witness to others about your faith,
seeking to help lead at least twenty people
to whom you have been speaking
to choose to accept Salvation.

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee,
saw two brothers, Simon called Peter,
and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea;
for they were fishermen.
Then He said to them,
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

— Matthew 4:18-19 (NKJV)

If you have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and
Savior and are following Him to the best of your ability,
please go directly to the section in this lesson about how
to start your day.

If you have gained Salvation by being born again in the
spirit but aren’t following Him now, please continue
your reading at the section in this lesson about
rededicating your life to Him.

If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and
Savior, please begin reading right here.

Why should you follow Jesus? Let me tell you a little
about my life to help you understand.

I humbly offer this information realizing that there are
many more dramatic and impressive stories about how
God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy
Spirit have helped a person to experience and enjoy
2,000 percent living. Despite this shortcoming, after
much prayer I decided to write about some of my
experiences because I can
describe my life more accurately and completely than
what happened to someone else.

I have a lot to be grateful for. I wouldn’t even be alive
today if God had not wanted me to be conceived. The
same is true for you. My life has shown me how fragile
our physical existence can be. I don’t know if you have
ever been close to losing your life, but life-and-death
challenges have been all too frequent for me. I praise
and thank God that He has carried me through those
trials and that I am able to do His work while giving
Him the glory and credit for the wonderful results.

Without His mercy I wouldn’t have lived long enough to
become an adult. When I was just a few months old, I
barely survived dehydration from an intestinal flu or
infection that required a long hospital stay. At age one,
I received such a severe sunburn while lying in the
shade by a lake that I had to be hospitalized again, and
my parents worried about whether I would live. At six, I
had another close call when lightning struck a fence post
less than 10 feet away as I raced down a road toward
shelter from a tornado. At thirteen, I contracted double
pneumonia and spent two weeks in the hospital before I
went home to continue my bed-ridden recovery.

That’s when I started down the path to become a born-
again, saved Christian: My physician, Dr. Helmsley, told
me that I had had a close brush with death and shouldn’t
take another chance of losing my life before accepting
Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The doctor helped me to
understand that I was a sinner who could not save himself
from the wrongs I had already done and that Jesus wanted
to grant me Salvation because He loved me.

After receiving Salvation at fourteen, sickness continued
to be a challenge. At seventeen, my blood pressure was so
high from an overactive thyroid gland that I spent weeks
in the hospital to help avoid having a heart attack. I went
away to start college a few weeks later with hardly enough
strength to carry my books to class.

Fortunately, severe illnesses weren’t as frequent after I
became an adult, but some of the ones I experienced were
difficult. When my daughter was a year old and I was in
my thirties, I suffered something that started to act like a
stroke. As my face started to be paralyzed, I prayed to
Jesus to save me and the paralysis immediately drained
away. But the problems didn’t end there. I was so weak
in the aftermath that for months I could only get out of
bed with difficulty. For many years afterward, much of
my body was either extremely painful or numb.

In my fifties, I started fainting for no apparent reason: It
turned out that my blood pressure was too low to push
enough oxygenated blood up to my brain. I won’t bore you
with any of the other sicknesses I’ve had. I can best
summarize those experiences by saying that I can relate
very well to Job’s pain and suffering in the Bible because
I feel like I’ve lived through the Book of Job.

More times than I like to count, I have also been near
death in automobile accidents from which I have been
miraculously rescued. Here’s one example: I was driving
at about 40 miles an hour through a snowstorm in
Hartford, Connecticut, late one night when two large
trucks passed by recklessly on my left, sideswiping my
car. The impacts pushed my small sedan hard to the
right and into a guard rail that barely kept me from
plunging over 50 feet onto the concrete embankment
below. Fortunately, all I suffered was damage to my car
and some badly shaken nerves.

Airplanes have been dangerous, too. One time a window
came unsealed next to me, and the plane had to make an
emergency descent to a lower altitude. Another time, I
was flying through a severe storm while a plane
immediately below crashed, killing all the passengers and
crew.

I’m sure you would agree that a person who has many
dangerous and debilitating illnesses and accidents isn’t
likely either to lead a very normal life or to live very long.
Yet, the Lord has healed, protected, and sustained me
time and again. As a result, I’m now in my middle sixties
enjoying my first extended period of good health and
energy in many years. Praise God!

In my twenties, thirties, and forties, I didn’t follow Him
nearly as closely as I should have. I believe that a lot of
the challenges I faced then were sent to ensure that I
realized that I wouldn’t go very far without His help.

Here’s an example of the kind of warnings I have
received: While watching television with my family about
thirty years ago, the set exploded on being struck by a
lightning bolt that blasted through the nearby closed
window. Lord, I’m convinced! I need You!

Fortunately, I awoke from many of my spiritual errors in
1995, rededicated my life then to Jesus, and began
studying and working hard to live as much like Jesus as
possible. Almost immediately, I was given a commission
through what I believe was the Holy Spirit to lead the
400 Year Project to show how everyone could make
improvements at twenty times the usual rate from 2015
through 2035.

Who could have been a more unlikely person to succeed
in that amazing undertaking than me? I was still
functioning at a very low level physically, and my mind
wasn’t nearly as sharp as it could have been. I had no idea
of how to start this enormous, seemingly impossible task.
Yet He cleared a path for me and showed me where to
go.

Compared to how I was living and what I was
accomplishing in 1995, everything I do in any given day
now is way beyond 2,000 percent living, beginning with
having followed His directions so that I have demonstrated
how to accomplish vast multiples of more for righteous
purposes. I’ve seen everything I touch that’s related to
His will increase in astonishing, gratifying ways. Clearly,
the glory goes to Him, not to me. It’s wonderful to be on
the receiving end of His grace, mercy, and favor.

I suspect that part of His purpose in choosing me to lead
the 400 Year Project could have been to demonstrate to
people who think they don’t need God’s help that He can
lift them up vastly more than they can help themselves.
If that was His purpose, I’m honored to be His example.

It would be a terrible sin for me not to tell you that you
need Him to live a life on Earth and afterward in heaven
that will happily exceed your biggest, most positive
dreams for contributing to righteousness.

Accept Salvation

But what does it say?
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith which we preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

— Romans 10:8-10 (NKJV)

As someone who isn’t yet saved by the grace of Jesus
Christ, you may be wondering why I began this book’s
lessons about accomplishing twenty times more for
righteous purposes with directions for developing and
deepening your relationship with Him. While it would
be possible to write quite a long list of reasons for this
emphasis, in the interests of clarity let me give you the
shortest complete list I can:

1. Without accepting the Salvation that Jesus provides
through His sacrificial death on the cross and believing in
His subsequent resurrection by God, you will endure life
on Earth and eternity after death separate from God,
suffering terribly in hell, because of your sins.

According to the Bible’s record of words spoken by either
God (see the 10 commandments in Exodus 20) or Jesus
(see Matthew 5), if you have ever taken God’s name in
vain such as by swearing, worked on Sunday, stolen
anything, been angry enough to think about hurting
someone, lusted sexually for someone who was not your
spouse, lied, or wanted something that belonged to your
neighbor, you have sinned and cannot redeem yourself
by your own efforts to gain connection with God.

Fortunately, there’s good news: The Bible also promises
that all your sins are already forgiven. You need only
repent your sins, accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
believing Him to be God’s resurrected Son. There’s no
greater improvement you can make now than to upgrade
how you will spend life on Earth and eternity after you die.

2. On Earth, you will gain great advantages by following
the directions of the Holy Spirit (you will be baptized by
the Holy Spirit after being saved through accepting Jesus
as your Lord and Savior as described in Acts 10:44-48,
NKJV) to steer clear of traps set to distract you by the
enemy who is the source of sinful temptation in this
world.

The Bible tells us that He wants to make your crooked
places straight (Isaiah 40:4, NKJV), that He will listen to
your prayers, that He has peaceful thoughts toward you,
and that He has plans to give you hope (Jeremiah 29:11-12,
NKJV).

3. Until you accept Salvation and faithfully follow Jesus,
God may choose to send you more and more difficult
challenges and setbacks to help you realize that you are
weak and He is strong … and that you need Him to lead
your life.

God isn’t some remote judge just hoping we will make a
mistake and be condemned. Instead, He cares about us
and wants each of us to be saved.

4. When you follow what Jesus wants you to do, you will
have His authority and power to accomplish much more,
authority that commands the accomplishment of any
righteous result in the supernatural and physical worlds.

Jesus wants us to help lead the world toward His
goodness, and He is prepared to deliver immense
resources to you for making that happen.

Why is your Salvation important to God? He loves you
and wants you to spend time with Him. As evidence,
consider that before Adam disobeyed God in the
Garden of Eden they had daily walks and talks together.
God also sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die a
painful, shameful death as a perfect blood sacrifice, the
only way to wash away my and your sins forever.

Because you’ve already been forgiven by Jesus’ sacrifice,
you just need to receive that forgiveness by taking these
actions:

1. Confess your sins and repent (be sorry that
you sinned and reform by changing your frame
of mind and practices) to Jesus Christ.

2. Believe that God raised Jesus from the
dead and ascended into heaven (Mark 16)
where He intercedes for those who believe
in Him (the Bible describes in 1 Corinthians
15:4-8, NKJV, that there were over 500
witnesses who saw Jesus alive after He died
and was buried, which testifies that Jesus
is who He said He is and can grant you
Salvation).

3. Promise to follow the Lord Jesus for
the rest of your life and to do His will,
not yours. Keeping this promise will
lead you to many good occurrences you
don’t expect to help you lead a more
righteous life. Jesus has good plans for you.

Once you accept Him as Lord and Savior, you will begin
the best relationship you will ever have. You can read
more about my experiences with getting to know Him
better in my Christian testimony located in Appendix A.

When you are ready, here’s a prayer you can use to
speak sincerely to God from your heart so you can
accept the free gift of Salvation by repenting and
seeking to follow Jesus with all your being:

“Dear God,
I have sinned.
I am very sorry that I have sinned.
I know that I deserve Your punishment for my sins.
I ask You to forgive me for these sins.
From my whole heart I accept that Jesus Christ is,
and will forever be, my Lord and Savior,
that He died and rose again to be with You in heaven.
Take my life, Jesus.
I surrender my life to You.
From this moment on, I will live my life according
to the Bible and to serve You.
Thank You for taking away my sins and
giving me everlasting life in heaven.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen.”

If you would like to ask questions about or discuss what
Salvation is, to learn more about Jesus, or to accept
Salvation with a witness, you can always reach someone
who will help you at Need Him, a Christian ministry. Just
call 1-888-NEED-HIM toll-free in the United States. If
you are outside the United States or would prefer to have
a live Internet chat, go to http://www.needhim.org/ and
click on the “chat” button.

Rededicate Your Life to Jesus

“I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners, to repentance.”

— Luke 5:32 (NKJV)

Once you have been saved by repenting of your sins and
accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you continue to
be saved even if you don’t follow Him. However, He has
good plans for you that you will miss out on until you
follow and obey Him.

Here’s what Jesus had to say on the subject of obedience
to His will:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine,
and does them, I will liken him to a wise man
who built his house on the rock:
and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house;
and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine,
and does not do them,
will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.
And great was its fall.”

— Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)

Be sure you understand that once you are saved you
don’t have to rededicate your life to Him every time you
sin. However, you should tell Him you are sorry that you
have sinned, promise to do better with His help, and ask
for guidance and strength so you won’t sin again.

It’s only after you have decided to disobey Him and to
keep disobeying Him that you must rededicate yourself.
He doesn’t expect you to be perfect in avoiding sin: That’s
one reason why His sacrifice on the cross was designed to
forgive the sins you have done in the past, the sins you do
now, and the sins you will do in the future.

He does expect us to try to follow Him to the best of our
understanding and to the full extent of our strength and
abilities. If you decide to do life your way instead of His,
He will try to bring you back to His will.

It’s easy to know that you are in His will again after
faltering: Life feels light and comfortable because you trust
Him to take care of you.

You will have peace even in the middle of danger and
difficulties:

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.

— Psalm 23 (NKJV)

Start Your Day Praising and Seeking Him

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.

— Psalm 5:3 (NKJV)

Most days are full of distractions that can pull you away
from God’s will. As Psalm 5:3 describes, you can be more
tuned into Him by starting each day focusing on the Lord.
Then you will hear Him and stay in His will better
throughout the day.

I keep lists of the great things that the Lord has done for
me. I read those lists every morning, drawing strength
and happiness from reliving those awe-inspiring
experiences. I feel very peaceful as I do.

Next, praise and thank God specifically for all the
wonderful things He has done for you. As you
remember these blessings, your heart will be lightened
and gladdened.

Some people like to praise and thank Him silently in their
minds through prayer. Others play some recorded praise-
and-worship music based on the Bible and sing along.
Others sing and dance to the music. Try all these ways to
praise Him and engage more often in the ways that bring
you the most peace and comfort. Be sure to ask in prayer
for His strength and guidance in being sure that you do
His will that day, rather than yours.

Pray Each Morning for What Is Righteous
to Be Done in His Will

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy —
meditate on these things.

— Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

The New Testament describes many miraculous things
that Jesus did: He turned water into highly praised wine
at a wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-11, NKJV); He told
the woman He met at the well in Samaria all about her
past and current life without having heard of her before
(John 4:4-43, NKJV); He banished an illness from an
official’s son without coming near the child (John 4:46-54,
NKJV); He directed His future disciples to net a huge
catch of fish after they had caught nothing despite
working all night (Luke 5:1-11, NKJV); He cured a
leper in Galilee (Mark 1:40-45, NKJV); He healed a
paralyzed man in Capernaum (Luke 5:17-26, NKJV);
He treated a centurion’s servant from a distance
(Luke 7:1-10, NKJV); simply touching His clothes
stopped a woman’s bleeding who had been suffering for
12 years (Luke 8:42-48, NKJV); He walked on water
(Mark 6:47-52, NKJV); He fed five thousand men plus
many women and children until they were filled by
tearing apart and sharing two fish and five loaves of
bread (John 6:9-13, NKJV); He gave sight to a man had
been blind from birth (John 9:1-12, NKJV); and He
raised Lazarus from the dead after many days in the
tomb (John 11:34-44, NKJV). We also know that He
did so many other miraculous things that it would take
an immense number of books to record those events
(John 21:25, NKJV).

Imagine how exciting it must have been to observe one of
His miracles. Do you wish you could have been there to
watch? Well, you can do the next best thing and pray in
faith for a miracle to be done in the name of Jesus for a
righteous purpose, and He will do it. Matthew 21:22
(NKJV) tells us:

“And whatever things you ask in prayer,
believing, you will receive.”

Prayer is one place where you can add great value to
His supernatural work: You need to pray to Him in faith,
believing that He will do these things, or many righteous
things will not occur. I’m sure you’ll be glad to do your part.

Jesus promised and delivered many miracles to believers.
Imagine how relatively easy it must be for Him to help you
as a believer to develop and implement mere 2,000
percent solutions for righteous purposes: These solutions
require far less supernatural support than miracles do!

When you have prayed for such things while filled with
faith that they will occur, you will have the added joy of
looking with expectation for signs that He has begun to
grant your prayers. However, remember that God acts in
His own perfect time, which is rarely just after we pray to
Him. Just keep praying in faith each morning, and you will
see many great favors and accomplishments unfold before
you.

Study the Bible Each Morning

My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.

— Psalm 119:28 (NKJV)

God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, His holy Word
the Bible, and events. Your ability to listen to and
understand Him will improve by increasing your morning
Bible reading, a source of His wisdom that you can access
more often and whenever you want. As you become more
familiar with His promises and actions, you’ll see and
experience the world differently through the guidance of
the Holy Spirit and a better understanding of what events
mean. In addition, you’ll be able to remember and refer to
sections of the Bible that strengthen your faith throughout
the day.

Chances are that you will find it helpful to read the Bible
in many different ways. Pray for guidance about
performing your Bible reading and speak to your pastor
as well.

Let me share some of my experiences and observations
to help increase your sense of some choices. If you can’t
read Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek (which is my
situation), different translations will probably help you
more fully appreciate the Bible’s lessons. I began by only
reading the King James Version of the Bible. The
language in that translation doesn’t match English usage
today very closely. I found that my understanding
expanded after I also began reading the more
contemporary language found in the New King James
Version. After that, I began to read from the Amplified,
New American Standard, New International, and New
Living translations. By putting the versions side-by-side,
I sometimes develop a fuller sense of what a verse’s
meaning is.

I also began to read commentaries about different sections
of the Bible, which added more scholarly references and
explanations that also direct me to other parts of the Bible.
Those commentaries have been a blessing, and I intend to
read many more. In addition, I read many different
devotionals that address different subjects and guide my
understanding of the Bible in new ways.

What should you read in the Bible? New believers often
find the Gospel of John to be a good starting point for
knowing who Jesus is and what He has done. You can
use keyword and subject searches to find sections related
to the questions you have and the trials you are
experiencing. I also suggest that part of your daily
reading should be in sequence from the beginning of the
Bible to the end. Such front-to-back reading will help you
develop a sense of the whole Bible and how one section
relates to another one. In addition, many people find it
helpful to read daily from certain books in the Bible. For
instance, some find Psalms to be especially restoring.

Also consider listening to recorded Bible readings. The
inflections of the readers help the text to come alive and
make the verses easier to remember. Recordings are
especially soothing and encouraging to listen to while
serving the Lord. For example, I usually play recordings
of the New Testament while I write about the Lord.

Attend Church Whenever Possible

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
I am there in the midst of them.”

— Matthew 18:20 (NKJV)

Jesus wants us to spend time with other believers so we
can encourage, help, and teach one another. Although
new and recently rededicated believers have the Holy
Spirit in them directing their paths, these Christians will
find it valuable to have additional encouragement and
help from more experienced believers. As the verse above
indicates, the Lord will be present among you and you will
have a chance to see more Godly examples of Christian
behavior. In such gatherings, more experienced believers
can also gain spiritual maturity through mentoring and
helping those who are less experienced.

Most church services and many Bible studies and other
activities begin with praising and worshiping the Lord,
which can help strengthen your faith in and connection to
Him. There will be many prayers spoken that will help you
learn more about how to pray. In addition, there will often
be a lesson presented from the Bible designed to help you
follow Jesus.

Many churches also offer classes for new believers,
which provide a great way to learn about what it means
to be a Christian. Anyone who hasn’t yet taken such a
class should. Your learning there will strengthen your
faith. I encourage you to also ask the class leader to help
you find a mentor to meet with you weekly to answer
questions and to help you go more deeply into the
information presented in the classes.

Each time you have any contact with a church, you will
have an opportunity to feel closer to God the Father,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. By attending
church more often, you will have the Lord’s peace more
often. I find Wednesday night services and mid-week
Bible studies to be particularly helpful ways to refocus
my attention on the heavenly agenda for my life.

Righteous service activities are also important to your
Christian development. It is through your works for
Him that your faith grows and becomes more complete.
Through these works, your heart will be gladdened and
encouraged.

Make a Weekly Written Commitment
of Added Ways to Follow His Direction

“I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;
for without Me you can do nothing.”

— John 15:5 (NKJV)

New believers and those who have recently rededicated
their lives to the Lord may find that they are still mostly
trying to live life their way, rather than following God’s
and the Lord’s commandments and the Holy Spirit’s
directions. That’s an indication that more work is needed
to help them become like Jesus.

The need for more focus shouldn’t surprise anyone. New
believers and the newly rededicated aren’t used to
thinking first about Them and the Bible as guides: They
probably aren’t as familiar with what the commandments
and directions are as they should be. When long-time
believers don’t continually expand their knowledge,
willingness to serve, and ways of serving, they likewise
can remain immature in their faith.

Working with your new-believer mentor, identify areas
where you need to begin serving the Lord or to do more
for Him. Make a written commitment to do something
new or more during the following week that will increase
your service for the Lord. Review your new commitment
daily to check on how you are doing. Continue that new
activity thereafter while taking on another new
commitment.

Let me mention a couple of examples of important
commitments called for by Jesus’ commands that some
new believers don’t consider right away. After accepting
Jesus as Lord and Savior, Jesus wants us to be baptized
as He indicated in Mark 16:16 (NKJV), “He who believes
and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not
believe will be condemned.” Undoubtedly, this first act
of obedience helps us to develop the habit of looking for
His commands and carefully following them once
recognized.

Another such direction that is often ignored can be found
by examining Proverbs 3:9 (NKJV) and Malachi 3:8-12
(NKJV) from which most Bible scholars agree that we are
commanded to provide the first 10 percent of our income
to the storehouse of the local church.

Many people are troubled by that commandment until
they realize two things: It all belongs to God anyway, and
He promises to those who tithe to

“… open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

— Malachi 3:10, NKJV

Here are some other examples of following Him to help
you pick commitments. A new believer might set an
initial commitment to read a chapter from the Bible
every day. The following week, the new commitment
might be to attend a midweek service. After that, a third
commitment might be to work on the church’s car-wash
outreach that weekend. By proceeding one step at a time,
each day can be refocused so that a believer is following
Him ever more completely.

This same approach to making and adding commitments
is valuable for people who are longer-term believers but
haven’t become very mature in serving Him. Such
believers may find that they have a hard time breaking
old habits that draw them away from Him; as a result,
they may find it helpful to ask another Christian to
encourage them.

Continually Witness to Others about Your Faith
Seeking to Help Lead at Least Twenty People
to Whom You Have Been Speaking
to Choose to Accept Salvation

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men,
him I will also confess
before My Father who is in heaven.”
“Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ….”

— Matthew 10:32 and 28:19 (NKJV)

One of the missed opportunities to follow Him for most
Christian comes from not helping anyone else to become
saved. Such silence and inaction violate what Jesus told
us to do in proclaiming Him, as described in Matthew
10:32, and in the command to make disciples in Matthew
28:19.

One of the beauties of being a new believer or a Christian
who has recently rededicated your life to the Lord can be
that you feel full to overflowing with His love and
forgiveness. With those great spiritual gifts in your heart,
you also feel love toward more and more people and want
to share that great feeling with unsaved people. Your
knowledge for helping others to gain Salvation may be
limited, but your energy and commitment probably
aren’t.

No one can become a Christian solely through the efforts
and words of a witness. Only the Holy Spirit can touch
someone’s heart to cause someone to repent and to accept
Salvation by believing in Christ. However, you can
certainly play a valuable role by helping attract an
unsaved person’s attention on behalf of the Lord. Here
are some things you can add to your list of new
commitments that will help lead others to seek the Lord:

• Write a testimony that tells about how you became a
Christian and what the Lord has done in your life. Add
information about how to get in touch with you, your
church, and organizations that support witnessing such
as Need Him (1-888-NEED-HIM toll-free in the United
States).
• Before approaching or speaking to anyone about the
Lord, pray that people’s hearts will be open to receiving
the Holy Spirit and accepting Salvation.
• Hand copies of your written testimony to everyone you
know.
• Ask people if they have repented of their sins, believe
that Jesus is God’s Son, and have dedicated their lives to
follow Him. Start with people you know and eventually
begin asking people you don’t know.
• Learn to tell the story of your testimony to people who
haven’t yet been born again through the workings of the
Holy Spirit.

• Share tracts and books of testimonies with people who
aren’t yet born-again Christians.
• Pray aloud and silently for people’s needs in the name
of Jesus when you are with them.
• Invite people to go to church with you and offer to pick
them up and drop them off.
• Follow up with those you have spoken with until they
gain Salvation.
• Pray daily for guidance about what else you should do.

There are many wonderful benefits from doing this part
of the Lord’s work. Helping others to accept Salvation will
mean that you are adding to the people you will be able to
enjoy Christian fellowship with here on Earth as well as in
heaven. If each Christian perseveres in attempting to help
lead at least twenty others to Salvation, you will eventually
enjoy being part of a holy community larger than all but
what a few Christians have now. After you help lead
twenty, keep going. There are more lost souls we are
commanded to help learn about becoming saved.

You can also look forward to encouraging and assisting
these new believers, a process that will help you grow
in spiritual maturity. Imagine how much you will enjoy
being a mentor for someone you helped to lead to
Salvation when that person helps someone else choose to
accept Salvation.

If you would like to read more detailed directions about
what to do as a witness, I recommend you study
Witnessing Made Easy: Yes, You Can Make a Difference
(BookSurge, 2010). That book will also help you to
understand how your church and you can be more
effective in supporting witnessing education and activities.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Two: Free Your Mind

2010-10-05T10:00:00.004-04:00

Cleanse your mind of distractions, accusations,
worries, fears, and annoyances
through twice-daily meditation.

But in a great house
there are not only vessels of gold and silver,
but also of wood and clay,
some for honor and some for dishonor.
Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter,
he will be a vessel for honor,
sanctified and useful for the Master,
prepared for every good work.

— 2 Timothy 2:20-21 (NKJV)

What thoughts flitted across your awareness the last time
you let your mind just wander? Were you glad you had all
those thoughts? Did having those thoughts help you? Did
any of those thoughts lead you toward 2,000 percent
living?

Researchers report that most people have more than ten
thousand thoughts each day that they can recount, and
they probably have a lot more thoughts that they cannot
remember. Given that most of us are awake for about
sixteen hours a day, we can infer from the research that
most people are having several different thoughts during
each waking moment. With that much going on in your
mind, how much can you hope to focus on any one
thought — no matter how important or valuable?

What’s worse, most of those thoughts we have are
identical to yesterday’s thoughts, as well as to those of
the day before. It’s almost as though our minds are
filled with broken music players that cannot be stopped,
similar to when those catchy advertising jingles get stuck
in our minds and keep playing over and over again.
Imagine how much more you can accomplish if you can
eliminate 96 percent of your unhelpful thoughts. Let’s
look at the primary sources of unhelpful thoughts.

Be Aware of and Eliminate
the Sources of Your Unhelpful Thoughts

And this I say for your own profit,
not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper,
and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

— 1 Corinthians 7:35 (NKJV)

While every person’s thought life is different, my
experience has been that many of my unhelpful thoughts
simply arise in response to distractions. There are lots of
good reasons to be distracted. For example, a television
network may want people to watch a certain program.
Thousands of hours of research and work may go into
creating a very arresting set of images and sounds that
will take most people’s attention away from anything else
and shift their attention toward the program. You have
very little chance to resist unless you have no interest
whatsoever in the program’s subject.

As a result of such powerful distractions, some people
report that they can sit down to work on something and
later be surprised to find that thirty-seven minutes have
passed, but nothing has been accomplished. And they may
not even remember how they spent the time while their
minds were adrift.

Most of us have regrets. Accusing voices remind us of
missteps and mistakes that we’ve made. A certain mistake
may have occurred in less than a second, but the mental
recriminations may last for decades … chewing up
enormous amounts of time and attention. In addition to
our own regrets, others may have condemned us, fairly or
unfairly, and we often mentally repeat those accusations
as well. In these accusations our own voice and the voices
of others make us feel terrible. It’s no way to live.

Beyond distractions and regrets, most people have some
real worries. When lots of people are being laid off at
work, it’s natural to be concerned that your job will be
lost. Such concerns can easily blossom into worries that
leave us feeling uncomfortable, worn out, and defeated.
If later your job is lost, the worry can blossom into an
anguished wail: “What am I going to do now?” When was
the last time you made a positive breakthrough while in
such an upset emotional and mental state?

