11 Cornerstones to Help You Move Forward in Life
Are you ready to move on and move forward with your life? It's time to let go of the past and make the future brighter than today. The Big Day offers keys and free resources for your journey to freedom and success! The "11 Cornerstones" are relevant for everyone looking to better themselves and their quality of life.
Imagine the first five Cornerstones as the vehicle you use to move forward in life. Cornerstones 6 through 11 relate to the fuel that fills up your vehicle.
Contrary to the 8 Areas of your life, the 11 Cornerstones listed below are in order of importance:
- Cornerstone 1: Your Alignments
- Cornerstone 2: Your Plan
- Cornerstone 3: Your Thinking
- Cornerstone 4: Your Disciplines
- Cornerstone 5: Your Attitude
- Cornerstone 6: Your Systems
- Cornerstone 7: Your Resolve
- Cornerstone 8: Your Accountability
- Cornerstone 9: The 8 Areas of Your Life
- Cornerstone 10: Your Work Ethic
- Cornerstone 11: Thankfulness
Where Is Your Life Headed?
Let’s say we are all going to take a trip to a particular destination. In fact, let’s say that this trip is a type and shadow of our life journey. In other words, the destination is where we’re headed in life. We will need a means of transportation in order to get to our destination. We can choose the vehicle we want to travel in, but we must remember: the