Some people are more completely chained to worry: They
have no faith that matters will work out well. As a result
they live in discomfort, desperately trying to stave off
what might go wrong.

Everyone has some fears, typically of speaking in public
or of falling from a height. Based on painful experiences
and exposure to difficult circumstances, many people
have developed other fears. Fear can be a good thing
when it causes us to avoid a danger that would
otherwise harm us. Unfortunately, fears can also be
triggered just by our thinking; there needn’t be any real
danger nearby. Irrational fears present a special
problem: Our bodies overreact to perceived dangers,
causing a great desire in us to escape or to feel
immobilized and unable to cope. It also takes a long time
to get back to normal after a fearful episode. Following a
panic attack, just starting to breathe easily again with a
slowed heartbeat can be quite an accomplishment.

One thing can almost always be counted on to break
through distractions, accusations, worries, and fears:
an annoyance. Just notice a mosquito taking a bead on
your head while hearing that irritating high whine, and
you’ll be soon swatting away until the mosquito either
leaves or you kill it. No other thought will get much of
your attention until the annoyance is gone, which is one
reason why avoidable automobile accidents can occur
while a driver is swatting away at an annoying bug.

There’s a helpful lesson we can learn from the examples
of fears and annoyances: When you concentrate on
something arresting, everything else fades away. When
you pick an arresting focus that’s positive instead, your
mind will be filled with helpful, constructive thoughts. For
example, many Christians report that when they are
thinking about all the great things that God has done for
them, their troubles and discomfort fade away to nothing.
Instead, they feel suffused with warmth, light, and joy.
In addition, faith that God has a good plan for our lives
can help us to remain happy and calm in the face of all
our real dangers and adversities.

We can also eliminate the sources of many unhelpful
thoughts. If we don’t watch television, listen to the radio,
or surf videos on the Internet, the sources of many
intrusive distractions are eliminated. If we need to
not concentrate on something important, we can ask
others not to disturb us, close the door, and ignore the
telephone. When our hearts are filled with condemnation,
we can repent and ask Jesus to forgive us. Then, we can
go forward fully forgiven so there is no need to feel
condemned again for the same reason. Rather than
worry, we can trust that God has a good plan for our
lives and thank Him for His help. When circumstances
are frightening, we can remember the 23rd Psalm and
pray for His support, knowing that no harm will come to
us. Before going outdoors, we can splash on some anti-bug
spray.

Let’s look next at how you can use a certain kind of
directed focus to clear away vast quantities of thoughts
that certainly aren’t doing you any good or may even be
harming you.

Direct Your Focus to Empty Your Mind
of Useless Thoughts

“But whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace to this house.’
And if a son of peace is there,
your peace will rest on it;
if not, it will return to you.”

— Luke 10:5-6 (NKJV)

You can’t add much more useful information onto a
blackboard that’s already covered with chalk marks.
Before writing anything, you will do better to take a
few moments instead to erase at least some of the old
chalk marks. If you want to write even more distinctly,
you will also scrub off the old dust with a soap-filled
sponge. The resulting clean slate will make you feel more
peaceful and will help inspire you to write new things on
the board in a more deliberate, attractive, and useful way.

Those actions are a pretty good metaphor for an
important action you need to take with your mind: Clean
out useless thoughts so that there’s much more room and
time for useful thoughts. Your goal should be to get rid of
96 percent of what’s not useful in your thinking.

How do you do such thought-eliminating beyond focusing
on God and His good plans for you and not engaging in
sources of distractions? I’m no expert on the subject, but
I have eliminated a lot of my useless and harmful
thoughts. I estimate that the majority of my thoughts now
are useful ones well worth the time they take. I mostly
learned to accomplish this shift in focus through studying
and practicing meditation. I suggest that you do the same.

Some people don’t want to take time to meditate, feeling
that their lives are already too full of things they need to
accomplish. Dr. Stephen R. Covey tells a memorable story
in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
(Simon and Schuster, 1989), that sheds light on this
problem and its solution. A man sees another man
struggling to cut down a tree with a dull saw. The first
man suggests that the second man stop a minute to
sharpen his saw. The second man grumpily retorts that
he’s much too busy to take time for that: He’s got to cut
down the tree! Meditation is like sharpening a saw
because it allows you to do all of your tasks much faster
and more effectively. Yes, meditation does take time; but
the practice will save you much more time than it will take.

I don’t want to prescribe how you should meditate.
Thousands of different methods are described by people
who say that their thought lives have been helped. I’ve
tried only a very few of these methods and can only
accurately report on my experiences. I recommend that
you try a variety of ways to meditate that seem appealing
to you and see how well they work in clearing your mind
and helping you to focus more on God. Then, pick one
method and stick with it — that’s important because the
effects are cumulative. The biggest improvements come
only after years of regular meditation.

I’ve been meditating twice a day (on arising and in the
evening) for fifteen years, and the practice has been a
wonderful supplement to my prayer life and Bible reading
for clearing out mental cobwebs and useless thoughts.

After I finish meditating, I begin my Bible study and
prayers. I’ve found that my connection to God is more
direct, uncluttered, and pleasant when I start after
meditation. As a result of meditation, Bible study, and
prayer, I’m very Christ-centered in doing His will by the
time I start my day. My mind also stays more focused on
His will and His blessings throughout the day. The gentle
whisperings of the Holy Spirit come through my head
louder and clearer than when I did not meditate and did
not read the Bible and pray twice a day.

Let me address two concerns that some people have
mentioned to me about meditation. First, some people see
any form of meditation as a pagan activity that is at odds
with their Christian faith. That hasn’t been my
experience: I find that my faith in and desire to connect
with God are increased after meditating. If you have this
concern, there are many forms of Christian meditation
that you can study and practice.

You should also realize that several of the Psalms and a
few places in the New Testament encourage meditating.
Here are a few of those verses:

Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.

— Psalm 4:4 (NKJV)

My eyes are awake through the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.

— Psalm 119:148 (NKJV)

I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.

— Psalm 119:15 (NKJV)

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy — meditate on these things.

— Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

Second, some people find that their minds don’t quiet
down while they meditate: Their minds may actually
become more active. Some people prematurely and
incorrectly conclude that they cannot succeed with
meditation.

Unfortunately, no one alerted them that having a more
active mind is a healthy experience while learning to
meditate. Let me give you a metaphor to explain why
this happens: If you open up a carbonated-beverage
container and pour out some of the liquid into a cup, the
beverage will start to fizz as carbon dioxide changes from
being dissolved in the beverage into a gas that rises up
into the open air. At some point, the carbon dioxide will
have all escaped and the liquid will be flat.

Similarly, with enough meditation experience and regular
practice your stored-up tensions will eventually be
dissipated and your mind will have little tension to
release when you start each new meditation session.
This effect is an important reason why the benefits
from meditation for clearing your mind are cumulative.

One of the great mysteries about Christianity that
puzzles those who are not believers can be found in
this promise:

Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God;
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

— Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)

As you regularly turn your focus from distractions that
cause unhelpful thoughts, meditate, concentrate on
God’s Word, and pray, you will experience the peace of
God. How do I know? It’s the result I have experienced
from the practices I describe in this lesson.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Three: Improve Your Goals

2010-10-02T18:35:00.003-04:00

Pick better life objectives
through prayer and consultation
with your family and friends.

And we know that all things
work together for good
to those who love God,
to those who are the called
according to His purpose.

— Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

Very few people have written goals. As a result, most
people direct their actions to please anyone who makes a
demand of them in light of how obliging they feel that day.
With that decision-making approach, it’s easy to feel
pulled in all directions at once while vaguely wanting more
for oneself. Who wouldn’t feel dissatisfied with a life like
that?

It’s not enough just to start having written goals: You
have to pick appropriate goals that lead you towards
what’s good for you and those you care about. Most
people look for help with goal setting, but exercises
conducted by secular leaders often don’t help much to
aim a person’s life in a better direction. While sitting in
during many such exercises, I’ve seen what people
usually select as goals. A typical list looks something
like this (except for being more detailed about each
item):

• A nicer place to live
• Career progress
• Vast increase in financial assets
• Good education for children
• Early retirement
• After retiring with a pile of money, some ego-satisfying
way to serve needy people

The logic behind such a list might be summarized as
follows: “I want a lot more for me and plenty of education
for my children (so I won’t have to support them after
they are grown); and after enjoying the good life for a long
time, I’m willing to share a little of my time and money
with others.” Can such a life of primarily doing more for
“me, me, me” be completely satisfying? It’s clear that
many people think so, yet research shows that people
with higher incomes, greater possessions, finer homes,
and more financial assets aren’t especially happier than
those with less.

That perspective of wanting more materially and
financially reminds me of people who think that all their
problems will be solved if they win the lottery.
Experience can provide a different perspective: Two
years later, many lottery winners are broke and report
that they led happier lives before hitting their “lucky”
number.

In addition to the potential disappointment and
unhappiness of seeking too much material self-
gratification, such lists also present another danger:
Because those who make such lists immediately begin
redirecting their time on making more money and
accelerating career progress, material goals can help
draw people away from following Jesus and serving
Him. With so much attention on worldly things, the
wee, small voice of the Holy Spirit may also be
ignored. More fundamentally, such a list causes some
people to rely more on themselves and less on God. In
the process, such people usually fail to consider that
they lack some of those things they want because the
things wouldn’t be good for them:

No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.

— Psalm 84:11 (NKJV)

Why do people fall into these self-indulgent goal-setting
and life-direction errors? It’s because so many people
either don’t know or don’t believe what the Bible has to
say about what they should do.

Following Lesson One’s directions to read the Bible and
pray daily will help to eliminate this problem of seeking to
do your will, rather than His will. Picking better goals that
reflect His will helps even more.

Such lists of inappropriate goals can also encourage the
list writers to draw away from their family and friends.
Your children need more than a college education:
They need first and foremost loving parents who guide
them in the right ways, yet playing a loving role in the
lives of your family and friends is often missing from such
goal lists.

Review potential goals with your family and friends
before making a final decision to prevent moving away
from God, your family, and your friends. If your family
and friends are all Christians, chances are that they will
either point out any areas where you are pulling away
from God or direct you to a pastor or Christian
counselor who can help you consider the Godliness of
your goals. Your family and friends are also sure to
notice where you are ignoring what they need in favor
of something that they don’t need and don’t care about.

Let’s look at a better process for setting goals that will
help you follow the Lord and serve the needs and
preferences of your family and friends. With such a life
course, you will also make better progress because
you’ll have God’s support for your goals.

Pray for and Seek His Guidance
before Setting Goals

I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours
can be withheld from You.

— Job 42:2 (NKJV)

The first mistake that secular goal-advisors make is to
encourage you to follow their instructions rather than
the Lord’s. If your church offers a workshop for setting
Godly life goals, be sure to participate. If not, go to the
Lord in prayer and seek His directions before you start
work on setting life goals. Keep praying for His guidance
through the Holy Spirit while you are working on
accomplishing your goals.

While considering goals, many possibilities will occur to
you. At that point, go to God again in prayer and ask Him
what He thinks of those goals for you. Through events,
words you are drawn to in the Bible, and the quiet voice
of the Holy Spirit, you will receive feedback on those
potential goals. As you wait patiently for direction, pray
that you will only choose goals that are His goals for you.
You can gain more help in the goal-identification process
by considering what Jesus did to see how similar
potential goals are to following His actions. If
accomplishing a potential goal looks like something that
Jesus didn’t do and probably wouldn’t have done, that’s
also a good indication that you are looking in the wrong
direction.

When you think about having achieved a potential goal,
test also for whether you feel at peace. Fulfilling His
purposes is satisfying while accomplishing goals that
aren’t good for you usually creates dissatisfaction and
internal strife.

In addition, probe your heart to see if there are other,
unexpected goal areas that appeal to you. You may not
understand what the calling is at first. That’s all right.
Just keep praying and asking for guidance about what
the attraction means, and you will eventually receive
your answer.

Consider the Spiritual Effects of Potential Goals

Coming to Him as to a living stone,
rejected indeed by men,
but chosen by God and precious,
you also, as living stones,
are being built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

— 1 Peter 2:4-5 (NKJV)

It’s possible to come close to choosing a Godly goal for
following Him and still miss the mark. Let’s say that you
feel called by your heart to help orphans. You might be
considering a potential goal that involves helping an
orphan who is a distant relative. However, God might
instead intend for you to help establish a new Christian
orphanage in a country where there are lots of orphans
and few Christians.

By considering the likely spiritual effects of a potential
goal, you should move closer to appreciating the Lord’s
intentions for you. Let’s apply that test to this example:
If the individual orphan is already living in a good
Christian home and receiving regular contacts with
other Christians, your potential goal might have no
apparent spiritual effect. Realizing that, you might then
think about how helping orphans could serve Godly
spiritual purposes. That thought might lead you to
consider the spiritual needs of unsaved orphans and
where your help could do the most to help make it
possible for them to gain Salvation. Prayer, Bible study,
and the Holy Spirit will eventually draw you toward
God’s intent.

Imagine the Worst Results That Could Occur
from Accomplishing the Goals You Are Considering

Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster
will fall into the pit, ….

— Isaiah 24:18 (NAS)

Life is full of unintended consequences. It’s no problem
when unexpected blessings occur, but it would certainly
be nice to avoid unexpected problems and setbacks.
While only God knows the traps and disasters that wait
from following certain goals, you can avoid at least some
of those pitfalls by thinking about what could go wrong
before choosing a goal.

Let’s look at the goal for having a nicer home as an
example. You may be thinking that there isn’t much that
could go wrong with such a goal. In looking at the worst
results that could follow from accomplishing that goal,
please realize that I have nothing against people living in
nicer homes. In fact, such a goal can be a Godly one when
it furthers important spiritual purposes such as by
providing a location for starting a home church.

Unless you have a rich Aunt Tilly who wants to give you a
nicer home, you will probably have to earn more money
before you can move up. If your current job won’t provide
enough to make that possible, you will be looking for a new
position that pays better. Can you find such a new job that
allows you and your family to attend the same church, to
stay in the same community, to keep the same friends,
to have a shorter commute, and to spend more time with
one another? If you can’t find such a new position, then you
will disrupt many good things while seeking the single
dimension of nicer physical surroundings.

Now, imagine that you are in the nicer home. Will such a
home improve your life and that of your family … or
simply make you feel proud of yourself? For instance,
many “nicer” homes are simply bigger homes, with more
and larger rooms. If you aren’t careful, such a home can
isolate family members from one another.

Look, too, at the long-term impacts on your children. Will
they now feel that they have “failed” in life unless they can
afford such a nice home when they are adults? If so, you
may be drawing them away from living lives pleasing to
God that won’t provide enough income to pay for such
homes.

Next, consider how reliable your income will be over the
years it will take to pay off your mortgage. How will you
feel if your career doesn’t go well and you have to sell
your “nicer” home during a time when house prices are
falling? You may lose a fortune in the process, making you
financially less secure. In addition, losing the nicer home
may mean disrupting the lives of family and friends all
over again for no positive purpose.

What can be learned from this investigation? If you decide
that you want a nicer home as a goal, you should define the
goal in such a way that you and those you care about will
experience an increase in spiritual and practical benefits no
matter what else happens after you move. As a
consequence, you’ll probably take longer to make the
change and carefully consider the pros and cons of any
change in housing before acting. That’s all to the good.

Through prayer, Bible study, listening to the Holy Spirit,
modeling what Jesus did, consulting with those who will
be affected by your decisions, testing for spiritual effects,
considering the risks of what you are thinking about, and
paying attention to your heart’s reactions to potential
goals, you can firmly set your feet onto the spiritual
pathway that God has planned out for you. When you
start to follow His will toward these goals, you will enjoy
that peace which He provides that is beyond all
understanding. God will bountifully bless you when you
uprightly follow the path He has planned for you.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Four: Put First Things First

2010-10-01T21:00:00.004-04:00

Increase by at least a factor of twenty
the time you spend on your most important
goals in serving the Lord.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.”

— Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

Appropriate written goals only become valuable when
you start turning those goals into reality. Otherwise,
writing goals is a waste of time.

Having written their goals, most people become
concerned about how to achieve them. Their lives are
already busy. How can they make room for spending a
lot of time on their most important goals?

When combined, seven simple activities can help you to
shift your time and attention in favor of your goals:

1. Measure how you spend your time now.
2. Determine when you are most productive.
3. Notice when you are least productive.
4. Eliminate harmful activities.
5. Reduce activities with little value.
6. Combine activities that work well together.
7. Reschedule your days to put first things first.

In the rest of this lesson, I’ll describe how to do each of
these seven activities so you’ll gain the most benefit.

Measure How You Spend Your Time Now

“For with the same measure that you use,
it will be measured back to you.”

— Luke 6:38 (NKJV)

Understanding how you spend your time can be the first
step in a major life-improvement program. Start by
jotting down the time and what your new activity is
whenever you start something different and keep track in
a diary twenty-four hours a day for at least two weeks:
what time you awake, what time you get out of bed, what
time you brush your teeth, and so forth until you fall
asleep at night (you’ll have to estimate that time the next
morning). If you have a paying job, it’s important to
separate commuting time from working time as well as
the various aspects of what you do during the work day
(preparing for meetings, attending different kinds of
meetings, writing reports, reviewing materials, business
telephone calls, traveling to other sites, etc.).

Here are some of the categories of activities you may
find useful for recording your time (describing the work-
day sequence of activities for someone who is a parent of
young children and has a job outside the home):

• Sleep
• Lay in bed after waking up
• Prayer
• Bible study
• Personal hygiene (shower, brush teeth, brush or comb
hair, and so forth)

• Awaken other family members
• Help family members get ready for the day
• Prepare breakfast
• Eat breakfast
• Clean up after breakfast

• Take children to the bus stop, or drive them to day
care or school
• Drop off cleaning
• Commute to work
• Prepare for business meetings
• Attend business meetings (described by subject such as
sales, administration, human resources, etc.)

• Process business paperwork
• Make business telephone calls
• Review business materials prepared by others
• Business travel
• Lunch

• Commute from work
• Pick up children
• Take children to activities and watch what they are doing
• Shop
• Help children with homework

• Prepare dinner
• Eat dinner
• Clean up after dinner
• Make personal telephone calls
• Watch television

• Read for entertainment
• Prayer
• Bible study
• Time alone with spouse
• Exercise

• Visit friends
• Home chores
• Hobbies
• Perform work brought home
• Personal hygiene

• Plan the next day’s activities
• Inactive in bed at night, but not asleep
• Asleep

Pick a period of time to measure that is typical of your
entire year (you won’t learn as much if you just measure
what you do on vacation or when not very busy). While
you are recording what you do, don’t try to reform
yourself. Just do what comes naturally.

Once you have completed the diary entries, summarize
the total length of time for each activity. This means
you’ll know how many hours you slept, how long you
spent in bed awake but otherwise inactive, your
commuting hours, the time spent preparing meals, how
much time shopping took, and so on.

I find it helpful to look at such summaries translated
into weekly averages (divide the totals for each activity
category by the number of weeks you measured). If
your Monday through Friday schedule is a lot different
from your Saturday and Sunday schedule, you should
prepare weekly subtotals for your Monday-through-
Friday and Saturday-and-Sunday schedules as well as
weekly averages.

You may also find that it helps you to understand better
by seeing daily averages of these activities. To create
daily averages, just divide the totals by activity for the
measurement period by the number of days involved.

Before making any time-allocation choices, you should
first reflect on what the most and least productive
aspects of that period of time were like. I discuss how to
do that in the next two sections.

Determine When You Are Most Productive

“The land of a rich man was very productive.”

— Luke 12:16 (NAS)

As the next activity, go over your diary entries to make a
note of those times and activities when you were most
productive at whatever you were doing. I suggest that
you use a different color of pen, marker, or printer ink to
asterisk or highlight those occasions when a lot was
accomplished.

After you have noted the occasions, go back to each
productive activity and think about what happened then
that contributed to you being highly productive. There
are many potential factors that can contribute. Let me
list a few of them for you to start your thinking:

• Time of day (Some people work best early in the
morning and others, late at night.)
• Day of the week (Friday can be a more productive day
at work because you have fewer interruptions while
others seek to finish their work and start the weekend.)
• How quiet it was (It’s harder to do difficult tasks when
noises distract you.)
• Whether you had planned your work ahead of time
• Whether you had any help

• Who helped you
• When you were clear about what the task was
• When you were experienced in doing the task
• When others showed their appreciation before or while
you were doing the task
• When you were at home

• When you were at work
• When certain people were asleep or away
• When you were rested
• When you were feeling energetic
• After exercising

• While exercising
• While praying
• While reading the Bible
• While taking a shower
• While brushing your teeth

As you think about those productive occasions and their
times, locations, circumstances, and influences, consider
where you might be able to lump several narrow factors
together as a more general influence. In my case, a
general influence is that I’m most productive when I’m
undisturbed (which includes the factors of no noise, not
being interrupted, having enough time to complete a task,
and a lack of any visual stimuli that attract my attention).
As a result, I can get a lot more done by ensuring that I
have long periods during which I can focus my
undisturbed attention. A distraction-free hour might
yield four times the results (in writing articles or books,
for example) of an hour punctuated by four telephone
calls, even if the four are quite brief and uneventful.

Summarize what you learn by identifying the factors and
general influences that seemed to improve your
performance the most. In doing so, it may be that some
factors only help for certain kinds of work. Make note of
that, as well.

Notice When You Are Least Productive

If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand,
I am not a part of the body,”
it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

— 1 Corinthians 12:15 (NAS)

You can also learn a lot more by repeating the process
that helped you to locate when you were most
productive, but this time you should look instead for
those occasions when you were least productive. I
recommend you use a third color of pen, marker, or
printer ink to note these occasions. As with the
productive occasions, notice what occasions and the
associated times, locations, circumstances, and
influences that were problems for you. Again, look for
common factors and general influences that were
present when you were less productive.

To help you notice factors that harm productivity, I’ve
listed some of the times and circumstances when I’m
least productive:

• Time of day (right after a big lunch, early evening when
I’m hungry, after midnight when I’m tired)
• Day of the week (Mondays are a mess for me because
students have sent a week’s worth of “urgent” requests
for help that have piled up over the weekend.)
• How noisy it was (such as when there is construction
nearby)
• Whether the work was planned ahead of time (With no
advance planning I can spin uselessly in circles for hours.)
• Whether I had any help (I can’t write an article very
well with someone trying to help me at the same time.)

• Who helped me (Some “helpers” can be worse than
having no help.)
• When I was not clear about what the task was (To my
chagrin, I’ve sometimes produced work that I thought
was great but that turned out not to be what was
requested … and I had to go back and start over again.)
• When I was inexperienced in the task (Give me a new
task involving lots of unaccustomed software, and I’ll be
very slow.)
• When others showed their disapproval (When people
sneer at what I’m doing while I’m working, I may focus
on feeling steamed rather than on doing the work.)
• When I was at home (When my wife or children need
me, I’m going to be easily distracted.)

• When I was at work (If my boss is pacing around
waiting for something I’m working on, that presence
will slow me down.)
• When others were present (There are a few people in
my life who create mayhem just by being in the vicinity.)
• While being continually interrupted (It takes me a long
time to remember where I was in my thought process.)
• When I was tired or ill (Headaches and sleepiness
combined slow me down to below a snail’s pace.)
• After exercising (If I exercise too much so that I
become lightheaded, it takes me a long time to recover
and to become productive again.)

Summarize what you learn by finding the general
influences and individual factors that seemed to reduce
your performance the most. In doing so, it may be that
some factors only affect certain kinds of work. Make
note of that, as well.

Eliminate Harmful Activities

Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,
“Oh that You would bless me indeed
and enlarge my border,
and that Your hand might be with me,
and that You would keep me from harm
that it may not pain me!”
And God granted him what he requested.

— 1 Chronicles 4:10 (NAS)

Everyone has made mistakes so harmful that their
negative consequences continued to be a problem for
many years to come. Hopefully, no such occurrences
happened while you were logging how you spent your
time over two weeks.

Chances are that you won’t have any difficulty
remembering what harmful activities you’ve done in
the past. List even those harmful activities that you
haven’t done in many years.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. One of my
worst business moments was being awakened early one
Monday morning by a telephone call from a colleague
asking me why I wasn’t in Phoenix to take my boss
around to see our company’s operations there. I was
still in Boston! It’s about a six-hour plane flight to
Phoenix so I wasn’t going to be able to fix this. I asked
my colleague to take my boss around, hopped on the
first plane, met my boss at the airport as he prepared to
return home, and spent the flight back discussing what he
had seen that day without me. He forgave me. Thank
God! Otherwise, that mistake could have been a severe
dent in my career. People have been fired for less. This
trip occurred during the middle of a severe recession and
finding another job then would have been difficult.

Okay, now think about how you would avoid each of the
mistakes if the situation arose again today. In my case,
I had forgotten to check my next week’s schedule on
Friday night. When a friend called that night to invite me
to a party on Sunday, I accepted and went to the party
instead of flying to Phoenix (which had totally slipped my
mind). Since then, I’ve made it a practice to check my
schedule every night for the next seven days. I also don’t
accept any invitations without checking my schedule first.
In addition, I make multiple notes to remind me of
meetings or events that are critical for me to attend.

I have also learned by considering harmful activities that
I’ve seen others do and determining how to avoid making
those mistakes. Let me share an example. At a number of
weddings, a father of either the bride or the groom became
so tipsy that it was a problem. I have also heard many
awful stories about terrible actions taken at weddings by
drunken fathers of the bride or groom. As a result, I made
it a point not to drink anything alcoholic at any of my
children’s weddings, rehearsals, or related events.

If you have trouble remembering the lessons for how to
avoid such harmful actions, make a list of new habits to
follow daily and review it each morning. You may only
avoid one big harmful action a year, but one such
avoidance can free up hundreds of hours that would
otherwise be devoted to dealing with the consequences.

Reduce Activities with Little Value

Then Joab said, “I will not waste time here with you.”

— 2 Samuel 18:14 (NAS)

If you are like most people, your time log reveals vast
wastelands of time spent with little or no value added
towards your goals. When my clients and students share
their time logs with me, I expect that there will be
approximately thirty hours of no- or low-value activities
per week. Think about that: It’s almost as much as a full
work week. Over a decade, it’s more than 15,000 hours.
Cutting back on such no- and low-value activities
becomes a prime opportunity to gain more time to work
on your goals.

I also recommend that you consider how much time you
spent on your goals during the measurement period. I’ve
seen results as low as less than an hour a week. I rarely
see numbers higher than three hours a week. Now you
can begin to see why I encourage you to spend twenty
times more of your week on your goals than you do now.

What are the times, places, and occasions where you are
involved in no- or low-value activities relative to your
goals? I cannot anticipate what your list will look like, but
I can share with you what many of my clients and
students have decided to cut back on:

• Television watching (Unless you are a professional
television critic, most of this viewing has nothing to do
with your goals.)
• Commuting (Unless you are listening to recorded
materials related to your goals, this is often dead time
for helping you meet your goals.)
• Attending meetings that you don’t need to be in (This
is why so many people text away on their BlackBerrys
during meetings.)
• Attending meetings that go on longer than necessary
• Extensive exercising (Unless you are listening to
recorded materials, reading information related to your
goals, or a priority goal is improving your health or
fitness.)

• Spending more than nine hours a day in bed (lounging
and sleeping combined)
• Reading that’s unconnected to goals (Most people keep
their Bible reading time.)
• Business travel (unless you bring goal-related activities
to do while traveling)
• Doing tasks that your spouse or children could perform
(in making a fairer allocation of home-related tasks)
• Chatting for hours with friends and family on the
telephone (unless related to your goals)

• Handling paperwork that others in the organization
could do for you
• Preparing materials at work that others in the
organization could do for you
• Going to meetings other people could attend on your
behalf
• Hobbies that take lots of time (and are unrelated to
goals)
• Business telephone calls

Some people take the long view and realize that their
current job and home location present serious problems
for accomplishing their goals. As a result, some people will
look for a job that’s more supportive of their goals and
eliminates most commuting and business travel. A
number of home-based businesses have been established
in the process.

My suggestion is that you not make too many changes at
once unless they feel very comfortable and easy to you.
You can obviously repeat the seven activities described in
this lesson as often as you want to redirect your time.

As you can see from that list, many activities that are
unrelated to goals can be made productive by simply
adding in some helpful aspect (such as listening to
recorded material or reading something that’s related to
your goals). So you don’t have to give up exercising! Let’s
look at some of the opportunities to combine activities in
the next section.

Combine Activities That Work Well Together

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and mercy,
fulfill my joy by being like-minded,
having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind.

— Philippians 2:1-2 (NKJV)

As I suggested in the last section, sometimes you can take
an activity that’s not related to your goals and add a goal-
related dimension. Most people have time now when they
could do an additional activity, such as listening to
recorded materials during commuting and business
travel. If your employer allows you an hour for lunch,
you might find that you could devote part of that hour to
working on a goal rather than just eating and wandering
around.

Experts on time management normally encourage people
to work on one thing at a time. Their studies suggest that
those who are trying to perform three or four activities
simultaneously (such as texting, looking at interesting
billboards, and jotting notes on a clipboard while driving
a truck) may have problems (accidents increase among
drivers who text, for instance) and take longer to do the
tasks than people who perform them one at a time.

Here’s a better idea: I’m suggesting instead that you find
activities that serve many different purposes related to
your goals. Let me share an example of what I mean:
Assume that parents have goals that make it desirable to
spend more time with their children, to learn certain new
computer skills, to become better leaders, and to practice
humility.

Rather than work on those desirable activities separately,
the parents might instead look for activities that would
combine all those aspects. An example might be to learn
the new computer skills (if appropriate) with the children
and to apply those skills to solving problems that the
children will deal with in school at some point (allowing
time to be spent together, the parents and children to
learn the skills, leadership to be demonstrated by
engaging everyone’s interest, and humility to be
experienced by approaching the situation as a learner
with the children rather than as a “know-it-all” parent).

Such “multiple-benefit” goal-related activities can add up
to ten hours a week in goal-related improvements for
many people. For some people, the increased activity can
be even larger.

In thinking about some ways to combine purposes into
one activity, be sure that you don’t isolate yourself from
God, your family, and your friends. Instead, look for ways
to involve them in more aspects of your life. You’ll find
that achieving your goals will be much more rewarding
when you do.

Reschedule Your Days to Put First Things First

Honor the LORD with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

— Proverbs 3:9-10 (NKJV)

As I mentioned in Lesson One, the Bible promises that
by tithing (giving the first 10 percent of your income to
he Lord through His local church) you will increase your
spiritual and material wealth (see Malachi 3:8-12, NKJV).
Allocating your most productive time and circumstances
to your most important goals for the Lord will similarly
increase your effectiveness for reaching your goals. This
is perhaps the most important part of the fourth lesson
for you to appreciate: By simply giving your goals the best,
mostly timely attention when you are highly productive,
you can probably accelerate your progress to your goals by
more than twenty times. When this benefit is joined with
spending a lot more time on your goals, the combined
momentum is irresistible.

Making these changes requires courage and imagination.
Courage is required to find ways to free up more of your
most productive time for your goals. This may mean
asking your boss if you can work on flex time so that you
can shorten your commute and use more precious early
morning time for tasks best done then. Imagination is
involved in providing good reasons why this change in
working hours is in your organization’s best interest
(perhaps you can make or take some early
calls to Europe before your children wake up).

I recommend that you write down an ideal schedule for
every day of the week, one that gives you as many hours
as possible to work on achieving your goals while you will
be highly productive. Consult with those who will be
affected by any changes you might make to see how they
feel about the shift and what suggestions they have for
you.

Once you have the schedule approved, I suggest that you
follow it as closely as possible. Some ideas for optimally
allocating your schedule will work well and others won’t.
Be flexible and learn from your new experiences. Keep in
mind that you want to accomplish more. Keep track of
what’s accomplished towards your goals each week in a
journal. Go back at the end of the week and examine what
you did to see how you could have accomplished more by
making better use of your time. Many people, for
instance, find that they need some weekend planning time
in order to gain the best results towards their goals during
the following week.

In making these changes, also consider how you might
expand the amount of time during which you expect to be
highly productive. If your workspace is very noisy, for
instance, see if you can move to a quieter area. If that’s not
possible, find temporary workspaces you can use for times
when you need lots of quiet.

By working on the right activities at the best times and in
the ideal environments, you’ll accomplish a great deal more
and with less effort. That’s the kind of life that God wants
for you to lead. When you do, your ability to make a
difference will expand in astonishing ways as God aids you
with His infinite power.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Five: Learn from Others by Reading

2010-09-30T15:01:00.003-04:00

Expand your ability to read, comprehend,
and remember by at least twenty times.

Blessed is he who reads
and those who hear
the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things that are written in it;
for the time is near.

— Revelation 1:3 (NKJV)

There’s an old saying that it’s better to learn from the
mistakes of others than to make all those mistakes
yourself. Most people would agree with that point, yet
they still spend most of their days repeating the well-
known mistakes that others have committed. Why? In
many cases, these people don’t happen to know about
those particular mistakes.

You can only learn so much by watching others.
Frequently, you’ll find yourself in a situation you have
never seen anyone else face. At that point, it’s easy to
make big mistakes. Stop long enough to find out what
others have done before acting. Gaining and applying
much more helpful information in a timely way requires
fast, accurate, and effective reading.

Let’s look more closely at the opportunity to learn more
by reading about others’ experiences. An average adult
can read 200-400 words in a minute. Give those people
tests on what they have just read, and they will
accurately answer 70 to 80 percent of the questions. Yet
ask them about what they have read a year later, and
they will recall almost nothing. In addition, these people
will have read only one to five books during the prior year,
and those books will have been novels selected for
pleasure rather than nonfiction books that were chosen
for their useful content.

Is it possible that people could learn a lot more from
reading? Absolutely! Let’s look at how much can be done
by improving reading, understanding, and memory.

Read Faster

… “Let Him make speed
and hasten His work,
That we may see it; ….”

— Isaiah 5:19 (NKJV)

Most people will tell you that they would like to read
faster but feel that if they go any faster they won’t be
able to understand and remember very much. To them it
seems pointless to try to read faster. Yet there are many
people who read several thousand words in a minute and
remember virtually everything that they read. Why
don’t other people read faster and remember more?
It’s simple: They don’t know how. It’s another example
of making a mistake because of not knowing how to avoid
the mistake.

Let me speak candidly about reading as someone who has
read more than 5,000 books, written reviews of more
than 4,000 of those books, and studied countless articles.
Research shows that the process of learning to read isn’t
very simple for the brain. Many linkages need to be made.
In fact, the process is complicated enough that somewhere
between 30 and 40 percent of all people’s brains learn to
read in a way that makes printed information extra hard
to understand. For instance, letters, words, and numbers
may appear in a different order in their minds than they
do on the page.

What’s worse, in the typical school there are no reading
specialists trained to identify how a brain is mixing up
information and then to help the child read so that the
problems are reduced or eliminated. You may be one of
those people who hasn’t yet received such help. I feel
bad for you.

I do have good news. There is at least one person who can
probably help, my college classmate and friend John
Adams. If you can borrow, rent, buy, or already own a
Mac computer, he can diagnose what you need to do to
overcome any reading quirks and help you to learn better
methods. In a short period of time, you will probably be
reading much faster than ever before with good
understanding.

Why is John so good? Because he had reading problems
as a youngster and has been helping people overcome
such difficulties for many years, John knows what works
and what doesn’t for helping you. To find out more and
to get in touch with him (tell him I sent you and I’m sure
John will be extra nice in helping you), go to
http://www.proportionalreading.com/.

I have more good news for you. Even if you don’t have
any special problems reading but are just slower than
you would like, John can also help you. You should be
able to read at least 1,000 words a minute with very
good comprehension through using his methods. For
most people that will be a speed at least three times
higher than what they accomplish today.

If you can read and remember at least three times as
much, you can certainly avoid a lot more mistakes than
you do now by reading about what others have done. But
what if you want to do even better? I read faster than
that, and the method I recommend for speeding up above
reading 1,000 words a minute requires making a series of
small changes in your reading habits. Once you can read
with near-perfect comprehension at any speed, let me
outline the individual steps for going to higher speeds
while retaining similarly good understanding:

• Stop “vocalizing” what you read in your mind. (Most
average readers are simply reading “aloud” mentally to
themselves, a very slow method of reading.)
• Go much faster from reading one word to the next.
• Expand from reading one word at a glance to reading
two words at a time. (Once you become comfortable with
this method, you will have probably doubled your speed.)
• Increase to reading three words at a time. (This change
will triple your speed from where you started.)
• Keep adding one word to the number you read at a
glance until you can see and absorb a whole line of print at
one time. (This adjustment will increase your speed by
ten to twelve times from reading one word at a time.)
• Learn to read two lines at a time (and so on).
• At some point you will be able to read a whole paragraph
at a time.
• Next, learn to read one paragraph plus one line at a time
(and so on in adding lines until you can read two
paragraphs at a time).
• Read two paragraphs plus one line at a time (and so on
in adding lines until you can read three paragraphs at a
time).
• Continue until you can read a whole page at a time.
• Repeat the process of adding lines and paragraphs until
you can read two side-by-side pages at one glance.

Don’t feel like you have to go through all those steps to be
a fast reader. Just proceed from one to the other until you
gain the speed that meets your reading needs in the
amount of time you want to spend reading for information.

Understand More

“Therefore I speak to them in parables,
because seeing they do not see, …
nor do they understand.”
“But blessed are your eyes
for they see, ….”

— Matthew 13:13, 16 (NKJV)

As you learn to read faster, it’s very important that you
continually test your comprehension. Otherwise, you are
just racing your eyes faster while leaving your mind
ignorant of what you need to know.

Let me share some lessons that have worked for me in
creating more understanding. I learned long ago that my
mind works a lot faster than my reading. As a result,
there’s room in my mental processes to be thinking
about questions as I read. Consequently, I choose to
read not only to understand what the writer intends to
share with me but also to gain an appreciation for any
lessons that apply to avoiding mistakes in areas where
I am inexperienced.

Here are some questions that I often use for nonfiction
reading that are designed to help me overcome my
inexperience:

• Is the experience I am reading about similar to what I
am facing?
• How does the experience differ from my situation?
• What advantages did the person have that I don’t have?
• What disadvantages did the person have that I don’t
have?
• What information did the person have before taking
action?

• What information would have helped the person to make
a better decision?
• What other experiences are referenced that I should
research?
• What other circumstances might be a lot like this one and
the one I face?
• Is there some better alternative that didn’t occur to the
person I’m reading about?
• What would I have advised the person to do differently
with the benefit of hindsight?

To these questions I often add other questions that are
important concerning the credibility of just a particular
book or article. For a source that seems a little off in its
accuracy, I might ask:

• How did the author gain the information?
• How credible is the information?
• What is the author ignoring?
• What is the author probably misstating?
• What is the author’s bias?

You might think that having these questions in mind
would slow down my reading a lot. Actually, adding the
questions seems to have the opposite effect: My speed
and understanding increase as I eagerly look for
answers that will help me with something that’s
important to achieving my goals.

Before reading any material, I search through the article
or book using these questions to determine which parts
(if any) apply to what I want to learn. As a result, I often
don’t have to read the whole source.

By concentrating just on sections that are information rich
for my questions, my attention level is higher and I
understand more. The questions bring another benefit:
When I’ve found what I need, I can stop reading unless
the book or article seems to offer important insights into
other areas relevant to my goals. Not reading what I
don’t need is another great way to stay focused and keep
understanding high.

Another way that I maintain a higher reading speed is by
having nearby little strips of paper as I read. I insert one
of the strips into the book or magazine so that I can easily
find the page again if I need it to reread something I
found to be of interest. I have a system of colors and
sizes of strips that tell me what I will find when I return
to the page. A green strip means a constructive lesson.
A red strip means a negative lesson. A blue strip means
a piece of helpful background. A plum strip means an
interesting point that’s unrelated to the reason I picked
up the source. In this way, I may only have to glance at
just a few pages later to deepen my understanding by
cross-checking what’s written on one page with what’s
written on another page. If I find a page that contains
all the information that I need, I just put a whole sheet
of paper there. I find that the simple act of putting in
the paper strips and sheets seems in increase how well I
remember the relevant sections. As a result, I’ll probably
only need to refer to one in thirty of the pages that I’ve
marked with strips of paper.

The type of material also affects how rapidly I can read
and understand. Mathematical formulas require me to
stop and to study them. Legal treatises are often written
in such convoluted ways that it takes extra time to
decipher what the writer is trying to say. Philosophical
texts are often filled with problems and questions that
are designed to make readers stop and think. Present me
with information in a field that’s new to me filled with lots
of unfamiliar vocabulary, and I will probably read more
slowly than you would if you were already familiar with
the subject. As you should, I let my understanding of the
material determine how quickly I go through it.

Remember More

“When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it,
to remember the everlasting covenant between God
and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

— Genesis 9:16 (NAS)

Unless you are blessed with a photographic memory
(something that I once had, but no longer have), you’ll
have to do more than just read and remember
information. You may need to refer to something you
read many years ago. How can you do that? Let me tell
you about the method I’ve been using for ten years.

I write book reviews of almost any nonfiction book that I
read that I publish on Amazon.com. While my main
purpose is to help other people find the books that will be
useful to them, I also benefit by having a record of what
I’ve read and what’s important about it. My reviews
usually summarize the key points in the book and what’s
significant about them.

My memory is usually good enough to allow me to
remember the right source book for answering a
question. As a result, I can quickly do an online search
using my name and the book’s title to find my online
review. I can then read the review in a few seconds and
will usually obtain the answer I’m looking for. If not, I
can determine if I need to look at the book again (by
going to the library, borrowing it, reading a copy I’ve got
at the office, or buying one).

Let me assume that your memory may not always be
quite as good as mine is now. You can also sprinkle
technical terms throughout your review, and then do
online searches that employ your name and those
technical terms. You’ll find all of the relevant reviews
you wrote.

If you find that it helps to have more detailed descriptions
of the lessons in the book, you can include those in your
review (by accessing the pages next to the colored strips of
paper). In that way, you can have the equivalent of course
notes concerning the source.

I usually spend less than a half hour writing a review or
making notes on a source. Often, the amount of time spent
is less than ten minutes. For a 100,000 word book (a
typical length for more thorough nonfiction sources), that
amounts to the equivalent of slowing my reading speed by
no more then 38 percent. I consider that writing time to
be well spent because it increases my ability to remember
key lessons after many years by well over twenty times.
If I make ten fewer mistakes in a year that would each
cost me many hours of problems, the benefit of this time
is probably an even higher multiple of the time spent on
writing.

I also find that writing reviews increases my
understanding by causing me to think about what I will
want to say about the book while I read it. It’s another way
to become a closer, more careful reader. I highly
recommend this method.

Follow these suggestions and you will see vast new
opportunities open up as you access the information that
God wants you to know and remember. You will also be
willing to take on much more difficult tasks knowing how
easily you can draw on valuable information that others
have written.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Six: Read Helpful Sources

2010-09-27T23:40:00.003-04:00

Select reading materials
that will help you identify and understand
the future best practices
(the best ways anyone in the world
will do that or any similar activity
in the next five years)
and the ideal best practices
(the best ways anyone can ever
hope to do that or any similar activity
by using technology
that will be available in the next five years)
in those areas where you want
to gain breakthrough results.

When they had read it,
they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

— Acts 15:31 (NAS)

Although most people don’t read nearly as rapidly or
remember what they’ve read nearly as well as they
would like (the subject of Lesson Five), a bigger
problem occurs when most people select what to read:
The vast majority of people have never read anything
that will help them to make useful breakthroughs. In
this lesson, you will learn what you should be reading as
your first priority for making breakthroughs.

After you switch your reading focus, the ultimate
improvements in your quality of life can become greater
than the difference between using a searchlight and a
penlight for illumination at night.

Read to Identify and Understand
the Future Best Practices

Would that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would discern their future!

— Deuteronomy 32:29 (NAS)

Unless you have already been developing 2,000 percent
solutions (ways of accomplishing at least twenty times
more with the same time, money, and effort … or the
same results with 1/20 the time, money, and effort),
chances are that the concept of a future best practice is
new to you. If so, I’m pleased and honored to have an
opportunity to introduce you to this way of looking at
opportunity.

Let’s start by considering what a best practice is: It’s
simply the most effective way anyone is accomplishing
any given task today. The definition of effectiveness is
determined by what the goal is. For instance, if you want
to go very fast while traveling on the ground, you will
probably use a turbofan-propelled vehicle in some
appropriate place such as the Black Rock Desert in
Nevada or the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. If, instead,
you want to as fast as possible anyplace, you will want
to be in a rocket in space where the lack of atmosphere
and the reduced pull of the Earth’s gravity mean that
you can go a lot faster than anywhere else.

If you were trying to find the fastest ways to travel in a
variety of directions in various places, you would
probably find the answers by looking at sources that
keep track of speed records. You could also rely on any
memories you have about past speed records to
investigate other sources.

Notice that the best practice changes over time. In 1800,
the fastest way for a person to travel safely was quite
slow compared to what an automobile can do today on a
race track. In 1950, the fastest way to travel in a jet
plane would have been quite slow compared to what a
rocket in space can do today.

Sometimes, the best practice changes very rapidly. For
instance, the newest semiconductor generation will be a
lot better than the last one and will appear about every
eighteen to twenty-four months. In other cases, the rate
of best-practice improvement will be slower. A much
faster generation of rockets to carry a given load, for
instance, may only come along every decade or two.

In most cases it isn’t very convenient to determine what
the current best practice is. For many activities, there
are no record books. In fact, those who do certain things
very well may seek to keep what they do secret so that
no one else can copy them. Such secrecy is typical in
many businesses because employing the best practice is
a source of competitive advantage that increases profits
and reduces risk.

When the current best practice isn’t published, you will
probably need to access a variety of resources to find
what works best now. One way to avoid a major search is
to find people who have been looking for the same answer.
You may find such a person in an expert who follows a
certain industry, an editor whose publication covers the
arena where you want to find the best practice, or
someone who just wrote a book on the subject. By
reading what they’ve written about these practices, you
can get a sense of what these searchers probably know.
Feel free to go beyond reading what they have written
by corresponding with or speaking to them.

In other cases, you may find that no one else is looking or
has looked for what you seek. In that circumstance, you
will need to do your own research. Internet searches can
often help you to find articles and books that will provide
hints of where to look. The last section in this lesson
considers this research problem in more detail.

Here’s an important observation to keep in mind: To
accomplish your goal by developing a 2,000 percent
solution, the best method may be to combine more than
one best practice. In my many years of experience in
seeking best practices, I have rarely found that people
were combining as many best practices as would be
desirable.

Let’s look at the speed example some more to understand
more about the point. Typically, rockets powered by
chemicals are the fastest way to lift a large load through
the Earth’s atmosphere, but their engines burn fuel very
rapidly so that little fuel is left by the time the rockets are
outside the atmosphere, limiting acceleration potential.

Nuclear power plants, by comparison, don’t deplete their
fuel supplies very rapidly, but these power sources
present a different problem: No one is very enthusiastic
about launching large nuclear power plants into space. If
that concern can be overcome with appropriate safety
measures, a chemically powered rocket could be used to
launch a large nuclear-powered rocket into Earth orbit
from which it would be aimed towards deep space and
accelerate for many years by relying on its atomic fuel.
The combined approach of a chemical rocket launching a
nuclear rocket into space would result in travel vastly
faster than what is allowed by a fast chemical rocket, the
current best practice. The technology exists to
accomplish this combination process safely, but the
combination hasn’t yet been employed to set a speed
record.

So what, then, is the future best practice? It’s the best
that anyone is likely to accomplish in the next five years
using the technology and knowledge that will be
available during that time. Let’s assume that you read
an article describing a program to have a nuclear-
powered rocket ready to go within five years that would
achieve high deep-space speed after being launched into
Earth orbit by a chemically fueled rocket. From having
studied the potential of both technologies, you would
realize that this approach is the future best practice for
gaining high speed in space.

If you didn’t read such an article but determined
through research that someone could start today and
accomplish the identical result within five years, that
combination would still be the future best practice. If you
determined instead that developing such a combination
would take twenty years, this use of chemical- and
nuclear-powered rockets isn’t yet a future best practice
… but someday it may be. The future best practice now
would be some enhanced version of the chemically fueled
rockets.

Let’s consider a less exotic example of current and
future best practices to bring the concept more down to
Earth for you. People develop all kinds of diseases as a
result of various dietary deficiencies (such as from
lacking iodine, iron, vitamin C, and vitamin D). Standard
blood tests can be used to detect these deficiencies.

If you are looking to help undernourished people, the cost
of the blood tests often exceeds the cost of providing food
or supplements that cure the deficiencies. As a result, not
many blood tests are conducted among poor people in
underdeveloped countries who are most at risk, and
many people in developed and underdeveloped countries
suffer from the consequences of deficiencies that they
don’t know they have.

Many nations have laws that require nutritional additives
in certain foods (such as iodine in salt and vitamin D in
milk). But the consumer or purchaser doesn’t normally
have the equipment to test for their presence, and
corruption may have caused an inspector to certify food
that hasn’t received the right additives.

To overcome the health problems from dietary
deficiencies, the current best practice would be to test all
of the food and all of the people to ensure that the
additives are being received and consumed in adequate
quantities. Let me propose a potential future best practice
that’s consistent with today’s technology: Biologically bind
a different inexpensive marker to each legally mandated
nutritional additive so that it would be apparent through
the ordinary senses that the additive is present.
Technology to color and flavor foods is quite good, and
that technology could easily be applied to marking
additives. The iodine marker might make salt look more
sparkling and attractive. The vitamin D marker might
make milk smell slightly like something pleasant such as
freshly mown clover. Properly done and combined with
education about the importance of these additives, the
markers would also help encourage consumption of the
needed vitamins and minerals.

Now that you know what the concept of the future best
practice is, let me explain why it’s important to you:
Without knowing what the future best practice is, you will
probably work on solving a problem that has already been
solved or soon will be. As a result, your 2,000 percent
solution will fall far short of what’s possible. Why not get
the best result you can from your work?

In the 2,000 percent solution process, you should think of
the future best practice as the floor (or the starting point)
for seeking improvement. Without knowing what the
future best practice is, you will probably work on a goal
that’s far too low. If outperforming the competitors is
important, you will fail because some of them will exceed
your performance.

Read to Identify and Understand
the Ideal Best Practices

The LORD has conquered this whole area
for the community of Israel,
and it is ideally suited for all our livestock.

— Numbers 32:4 (NLT)

The ideal best practice is simply the most that would ever
be possible to accomplish by applying what is or can be
known in the next five years. To explain what I mean,
let’s revisit the speed example discussed in the
preceding section. In looking at the opportunity to reach
the ideal best practice, a rocket scientist might become
intrigued by the opportunity to speed up the initial
velocity of the nuclear rocket quite a bit by using
additional chemical rockets launched from space as
supplemental sources of momentum. That’s an important
consideration if you want to reach high speeds sooner
because nuclear rockets as conceived of now would start
slowly and build speed very gradually.

Here’s what could be done instead: Chemical rockets
could deliver components and fuel for additional chemical
rocket boosters to be assembled in space (at, say, the
international space station) that would be attached to the
nuclear rocket after it had been launched into space.
With such a faster start from the second set of chemically
fueled rocket engines, the nuclear engine would accelerate
much faster toward the speed of light (186,000 miles per
second). As a result, higher speeds would be reached
sooner. A lower-cost method might be to reuse materials
from rockets that deliver materials to the space station.

In terms of the food-additive example, the ideal best
practice might be to put the person preparing or eating
the food in charge of applying the additives. The food
would arrive in a store, dining hall, or restaurant without
any supplemental additives, but each person would have
a stock of the needed additives biologically bound to a
variety of seasonings that make the food taste better.
In this way, everyone would be covered … whether
eating at home, in a refugee camp, or in a fine-dining
restaurant. Access to the additives would be provided
free to everyone on Earth. Why? It costs a lot more for a
society to let people live without these additives and deal
with the consequences of the dietary deficiencies than it
does to provide the additives in a desirable form. Sure,
some people wouldn’t use them. Schools and social
worker’s and doctor’s offices could be places to
distribute information about how important it is to use
the additives.

The ideal best practice is important because it represents
the outer limit of what is possible now. It’s usually well
beyond the level of the future best practice. In fact, a
major part of the value of identifying and measuring the
future best practice is to raise the sights of the person to
become better prepared to identify the ideal best
practice. For more help, read the blueprint for ideal
practice identification in Appendix B.

Check Potential Sources before Reading
or Contacting Them

God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding,
and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore.

— 1 Kings 4:29 (NLT)

Chances are that you don’t have very much experience
with checking out potential sources of information about
current, future, and ideal best practices. In this section,
I want to simplify the task and also help you become
more effective at doing it.

Living in the Internet age presents special problems. If
you are older than a certain age, you probably aren’t quite
sure about all the ways to use the Internet for this task.
If you are younger than a certain age, you would never use
anything other than the Internet … even if the other
sources are preferable. I am writing for both audiences, so
please bear with me while I’m explaining something that
you already know. Pretty soon I’ll probably share
something that you don’t yet know. If you think you are
already a great best-practice researcher, feel free to go
ahead to Lesson Seven now.

I usually start looking for best practices by using the
Internet because it helps me to find and consider a great
many potential sources more rapidly than any other
method. I start with Google keyword searches. A
particular advantage of that search engine today is that it
is very effective in picking up sections of recently
published books and articles. The Google searches tell me
a lot about what’s on the Internet and what I might have
to access elsewhere. However, in looking at the potential
sources, I remain keenly aware that not everything on
the Internet is accurate.

If I were working on the food-additive issue, I would
probably use words and phrases like “vitamin
deficiency,” “mineral deficiency,” the names of the
various diseases that result from vitamin and mineral
deficiencies (I might have to do a prior Google search to
find those names), “food additive,” “iodine in salt,”
“vitamin D in milk,” “nutritional supplements for
malnourished people,” “UN food program,” “markers for
food additives,” and so on. Basically, I would search using
any word, name, or phrase that struck me as potentially
relevant to the current, future, or ideal best practice for
my issue of interest.

Most of the time, those searches would lead me to some
major online and offline knowledge sources including
research institutes, academic journals, professional
publications, expert journalists and editors, government
and nongovernmental programs, professional
organizations, industry associations, and, possibly,
schools and programs located within universities.

Before picking a source to investigate, I need to consider
what I want to use the source for. If I want to actually
solve the problem and implement the solution, I probably
need to find someone who provides services. If so, I’ll
check out those sources first. If I just want to write
about the subject, I’ll look for people who have lots of
knowledge regardless of whether or not they attempt to
apply what they know.

Having narrowed down what I’m looking for, I’ll read a
little from one or two online examples of what the most
promising sources produce. From reading a page or two,
I can usually tell if what the person knows or does applies
to what I’m interested in. Whether or not there seems to
be an appropriate source, I’ll note how to contact the
source. If I cannot find many good sources, I may want to
ask a lot of people who else is knowledgeable about what
I am interested in.

After checking out what seems to be promising, I’ll
probably realize that I need to use some different search
words. For instance, in checking out the UN food program
and nutritional supplements, I learned about a product
called Plumpy’Doz for malnourished youngsters. I would
then add a search for that product. During that search, I
learned about a term I didn’t know before, RUF,
referring to ready-to-eat food. I would search on that as
well. From that search, I might learn about contamination
problems and pick up some more terms to search on.

If I wanted to find out how many people have various
kinds of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, I would do
online searches until I found out who measures and
keeps track of those statistics. Each new search would,
in turn, lead to other searches, until I began to see that
what I was learning was circling back to form a factual
fence of reliable sources around the subject.

In the course of doing all this searching and sampling, it
would be highly unusual if I read as many as 30,000
words (spending fifteen minutes reading at 2,000 words a
minute). I would also be astonished if I found a book or an
article that had more than ten pages in it that were
relevant reading.

As you can see, the search task is more one of eliminating
available material than it is of finding the right material.
My advice is to eliminate as much as possible while
reading as little as possible. Only those planning to write
a dissertation on a subject need to have read “all” the
relevant literature.

As soon as I think I have exhausted most of what the
Internet would tell me, I begin assembling lists of
questions I still need answers to and other lists of people
who might be able to answer them. If people are
accessible by e-mail, I just send an e-mail. If they
aren’t, I call or drop a letter in the mail (depending on
how long I can afford to wait).

If a potential source person is important to my answer, I
follow up three or four times. If a source is critical, I show
up on the doorstep and ask for access if I cannot get their
attention in any other way. Most people will see you on
this basis.

What if you don’t want to do all this work? Research
librarians are very skilled at this kind of investigation.
Ask one to help you search. In many cases, a research
librarian who isn’t busy will spend a little time helping
you in the library for free. Many also offer their
services on an hourly basis outside of their hours at
the library. If you can’t afford to hire a librarian, you
may be able to attract a graduate student working in
the field as an unpaid or less expensively paid intern
to work on your issue.

One of my great hopes for the 400 Year Project is that
for-profit and nonprofit organizations will also begin to
offer many free online resources that track current best
practices. On a proprietary basis requiring a payment,
you can buy studies of particular business best practices
that have been researched by organizations such as
APQC (www.apqc.org) and various accounting and
engineering firms. APQC also offers help with doing your
own benchmarking studies to locate the current best
practices.

In many cases, I find it necessary to perform special
measurement studies involving surveys for my clients.
You can obviously hire someone to do that for you, or
you can learn how to do it for yourself. Many
universities offer courses in survey design and analysis.

Equipped with your new ability to find helpful sources
and draw immense, practical lessons from them, you
will be able to perceive opportunities beyond your
wildest dreams. What a great blessing that is from God
for helping direct you towards the accomplishments
that He would like you to make. In Lesson Seven, you
will begin to learn how to make such accomplishments.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Seven: Design and Implement a Valuable 2,000 Percent Solution

2010-09-24T23:01:00.002-04:00

Learn how to identify stalls
(bad thinking habits),
to eliminate and to replace stalls
with good thinking habits,
and to design and to implement
2,000 percent solutions
to serve others on God’s behalf
by producing your first one.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,
but let God transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think.

— Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Let me start by repeating what I wrote in the
Introduction. Most people can develop their first 2,000
percent solution (a way of accomplishing
at least twenty times more with the same time, money,
and effort … or the same results with 1/20 the time,
money, and effort) with between 60 and 120 hours of
reading, study, and work. If the improvement area
is an important one, the increased performance gained
from the solution will easily repay the time, money, and
effort that were invested. You can learn to identify your
bad thinking habits and to replace them with good ones
and learn to develop 2,000 percent solutions by reading,
answering the questions in, and applying The 2,000
Percent Solution (AMACOM, 1999) and The 2,000
Percent Solution Workbook (iUniverse, 2005). You can
obtain free e-copies of those books by registering (and
confirming your registration by replying to the e-mail
that’s sent immediately — be sure to check your spam
folder) at www.2000percentsolution.com.

I find that most people who learn about creating 2,000
percent solutions have one of the following four
reactions:

• That’s not possible.
• I can’t do that.
• That sounds interesting. Let me try it out on
something small.
• That would be great! Let me apply it to my biggest
opportunity.

I address each of those reactions in the remainder of this
lesson. If you don’t have any of the first three reactions,
skip the next three sections.

Otherwise, just read those of the first three sections that
address your reaction or reactions. In any case, be sure
to read the fourth section.

2,000 Percent Solutions Are Readily Available

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked.
“Anything is possible if a person believes.”

— Mark 9:23 (NLT)

When first creating a 2,000 percent solution, many people
report discovering that their solution could have been
implemented at any time during the prior fifty years. But
no one had. Why is that?

Let me tell you a story about a company to help explain
such delays. One of my former students works in a
business where 95 percent of the ingredients were once
discarded at the end of the production process. That’s like
taking a piece or two of a large wedding cake and then
throwing away the rest of the cake. The organization first
called the unused ingredients “waste” and dumped that
material into the ocean. A new treaty in the 1970s
prohibited this kind of dumping, and the “waste” went
into landfills instead.

Environmental laws were later enacted that made it
more financially attractive to do something else with
the “waste,” and the leftover ingredients were turned
into “by-products” that didn’t have much value.

The student redefined those used ingredients as
“products” and discovered that with a little upgrading
they became valuable forms of organic fertilizer that
many were anxious to buy. The student soon developed
a large fertilizer business and was successfully making
similar upgrades of other manufacturers’ waste into
valuable products.

From this experience, the student learned that people
only pay a lot of attention to “products,” seldom focus
on “by-products,” and hardly ever examine their
“waste.” Similarly, people pay a lot more attention
to creating and implementing 2,000 percent solutions
than to efforts to meet the annual budgeted profit
increase of 10 percent. Why? It is often more exciting
and rewarding to develop 2,000 percent solutions.
Let’s look at some other aspects of human behavior. A
parallel observation to Pareto’s Law (referred to by
many as Pareto’s Principle, or the 80/20 Principle,
meaning that 80 percent of the results can be observed
to come from 20 percent of the people doing an activity)
states that 80 percent of the results of any economic
activity come from 20 percent or less of the efforts. Let’s
look at an example of this corollary to see why 2,000
percent solutions are naturally abundant.

Imagine that a business has 100 salespeople selling
100,000 units a year. Consistent with the parallel
observation to Pareto’s Law, 20 of those salespeople
produce total sales of 80,000 units per year while the
remaining 80 salespeople produce total sales of only
20,000 units per year. The most productive 20
salespeople average selling 4,000 units per year while
the 80 less productive salespeople average sales of 250
units per year. The 20 most productive salespeople
create on average 16 times (4,000/250) the average
of the 80 remaining salespeople. Increasing the
performance of the remaining 80 salespeople to what
the most productive 20 salespeople accomplish is a
1,500 percent solution.

Within the group of 20, some salespeople are more
productive than the others. Let’s assume that the most
productive salesperson produces annual sales of 7,000
units. That amount is 28 times what the 80 less
productive salespeople average. If the less productive
people can move up to the productivity of the most
productive salesperson, that’s a 2,700 percent solution.

Within the group of 80, some are less productive than
others. Let’s assume that the least productive
salesperson who won’t be fired for poor performance
sells merely 100 units per year. If that person could
match the most productive salesperson, that would be a
6,900 percent solution.

The nature of which customers are served may have
something to do with why these two salespeople vary
so much in productivity. But if the least productive
salesperson can increase performance to even half the
average of the most productive group, that’s still more
than a 2,000 percent solution.

Let’s also assume that the company has a more effective
competitor where the most productive salespeople sell
on average 10,000 units per year. Within that group,
let’s also assume that the most productive person sells
18,000 units per year. If some of this success is based on
selling methods that the least productive salesperson in
the first company can emulate but doesn’t use now, that
relatively low-performing salesperson would only have
to capture one-eighth of this most productive
competitive salesperson’s results to achieve a 2,000
percent solution.

In addition, there are probably better performing
salespeople in other industries who could also show the
lowest producing salesperson in the original company
how to improve. By drawing on those examples, the least
productive salespeople can expand their productivity
further.

It’s also true that few of the top-performing salespeople
are using identical methods. As a result, you can combine
highly productive techniques from different top
performing salespeople to exceed the performance of
even the most effective salesperson.

Likewise, 20 percent of the customers will produce 80
percent of the earnings for a company. So it’s as
important whom you sell to as it is how efficiently you
perform. Some organizations will find that their highest
volume salespeople are mostly bringing in business from
relatively unprofitable customers. As a result the most
profitable best practice may be found among a so-called
average performer who only produces high-margin
sales. Cross-fertilize the methods of the high-volume
salesperson with the high-margin one, and you should
increase the profit-productivity of sales efforts by a
great deal more than 2,000 percent.

There’s also hope for improvement from other sources.
The parallel observation to Pareto’s Law also applies to
every other activity that a person does in a company:
Twenty percent of the employees will produce 80
percent of the results. By learning from the best inside
and outside the company and combining those lessons in
new ways, the most productive employees can improve
further in all aspects of what the company does.

Beyond that, there are always new best practices under
development. By learning about those possibilities for
improvement from articles and experiments, even greater
gains will follow. At Mitchell and Company (the
management consulting firm I direct to help leading
companies create the next generation of best practices),
we measured a large number of companies performing
the same activities to see how each company’s
effectiveness compared to its competitors. Much like
what the parallel observation to Pareto’s Law suggests,
companies were highly effective compared to other
firms in only a few areas … usually less than 5 percent of
their most important activities. Companies were about
as effective as the average firm in approximately 30
percent of their important activities. And these same
companies were well below average in the remaining
important activities. That research means that more
than 95 percent of important activities in each of these
companies were clearly ripe for 2,000 percent solutions.
On closer inspection, of course, it could be the case that
all important activities in a given company could be
improved by twenty times.

When the same observations are applied to individuals,
the room is even more enormous for making 2,000
percent solutions in all areas of life. That’s because the
performance gaps among low, average, and top
performers are greater across all people in all activities
than they are among the smaller population of different
companies doing a few important activities.

If you doubt that, just compare your best performance to
what the world record holder can do in some of the areas
that matter to you. (If you are a runner, consider how
fast you can run 200 miles, a distance some ultrarunners
accomplish at a pace not too much slower than what
many marathon runners achieve in the shorter 26 mile
race.) Keep in mind that in many cases even the world
leader in an important activity is using some obsolete
practices.

Anyone Can Create a 2,000 Percent Solution

And He has said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness.”
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

— 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NAS)

Many people start work on creating a 2,000 percent
solution without any expectation that they will succeed.
When asked why they doubt their ability to succeed, they
often describe problems they’ve had when they were in
school, past difficulties in learning how to do other
things, what they don’t know now, or obstacles that have
frustrated them for years. After a few weeks of
successfully developing a 2,000 percent solution, every
one of these doubters will confidently state that they can
create more 2,000 percent solutions and that anyone
else can, as well.

What happened in between the start and the finish to
change their expectations?

• They learned what bad thinking habits were holding
them back and how to eliminate those habits.
• They easily began to use better thinking habits.
• They found that there are lots of resources and people
available to help them engage in whatever they found
to be difficult about the eight steps in the 2,000 percent
solution process.
• They discovered that they already knew hundreds of
examples of individuals and groups performing perfectly
and could easily understand and explain how to duplicate
those successes.

If you ask people how to do something they have never
done before and have not yet seen anyone else do, most
of those you ask will draw a blank in their minds, leaving
them passive and feeling discouraged. A person’s belief
that he or she cannot create a 2,000 percent solution is
usually based on drawing such a mental blank about
the opportunity: They don’t yet have a solution
strategy, assume they cannot locate one, and don’t know
that the process contains a simple solution-developing
strategy that anyone can use. These people need to
read and answer all the questions in The 2,000 Percent
Solution Workbook, a resource designed to break down
the solution process into tiny, simple steps that
cumulatively build the experience of applying
new and better ways of improving performance.

What if you don’t have the time? After applying the
processes described in Lessons Four and Five, you won’t
be able to use that excuse any longer.

What if you don’t have much education? People who
didn’t finish elementary school have been able to
create 2,000 percent solutions by working with people
who could help them research the future and ideal best
practices.

What if you don’t have much experience with the
problem? That’s probably an advantage because you
will be more open-minded about what’s possible. Just be
sure that you take whatever time is required to learn
about future and ideal best practices.

What if you cannot discipline yourself to follow the
2,000 percent solution process? That’s no problem:
You can hire a coach (or ask a friend or relative to
perform the same role for free) to keep reminding
you to do the next step (whichever one that is) and to
praise you for whatever you have done so far.

What if you cannot bear to work alone on 2,000 percent
solutions? That’s also no problem: You are not required
to create these solutions by yourself. In fact, you may
find that you will develop better solutions when you
work with others who complement your experience,
skills, and interests. In some cases, people learning the
process have worked in groups containing as many as
twenty people and made rapid progress.

What if you cannot overcome procrastination to do the
steps, even with coaches or helpers? Hire someone to
run a public contest that invites others to compete in
developing a solution for you and offer attractive
rewards for success. While thinking about hiring
someone to run the contest, keep telling yourself:
“Hesitate to procrastinate.”

The Value of a 2,000 Percent Solution
Is Positively Related to the Size of the Problem

Give the larger tribes more land
and the smaller tribes less land,
each group receiving a grant in proportion
to the size of its population.

— Numbers 26:54 (NLT)

Some people choose to work on a small problem with small
benefits for creating a 2,000 percent solution because they
wrongly think that there’s much less work involved. My
experience with creating 2,000 percent solutions is that
the time involved has little to do with how substantial or
insubstantial the benefits are. In addition, the difference
in the time involved for creating one 2,000 percent
solution for a simple problem versus a solution for a more
difficult problem is rarely more than sixty hours.
However, the people who want to do less work are right
in thinking that more time is usually involved in
implementing 2,000 percent solutions that have larger
benefits. Since the practical benefits from those
implementation efforts are enormous, however, no one
will hesitate to make the implementation commitment
for a 2,000 percent solution with large benefits.

Some other people opt to work on a 2,000 percent
solution for a small problem because they think that it
will be easier to do for whatever hours are involved.
That belief is often mistaken. Larger problems are more
likely to attract the interest of other talented people.
When that happens, it becomes easier to involve still
more people who can be helpful. As a result, the
difficulties involved in your personal efforts may be
reduced.

Yet other people decide to work on a small problem for
creating a 2,000 percent solution because they perceive
that they will encounter less opposition to change. That
perception can also be mistaken. Instead, organizations
are very likely to resist working on problems that won’t
make much difference. Show people a way to make a
huge breakthrough in an important area, and those
involved immediately begin to perceive that recognition,
promotion, and tangible rewards are likely to become
theirs. Everyone will want credit and will line up to be
supportive of the successful solution.

Still other people choose small problems with small
benefits because they simply don’t take the time to
calculate what the benefits might be before selecting
what they work to improve. In my experience, this
mistake is often related to not realizing that the size of
potential benefits from solving different problems
varies quite a lot. Problems also don’t come with labels
attached that say how much the solution is going to be
worth. As a result, you have to do some work to estimate
where the big benefits are. Start by simply calculating
what it would mean to accomplish twenty times more
with the same resources. That quantification may be
enough to steer you away from working on small-benefit
solutions.

Some other people pick small problems to solve because
no one cares very much about those problems. These
problem solvers reason that there is no risk of offending
anyone by exposing the gross inefficiency in what has gone
before. In my experience that’s a poor reason to pick a
problem: After producing a 2,000 percent solution, I’ve
never seen an organization go back to chastise the person
who followed the old solution. Instead, people turn away
from thinking about what occurred before because a
2,000 percent solution dazzles the mind and senses so
much that negative thoughts are pushed aside.

First Create the Most Valuable
2,000 Percent Solution You Can

“I know all the things you do ….
And I can see your constant improvement
in all these things.”

— Revelation 2:19 (NLT)

No matter how big the dreams are that God sends you to
accomplish, you’ll create the opportunity to exceed them
all in reality by developing and implementing a highly
valuable 2,000 percent solution. Here are some of the
reasons why:

• You will build your problem-solving and
implementation abilities and reputation faster.
• You will sooner develop the knowledge and experience
to repeat 2,000 percent solution success as often as you
like with great solutions to other problems.
• You can teach all those you work with what you know,
and they can create as many highly valuable 2,000
percent solutions as they want.
• You can also teach all those with large problems whom
you serve how to solve their own problems with 2,000
percent solutions without your help.
• Many people who don’t yet know how to make 2,000
percent solutions will seek you out and offer whatever it
takes to gain your assistance.

• You can acquire assets, businesses, and resources that
will be greatly improved in value by 2,000 percent
solutions and exponentially expand your financial value
in short order through implementing such solutions.
• Your advice will be sought by many people whose
actions you would like to influence.
• You can use your expertise in creating 2,000 percent
solutions to enter into activities and fields that interest
you but that would normally be closed to you.
• Whenever you are satisfied with what you’ve
accomplished, you can apply the 2,000 percent solution
process to reduce by at least 95 percent the time,
money, and effort you put into any activities that you
cannot avoid, but would like to minimize.
• You will leave a heritage of accomplishment and
knowledge for your family that is far more valuable and
desirable than diamonds and pearls.

In the next lessons, I spell out how to build on your first
2,000 percent solution to gain many of these benefits.
Before leaving this lesson, be sure to take note of which
benefits from the preceding list are most attractive to you
and keep them in mind while you read the next seven
lessons.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Eight: Multiply Your Access to Valuable 2,000 Percent Solutions

2010-09-23T12:36:00.003-04:00

Teach someone else
how to identify and eliminate stalls
and to design and to implement
2,000 percent solutions
that are attuned to the Holy Spirit.

“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

— John 13:14 (NAS)

Most people who learn how to create a 2,000 percent
solution never teach anyone else how to do so. That’s a
terrible mistake because these problem solvers miss out
on tapping into the benefits from many more 2,000
percent solutions than they can develop on their own.

Let me quantify why it’s so valuable to teach others.
Imagine that you can produce a new 2,000 percent
solution with about 100 hours of work, and that it takes
another 100 hours of your time to implement each
solution. Most people work at a full-time job that requires
about 2,000 hours a year of their time. Assuming you
have lots of other things to do, you’ll probably have just
enough time to produce and implement one or two 2,000
percent solutions a year on your own.

Keep doing that for ten years, and you can put in place
ten to twenty 2,000 percent solutions. Sounds
impressive, doesn’t it?

Now let’s assume instead that you produce and
implement only one 2,000 percent solution. After that,
you teach someone else (such as a family member or a
colleague) whose solutions will directly benefit you. Let’s
assume that the teaching process takes you fifteen hours
and that person produces ten or twenty 2,000 percent
solutions over the next ten years. Let’s further assume
that the learner also teaches one other person whose
solutions will benefit you. If each new learner, in turn,
teaches one new learner right after creating his or her
first solution, by the end of ten years there will be at
least ten more people who can produce 2,000 percent
solutions. If they all stay active, by the end of ten years,
fifty to a hundred 2,000 percent solutions will have
been created and implemented … even if you never
create another one yourself. If this making of and
teaching of how to make 2,000 percent solutions
continues over twenty years, there will be two hundred
to four hundred 2,000 percent solutions created and
implemented that benefit you. At the same time, you
will have spent much less time than if you had kept
creating your own 2,000 percent solutions.

Naturally, the numbers of solutions are even larger if
you teach more people than one at a time, you keep
teaching over the years, and the learners do the same.
With so many people teaching and creating 2,000 percent
solutions, the benefits grow to extraordinary levels. If
your solutions are all in service to God’s purposes, you
will have achieved enormous fruitfulness for Him.

In imagining such possibilities, it’s good to remember
that most people learned to crawl before they learned to
walk. Teaching one person is the equivalent of crawling,
a good first step, when it comes to passing along the
2,000 percent solution process. Let’s look at some key
lessons for how to do that task well.

Find a Talented, Eager Person
with a Pressing Need
Who Wants to Learn

Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser.
Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.

— Proverbs 9:9 (NLT)

You are blessed by God that you can be teaching 2,000
percent solution processes at a time when there are
relatively few people who are qualified to provide this
instruction through having succeeded in creating a
2,000 percent solution. As a result, you can be very
selective about whom you choose to teach. If you choose
well, the benefits for God and for both you and the
learner will be much larger.

Let me suggest some learner-selection criteria that are
based on my experiences with teaching people to use the
process:

• People who are well connected to and listen closely to
the Holy Spirit are going to make faster progress
because they will receive good guidance from that all-
knowing source. If these people also like to pray, they
are likely to receive even more supernatural guidance.
If the purpose is one that they feel God strongly favors,
they will be even more motivated to do the necessary
work.

• People with lots of existing skill in analytical and
problem-solving methods are more likely to make the
best use of the process. Many of my most successful
clients and students had engineering, medical, or
systems-development training and experience. The
analytical and problem-solving tools from those
disciplines increased their ability to use the 2,000
percent solution process by enabling them to see more
and better opportunities and to develop more practical
solutions.

• People who truly want to learn the process so they
can continually use it in the future will pay more
attention and gain more from what you share with
them. Eagerness to learn this process is probably the
rarest of the valuable qualities to find among potential
learners. My experience has been that most people
would rather be stuck with their problems for the rest
of their lives than invest the time and effort to learn how
to create 2,000 percent solutions. Be sure to test for
whether apparent enthusiasm is more than lip service:
Before you commit to teaching the person, assign
something simple to start, give a short deadline, and
see what happens.

• People who have a pressing need to make a
breakthrough quickly are going to be more highly
motivated to master and apply the 2,000 percent
solution process. Check for such a need. If no needs
press on their emotions, be skeptical of their potential
commitment and check it out carefully.

• People who like to connect with other people to ask
questions, to find information, to gain expertise, to
recruit help, and to discuss ideas can draw on many
more resources to make progress. By seeking to
involve other people, these problem solvers are also
less likely to become stalled during some part of the
process.

• People who consider it an honor or a privilege to
study with you will do better work than those who see
this as just another learning opportunity. As a result,
you may find that people who already hold you in high
regard will make better candidates. Tell prospective
learners about what you accomplished with the 2,000
percent solution process because that success may
encourage respect. Otherwise, there’s a tendency for
learners to take the easy way out when difficulties arise
and to become distracted when competing time
demands arise.

Get in Sync and Set Mutually Acceptable Deadlines

But when Amasa went to summon Judah,
he took longer than the time the king had set for him.
— 2 Samuel 20:5 (NIV)

It’s easy for a learner to misunderstand how to create
2,000 percent solutions. Please read (or reread) Chapter
13 of The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook and perform
the tasks described there to ensure that the learner and
you understand one another while the learner creates a
2,000 percent solution. Otherwise, working together can
be as uncommunicative as if you were broadcasting on
one television channel while your student was tuned in
to watch another channel.

Let’s face it: Even learners who don’t delay through
procrastination probably don’t do much work on a
2,000 percent solution task until just before a deadline
arrives. You as the 2,000 percent solution teacher
would do well to develop a schedule of mutually
acceptable deadlines to help your student continually
focus on what needs to be done next.

The scheduling method I like to use starts with assigning
just the first important task and setting a short time until
the first deadline before assigning any other tasks and
deadlines. I try to make that task a relatively simple one,
such as identifying one or a few personal stalls.

From this first assignment, I hope to find out how well a
student understands the subject, how adequately the
person learns independently, and how efficiently the
learning occurs. For someone who has no trouble
reading, understanding, and applying the material, this
first task can be accomplished in fewer than five hours
of activity.

Someone who has trouble reading and understanding or
who is confused will take much longer.

I also ask learners to keep track of how they spend their
time and to share their journals with me. In this way, I
can check on where they had trouble and make
suggestions to avoid those problems in the future. In
addition, I encourage learners to contact me with
questions: No one ever does, even if they are totally
lost. That’s because they usually cannot tell that they
are lost until I tell them.

After seeing the results, I either congratulate the
learner on success or send the person back to rework
what was done. (I describe more about supplying
feedback in the section on encouraging learners.) If the
person did the assignment well and in an appropriate
amount of time, I will assign something more difficult
the next time, but still with a short deadline. If the
learner didn’t meet the deadline, took too long to do
the assignment, or didn’t perform the work well, I will
simplify the tasks a lot and shorten up the deadlines in
future assignments.

Based on the learner’s success, I either give the
learner more room to roam with future assignments or
I reduce the slack. Eventually, I sense how big an
assignment to give that person and how long it should
take.

In all cases, when giving the assignment, I ask the person
if I have given enough time. If someone requests more
time, I automatically agree. In that way, the learner feels
committed to the deadline.

Keep giving short-term assignments, and you will have
lots of opportunities to provide timely feedback. In the
process of assigning frequent deadlines following short
work periods, the learner will probably be kept fairly
active working on creating a 2,000 percent solution.
The combination of frequent assignments and timely
feedback will greatly increase how much learning occurs.

Help the Learner Pick
an Appropriate Problem to Solve

But I personally have heard about you,
that you are able to give interpretations
and solve difficult problems.
Now if you are able to read the inscription
and make its interpretation known to me,
you will be clothed with purple
and wear a necklace of gold around your neck,
and you will have authority
as the third ruler in the kingdom.

— Daniel 5:16 (NAS)

In trying to use their new knowledge about stalls and
stallbusting to work simultaneously on eliminating
problems in many different areas, even enthusiastic
learners can quickly become unfocused and confused.
As a result, learners may fail to move forward to
mastering the more valuable eight-step process
needed to create and implement a 2,000 percent
solution.

Many learners also have trouble conceptualizing a
measurable twenty times improvement in some activity.
Although The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000
Percent Solution Workbook explicitly describe the size
of the gain and give quantitative examples, some
learners just don’t quite appreciate the reality. Some
even think that a 2,000 percent solution is merely a
metaphor, rather than a threshold target. As a result,
such a learner may want to set a goal to improve some
kind of performance by “a lot” or by some much smaller
percentage than 2,000 percent.

As I mentioned in Lesson Seven, many learners have
trouble imagining what the size of the benefits are from
creating a 2,000 percent solution for one problem versus
another one. You may have to help them think through
the quantification process to understand where their
time may have the best payoff.

Some 2,000 percent solutions are more difficult to
develop than others. When I work directly with learners,
I always encourage them to pick problems of average or
less difficulty for them, after considering the
backgrounds, knowledge, resources, and people they can
draw from. There will be plenty of time later to develop
solutions for more difficult problems.

Some problems are also more valuable to solve because
their solutions will eliminate many other problems
without any additional effort. I always encourage
learners to consider if such problems may exist and may
be appropriate for them to solve.

Finally, you want the learner to gain recognition and
respect for the work that is done. If you can see that
some solutions will lead to gaining recognition and
respect while others may not, steer your learner toward
the possibility of more recognition and respect without
mentioning that you are thinking about those things.
You don’t want people to focus on the benefits rather
than the problem: Such thoughts are distractions that
increase frustration and impatience with learning.

Chapters 3 and 4 of The 2,000 Percent Solution
Workbook are designed to help learners consider
these helpful factors for selecting a problem to solve.
Be sure that your learner thoughtfully answers the
questions in those chapters of the workbook and shares
the answers with you. Ask for incorrect, incomplete, or
inadequate answers to be revised until the learner
seems to be on the right track. Be encouraging as you
do this. It’s easy for a learner to become so frustrated
while identifying which solution to create that she or he
may think about quitting before even really starting.

Always Encourage the Learner

Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah
spoke to him, saying,

“Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord
encourage the king. Please, let your word be like the
word of one of them, and speak encouragement.”

And Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives,
whatever the LORD says to me, that I will speak.”

— 1 Kings 22:13-14 (NKJV)

I have read an awful lot of bad advice about how to help
people improve. Some of that bad advice is to say two
positive things for every negative one. Other “experts”
advise putting the positive comments first before
making negative ones.

Forget all that advice! It doesn’t work well in creating
2,000 percent solutions. I say that you should instead
give only positive comments with a huge smile on your
face.

Many people would like to do that but don’t know how.
Let me make some suggestions to help.

First, write down every positive thing you can think of
about what the learner did. It doesn’t matter what those
things are. Make the list of what you may be able to
praise.

Second, write down where you want the learner to
improve.

Third, consider the simplest ways that the learner can
make those improvements.

Fourth, carefully write and rewrite a formal reaction to
the work in the following format:

• Describe your happiness in being able to work with
the learner on a 2,000 percent solution.
• Express pleasure in hearing from the learner.
• Explain that you are delighted to receive the work.
• Thank the learner for doing the work.
• Boldly state how pleased you are with the person’s
progress.

• Describe all the things you like about what has been
done, beginning with the highest praise and working
down to the least praiseworthy items from the
learner’s perspective.
• Gently mention that you see some “opportunities for
improvement” to build on the learner’s successes.
• Describe each of those opportunities and the easiest
way to accomplish the optimal results in as much detail
as you need. Give specific examples of what a good
improvement looks like.
• Express your complete confidence that the
improvements will soon be achieved.
• Mention that you are looking forward to any other
improvements the learner would like to make.

• Offer to answer any questions the learner has.
• Offer to review any reworks of the assignment that
the learner wants to provide, to ensure that there is
mutual understanding.
• Describe how much you are looking forward to seeing
these improvements.
• Connect the improvements back to the learner’s goals
and explain how much closer the learner will be to those
goals after developing the improvement opportunities.
• Relate that you are excited about the outlook for a
successful completion of a fine 2,000 percent solution.

Why do I advise this detailed, positive approach? It’s
because such a communication captures my honest
feelings about what has been and will be accomplished.
The learner has taken up the challenge to do something
truly astonishing, a challenge that daunts most people
so that they never become much more fruitful in the
ways that God intended. The learner has also taken
positive steps towards achieving that goal. If the
learner remains faithful by doing the remaining work,
the learner will succeed. My joy will be boundless when
that occurs.

How could I not express enthusiasm about every sign of
progress and opportunity to share ways to improve?

Having created a written explanation that follows this
outline, it becomes easy to provide smiling, happy
feedback that captures the essence of the encouraging
message. Then, give the learner a copy of what you’ve
written. Wait patiently while the learner reads what
you’ve written and absorbs what you’ve said and
written. Stay with the learner as long as he or she would
like to talk. End the discussion on as positive a note as
you can. Finally, thank God for giving you a faithful
learner who wants to serve Him.

In the next lessons, I continue to spell out how to create
many more benefits by building on your first 2,000
percent solution and your first experience with teaching
a learner to do the same. Before leaving this lesson, be
sure to take note of which methods described here will
help encourage you to advance in your knowledge of
and experience in teaching others to create 2,000
percent solutions.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Nine: Personally Create More 2,000 Percent Solutions

2010-09-21T14:33:00.002-04:00

Apply the 2,000 percent solution process
to one additional important activity each year
that the Holy Spirit leads you to improve.

For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came
and testified of the truth that is in you,
just as you walk in the truth.

— 3 John 1:3 (NKJV)

Many people rejoice by creating and implementing their
first 2,000 percent solution. I rejoice with them. I would
also like to offer a caution: Their success may become
counterproductive if they become distracted from
continuing to develop their 2,000 percent solution
skills by creating other solutions in that and other
activities. Perhaps the reduced pressure to accomplish
more once the initial challenge is over gets them to
thinking about how they can now enjoy life. Maybe
the rewards of their success open up new ways of
having fun. It’s even possible that having been
successful with their 2,000 percent solution leads more
people to seek their advice or to a promotion or to new
responsibilities at work, requiring a lot of time and effort
to develop new skills and knowledge.

As time passes following the first solution, knowledge of
the 2,000 percent solution process begins to fade. Then
2,000 percent solution creators may begin to doubt their
ability to repeat the success. They may also be reluctant
to work on another 2,000 percent solution for fear of
losing some of the reputation and praise for having
created the first one. Old stalls may return to hamper
them and the organization.

One reason that I directed you in Lesson Eight to teach
someone else to create a 2,000 percent solution is to
help you stay focused on developing your own
expertise. (That’s nicely parallel to the way that
witnessing about your faith to unsaved people helps you
focus more on God.) In this lesson, let’s look at
additional ways that you can avoid being distracted
from and losing knowledge and confidence about
developing and implementing 2,000 percent solutions.

Stretch Yourself with a New Challenge in a
Different Activity
That the Holy Spirit Leads You To

What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.

— Job 22:28 (NIV)

Everyone I know who works on creating 2,000 percent
solutions underestimates his or her ability. While I
realize that you have seen hundreds of examples of
perfect individual and group efforts that can be
successfully applied to any problem you like, you don’t
yet appreciate that this knowledge opens the door to
success in virtually all improvement activities.

Many parents and coaches tell youngsters that they
can accomplish anything they set their minds to
achieving. I believe that affirming statement is made
literally true through relying on God’s direction
through the Holy Spirit and applying the 2,000 percent
solution process.

If you knew you could not fail, what would you improve
by twenty times? That’s the question you should answer
for yourself now. Be open to working on a problem in
activities and arenas where you lack expertise and
credibility. As you expand the scope of what you
improve, you’ll find that the process you are mastering
is virtually universal in its applicability. Stop relying on
the way things are done now and start making them
the best they can be.

Let me provide a list of possibilities for you to consider.
My purpose is to encourage your imagination and to
inspire you to identify worthwhile problems to solve
rather than to specifically direct you to work on these
particular tasks.

• Reduce your work week by 96 percent while
accomplishing just as much.
• Help a family member successfully employ 2,000
percent living with only 4 percent of the time and effort
that you put into learning and following the fourteen
lessons.
• Increase the effectiveness of your Christian witnessing
by twenty times.
• Learn a new activity in only 4 percent of the time and
effort that you usually put into learning and applying
something new.
• Increase by twenty times the effectiveness of a charity
or nonprofit organization that you favor.
• Start a new business or nonprofit organization with
one-twentieth the usual amount of investment.
• Develop a way to teach people how to create 2,000
percent solutions in only 4 percent of the usual amount
of time.
• Create a 2,000 percent solution for speeding the
worldwide rate by which people choose to accept
Salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Establish a 2,000 percent solution for some
substantial social problem, such as reducing slavery,
eliminating starvation and malnutrition, providing
clean water, cleaning up pollution, healing common
diseases, and helping people so they can take better
care of themselves.

Schedule Your Time
so That You Can Develop at Least
One New 2,000 Percent Solution Annually

Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.

— Isaiah 43:19 (NKJV)

When you implemented Lesson Four, you made
available twenty times more of your precious waking
hours to accomplish your most important goals. Now is
a good time to revisit those time allocations to see if
they remain adequate for allowing you to create at least
one new 2,000 percent solution annually. If you are not
careful, new demands on your most productive time will
take away the precious hours you need for creating
additional 2,000 percent solutions. Be careful to notice
whenever new time demands are at odds with your
goals. This review will serve another useful purpose by
reminding you to develop 2,000 percent solutions that
further your goals. You don’t want to develop problem-
solving talent at the expense of making faster progress
toward the goals you have.

You can also increase your capacity for making 2,000
percent solutions by involving others. The people you
teach how to create their own 2,000 percent solutions
can be valuable helpers. One of the most valuable
sources of help will be teams of people who can be
implementers of any 2,000 percent solution that you
help to create.

Notice that planning to create 2,000 percent solutions
annually increases the value of identifying, teaching, and
encouraging such helpers. Be sure to consider people
outside of your circle of family, friends, and coworkers
who can help you.

I recommend that you establish an annual schedule for
developing your new 2,000 percent solutions. The
schedule might include elements such as when to:

• Start picking a new solution to work on
• Finish identifying the solution goal
• Recruit a team of helpers to assist you
• Complete identifying stalls
• Finalize stallbusters
• Identify the future best practice
• Describe the ideal best practice
• Complete selection of the right people and decide how
to provide them with the right encouragement
• Start implementation
• Complete implementation

Through the experience you gain in creating more 2,000
percent solutions, your skill, confidence, and productivity
will grow so that you can use 2,000 percent solutions to
achieve breakthrough results that go far beyond what
you could envision when you started reading the book.
In the remaining lessons, I describe how to provide
exponentially more benefits through the 2,000 percent
solutions you will be creating each year.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Ten: Improve 2,000 Percent Solutions Again and Again

2010-09-18T16:40:00.002-04:00

Repeat the 2,000 percent solution process
annually to enhance benefits
from the solutions you developed
by twenty or more times.

Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, ….

— Jeremiah 31:4 (NKJV)

A common mistake of 2,000 percent solution creators is
to move on from the solution they have developed and
never improve it. If that first area is the most important
one for accomplishing their goals, such a diversion of
attention can be a very costly missed opportunity.

This point is so important that the eight-step 2,000
percent solution process culminates in the instruction to
repeat the first seven steps.

You probably don’t even have to wait very long before
starting to improve: One of my students was able to
create a second 2,000 percent solution for the same
problem within just a few weeks of completing the first
solution, expanding total benefits by more than 400
times.

I fear that many people forget or ignore that eighth step.
In so doing, people are denying themselves a
tremendous amount of benefits and satisfaction. Let me
provide some examples to demonstrate how valuable
repetitions of the first seven steps are for a given
problem.

Imagine that your first 2,000 percent solution was to
expand sales volume for a business by twenty times
while using the same amount of time, money, and effort
that you have been employing. We’ll assume that this
business was selling $100,000 in annual volume. After
implementing the 2,000 percent solution, business
volume expanded to $2,100,000.

While that sounds exciting, those who care about profits
will be even more thrilled. Since volume expanded
without any additional marketing costs, profits grew by
a lot more than twenty times. If we assume that pre-tax
profits had been $5,000 and marketing expenses had
been $10,000, the volume expansion caused profits to
grow from $5,000 to $305,000, an increase of sixty
times.

As you read this example, I can imagine that you are
beginning to think that perhaps you should begin work on
a solution to expand sales volume for a business. Hold that
thought for now while we look further into the importance
of repeating the initial seven steps of the 2,000 percent
solution process.

As a result of the first repeated 2,000 percent solution,
sales volume grew from $2,100,000 to $44,100,000 (an
increase of $42,000,000 compared to an increase of
$2,000,000 for the first solution). For those who prefer
profits to revenue, profits increased from $305,000 to
$6,605,000 (an increase of $6,300,000 compared to
an increase of $300,000 for the first solution).

But don’t stop there. Let’s look at the sales growth from
a third 2,000 percent solution. In this case, sales
volume grew from $44,100,000 to $926,100,000 (an
increase of $882,000,000 compared to an increase of
$42,000,000 for the first repetition). The profit increase
is from $6,605,000 to $138,905,000 (a much larger
increase of $132,300,000 compared to a gain of
$6,300,000 for the first repetition).

Are you ready to measure the benefits from a third
repetition? Sure you are! This time sales volume
expanded from $926,100,000 to $19,448,100,000 (an
increase of $18,522,000,000 compared to an increase of
$6,300,000 for the third solution). Profits grew from
$138,905,000 to $2,917,205,000 (an increase of
$2,778,300,000 from the third solution).

Money may not impress you as much as it does some
people. Let’s look at a parallel example spelled out in
human terms. Imagine a charity that provides for
orphans. Let’s assume that the charity is initially serving
ten orphans. Now let’s assume that the first 2,000
percent solution is aimed at increasing the number of
orphans served with the same quality of care while
applying the same amount of time, money, and effort.
As a result, the charity’s services expanded from
serving ten orphans to serving 210 orphans.

Now, let’s repeat the 2,000 percent solution process.
With the first repetition, the number of orphans served
climbed to 4,410. There are a lot of orphans in the world.
Let’s do a second repetition of the 2,000 percent solution
process. Now, the number of orphans being helped grew
to 92,610. That feels great, doesn’t it?

Let’s repeat the process again. This time, 1,944,810
orphans received aid. With a few more repetitions, every
orphan in the world can be helped. Wouldn’t that result
justify repeating the process a few more times?

You may wonder if these two examples demonstrate
anything other than how to multiply by twenty. As a
counterpoint to that thought, realize that most things
become easier with practice. Why should creating 2,000
percent solutions for the same problem be any
different? The next section provides an example of that
point.

Multiple 2,000 Percent Solutions Spread
a Book’s Message

But they sent me this message four times,
and I answered them in the same manner.

— Nehemiah 6:4 (NKJV)

Since many people don’t believe that any 2,000 percent
solutions are possible, why would they believe that
repeated 2,000 percent solutions can be achieved? Well,
seeing is believing for at least some doubters.

To provide some evidence, I repeat here and expand on
an example from The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution
(Mitchell and Company Press, 2007) involving
inexpensively attracting more readers to books produced
by the 400 Year Project.

In 1998, a best-selling author friend told us that it was
important for attracting readers to distribute tens of
thousands of free copies of business books either just
before the book is published or right after publication.
Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence
(reissue edition, Warner Books, 1988), tells the same
story about one aspect of how that book became a best-
selling blockbuster.

When The 2,000 Percent Solution was being written,
my coauthors and I heeded that advice. Before
publication, we sent out thousands of draft copies for
advance reading. After publication, we sent out
thousands more free copies of the completed book to
influential readers. In addition, we created a Web site
for the book and put all but two chapters online there for
free reader access. The cost to do this sampling was over
$40,000. We estimate that these activities have directly
yielded 20,000 people who have read some part of that
book.

That means our cost per reader for just this activity was
about $2.00. Since royalties from a traditional publisher
on books like ours are usually around $2.00, this was a
money-losing proposition unless this distribution yielded
sales of at least 20,000 additional books. In the case of
our friend, this expense was no concern because his
company had paid for this sampling. Our costs, however,
came out of our personal pockets. We needed to do
better.

For The Ultimate Competitive Advantage (Berrett-
Koehler, 2003), Carol Coles and I decided to create a
2,000 percent squared solution (the equivalent of
creating a 2,000 percent solution and later adding a
second 2,000 percent solution, a combined improvement
of 400 times) for increasing the number of readers and
reducing the cost of doing so.

For that book, we only provided free advance copies to
those who helped us create the book. Our cost for those
copies was about $1,200.

We then wrote brief articles based on the book and
arranged to have them published in prestigious journals
and magazines such as Leader to Leader, Chief Learning
Officer, and The Journal of Business Strategy. We next
condensed the articles and turned them into brief guides
that Amazon.com publishes for free. In the first two
years, we estimate that over 30,000 people read some
part of that book through these efforts. We estimate that
total readership through this approach will swell to
100,000 people by the time The Ultimate Competitive
Advantage has been in print as long as The 2,000
Percent Solution has been. If that occurs, we will have
produced 100,000 readers at a cost of $1,200. That
means our cost per reader will be $0.012. The first
book’s campaign cost us 166 times as much per reader
as what the latter campaign did, and we will actually
draw more readers with the new, less expensive effort.
These estimated results will provide us with a 66,000
percent solution compared to our first approach (16,500
percent lower cost per reader multiplied by 400 percent
more readers).

You might wonder why we didn’t do these things for
The 2,000 Percent Solution. First, we didn’t realize how
costly the promotional effort would be on a per-reader
basis until we saw the results. Second, the first book
didn’t lend itself to being published in journals and
magazines. Third, the Amazon.com guide program did
not yet exist.

For a forthcoming book I am developing, that sampling
solution has been further enhanced. The prelaunch will
involve a daily blog in which the material will be tested
for reader reaction. I estimate that more than 200,000
people will have read some part of the book through the
blog before the book is published, and the cost is only
the electricity to post the blog entries. I will also reuse
the Amazon.com guide feature that worked well for
The Ultimate Competitive Advantage to add another
100,000 readers at limited cost. Book publicity will
probably draw another few hundred thousand people to
the blog samples. I also plan to send millions of free
excerpts by email to people who subscribe to various
complementary online newsletters. I should be able to
increase the number of advance readers by several
hundred more percent. Since I carry advertising on the
blog, I have a revenue offset to the costs. If enough clicks
occur from the blog to advertisers’ sites, this sampling
program may well turn out to be free. Clearly, I should
be able to attract over 2,100,000 advance readers at
less cost than with The Ultimate Competitive
Advantage. As you can see, repeating such a process on
the same or a similar problem can be profoundly
valuable in making further improvements.

Again, why didn’t I use these methods for The Ultimate
Competitive Advantage? First, blogging hadn’t become
popular and I didn’t yet have the large online reader
following that I do now through my Amazon.com book
reviews. Second, because journalists are more
interested in my writing now than before, advance
publicity works better. Third, authors and owners of
large subscriber lists are more eager to permit me
access to their readers than previously. Fourth, the
readership of my blogs had to grow enough to create a
large advertising revenue source to offset any remaining
costs.

Since developing that plan, I have realized that some of
the future books about the project can be adapted so that
sponsors would benefit from distributing excerpts or even
entire books to their customers and other stakeholders as
gifts. Sponsors would pay for the right to do this.

Assuming that the book’s appeal is to consumers, such
sponsors could extend the reach of the book to over fifty
million people who would read some of the book. Even if I
never sell a single copy of the book to a bookstore or
individual, the launch would be highly profitable.

Why didn’t I work with sponsors earlier? This solution is
primarily available for books conceived to be distributed
in this way. My earlier books were designed to maximize
the content, not the distribution. I realize now that more
readers can be attracted by combining the two
approaches.

If I later repeat the 2,000 percent solution process again
by arranging for advance translations of each book that is
suitable for such broadscale reading, these sponsorships
can make the book available to those who don’t read
English well but can read another major language well.
Extending sponsorships in this way could increase
advance distribution to well over a billion people and
provide an even larger profit.

Why didn’t I provide for advance translations earlier?
It’s very expensive to hire people to translate books,
and many such translations aren’t very well done. I now
have a number of highly knowledgeable former students
and clients who are willing to translate my books for
free as a labor of love or in a partnership to share the
royalties on a contingent-fee basis. I expect that I will
have enough such supporters to allow future books to
benefit from many translations into major languages
before publication.

As you can see, each 2,000 percent solution opens up
new possibilities for better solutions to the same problem
through repeating the eight-step process. Also, new
opportunities arise after time passes that weren’t
available earlier. By repeating the 2,000 percent solution
process, you can take advantage of both advantages.

Reductions Can Lead to Geometric Expansions

Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like?
And to what shall I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed,
which a man took and put in his garden;
and it grew and became a large tree,
and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

— Luke 13:18-19 (NKJV)

Some people may mistakenly believe that repetitions of
the 2,000 percent solution process will lead to smaller,
not larger, benefit gains. Believing that, some will feel
justified in not repeating the process. I certainly endorse
not repeating the process where the benefits won’t be
worth the time, money, and effort that you put into
them. Let me caution you that while decreasing benefits
may appear to be the case when you look only at direct,
first-order effects, the total effects will usually be just
the opposite.

To demonstrate how decreasing benefits can lead to
geometric gains, let’s consider a cost-reduction example.
Let’s assume that we are eliminating costs to supply some
service provided by either a nonprofit organization or a
for-profit company. If the costs begin at $10,000 a year,
a 2,000 percent solution will take those costs down to
$400 a year (96 percent of the prior level). A repeated
2,000 percent solution reduces the annual costs to $16.
A second repeated 2,000 percent solution leaves annual
costs of $0.64 and so on.

Now, those direct results clearly show that the cost-
reduction benefits decline with each solution. The first
solution saved $9,600, while the second solution removed
only $384 in costs, and the third solution took away
$15.36.

However, if the activity from which costs are being
eliminated is one that limits the organization’s overall
success in other activities that the organization would
like to do more of, the benefit picture may look a lot
different from the absolute size of the cost reductions.
Let’s assume instead that this cost is to obtain donations
for a nonprofit organization or to attract new customers
for a for-profit company. I’m sure that you agree that
such costs can never become too low.

To grow faster, some of the money saved may be used
by the leader to increase spending for that activity.
Clearly, the organization can simply keep the same level
of absolute spending and grow twenty times faster.
When that happens, the revenue and profit benefit
effects are similar to the first example in this lesson that
addresses the benefits of organizational growth.

With a big cost reduction, it may be the case that each
repetition of the 2,000 percent solution process allows
the organization to afford a twenty times increase in
absolute spending amounts. When that occurs, the
benefits increase at the same rate as a 40,000 percent
solution rather than a 2,000 percent solution.

When, then, will decreasing amounts of reduced costs
not increase benefits exponentially through repetitions
of the process? That limitation happens only when there’s
no reason to expand the level of this activity or some
other activity to gain some other benefit.

There’s also a fallacy in looking only at reducing costs:
That approach assumes that zero cost is the best level
that anyone can reach.

As you can see from the book promotion example in the
preceding section, many activities that normally have a
cost associated with them can be turned into a source of
profits by creating a new revenue stream. In this
context, problem solvers can instead focus on creating
multiples of positive benefits (such as profits) in addition
to taking costs to near zero.

While it is beyond the scope of this book to further
explore this point about turning costs into profits, I can
share with you that research by The Billionaire
Entrepreneurs’ Master Mind (for which I serve as the
coordinator and head researcher) has established
hundreds of ways that activities which incur costs and
require investments for most organizations can be
turned instead into sources of profit exceeding all costs.
Future business models for nonprofit organizations and
for-profit companies alike will probably feature such
highly beneficial approaches for turning cost centers into
profit centers during repeated 2,000 percent solutions.

Repeated 2,000 Percent Solutions
Can Be Done More Rapidly

So they went out quickly from the tomb
with fear and great joy,
and ran to bring His disciples word.

— Matthew 28:8 (NKJV)

If you are a runner, you know that through daily practice
you gain conditioning so that you can run farther at a
higher speed. If you like to solve crossword puzzles, you
know that the more of them you solve that are edited by
the same person, the faster and more accurately you
can solve the puzzles. As you learned from Lesson Five,
the right kind of reading practice can also increase your
speed and understanding.

Creating 2,000 percent solutions provides the opportunity
to follow a similar improvement path. You should expect
that each time you work on a 2,000 percent solution for
the same activity, the amount of time involved should
decline by anywhere from 10 to 20 percent. If you also
work on a large number of 2,000 percent solutions, you
will see that these accumulated experiences further
improve your speed. In addition, if you work on a 2,000
percent solution for an activity that’s similar to one
you’ve already read about or created a 2,000 percent
solution for, you will see an additional improvement in your
productivity to further reduce the time required.

In some cases, you may also engage people you want to teach
the process to for help in creating the repeated solution. In
this kind of assisted problem-solving, your total time
involvement may be quite small even when you are still
relatively inexperienced in the 2,000 percent solution
process.

How fast can a 2,000 percent solution be created? I don’t
think we know yet, but it’s probably quite fast. I almost
certainly have more experience in this activity than
anyone else at this time. In some of my classes, I’ve been
able to identify a 2,000 percent solution in as little as a
few seconds’ thought and then to explain the solution in
less than fifteen minutes to someone else in enough detail
so that the other person could implement the solution.
I’m sure that such rapidly developed solutions are made
possible by inspired guidance from the Holy Spirit and
thousands of hours working on 2,000 percent solutions,
as well as by a deepened appreciation of the universal
principles that are present in ideal best practices.

With experience you will find that repeating the 2,000
percent solution process annually for the same problems
won’t take up too much of your time. Realize, too, that
each repetition will flood you with exponentially added
resources that can be applied to developing new solutions
that will further reduce how much time you need to
spend on each repetition.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Eleven: Use Complementary Solutions to Multiply Exponential Benefits

2010-09-17T15:31:00.003-04:00

Link together at least seven
complementary 2,000 percent solutions
to create multiplied, exponential Godly results.

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower,
and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed
you have sown and increase the fruits of your
righteousness, while you are enriched in everything
for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us
to God.

— 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 (NKJV)

In Lesson Ten, I showed how one 2,000 percent solution
can lead to increased benefits in more than one area, such
as when cost reductions provide funds that are used to
increase spending on highly productive marketing
activities so that substantial growth and more cost
reductions follow. Now that you realize that you can
produce many 2,000 percent solutions and successfully
repeat the solution process annually for each application,
I want you to appreciate that with complementary
solutions you can eventually multiply the benefits you
create by many billions of times over your lifetime by
gradually adding complementary benefits until they
total thousands, then tens of thousands, next hundreds
of thousands, subsequently millions, and ultimately
billions of times. The exponential increases occur simply
because your results are enhanced by several other
2,000 percent solutions every time that you add one
more complementary solution.

This is an important point: Creating lots of
complementary 2,000 percent solutions is the biggest
productivity breakthrough that anyone can achieve.
Complementary solutions also save you time, money,
and effort by greatly decreasing the number of solutions
needed to achieve any desired level of increased
effectiveness. Here’s an overview of how benefits from
complementary 2,000 percent solutions multiply
exponentially compared to arithmetic increases from
2,000 percent solutions that aren’t complementary:

• Two independent 2,000 percent solutions deliver a
40 times improvement.
• Two complementary 2,000 percent solutions produce
a 400 times improvement.

• Three independent 2,000 percent solutions provide a
60 times improvement.
• Three complementary 2,000 percent solutions supply
an 8,000 times improvement.

• Four independent 2,000 percent solutions fashion an
80 times improvement.
• Four complementary 2,000 percent solutions create
a 160,000 times improvement.

• Five independent 2,000 percent solutions build a
100 times improvement.
• Five complementary 2,000 percent solutions forge a
3,200,000 times improvement.

• Six independent 2,000 percent solutions establish a
120 times improvement.
• Six complementary 2,000 percent solutions secure a
64,000,000 times improvement.

• Seven independent 2,000 percent solutions accomplish
a 140 times improvement.
• Seven complementary 2,000 percent solutions conclude
with a 1,280,000,000 times improvement.

• One repeated 2,000 percent solution for any of seven
independent 2,000 percent solution areas enhances total
benefits to a 520 times improvement.
• One repeated 2,000 percent solution for any of seven
complementary 2,000 percent solution areas expands
total benefits to a 25,600,000,000 times improvement.

By the time you have created one round of improved
solutions for all seven complementary 2,000 percent
solution areas, the size of the total benefits will stagger
your mind and provide never-before-seen quantities of
benefits. With normal diligence you should be able to
implement your solutions and achieve that amazing
accomplishment within ten years. I’m sure you agree
with me that complementary solutions are the way to go.

If all this sounds impossible to you, please reread the
Introduction where I describe Dr. Ramulu’s work in his
home village of Kasimpet, India. In that project, his team
defined and successfully implemented five
complementary 2,000 percent solutions (increased
incomes, decreased debt, reduced interest costs, higher
net worth, and a source for vastly expanding continuing
education) in less than a year. Their program contains a
method for continuing growth of 2,000 percent solution
learning to be applied to other people in the village and
surrounding villages in the future that will deliver a sixth
complementary 2,000 percent solution when
implemented. If at least twenty other villages in other
parts of India copy what Kasimpet did, that will be a
seventh complementary 2,000 percent solution. This
copying is likely because the Kasimpet cooperative’s
success has attracted a lot of attention and Dr. Ramulu
has established a Web site that explains his methods so
that others can duplicate them. All of these
complementary solutions could be in place within the
first two years of the project. I would be astonished if
they were not in place within five years.

Multiplied benefits from complementary 2,000 percent
solutions are described in much more detail in Chapters
10 and 11 of Adventures of an Optimist and in The
2,000 Percent Squared Solution. Rather than repeat
here what I wrote in those books, let me add some new
information to help you choose the right complementary
solutions to gain the greatest multiplied benefits from all
your 2,000 percent solutions.

Complementary Personal 2,000 Percent Solutions

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

— Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

The best complementary personal improvements for you
to work on may not be the right ones for someone else.
Unlike the fourteen lessons described in this book that
apply to everyone, I cannot presume to direct you to
work on all of the complementary personal
improvement areas. Instead, you should identify and
work on the areas from this list where the
improvements will be most valuable for accomplishing
your most important goals:

• Overcome sinful desires that draw you away from God
• Move closer to God so you obtain more direction from
His Holy Spirit
• Expand your perception of how much you can ask God
to do in the name of Jesus for accomplishing His purposes
• Gain peace about circumstances that bother you
• Eliminate ongoing problems that require a lot of your
time and attention

• Love people more
• Forgive others more quickly and completely
• Be a better example of Christ-like living
• Help others gain Salvation
• Encourage new believers to learn more about the Bible
and to help others gain Salvation

• Exercise more
• Eat healthier food in appropriate quantities
• Eliminate harmful habits that undermine your health
• Remove dangerous pollution from your surroundings
• Follow practices that help you avoid accidents

• Upgrade relations with your family and friends
• Communicate better with colleagues
• Be a better neighbor
• Serve those who need your help
• Show kindness to other drivers, pedestrians, and
your passengers while driving

• Learn new skills and gain knowledge that help you be
more productive
• Acquire physical resources that enable you to be much
more effective
• Find employment that advances the accomplishment
of your goals
• Gain the attention of many more people who can help
you to achieve your goals
• Attract highly talented volunteers to help you

• Teach others to do what you do
• Persuade those you teach to help others learn and
continually repeat the teaching cycle with others
• Add financial resources to implement your goals
• Increase productivity of the work you do that cannot
be delegated to others
• Acquire more ownership of the benefits that your work
produces

• Improve your creativity
• More successfully invest your financial assets
• Develop a new, constructive pastime that serves others
• Establish a foundation to work on accomplishing your
goals after you die
• Leave financial resources for the spiritual
development, improved education, and increased
health of future generations

These improvement areas are complementary to one
another because they create greater effectiveness, more
resources, and enhanced accomplishments that build on
one another. If you choose to work on the opportunity
areas where you have the most room to improve, the
size of the complementary effects will be enhanced by
making improvements that exceed 2,000 percent in a
particular opportunity area.

Many people will have difficulties in identifying
measurements of current effectiveness and improvement
targets for these personal solution areas. Let me provide
a few examples of measures for personal improvement
for areas that don’t seem very quantitative to help you
better appreciate how to measure performance.

Let’s begin by quantifying the effects you are creating
now through following directions received from the Holy
Spirit as a result of having drawn closer to God. Here’s
one possible approach: Start a journal of what directions
you receive each day from the Holy Spirit and later spell
out the effects you can observe from your obedience to
the directions. The Holy Spirit is always speaking to each
of us.

Unfortunately, we usually don’t listen because we are
totally distracted by worldly things. Those who aren’t
very close to Him may notice His messages only once or
twice a month. Through spending more time reading the
Bible, thanking God for His help, praising God for what
He has done, praying for added guidance, and listening
to Christian music, your ability to hear the Holy Spirit
will increase. A possible goal could be to receive and
understand messages from the Holy Spirit twenty times
more frequently with combined benefits that are
similarly greater.

An improvement area that may seem even harder to
measure than drawing closer to God is being a better
example of Christ-like living.

Here are two possible approaches for measuring
performance and improvement in being such a better
example:

1. Start by speaking with your pastor, or a Christian
brother or sister, and reviewing the Bible to define
actions that are good and bad examples of Christ-like
living. Since Jesus cares about the purity of your heart,
not the works you do without a clean heart, be sure to
pray for God to encourage you to cleanse your heart in
the ways that He cares most about. Then, keep track
of how well your thoughts and actions avoid what is not
Christlike and how often you desire and perform what
is Christ-like.

After understanding how you are doing now,
occasionally measure in the future how you are doing in
thoughts and actions to learn and rejoice about how much
improvement He has led you to make in your heart so
you are serving as a better example of Christ-like living.

2. Ask people who spend the most time with you to rate
how well your demeanor, words, and actions serve as an
example of Christ-like living. You could ask them to tell
you in what areas you need the most improvement.
After praying for and gaining His added support, you
could occasionally ask the same people if you have done
better and in what ways you still need to do more to
improve.

In upgrading relations with family members and friends,
you could use measurement approaches similar to the
ones I suggested for identifying how good an example of
Christ-like living you are providing. The external
measurements might include factors such as how many
times people smile when they first see you, what kinds
of unprompted positive things people say about you, and
how often harsh words are exchanged with you. Surveys
of family and friends could also provide their
perspectives of how well their relationships with you are
working and how those relationships could be improved.

As you look for measures, it’s most helpful to measure
what will enhance accomplishing your goals. For
instance, if one of your goals is to help lead more people
to gain Salvation, your improvements in being an example
of Christ-like living should be oriented to drawing
unbelievers to talk to you and attracting their interest in
discussing and learning about Salvation.

Complementary
Organizational 2,000 Percent Solutions

You have increased the nation, O LORD,
You have increased the nation;
You are glorified;
You have expanded all the borders of the land.

— Isaiah 26:15 (NKJV)

You should place priority on creating benefits through
organizational 2,000 percent solutions because so many
more people are usually affected by an organization than
by an individual. In evaluating complementary
opportunities for organizational 2,000 percent solutions,
I think of churches, businesses, nonprofit organizations,
voluntary associations, and governments as being more
similar than different. As a result I discuss all these
types of organizations simultaneously in this section in
hopes that this broad perspective will enable you to
apply what you learn to more organizations.

A good starting place for developing complementary
organizational 2,000 percent solutions is to expand the
size of the organization by twenty times while using the
same time, money, and effort. For a church, growth
might mean helping more people gain Salvation who
honor God with their lives. For a business, growth
might mean adding more sales (or revenues). For a
nonprofit organization, expansion might mean adding
more beneficiaries. For a voluntary association,
becoming larger is a function of adding more members.
For a government, the increase might be defined in
terms of how many citizens are served by a highly
beneficial government activity.

As you can imagine, the methods used to establish such
enlargements are quite different from one type of
organization to another. A church might place more
emphasis on encouraging witnessing. A business might
improve its offerings and marketing. A nonprofit
organization might employ an appeal by a popular
celebrity.

A voluntary association might ask members to suggest
the names and addresses of prospects. A government
might cooperate with other governments to establish a
new multi-governmental structure (such as occurred
when the Common Market and NATO were started). In
setting objectives for enlargement, it’s important to look
for ways to grow that add capability rather than reduce
effectiveness.

All organizations have costs that can be measured in
terms of the time, money, effort, and resources that are
applied to accomplish the organizations’ purposes. If you
reduce the amount of time, money, effort, and resources
applied to achieve those purposes, you can free
resources to serve more souls, customers, beneficiaries,
members, citizens, and other stakeholders and accomplish
more. Some organizations may find that it is better to
focus on reducing costs before growing because the
released resources will make it easier to attract more
people by activities such as sharing witnessing tools,
lowering prices, providing more appealing offerings and
activities, and making the benefits of involvement easier
to appreciate.

All organizations also have investment costs to pay for
long-lasting facilities and specialized equipment they
need to function. Some organizations also need to acquire
land and buildings. While it’s normal for accountants to
assign only a small portion of investment costs to the
current time, these resources often need to be paid for in
advance. When such large payments are made, these
expenses can deeply drain cash resources. Today there
are many alternatives to being investment intensive, such
as by outsourcing some investment-intensive activities to
other organizations and by renting or leasing what is
needed rather than owning the resources. By avoiding
such large cash expenditures, organizations will have
more money for improving their attractiveness,
increasing their size, and eliminating operating costs.

Almost every organization will need to make some
expensive investments, such as for equipment required
to operate. The cost of acquiring the money used for
those investments can be substantial. Reduce the cost of
funds used for investment by 96 percent, and it
becomes much more affordable to expand through
making the required investments. In for-profit
organizations, lowering the cost of investment funds has
the added benefit for owners of making the enterprise
much more valuable. Since these days some nonprofit
organizations (such as cooperative banks and mutual
insurance companies) and governmental entities (such
as airports, toll roads, and power plants) are becoming
for-profit entities, the increased value potential from
lower capital costs has significance more often.

Your organization also has many different kinds of
stakeholders, such as beneficiaries, citizens, end users,
customers, employees, partners, suppliers, distributors,
agents, investors, lenders, and the communities you
serve. When your solutions enhance benefits for all
these stakeholders by twenty times, the ability and
desire to cooperate with your organization can be vastly
increased. When that happens, the potential for creating
more complementary 2,000 percent solutions is
greatly enhanced.

Chances are good that other organizations would benefit
by copying your 2,000 percent solutions. When other
organizations employ your 2,000 percent solutions, the
benefit for God or for society can increase by twenty
times more than from just the effects of making your
organization’s changes. In many cases, you have no
reason to hide your solutions. To the contrary, sharing
the innovations may help stimulate the growth of
Salvation, your market, increase what stakeholders can
afford to do to support you and others, and enhance the
general welfare in ways that are too broad in scale and
too subtle to appreciate fully in advance.

Naturally, if your shareholders are obtaining a lot of
their ownership rewards from proprietary solutions that
are invisible to competitors, you won’t be able to share
those solutions as freely as many churches, nonprofit
organizations, governments, and voluntary associations
can. Before concluding that companies have to keep all
improvements quiet, realize that disclosing your
advances after a delay of a year or two may create a
new exponential benefit by requiring your organization
to make many more complementary solutions in the
future to maintain its competitive advantages.

An organization that is fully confident of its capacity to
create 2,000 percent solutions may also choose to work
on large, difficult social problems (such as how to
eliminate pollution from radioactive materials and from
discarded electronic components, and from harmful
items that do not degrade in landfills) that are not being
effectively addressed and resolved. When such an
expanded focus succeeds, the organization’s increased
scope and accomplishments can create even greater
multiplied benefits throughout society in ways too
numerous to identify and measure.

Ultimately, the Earth has one untapped resource that
can supply more improvements than any other: unsaved
people who aren’t educated, don’t have highly productive
activities to do, and lack resources needed to accomplish
more. When an organization finds highly effective ways for
these unengaged people to gain Salvation and to learn
helpful knowledge and skills and to apply what they
learn, the opportunities for complementary benefits can
be far beyond our ability to comprehend in advance.

Organizations can also make contributions to spiritual
development by activities such as making witnessing
easier to do, information about God more readily
available, and Salvation more appealing to unsaved
people. Parallel improvements can be made in how
easily and effectively the newly saved become more
like Christ. When such spiritual improvements occur,
God’s purposes will be understood and acted on by
many more people. From such spiritual developments,
the benefit gains can greatly surpass what normally
occurs from the 2,000 percent solution process through
the effects of supernatural interventions.

In addition, not all opportunities are created equal. A
well-directed organization may find opportunities where
the benefits from each solution can be expanded by much
more than 2,000 percent. When such larger increases
follow, the growth in benefits from complementary
solutions is much higher. As a result, improvements occur
sooner from fewer implemented solutions.

Beyond that, a wise leader will direct the greatest
frequency of repeating the 2,000 percent solution
process for the highest payoff areas.

Humanity can gain the most from 2,000 percent
solutions by making it easier for people to use the
solution process for the first time and every time after
that. Here is an opportunity for thoughtful leaders to
make a difference through investing in resources for
streamlining the tasks required for creating exponential
solutions and making those resources available for their
organizations, their stakeholders, other organizations,
and society. When such streamlining occurs, we should
thank God that we are finally using all the gifts and
talents that He has provided for us.

Linking together many complementary personal and
organizational 2,000 percent solutions presents us with
awe-inspiring opportunities to make huge differences for
God and for others just in the course of one life. Surely,
this is one of the many blessings that Jesus had in mind
when He promised that His followers would accomplish
even greater things than He did while on Earth by
sending the Holy Spirit to guide them. Imagine how
much more will be accomplished when multiple
generations of champion innovators continually repeat
the 2,000 percent solution process for the best existing
solutions and add still more complementary 2,000
percent solutions to them. Wow!

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Twelve: Cleanse Your Heart through Selfless Service in Creating 2,000 Percent Solutions

2010-09-15T20:53:00.003-04:00

Increase the benefits of what you do
by twenty times to assist some of
those who cannot help you.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

— Mark 10:45 (NKJV)

Lesson Eleven described how you can access virtually
unlimited benefits for yourself, your family, your friends,
your neighbors, your organizations, and your community
by creating complementary 2,000 percent solutions. How
will you feel after you have been enjoying those benefits
for a few years? Naturally, you should feel joy for what
God has enabled you to do for His people. Your faith in
Him and your confidence that you can repeat these
successes should also have increased. Many people will
also honor you for what you’ve accomplished. Here is
where great danger lies: You may become puffed up
with pride, a feeling that is harmful to your relationship
with God and your ability to enjoy 2,000 percent living.
God wants you to be humble so that you will follow His
ways.

As evidence of how we are supposed to live each day,
let’s consider how Jesus behaved after His great triumphs
in raising the dead, producing many other miracles,
healing lots of people, teaching that His followers would be
able to do even greater things than He did, and being
greeted by adoring crowds in Jerusalem. Just before being
arrested and sacrificing His life for our sins, here is what
He did at the Last Supper as described in John 13:3-17
(NKJV):

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into
His hands, and that He had come from God and was going
to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments,
took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured
water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet,
and to wipe them with the towel with which He was
girded.

Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him,
“Lord, are You washing my feet?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you
do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”

Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no
part with Me.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but
also my hands and my head!”

Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash
his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not
all of you.” For He knew who would betray Him; therefore
He said, “You are not all clean.”

So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments,
and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I
have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you
say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher,
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you
should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to
you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who
is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these
things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Here are some of the lessons I draw from that example for
what people engaged in 2,000 percent living should do:

• Jesus wants His work to be done by us through
continually following His example.
• We can serve as His hands and arms on Earth when we
help others as He did.
• We are to serve others in meek ways, the ways that
servants normally employ.
• We are not to think of ourselves as greater than others,
but as less than others so that we might gain more
opportunities to serve.
• Serving others meekly is good for us by keeping us
from being poisoned by pride.

• When we act humbly and provide benefits for others,
we are more effective witnesses through showing how
much He has changed us.
• Serving others meekly will help us grow in love for Him
and His people.
• We can encourage more loving relationships through
our example in providing service humbly.
• Serving without seeking personal gain provides more
opportunities to teach.
• Unexpected blessings await those who humbly serve.

Become a Better Problem Solver
by Creating Solutions
That Offer You No Direct Benefit

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners;
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

— James 4:8 (NKJV)

I also believe that following His example of humble
service will make us better creators of 2,000 percent
solutions by purifying our hearts. Most of us would do
more to help someone else for whom we feel compassion
and love than we would to do to help ourselves. If the
person needing help is someone who is very dependent
on us, we will feel called to keep helping until all is well
again. In the process we will feel spiritually uplifted by
what we have done and experience life as God intended.
Consider Christ’s directions as demonstrated by the
parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 (NKJV):

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him,
saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is
your reading of it?”

So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the LORD your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as
yourself.’”

And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this
and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who
is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves,
who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and
departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain
priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he
passed by on the other side.

Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came
and looked, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he
was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he
went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and
wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an
inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he
departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the
innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and
whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will
repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was
neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Let’s apply this parable to some day-to-day situations.
Everyone who drives or walks will be presented with
opportunities to notice drivers and pedestrians who need
help. Here are a few examples to remind you of what
you’ve seen before and questions about helpful actions
that could be taken:

• A car is waiting to turn right at a corner while traffic
zooms by in that direction. Will a driver stop to allow the
waiting car to turn?
• A person is waiting to cross the street at a crosswalk
while traffic races by in both directions. Will drivers in
both directions stop to allow the person to cross?
• A car is broken down by the side of the road. Will
someone stop to help?
• A person is carrying a heavy load down the sidewalk.
Will someone offer to carry part of the load or to drive
the person?
• An elderly person is having trouble parking in a
handicapped spot. Will someone stop traffic and provide
hand signals for the elderly person to make parking
easier?

• An unemployed person standing on the sidewalk asks
for a handout. Will you help that person with money,
advice on how to get a job, and prayers?
• A scruffy looking street person steps in front of your car
after you stop at a red light and begins to wash your
windshield inexpertly, making a mess. Will you smile,
thank the person, give the person money, and pray for
the person’s needs?
• A homeless person tells you he has just been turned
away by a full shelter. Will you take the person to
another shelter or to your home to sleep?
• You find someone passed out on the sidewalk. Will you
call an ambulance and assist the person until medical
help arrives?
• You are accosted by a drunken man who angrily
demands money for food. Will you take the person to a
restaurant or to your home and share a meal with him?

I’m guessing that at least some of these situations left
you feeling uncomfortable either in thinking about not
doing anything or in doing what needed to be done to
show compassion. Pray for God to help you understand
and improve your reactions so that you will follow His
glorious example.

Let’s now consider the questions an experienced 2,000
percent solution problem solver might ask about each of
these situations in seeking opportunities to improve after
providing appropriate immediate assistance:

• A car is waiting to turn at a corner while traffic zooms by
in the other direction. How could delays be minimized for
all drivers at little cost while making it easier, faster, and
safer for drivers wishing to turn onto busy streets from
side roads?
• A person is waiting to cross the street at a crosswalk
while traffic races by in both directions. How can
inexpensive devices be created that permit people to
cross safely whenever they want?
• A car is broken down by the side of the road. How can
all cars receive free expert emergency assistance within
a few minutes after having a breakdown?
• A person is carrying a heavy load down the sidewalk.
How can free assistance always be available for those
with loads to carry?
• An elderly person is having trouble parking in a
handicapped spot. How can cars be designed to park
themselves without costing a lot more?

• An unemployed person standing on the sidewalk asks
for a handout. How can people in need receive expert
counseling and assistance at no cost wherever they are?
• A scruffy looking street person steps in front of your car
after you stop at a red light and begins to wash your
windshield inexpertly, making a mess. How can street
people earn a living doing good deeds for other people?
• A homeless person tells you he has just been turned
away by a full shelter. How can the most attractive
shelter for homeless people become able to meet more
needs and using public transportation to go from one
shelter to another become easier and more pleasant?
• You find someone passed out on the sidewalk. How can
someone who feels faint or who faints attract medical
attention quickly and easily?
• You are accosted by a drunken man who angrily
demands money for food. How can those who abuse
alcohol receive the food, shelter, counsel, and
encouragement they need to overcome their
addictions?

The point I’m demonstrating with these questions is that
an experienced problem solver can easily go from being
someone who good heartedly helps someone in need to
also being someone who draws a lesson from that
experience and devises and helps implement solutions
for all those with a particular need. When permanent
problem solving occurs, you create opportunities for more
people to serve one another in loving ways and to help
more people feel loved and taken care of. In addition, your
own heart would feel lighter and cleaner, wouldn’t it?
Driven by your heartfelt desire to serve others, your
problem-solving skill will expand. I’m sure Jesus
approves of your commitment to making those
improvements.

Let Working on Difficult Problems for Others
Who Cannot Help Themselves
Continually Humble You

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another,
and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Resist him, steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same sufferings are experienced
by your brotherhood in the world.
But may the God of all grace,
who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after you have suffered a while,
perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

— 1 Peter 5:5-11 (NKJV)

To experience full 2,000 percent living, you need more
humility. One way to increase humility is by working on
solving seemingly impossible problems to help people
you care about. When our hearts draw us with a pure
desire to help others who cannot help themselves, we
realize that we need God’s help to find solutions.
Wanting that help, we are more diligent in seeking Him
and listening to and heeding His commands.

While you are seeking His help, let me give you some
practical suggestions that may lift your morale while you
tackle enormously difficult problems. In most cases, there
are ways to get started that will help reveal the path to
the ultimate solution, which may be three or four
repeated 2,000 percent solutions ahead of you.

Many seemingly impossible problems overwhelm us
because there are so many people to serve. When you
despair at dealing with all those who need help, realize
that you can usually make valuable progress by creating
small-scale demonstrations that others can duplicate.
That is what Dr. Ramulu did in his project for the village
of Kasimpet, India, the program that is described in the
Introduction. After you see how to create a small-scale
demonstration, you can then focus on new solutions to
increase the scale and to attract others to copy the
demonstration example.

Other problems seem insurmountable because the size
of the required resources seems beyond what is or could
become available. In such circumstances, you will almost
always be able to find ways to stretch resources if you
look carefully at how solutions can be designed that
engage those who need assistance to do as much as
possible for themselves. In most cases those who are
helped would prefer to have an increased role. Being in
need makes them feel vulnerable and hurts their self-
esteem. Giving them as big a role as they can handle
makes them feel encouraged and capable.

As another perspective, consider solving just a part of
the problem at first. It may be that 80 or 90 percent of
what you want to accomplish can be done with a simple
solution. Putting such a solution in place will provide
most of the benefits you can ever hope to provide. Often
the experience of introducing the simplest solution that
deals with most circumstances provides insights into
how to deliver solutions for the more difficult aspects of
what is needed.

Another helpful entry point is to look for where people
who can help are most eager to focus. By following that
route, you’ll have more people and resources to
investigate and develop possibilities.

I often find that the solution doesn’t develop as soon as I
would like. While I’m struggling and have no idea of how
to proceed, I keep praying for guidance from the Holy
Spirit. Eventually, the answers come flooding forward
into my mind at an amazing pace. All I have to do is
remain patient and faithful. Here are some Bible verses
to keep in mind to encourage you to wait with the
expectation of success:

My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be moved.

— Psalm 62:5-6 (NKJV)

So you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.

— Hosea 12:6 (NKJV)

Therefore I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.

— Micah 7:7 (NKJV)

But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

— Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
— Lamentations 3:25 (NKJV)

Wait on the LORD,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; ….

— Psalm 37:34 (NKJV)

If solutions don’t present themselves as rapidly as you
like, please realize that may be part of God’s way of
humbling you. Remain patient and take on even more
humbling tasks. When God finds you are ready to serve
Him in the ways He wishes and the time is right from
perspective, He will send you the answers you need!

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Thirteen: Connect Better with Other People

2010-09-11T15:35:00.003-04:00

A friend loves at all times,
And a brother is born for adversity.

— Proverbs 17:17 (NKJV)

Lesson Twelve describes how you can cleanse
your heart, become humbler, and receive
more of God’s directions by providing 2,000
percent solutions to the most difficult
problems affecting people who cannot help
themselves. In this lesson, I relate another
spiritually satisfying way to purify your heart,
to become humbler, and to receive more of
God’s directions: You need to approach all
those you come near with a heart filled with
fresh interest, warm gratitude, and a deep
desire to draw much closer to them.

When you approach each person with a
respectful, devoted servant’s heart as though
you were seeing and talking with God in
person, you will learn many things that God
wants you to know.

Aren’t you looking forward to finding out what
He has specially prepared just for you?
Anticipating soul-satisfying benefits from His
unexpected lessons makes a life in Christ
abundantly exciting and interesting to
anticipate and to experience.

Freshen Your Interest in All Those
You Haven’t Yet Met

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and mercy,
fulfill my joy by being like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition
or conceit,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
others better than himself.
Let each of you look out not only for his
own interests,
but also for the interests of others.

— Philippians 2:1-4 (NKJV)

Imagine that you are out walking and
unexpectedly see a celebrity you admire
sitting nearby. If the person is alone and
looks approachable, you will probably come
closer for a better look and you may even
say hello in hopes of starting a conversation.
Why would you either approach or speak to
the celebrity? It’s probably because you feel
irresistibly drawn to the person, much as
iron is attracted by a magnet.

Now imagine that you are walking someplace
else and see a poorly dressed person who is
not physically attractive. Even if the person is
alone and looks approachable, chances are that
you will simply pass by. At most, you might
smile. Why would you do so little? In this
case, it’s probably because nothing about the
person’s appearance attracts your interest.

Next, think about yourself. Does your
appearance perfectly reflect what you can do
to help others? If you are like me, you appear
to be a lot less helpful than you are. If that’s
the case, God has made you to be a surprise
gift to be unwrapped by those who
optimistically take the time to approach and
to become acquainted with you.

Let’s return to the circumstance of seeing a
celebrity you admire. Some people like to be
with celebrities because the experience
makes them feel more special and proud of
themselves. Such feelings pull you away from
the humility God wants for you.

In making this comparison of potential
reactions to two different people, my point
isn’t that you should never speak to
celebrities, but, rather, that you should
examine your reasons before doing so. For
instance, let’s assume the celebrity is (as many
are) very active in serving some important
need such as helping abused children. If your
interest and conversation focus on that work
and you only seek advice about how you can
help abused children, you can deepen your
appreciation for the plight of those who need
help and strengthen your humility through
becoming more determined to serve
selflessly.

Now, let’s take another look at the poorly
dressed person who is not physically
attractive. This time I want you to assume
that the person is higher in status than you
are, knows a lot more than you do, can do a
great deal to help you, and likes to help
people who approach humbly and offer to
be of service. Making these assumptions
about any person causes you to think and to
act as someone would who actually is lower
in social status than the other person and
who should always expect to serve that
person. After making those assumptions,
you would probably approach the poorly
dressed person who is not physically attractive
with an enthusiastic smile and an intention to
speak to, to learn from, and to help the person.

Have you ever met someone you expected to
learn from and yet you didn’t learn anything?
I haven’t. From those successful experiences,
I have discovered that merely reaching out for
help is enough to obtain important lessons. As
a result I believe that by seeking to learn
from everyone, you will.

Let’s look at the opportunity to learn from
others in another way. Did you ever wonder
why God made each of us to be so different?
Now think about the opposite circumstance:
Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?
God created those differences so we can
delight in one another through appreciating
and gaining benefits from our differences. He
also wants us to be drawn closer to one
another through needing help and giving
assistance. If you want a practical example
of His plan, just think of how much easier it
is for people to wash one another’s feet,
rather than our own, something He did to set
an example for us.

Freshen Your Interest in
All Those You Have Already Met

A man who has friends
must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend
who sticks closer than a brother.

— Proverbs 18:24 (NKJV)

You probably have many relatives, friends,
neighbors, coworkers, fellow congregants,
and acquaintances whom you rarely contact.
If you are like a lot of people, your
interactions with people you know have
become narrower and narrower and briefer
and briefer. As a result, you have a lot of
predictable conversations, perhaps even
repetitive ones. Are you bored by some of
those relationships? If so, the other person
probably is too.

Before you decide that there’s little new to
be gained from closeness with the people
you know, realize that the responsibility for
eliminating any narrowness and
predictability in relationships starts with us,
not with others, because we can change what
we do and improve the relationships.

Let me tell you a story that explains what I
mean. One of my consulting clients headed a
gold-mining company. Based on studying his
company’s situation he decided that the
prospects for his company’s best gold mine
were limited: Gold prices were low and were
expected to stay that way, labor costs were
high, miners were striking for more money,
and the amount of ore yet to be mined
seemed limited based on examinations of ore
samples.

While attending a conference about the
software industry, my client was astonished
to learn about open-source software,
computer code for which all the details are
publicly available so that anyone can make
improvements. In the open-source software
industry, most such software is created by
programmers who are glad to share for free
with others what they develop. As a result,
such software is rapidly improved and
becomes much more useful than what a
typical software company can produce on
its own.

From hearing about these software
experiences, my client wondered how much
more gold could be found if his company’s
best mine was examined by all the world’s
experts. Because there wasn’t much work for
gold-mining geologists and other experts at
the time, my client’s company decided to
sponsor an online contest to attract expert
views by offering cash prizes for the best
ideas. By spending about $200,000 for
prizes, the contest yielded entries that led to
the discovery of over $2 billion in gold that
could be profitably extracted and processed.
The contest results were so exceptional that
today all major gold-mining companies seek
exploration ideas for their mines by using
the same type of contest.

However, that success is not the punch line of
my example for drawing closer to people you
know. To hold the competition, the client’s
company had to convert the mine’s data into
an easier to use electronic form. Just as soon
as that new format was available, the
company’s staff geologists located many of the
same excellent opportunities that the external
experts later did.

By upgrading the data, my client had
improved the way he talked to the people he
already knew by paying them the compliment
of giving them the best tools, ones he assumed
would be needed to attract the most highly
esteemed experts. In the process, my client
treated his colleagues as highly esteemed
experts for the first time, and they provided
great value. As a result, he learned that the
company’s geologists had many wonderful
perspectives they could share with him
that he had not learned about from them
before. Because of this experience, he became
much more interested in improving
information sources for his staff and carefully
listening to their views.

Relationships within the company’s
leadership as well as with the rest of the
company were enriched by this experience.
There is a parallel example of how
expectations create results that is observed in
the Pygmalion effect. Let me explain.
Researchers took a random group of average
students and told the teachers who would be
teaching them during the following school year
that some of the students were very bright,
high performers and that some of the
students weren’t very bright and did not do
well in school. When the researchers returned
to see how the students performed during the
next school year, they found that the average
students who were falsely labeled as bright,
high performers began to do better while the
average students who were falsely labeled as
not so bright, low performers did worse than
before. All that had changed was the
teacher’s expectation of what the students
could do, yet that changed expectation was
enough to affect performance positively or
negatively.

What are the lessons?

• Upgrade the assumptions you make about
and act on concerning people you know to
become at least as optimistic as the
assumptions I described in the previous
section concerning people you are eager to
meet.
• Consider how you could improve your
behavior, access to information and resources
you provide for the other person, and the
focus of your time spent together to
continually expand and enhance your
relationships in mutually satisfying ways.

Express Warm Gratitude to All
You Meet and Know

They risked their lives for me.
Not only I but all the churches
of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

— Romans 16:4 (NIV)

Simply attracting someone’s attention is
usually not enough reason for most people to
feel grateful. That’s a mistake. You should be
thankful because attention opens the door for
you to gain some of God’s pleasant surprises
from someone else and for you to help provide
some nice surprises for the other person.
When your ensuing conversation is based in
gratitude, benefits multiply because your
thankfulness cannot be hidden from others.
Your smile is wider and more genuine. Your
eyes twinkle in an endearing way. You cock
your head in ways that show you are paying
attention. The sound of your voice is richer.
The cadence of your speech is more varied
and interesting. Your intonation rises and
falls in more attractive ways. Your whole
body expresses barely contained joy.

How could anyone seeing and hearing you not
respond in kind? Your gratitude brings the
other person to a higher state of alertness and
animation. You will also seem more
trustworthy, encouraging more sharing of
feelings, experiences, and information. Since
you responded warmly to this sharing, the
other person will feel inspired to keep talking
longer in order to gain more pleasure from
seeing and hearing your joy. While the
conversation continues, the other person’s
opinion of you will increase. As that occurs,
the other person will feel more grateful to
know you and will seek you out more often
in the future.

If you would like to consider a model of how
this cycle of ever-increasing appeal works,
recall a time when you were attracted to
someone you wanted to date who seemed to
be interested in you.

Chances are that you could not get enough
of one another’s company and continually
found new things to share and to enjoy
together.

Telephone conversations late at night may
have gone on for hours. It was a great feeling,
wasn’t it? By changing your expectations, all of
your connections can be tinged with such
enjoyment, minus only the element of the
sexual excitement.

Act Continually from a Desire to Draw
Twenty Times Closer to Others

Let your gentleness be evident to all.
The Lord is near.

— Philippians 4:5 (NIV)

When you go to a party and meet new people,
you probably ask them where they live and
what kind of work they do in order to become
better acquainted. With that information in
mind, you probably talk about subjects that
would be of interest to those who live in those
places and do those kinds of work. If the
conversation goes well, you might ask about
other personal circumstances such as where
the person was born, whether a married
person has any children or grandchildren,
and where vacations are taken. If the
conversation continues, you will pick up
other details that people mention and learn
more.

If, for example, your primary purpose is to
find new clients for your insurance agency,
this conversational process is one that I can
recommend to you. Within a short period of
time, you’ll know when to mention that you
are an insurance agent and to ask about
having an opportunity to review the other
person’s insurance needs.

While most people aren’t insurance agents,
they employ a similar method to what the
agents do for becoming acquainted. Some
people even take courses to learn how to
gain lots of superficial details about other
people in a short amount of time. You can
always spot someone with that
orientation: They have circled the room
and gotten the key facts about everyone
long before the opportunity to meet others
ends.

While many such people are genuinely
friendly, some may also have hidden agendas
that they hope to advance by meeting new
people.

A better approach is to have no agenda but
God’s: for you to continually help and to learn
from everyone you meet. Each conversation
should become background for Godly thought
and caring in the future, and more ways to
serve and to be served.

Let’s go back to the party I mentioned
earlier and start to meet people again, but
with these new intentions. Your icebreaker
comments might include these questions:

• What’s the most helpful thing anyone has
ever done for you?
• What are you looking to accomplish now
that’s difficult?
• What do you wish everyone knew
about you?
• How has God blessed your life?
• What do you like to learn about other
people but don’t like to ask about?

• What have you learned lately that’s
helpful?
• What do you want to accomplish more of?
• What do you like to do with other people?
• What do your friends like best about you?
• How do you like to help other people?

• What parts of your life do you like to keep
private from others?
• When do you feel shy?
• What would you do if you could succeed in
accomplishing anything you tried?
• Who would you like to meet?
• What hidden talents do you have?

Naturally, people aren’t used to such genuine
indications of interest. To avoid making people
uncomfortable, you’ll have to gauge how open
the new person is to sharing views and
experiences with you. The kind of openness
that you find at a church potluck supper
won’t be matched at a gathering of
coworkers. Be careful that you don’t cause
people to feel they are being cross-examined
about private matters.

I’m sure that you have more and even better
questions than these. It’s a good idea to
develop your own list and to begin making
notes of what people tell you. If you are like
me, details soon escape your conscious
awareness unless you write them down.
Review what you learn later and notice what
you still need to find out about the person.
Then, think about how you can draw twenty
times closer to the person in ways that are
kind, considerate, and loving.

After you succeed in drawing twenty times
closer, upgrade your goals. Try to become
forty times closer and so forth. You’ll know
that you are making progress when the
other person can not only finish your
sentences for you, but can also anticipate
your next question while laughing happily
whenever the closeness that you have
developed is demonstrated.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

2,000 Percent Living Lesson Fourteen: Stop to Consider What You Are about to Do from God’s Perspective

2010-09-09T19:58:00.005-04:00

Examine your conduct before acting
to see if it will be pleasing to God.
Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the LORD; ….

— Lamentations 3:40 (NKJV)

Parents teach youngsters to look left and right before
crossing a street, even when walking in a crosswalk with
a walk signal or a green light. Those who are learning to
drive are taught to look left and right before pulling
away from a stop sign. These excellent habits can really
pay off when a nearby driver behaves recklessly or you
are in a foreign country where the traffic comes from
the opposite direction than what you expect.

Unfortunately, many people drop the excellent habits
and proceed in their own ways by taking risky short
cuts. For instance, a pedestrian crossing a street may
only look to see if the walk signal or green light is in his
or her favor and that there are no nearby vehicles. A
driver pulling up to a stop sign may only slow down
before proceeding rapidly in the desired direction.
Harmful consequences can follow for those who use
these short cuts: The pedestrian crossing a street may
not notice that a speeding bike is on a collision course,
and the driver may not observe someone pulling out of
a nearby driveway or making a quick U-turn. An
accident can follow almost as quickly as you can say
“Bam!”

Even when no one has taught us a good way to proceed
in a potentially dangerous situation, those whose souls
have been saved by the blood of Jesus have a helper:
God has put the Holy Spirit in us to tell when we are
about to make a mistake. Unfortunately, those who act
as rapidly as possible often don’t give themselves
enough time to notice and to act on a warning that the
Holy Spirit has provided.

As Christians, God wants us to learn an important
lesson: Before acting, stop and consider your conduct to
see if it will be pleasing to God. This decision-checking
approach has these important advantages:

• It gives us time to consider our motives and the likely
consequences before acting. If there is a problem with
either our motives or the likely consequences, the extra
time helps us to notice that an adjustment is needed and
to make it.
• If the Holy Spirit is trying to warn us, the pause can
create a space in our awareness for that message to be
more easily noticed and acted on.
• If we become conscious of not feeling good about what
we are about to do, we can usually stop from doing
anything until we understand what is the right thing to
do.
• Our attention is turned toward God and His holy Word.
As a result, the right answer for doing His will, and not
ours, is likely to push to the forefront of our consciousness
during our search for Godly answers.
• Each time we avoid sinning, we eliminate or reduce a lot
of harm and avoid creating situations that may cause
others to sin.

I describe more about these advantages and how to
obtain them more often in the following sections.

Consider Your Motives and the Likely
Consequences before Acting

The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

— Proverbs 27:12 (NIV)

Lesson Thirteen describes the importance of
considering your motives in the context of how people
might react to seeing a celebrity they admire. A pure
motive may not be enough, however: You can make
enormous blunders with harmful consequences from
the purest of Godly motives. For instance, you might
want to help starving people by raising money for a
charity; but if your methods of delivering the aid upset
many donors so that they never again give money to
that organization, you have probably done more harm
than good. In fact, the purer we consider our motives,
the easier it is for us to act without love towards those
we want to influence and to help because we can start
letting the ends justify the means. Let me encourage you
to instead consider whether God would approve of your
motives, your planned activities, and their effects before
committing to doing something.

Let’s start with your motives. It is rare that anyone does
something purely from a Godly motive. It’s common for
there to be personal, fleshly desires involved, too. Let’s
consider a different person who wants to help starving
people. Let’s say that a charity approaches the person
about being the honoree at a special fund-raising dinner.
Someone might accept such an invitation with pleasure
knowing that starving people will benefit. If the flattery
involved in being asked is appealing to the ego, it’s easy
for that selfish motive to become stronger than the
Godly one. If in doubt as to your motive in such a
situation, it would be better to decline being an honoree
and instead anonymously provide a generous donation
and serve in a subordinate role on a fund-raising
committee for which no public recognition is received.

Thinking through the potential consequences of your
action will usually take more time and care than simply
watching out for and avoiding mixed and impure motives.
Potential consequences can be especially hard to
anticipate when you don’t know very much about the
circumstances. Take enough time to find out. The
representations you receive may be quite different
from the reality.

Here’s an example to show you how subtle the challenges
of determining consequences in advance can be. A highly
regarded charity located near me offers a chance to
contribute the cost of holiday meals for poor people on
Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Although the
charity presents an opportunity to be recognized for such
gifts, you can simply send in a note that says that your gift
is from a person who loves Jesus. Someone who didn’t
check further into the situation would feel confident that
all would be well. And that’s what I did for many years.

I later felt drawn to attend a church that regularly does
volunteer work at this charity, and I also felt called to
serve at the charity. During my first service visit, I was
astonished to discover that virtually no money was
needed to provide meals for poor people there during
holidays: Various other charities and businesses were
delivering far more food than this charity could use, and
volunteers were doing all the cooking, serving, and
cleaning on those days.

While no one said as much, I realized that the charity
was probably using the powerful appeal of feeding poor
people on holidays to attract donations for its other
activities. Whenever I sent money for the stated
purpose of food for holiday meals, I was inadvertently
encouraging the charity to sin by misleading people
about what it was doing. During my visit, I concluded
that the charity was doing good work that should be
supported. I followed up on my discovery about the
free food resources and volunteers by meeting with
one of the pastors at my church to discuss how else I
could contribute to the charity’s work so that I
wouldn’t encourage the charity’s leaders to sin.

From then on, I made my contributions to the worthy
work of the charity in the ways that my pastor
suggested, by serving food as a volunteer and through
providing Christian books and testimonies to those being
helped by the charity. Following these conversations, I
was pleased to see that the next holiday dinner
solicitation I received mentioned that the funds
might be used for other purposes by the charity.

This experience with the charity was a very valuable
one for me in learning to be more careful about being a
good steward of the resources that God has given me to
share with His people. When I consider the charity and
its needs, I also feel much more humble in my desire to
serve. I’m pleased that the lesson has been good for my
spiritual development and for strengthening the
charity’s work.

Give the Holy Spirit Enough Time
to Attract Your Attention

I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying,
for he speaks peace to his faithful people.
But let them not return to their foolish ways.

— Psalm 85:8 (NLT)

Many things can disrupt messages from the Holy Spirit
so they are not received, understood, and acted on:

• distractions
• pride
• bad motives
• inexperience in listening
• impatience
• pressure from other people
• not putting God first

With so many ways that critical warnings and
encouragements can be missed or ignored, how can a
Christian hope to hear and to appreciate all that the
Holy Spirit is saying? Let me offer some of my
experiences to suggest methods to notice and to
understand the Holy Spirit’s gentle whisperings more
often.

The Holy Spirit rarely sends me messages that resemble
orations (such as Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address) or conversations (such as the Bible records
that Adam, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses had with God).
For many years I expected that all the Holy Spirit’s
messages would be very explicit and detailed, much like
instructions for installing a new computer. Some
messages I receive are spelled out, but most of them
aren’t. Now that I know better what to expect, I look
for more subtle clues.

The first message from the Holy Spirit that I notice is
often just a tight feeling in my chest along with
queasiness. Initially, these feelings resemble the effects
of eating a large unhealthy meal. As soon as I stop to
think and realize that I didn’t just eat a large unhealthy
meal, I can begin to focus on what the Holy Spirit is
telling me.

After paying more attention to my feelings, I will
eventually perceive that the feelings are made worse by
thinking about some particular place, person, plan, or
action. Eventually, I’ll be able to narrow down that I’m
supposed to do or not do something through mentally
rehearsing what I might do. The process is similar to
that used when blindfolded people try to find something
by following verbal clues that they are getting “hotter”
as they near the sought object or “colder” as they move
away from it. Some mentally rehearsed actions will
make me feel worse. Other rehearsed actions will make
me feel better. Eventually, one mentally rehearsed
action will leave me feeling totally at peace. When that
happens, I know what the Holy Spirit’s message is.

Another way the Holy Spirit communicates with me is
by making it all but impossible to accomplish what I’m
trying to do. This way of sending a message seems to be
the equivalent of the brake pedal that driving
instructors can use to avoid accidents after a learner
fails to perceive the need to stop. It’s God’s way of
protecting me when I’m in the process of making a big
mistake and I’m not paying enough attention to Him.
I don’t know why messages come in these forms. I’m
sure God is equally capable of sending me louder, more
explicit, and harder to miss messages. I suspect that
the purpose behind sending more subtle messages is to
encourage me to focus more on God. When I only look
to Him, He fills my life so completely that just His
breath can sound like thunder while it shakes me like
an earthquake.

Remain at Rest until You Know What to Do

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.
For if they did not escape
who refused Him who spoke on earth,
much more shall we not escape if we turn away
from Him who speaks from heaven,
whose voice then shook the earth;
but now He has promised, saying,
“Yet once more I shake not only the earth,
but also heaven.”
Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal
of those things that are being shaken,
as of things that are made, that the things
which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be shaken, let us have grace,
by which we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear.

— Hebrews 12:25-28 (NKJV)

So, how much time should you wait before acting? Keep
waiting until you are completely at peace. That’s true
even if it looks as if some huge problem will occur or
some valuable opportunity will be missed if you don’t
take immediate action. God knows things that you don’t
know. The delay may help you avoid a bigger problem.
Let me give you an example. I was working on a book for
which I was interviewing a lot of CEOs. One CEO was
particularly hard to reach. During the planned telephone
conversation, a huge thunderstorm broke out that kept
causing the telephone line to go dead. I persevered
through dialing the person again and again, and
eventually concluded the interview after hours of
effort. I wish I hadn’t. The information that the person
shared should never have gone into the book: It was
incorrect information. The Holy Spirit was trying to lead
me, but I was resisting. I later fixed the problem as best
I could during the writing, but I would have been better
off never having completed the interview.

I had similar, but not as severe, problems with four
other CEOs, and the information each of them gave me
should never have gone into the book either. My
heavenly Editor knew what He was doing, but I was too
dumb to realize I was receiving His editorial feedback. I
later received more warnings that I was on the wrong
track by dealing with these people. Fortunately, I
heeded some of those alerts and dropped some of the
CEOs from the book. Thank you, God!

I find that it takes me less time now to gain that Godly
peace than when I was younger. Experience seems to
help, but trying to keep Him in mind at all times is a
better way to proceed. If God tries to stop me, I stop
now. I’ve learned my lesson. You should too. Many
people will tell you that all difficulties that are
experienced come from the consequences of sin or the
machinations of the enemy who is in the world. When
you believe those things are causing problems, you may
try twice as hard to accomplish what you are seeking.
Realize that difficulties are also sent by God through His
Holy Spirit to stop us from doing harmful things. Seek
peace instead in your spirit rather than trying to
overturn the universe through exercising your will when
it is opposed to God’s purposes.

When in Doubt,
Concentrate More on God and His Word

“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what
you ought to say.”

— Luke 12:12 (NKJV)

One of the other ways that the Holy Spirit speaks to us
is through directing our thinking about God and to what
the Bible says about Him. Let me give you an example
that happened while I was writing this lesson. I don’t
think of myself as an expert on the Holy Spirit, and as
preparation I began to read what the Bible says about
the Holy Spirit. I could feel myself becoming more and
more peaceful. At the beginning of the section about
giving the Holy Spirit enough time to speak and to
attract your attention, I originally included the quote
that you see at the beginning of this section. At the time
I was writing the section, I felt comfortable with what I
had done, but not completely at peace.

I intended to finish writing that section the next day.
Later that night, I followed my usual Wednesday practice
and watched two live church services on the Internet.
During the second service, the two Bible quotes that you
now find leading the immediately prior sections were
read. I wrote those verses down at once, as they
crystallized in my mind exactly what to write for those
sections. As this occurred, I felt as if I was simply taking
dictation from this book’s real author, the Lord. I felt
more than peace at that moment: I felt bliss. The
experience gave me a first-hand appreciation for the
term I’ve so often heard about writing, that a particular
section was “God inspired” prose.

Had I not watched those two services, I’m sure God
would have gotten my attention in some other way
(such as through a later search for Bible quotes) so that
I would have eventually found those verses.

As an example of how well He has such things planned,
my local church was scheduled to do Bible studies of
both verses in the next few weeks. Just as long as I was
faithful in attending and paying attention at those
services, I would have eventually heard the verses.
When you focus on God and His holy Word, what you
need to learn will be presented to you, just when you
need it.

Pause to Avoid Sin and Its Consequences

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.

— 1 John 1:8 (NKJV)

Many Christians rest comfortably in the knowledge that
God’s grace covers their sins so that they can still enjoy
Salvation. While that belief is correct, the view is
incomplete: All sins have negative consequences while
we are on Earth. In addition, dealing with sin’s
consequences can lead to years of pain, effort, and
frustration for you and others.

For evidence, you need look no further than to images
you’ve seen on television of convicted felons who profess
to follow Jesus praying with their pastors and families
after being sentenced to many years in jail. That person
will have to pay for the sin while in jail, and afterward.
The person’s family members will also experience pain
even if they did nothing wrong.

One of the most famous examples of sin’s consequences
came during King David’s reign. Not satisfied with being
the anointed king of God’s chosen people and being able
to rely on God’s favor in battle, David gave in to pride
and ordered that a census be conducted to determine how
many fighting men were available to him (2 Samuel
24, NKJV, and 1 Chronicles 21, NKJV). Even though David
was warned by his military leader, Joab, not to do this
because it was a sin, David persisted. After God became
angry because of his rebellion, David was provided by
God with the choice of three extreme punishments. David
chose to let a plague afflict the Hebrews, and 70,000 died
in just three days before God stayed the hand of His angel
just as it was poised over Jerusalem in preparation for
destroying the city.

Each time that we obey God, rather than disobey God,
the shift from potentially negative to positive
consequences can be enormous for us and those whose
lives we affect. Wanting to protect other people
someone cares about from such consequences would
encourage even the most deliberate sinner to think twice
before opposing God.

We can anticipate these dire consequences by considering
what will happen when the sin is ultimately exposed and
also what God did to those in the Bible who sinned in
similar ways and to their families, friends, and
acquaintances. King David provides another example
through his lust for Bathsheba, lust that led to adultery
and murder.

David slept with Bathsheba, another man’s wife, and she
became pregnant. David tried to cover up his wrong by
ordering Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite, home
from war. After Uriah avoided being with Bathsheba,
David sent him back to battle with secret orders to Joab
to put Uriah in a perilous position and then to pull troops
back, leaving Uriah to be killed.

Then the consequences of the sin began to emerge. After
David married Bathsheba, the prophet Nathan
confronted David about his sin through a story about a
rich man stealing a little pet lamb, and David declared
that the rich man should pay back the theft fourfold.
After Nathan told David that he was the rich man in the
story, David confessed and repented. God forgave David
but required a fourfold payment: Bathsheba’s child by
David died; David’s son, Amnon, raped his half-sister,
Tamar; Absalom, another of David’s sons, killed
Amnon; and Absalom later rebelled against David, drove
David from Jerusalem, slept with David’s concubines,
and was killed by Joab during the ensuing wars, causing
David great grief (2 Samuel 11-19, NKJV).

Learn to hesitate to sin. Here’s one circumstance where
procrastinators do better. How can we do that? One
approach is to create a substantial pause before acting
on any idea or impulse. Unless someone’s life or soul is
at stake and you need to take instant action, a
considered action based on an idea or a Godly impulse
is always going to be better than a knee-jerk reaction.
If the action could have important long-term
consequences, use the pause to choose to let more time
pass before acting. Almost all decisions are improved
by being considered after a good night’s sleep. During the
delay, you can disconnect from the momentary urgency
to take an eternal perspective.

You’ll also have time to pray, to read the Bible, to pay
attention to the Holy Spirit, and to consult with your
brothers and sisters in Christ before acting. In seeking
others’ views, go to those who will give you the most
Godly and candid advice, such as someone who is familiar
with the challenges you are facing and knows the terrible
consequences of such sin firsthand. Before you ask for
the advice, pray for a clean and humble heart to receive
the advice with only an intention to do the right thing.

Until you are sure that you are right in taking the action
from every perspective, including how spiritually
comfortable you feel with it, keep delaying action. While
there’s no guarantee that your flesh will yield to your
spirit, at least you will have used your resources to the
best of your ability and sought out God’s will to
strengthen you. If you determine that your impulse is a
wrong, fleshly one, see if there’s some way that you can
make it more difficult or almost impossible to do the
wrong thing. For instance, David could have
permanently closed off the roof and other parts of his
palace that enabled him to watch women bathing. He
could also have put out a decree that no bathing was to
occur on roofs. He could also have left to join his army
rather than lazing around Jerusalem with too much
time on his hands. And so on. You can put up similar
barricades that will make it harder for you to do the
wrong thing.

In sharing the fourteen lessons, I hope you feel blessed
with knowledge and encouragement to accomplish much
more for God. Naturally, these fourteen lessons could have
been extended into many more, each one of which would
have provided some new helpful guidance. If we try to
operate with too many lessons, it’s easy to focus on
establishing spiritually empty daily rituals rather than on
building a God-loving and humble life that is spiritually
fruitful for Him. We can each trust that God has an
amazing plan for our life, one that these lessons can help
to facilitate. Praise God, always!

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.

New Course Available for Those Who Want to Start a Succcessful New Business, Either Part Time or Full Time

2010-08-09T21:13:00.001-04:00

Good Evening, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this evening?

I know that I certainly am!

I pray that you are having a blessed day and that this will be your best year ever.

After having worked with thousands of entrepreneurs who have started businesses in the last 35 years, I recently felt called to write a book about how to do so in a more effective and satisfying way. What most people try to do is all wrong, and it's a shame to have so many people struggle so unnecessarily.

I especially want to encourage those who are Christians and want to devote themselves to serving the Lord through their new business to take this course.

Every hour that you spend on this course will save you 50 hours of work later on and over $1,000. So it's your choice whether to spend the time and money on the course or to spend the time and money on making avoidable mistakes later.

Here are some of the subjects you will cover with me:

1. Free up lots of time to work on your new business while you keep your day job.
2. Attract customers 20 times faster and more easily that your competitors do.
3. Use 96 percent less investment money to permit faster growth and higher profitability.
4. Which technical details about starting a new business are important for you to handle and which ones you should ask someone else to do for you.
5. Avoid making costly mistakes because of what you don't know that you don't know.
6. How to test your ideas inexpensively without putting yourself at risk.
7. The best sources of free information that can make you more successful.
8. The habits you need to develop to be most successful.
9. How to attract top talent at little cost.
10. How to keep your new business from consuming all your time and attention

I will begin writing the book in October and and hope to complete it before the end of Spring 2011.

It occurred to me that some people might appreciate having an opportunity to access these lessons early, to ask questions about how to use the information, and to get a head start on anyone else who intends to the the knowledge in the same ways.

The book's readers will benefit by my listening carefully to questions and addressing those key concerns more clearly in the book.

So it's an opportunity for everyone to benefit.

After thinking and praying about this calling over the last few weeks, I decided to offer a 52-week online course that will feature a weekly teaching and telephone conversation. I can conveniently accommodate up to 100 people on a telephone call and still offer an opportunity to ask questions and to get answers. So I decided to limit the group to that number.

We will begin on October 1 with the teleconferences but those who join the course before then will begin receiving lessons right away so they will have more time to work on these tasks.

As the book passes through editing, people who are taking the course will receive advanced copies.

I'm assuming that most people can obtain Skype or some other Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol telephone service so it won't be too expensive to call into the United States to join the conference calls. All lessons will be on the calls, so if you don't want to call in this won't be a good opportunity for you.

The fee for this course is $500 (United States Dollars) payable in advance. Normally I charge $20 a session for such courses, but I wanted to provide a good value so I reduced the price by more than half for you.

To join the group, simply send me your name, your e-mail address, your telephone number, and your payment to:

Donald W. Mitchell
P.O. Box 302
Weston, MA 02493
United States of America

If you would prefer to pay by check debit or credit card online, send me an e-mail to askdonmitchell@yahoo.com and I will tell you how you can pay through those methods by using PayPal.com/.

If you would prefer to receive only written materials, I can instead offer individual subscriptions and online access for questions and answers to the advanced work of The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind that address how to create large enterprises quickly and with few resources. If this opportunity interests you, please let me know and I will provide the details. People who want this option may start the course as soon as they register.

Please let me know how I can help you.

I will be glad to answer any questions you have.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

With best regards, much appreciation, and all good wishes,

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Read Extensive Excerpts from 2,000 Percent Solution Living for Free

2010-02-20T17:17:00.002-05:00

Good Afternoon, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-holics!

Are you feeling motivated this afternoon?

I know that I am!

I have more exciting news for you about The 400 Year Project (the program designed to accelerate the rate of world-wide improvements by 20 times).

Although I am still revising the text of 2,000 Percent Solution Living, I have loaded onto the Internet extensive excerpts from the latest draft to help you. You can read this material for free at:

http://authonomy.com/ReadBook.aspx?bookid=17631#chapter

If you have suggestions for improving the book, I would be glad to hear from you with comments on authonomy.com or here.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

With best regards, much appreciation, and all good wishes,

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
The 400 Year Project

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell

Advance Peek at an Excerpt from 2,000 Percent Solution Living

2009-09-13T10:29:00.001-04:00

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

I felt called by the Holy Spirit to accelerate
writing of my new book, 2,000 Percent
Solution Living. Writing is going well, and
I thought you might enjoy an advance peek
at this blockbuster book, a way to live way
beyond your wildest dreams.

This excerpt comes from part of the book's
introduction:

Wisdom is the principal thing;

Therefore get wisdom.

And in all your getting,

get understanding.

Take firm hold of instruction,

do not let go;

Keep her, for she is your life.

— Proverbs 4:7, 13 (NKJV)

Would you like to enjoy your life more, accomplish so much that you amaze yourself, have lots of free time, be with loved ones as much as you want, and earn a much higher income while spending less time and effort working? Those are some of the potential benefits that 2,000 percent solution living offers you.

To gain those benefits, you’ll have to make some changes: Stop doing some harmful things and start doing some more beneficial things. In the process, you can use God’s help to turn your life into a masterpiece that both brings glory to Him and joy to you and those you love.

How do I know what’s possible and what’s involved? I’ve been helping people make such improvements for many years as demonstrations of the opportunity for everyone on Earth to make improvements at 20 times the usual rate. In addition, I’ve gained benefits from 2,000 percent solution living for myself.

Are you ready to start now? Read on to learn what to do.

Fulfill Your Potential by Gaining the Right Knowledge and

Performing Breakthrough Service

“… he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger,

and he who governs as he who serves.”

— Luke 22:26 (NKJV)

Most people have no idea how little of their talent and knowledge they are employing. I see that lack of awareness all the time among my students. I believe that you are underestimating your potential as well.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Dr. Burra Ramulu worked as a shift supervisor at a fertilizer factory in the Middle East for many years. However, his most important responsibility was to train young Arabs to hold the organization’s senior roles. He was effective in such preparation, and all of those with positions above him in the organization were younger men whom he had originally trained.

After deciding to earn a doctorate, Dr. Ramulu became interested in 2,000 percent solutions (ways of accomplishing 20 times the results with the same or less time, money, and effort). His first 2,000 percent solution project was to study how his factory’s profits could be increased by more than 20 times while spending very little money for new investment. He found a way to greatly increase capacity, improve quality, expand productivity, and lower costs that only required an investment equal to about 10 percent of the plant’s existing capital base. As a result, cash flow expanded by more than 20 times.

Realizing that his opportunities to advance his career were constrained in the Middle East, Dr. Ramulu moved back to his native India and took a position with a global producer of basic commodities. As his dissertation subject, Dr. Ramulu investigated how to create a new business model for his employer, the first major business-model improvement for that industry in more than 50 years. As a result, he located a way to lower costs by over 40 percent, to reduce capital needs by even more, and to expand his company’s business volume by several hundred percent. The new business model was approved by his employer and is now being implemented. When in operation, profits for that business in India are expected to expand by much more than 20 times while competitors will be eliminated for many years to come.

Not satisfied with what he had learned and accomplished during the process of attaining his first doctorate, Dr. Ramulu decided to study for a second one. This time his dissertation work was based on an even more fundamental problem: How to lift poor, uneducated people out of despair and to make their lives hopeful and economically successful. Choosing to serve Kasimpet, the village where he grew up, Dr. Ramulu faithfully trekked hundreds of kilometers across India on weekends to teach the people there about 2,000 percent solutions.

Also supported by other volunteers who had once lived in Kasimpet, an initial 50 people soon reformed the bad thinking habits that had held them back, began using better thinking processes, formed a cooperative, and began designing and implementing profitable 2,000 percent solutions. In just a few months, most of those 50 people increased their incomes by more than 20 times, reduced their debts by more than 96 percent, slashed the interest rates they were paying on the remaining debt by 96 percent, and increased their net worths by more 20 times. They also gained new, positive outlooks on life, and sought to cooperate with one another rather than be divided by the accidents of birth from which castes are defined.

As this book was going to press, these 50 people had pledged to teach what they had learned to at least another 20 other people each who will be asked to do the same for 20 more people. Should everyone be faithful, most poverty and despair can be eliminated from that part of India in just a few years.

Naturally, Dr. Ramulu enjoys a wonderful sense of accomplishment from encouraging so many positive improvements. Can you imagine the sense of satisfaction that he enjoys each morning as he thinks about the villagers?

What else might Dr. Ramulu accomplish? It’s up to what God calls him to do. There is no practical limit to his potential to succeed in serving others.

There are millions of people with as much potential as Dr. Ramulu has who could have done what he did to serve others. But few of them choose to serve by learning and teaching breakthrough skills. Dr. Ramulu made that important choice, and that decision liberated him and those he has taught into 2,000 percent solution living.

I pray that this book will do the same for you.

Foundations of 2,000 Percent Solution Living

Become complete.

Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace;

and the God of love and peace will be with you.

— 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NKJV)

Since I was young, people have often asked for my advice. I have always been happy to share my ideas, and many people have benefited. I have always been grateful to God for granting me this ability to serve and for providing His guidance for what to say and write.

I was deeply humbled in 1995 when the Holy Spirit directed me to lead an effort to help everyone on the Earth accomplish at least 20 times more. (You can read about the origins, methods, and conclusions of what I call the 400 Year Project, ways to make 400 years worth of normal improvements during the years from 2015 through 2035, in Adventures of an Optimist, BookSurge 2007, and at www.fastforward400.com.) I was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task that I had no idea what to do first. Fortunately, He directed my steps and learning so that the necessary solutions have been identified and described in my books about the 400 Year Project.

Despite my willingness to help in every possible way, it recently struck me that I may not have been sharing what I have learned in the right ways: When I asked people who have been reading about my work for years what questions they would like me to answer about accomplishing 20 times more, I found nothing new in what they asked. In fact, I had previously written answers to each of the questions I received.

From those responses I realized that people who want to make breakthroughs in all aspects of their lives need a brief compendium of the most important ways to accomplish 20 times more. This book, 2,000 Percent Solution Living, is intended to facilitate those accomplishments.

After thinking about the possible contents for the book over several weeks, I was surprised to be awakened at 1:30 a.m. on May 19, 2009, by a voice that dictated to me in great detail what should be in this book. This dictation continued for many hours and finally paused for me to begin asking clarifying questions, which were then answered. The instruction lasted over six hours.

From that experience, I concluded that by writing this book I am merely serving as a fleshly vehicle for a message from the Holy Spirit that is intended for all people on Earth. I pray that I have been faithful and accurate in sharing with you what I was directed to write.

The Lessons for You

But who can teach a lesson to God,

since he judges even the most powerful?

— Job 21:22 (NLT)

Most people rarely read nonfiction books, dipping perhaps into one or two in a decade. If that’s your reading pattern, this section is for you. I summarize the book’s key lessons here.

If this information is enough for your purposes, stop after reading this section. If you want to learn more about why these solutions are important or how to implement them, go to the chapters that describe the lessons you want to learn more about.

If you would rather read a fuller treatment of the book’s contents, you can skip this section and just begin reading Chapter 1.

Lesson 1: Accept Salvation by repenting of your sins; believe Jesus is God’s Son and in His resurrection from the dead; and give your life to Jesus Christ to do His will, not yours (or rededicate your life to Him if you have accepted Salvation but have not been walking with Him). Start every day by praising and thanking the Lord, praying for what is righteous that you want done in the name of Jesus, and studying the Bible. Attend church whenever possible; make a weekly written commitment of added ways to follow His direction; and witness to others about your faith until at least 20 people to whom you have been speaking choose to accept Salvation.

Doing these things will help you to hear and understand the Holy Spirit who will guide your steps toward the most productive directions on Earth, will provide you with supernatural support for making performance breakthroughs, and will help you earn eternal rewards to be enjoyed in heaven. As a result, you will have all the wisdom and power you need to do any righteous thing you want. Isn’t that awesome?

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2009 Donald W. Mitchell

What 2,000 Percent Solutions Do You Want Me to Write About?

2009-05-27T15:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

Can you take a minute to help me, please?

I'm planning my next book now, which will be a
non-fiction description of some 2,000 percent
solutions (ways to accomplish 20 times as much
with the same time, money, and effort) that
everyone should use.

For what problems would you like to see solutions
in the book?

If I use your suggestion and you are the first
to contact me, your name will be included in the
book's acknowledgments.

Please send your suggested problems to solve to
askdonmitchell@yahoo.com and put this in the
subject line:

I SUGGEST YOU SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.

If you want to learn more about the 400 Year Project, register for free to read about this work at http://www.fastforward400.com/

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2009 Donald W. Mitchell

Adventures of an Optimist Is Now Available

2008-01-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

Good evening, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this evening?

I hope so. I know that I am!

I also hope that 2008 will be your best year so far.

I thought you might enjoy learning about what I've been slaving over for the last six months.

As you know, I've been working on the 400 Year Project (demonstrating ways to make global improvements at 20 times the usual rate) since 1995. Along the way, I've helped write six books that details progress on the project (The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage).

The thinking behind the project has, however, moved much faster than publishing of books has permitted. As a result, I realized early in 2007 that I could see the end of the project.

I decided to share that vision of a world improving on all of its performance areas (big and small, individual and collective). I've put that vision in my new book, Adventures of an Optimist: A Progress Report on the 400 Year Project to Help You Improve 20 Times Faster.

Last year, I held a contest to find a foreword for the book. Ms. Teresa Bolen was the winner of the contest. Here is what she had to say about the book:

"What would you do if God gave you knowledge for making the world a much better place? Not your everyday, ordinary, run of the mill knowledge, but knowledge that would allow you and your team to create solutions that would otherwise not be available to the people of Earth for another 400 years.

"Though he’s far too humble a servant of God to say so himself, I believe that is exactly what happened to my mentor and friend Don when he was gifted with the inspiration to create the 400 Year Project – a project to create 400 hundred years worth of improvements in merely 20 years. You read that right: four centuries worth of improvements in only two short decades.

"The kinds of global improvement methods he writes about have the potential to provide nutritious food, clean water, excellent healthcare and safety to everyone on the planet. These improvement methods have the potential to bring peace to every region of the globe. On a more personal level, these methods have the potential to dramatically increase longevity, perhaps even to more than double one’s lifespan. Don’s methods offer the potential to improve the quality of life, personal relationships, finances, and education, and to present a myriad of new opportunities for you and everyone around you. If you’re not already familiar with Don’s other works such as The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, then this may sound like a fairytale. However if you are already a follower of Don’s work, then you’ll immediately recognize the potential of his 400 Year Project to bring that Divine inspiration into physical reality, ushering in improvements on a global scale, limited only by the imaginations of those who are putting these teachings into practice. In a world where many find themselves lost in the doom and gloom of contemplating a future dominated by disease, disaster, crime, war, and suffering, Don’s optimistic vision is not merely a shining path of hope, but a template for how to recreate our world into something so blessed and wonderful that everyone experiencing it would become optimists.

"In Adventures of an Optimist, Don takes you on a personal journey of how he came to be such a practical optimist and why he has so much faith in all of us. He gives a crash course on his world-renowned 2,000 percent solutions, i.e. any way that you can accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and resources, and gives convincing evidence on how that kind of incredible progress — though seemingly enormous at first blush — is merely a baby step for each of us. Don shows us again and again that we can gain infinitely more by learning how to make breakthroughs in areas with the most potential to benefit ourselves and everyone else.

"One of the great things about Don’s writing is how he demonstrates the ways he and his students have repeatedly succeeded with these improvement methods. He also shares the flops, lest we begin to feel that we are reading the optimistic musings of an intellectual superman!

"Don’s masterful use of metaphors and riveting storytelling ability draw you in to experiencing those moments with Don almost as if you were there in person while it was happening. One of my favorite examples is when he describes becoming one of Amazon.com’s top ten reviewers. Like so many people, I had wondered how in the world he accomplished it, especially in addition to his busy life as CEO of Mitchell and Company, helping world-class business professionals create better and better business solutions; professor at Rushmore University, guiding students to create their own 2,000 percent solutions; and writing numerous finely crafted books. You get to imagine what it was like in Amazon’s earlier days when most people were using dial-up modems, see how Don’s thinking interacted with the growth of the internet and of Amazon, and find out how he realized he could reach more people through Amazon reviews than even the most famous authors of business books do.

"Once the reader is comfortably grounded into imagining the possibilities of 2,000 percent solutions, Don eases you into multiplying those exponential improvements. He expands the vision more and more, and you’ll either come out on the other side with your mind wide open for the very real possibilities that the 400 Year Project offers, or you’ll already be taking action to start making those breakthroughs in those areas with the most potential to benefit yourself and others.

"As you read the book and begin to fully grasp the promise of the 400 Year Project, creating 400 hundred years worth of improvements in only 20 years, you’ll ask yourself, “What role do I want to play?” If you’ve ever wanted to make the world an infinitely better place, if you’ve been looking for an opportunity to make a difference so profound that you joyfully leap out of bed each day to create that difference, then this book may just be the introduction to the means you’ve been seeking. Get ready to open your heart, open your mind, and let the possibility of a future brighter than all your wildest dreams be revealed to you."

Teresa Bolen

Author, Master Plan to Master Exams: How to Discover Your Hidden Abilities to Create the Success You Desire

Kyoto, September 15, 2007

Here is the table of contents so you can get a sense of what the book covers:

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Background Briefing: What Can Four Centuries Worth of Improvements in a Generation Mean for Your Life?

Preface: A Singular Sensation

Introduction: Seeds of an Optimistic Idea, the 400 Year Project

Part One: ORIGINS

Chapter 1: How I Became a Practical, Unlimited Optimist

Chapter 2: A Surprise Announcement

Part Two: LESSONS

Chapter 3: Crawling and Toddling Ahead

Chapter 4: Introducing 2,000 Percent Solutions

Chapter 5: Irresistible Growth Beckons

Chapter 6: Reaching Millions of Readers

Chapter 7: Competitive Advantages

Chapter 8: Tutoring Lessons

Chapter 9: A Complementary Dimension: Getting More Out of Life

Chapter 10: Multiplying Exponential Improvements

Chapter 11: Making 400 Years Worth of Progress Quickly by Further Multiplying Exponential Improvements

Chapter 12: Saving More Souls

Part Three: PRESCRIPTIONS

Chapter 13: A Learning Foundation for Rapid Progress

Chapter 14: Entrepreneurial Models for Rapid Progress

Epilogue: Your Role in the 400 Year Project

Appendix A: Become a Helpful Book Reviewer

Appendix B: Why Are 2,000 Percent Solutions Available for Almost Any Activity?

Appendix C: How to Have Your Own Optimistic Adventures

If you would like to get a brief look, Amazon.com has an excerpt that you can download for 49 cents at

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-of-an-Optimist/dp/B000RO9UWI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199235182&sr=1-1

If you would like to purchase a paperback copy, Amazon.com has new copies available for $18.99 at

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Optimist-Progress-Project-Improve/dp/1419684981/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199235182&sr=1-2

If you want to learn more about the 400 Year Project, register for free to read about this work at http://www.fastforward400.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell

Six Secrets Revealed for How You Can Earn More Money with a Six-Minute Work Week

2007-09-24T05:42:00.000-04:00

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

I thought you might enjoy reading my latest press release for how everyone can live better than the average billionaire. This report describes how you can have more money and a lot more time to enjoy it.

Most business owners work longer hours than their employees and don't earn much more than they would if they, too, were employees. By using the methods described in the most highly acclaimed new business book of 2007, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, business owners can decrease their work week to only six minutes and vastly increase their earnings. Those with regular jobs can achieve the same result by buying an existing business and applying the same six secrets.

Weston, MA (PRWEB) September 24, 2007 -- Donald W. Mitchell, coauthor of the highly acclaimed book The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, revealed today the six secrets of earning more money while only working six minutes a week.

Mr. Mitchell said, "Most people look at the choice of worker harder and smarter, and choose to work harder because they can't figure out how to work smarter.

By applying six smart techniques developed by The 400 Year Project (www.fastforward400.com), however, anyone can earn more money while only working six hours a week." In order to use these secrets, people who work as employees will first have to acquire a profitable business (The Ultimate Competitive Advantage is a good resource to help decide what kind of business to buy.).

Mr. Mitchell outlined the six secrets as follows:

1. Keep track of the details of how you spend all of your time for two weeks, 24 hours a day. After reviewing what you did, delegate, shorten, and eliminate tasks that aren't worth the time you are taking. The average person will free up an extra 20 hours a week for new activities. (This process is described in more detail in The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook.)

2. Use the new time to create a 2,000 percent solution that adds 20 times more sales for your business while employing the same time, effort, and resources. (This process is described in more detail in The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution.)

3. After that, hire a talented CEO to run your business for you using some of the 20 times increase in earnings you've just experienced. (TopGrading by Dr. Brad Smart is a good resource to use in doing this hiring.)

4. Next, use some of the increased time you have available from hiring the CEO to create a second 2,000 percent solution that cuts your costs by 96 percent while employing the same time, effort, and resources. (This process is described in more detail in The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, and The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution.)

5. Ask your CEO to conduct global contests annually to find improved ways to increase sales and decrease costs. (This process is described in more detail in The Ultimate Competitive Advantage).

6. Create a series of performance measures that you can review in 2 minutes a week and comment on in a video message requiring less than 4 minutes a week that you send electronically to your CEO.

Mitchell noted, "Most people will be able to create the two 2,000 percent solutions with less than 250 hours of work over six months." Implementation of the solutions should proceed under the new CEO over a period of a year. Mitchell observed, "Business owners will experience a reduced work week from the beginning and will be down to a six-minute work week within a year."

Fifty highly respected business leaders and best-selling authors have endorsed The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution and its revolutionary methods for saving time and resources while expanding income, including Jack Canfield, Professors Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Robert Kaplan of Harvard Business School, creativity guru Roger von Oech, and respected management and trend commentator Dan Pink. Here is some of the excitement created by this breakthrough book.

"The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution is a must-read for any organization or individual seeking to maximize effectiveness and opportunity. While we all have only 24 hours in a day, this book reveals the strategies to be 2,000% more effective in 96% less time. Implement this advice to create the time to make dreams a reality." Brook Noel -- CEO of Champion Press, Ltd. and Author of The Change Your Life Challenge: A 70 Day Life Makeover Program for Women

"A 400 times increase in results. Is that an outrageous claim? Not if you know how. It's all about leverage -- finding the point where small incremental efforts create enormous returns. Coles and Mitchell provide the insights, examples and experience to help you find those leverage points -- a compelling read." David P. Norton --- Author, The Balanced Scorecard

Most of the things you can do to improve your business are actually common-sense, small innovations. They're relatively easy to put into practice, but we don't -- because they feel unfamiliar. The 2000 Percent Squared Solution suggests, persuasively, that doing this kind of improvement doesn't just add up, but multiplies your capability. The winners do exactly that. This book shows what they do." Art Kleiner --- Editor in chief, strategy+business

Donald Mitchell is coauthor (with Carol Coles) of The 2,000 Percent Solution (with Robert Metz), The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a strategy consulting firm in Weston, Massachusetts. Mitchell is also founder of The 400 Year Project (www.fastforward400.com) and The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind. The firm's clients have included companies like Abitibi-Consolidated, Aetna, American International Group, AMP, Armstrong World Industries, Baxter International, Beckman Coulter, Becton Dickinson, Bell & Howell, Black & Decker, Boise Cascade, Campbell Soup, CIGNA, Citigroup, Colgate-Palmolive, Deere, Dow Chemical, Eastman Chemical, Emerson Electric, Ford, Georgia-Pacific, W.W. Grainger, Hershey Foods, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, ITT, Kellogg's, Kraft, Lockheed Martin, Lubrizol, Mallinckrodt, McCormick, McGraw-Hill, Molex, Motorola, Nabisco Brands, Northrop Grumman, Olin, PepsiCo, Pitney Bowes, Procter & Gamble, Ralston Purina, Raytheon, Schering-Plough, Charles Schwab, Siemens, Southwest Airlines, Time Warner, Union Carbide, US WEST, Warner-Lambert, and Xerox.

###

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell

Let Teaching Methods for Creating 2,000 Percent Solutions Launch You into World Class Prominence

2007-08-18T04:30:00.000-04:00

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

I've been reading a lot of biographies recently, and I was struck by how many cite the influence of a teacher in helping the famous person achieve. Many successful people also give large credit to teachers for their success when writing autobiographies. That was certainly true of Peter Drucker in Adventures of a Bystander (Wiley, 1978) when he praised Miss Elsa and Miss Sophy for teaching him the key elements of what he later turned into Management by Objectives.

Wouldn't it be great to be credited in such a way?

Who will be the people we admire in the future? It's hard to say beyond those we already admire, but certainly some of those we will admire are bound to be those who find breakthrough solutions to important problems such as those that dog the environment, bring deadly and harmful diseases to millions, and cause billions to live in poverty and ignorance. With successful business leaders gaining more and more approval, we may see some of the admired coming from that background.

Would you like to contribute to such solutions as a teacher? If yes, here's a way you can do so: Start offering 2,000 percent solution tutorials over the Internet to those who are working on such important problems. Within five years you'll have contributed to lots of world-class solutions. How do I know? Well, that's been my experience with offering these tutorials since I began three years ago.

Millions will want help through such tutorials as soon as they realize they can revolutionize their own lives and the lives of many other people. But there are few qualified to teach 2,000 percent solution methods, and the mismatch between demand and supply is bound to persist.

I'm willing to train a few dozen master teachers to supplement my capacity to provide 2,000 percent solution tutorials. I will also certify such master teachers to train other teachers of the process. In that way, many more valuable solutions will emerge.

If you would like to learn how to teach this process, simply send me an e-mail to askdonmitchell@yahoo.com with this subject line: I Want to Become a Master Teacher of The 2,000 Percent Solution Process.

I'll respond with a description of what's involved and what the opportunities are.

In particular, I'm prepared to recruit students for the master teachers through my own marketing activities. As a result, master teachers should be able to find more interesting and intellectually rewarding work that can be a supplement (or a replacement) for what they do now.

I look forward to hearing from you.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell

The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution Is Now Available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

2007-05-02T10:31:00.000-04:00

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

The 2,000 Squared Percent Solution is now available on Amazon.com.

Carol Coles and I are delighted to share this breakthrough book with you!

You'll learn how to increase revenues (for companies) and effectiveness (for nonprofits) by 20 times while reducing the cost of delivering your offerings and benefits by 96 percent. These two 2,000 percent solutions are the equivalent of creating 20 normal 2,000 percent solutions. You'll see profits and effectiveness soar by 400 times.

Fifty-seven outstanding people have endorsed this book already, more than endorsed all of our earlier books combined.

Here's what a few of them had to say:

"A 400 times increase in results! Is that an outrageous claim? Not if you know how. It's all about leverage - finding the point where small incremental efforts create enormous returns. Coles and Mitchell provide the insights, examples and experience to help you find those leverage points - a compelling read."

David P. Norton - Author, The Balanced Scorecard

"The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution is a brillinat distillation of essential management principles that everyone, and I mean everyone, canuse to drive dramatic acceleration of performance. It's packed with great stories that make the principles easy to understand, embrace, and apply. Whether you're a leader in a big, small, for-profit or not-for-profit organization, you need this book."

Rosabeth Moss Kanter - Harvard Business School, best-selling author of Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin and End

"The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution combines audacity and practicality into a one-of-a-kind guide for improving performance."

Daniel H. Pink - Author of A Whole New Mind

"If you want greater profits and more efficiency, read this book. I found many breakthrough concepts for growing and streamlining all of our companies in this book. It made me aware of a lot of things we were not addressing and we are now."

Jack Canfield - Co-author of The Success Principles™, and Co-creator, Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul®

We hope you'll take the time to examine this volume.

Here's the link for Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com

Once there, use the isbn ( 0615142761 ) or this name exactly: The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution. If you leave out the comma in 2,000, you probably won't be able to find the book.

In addition, Amazon.com will be offering a preview beginning in May. You can buy a digital version of Chapter One for only 49 cents through the Amazon Shorts program. Check it out!

Details of the book have also been sent to Amazon.com and should appear on the book's page in the next week or so.

You can also buy the book or a digital version at Lulu.com:

http://www.lulu.com/content/727157

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment.

For information, contact me at
ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com .

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell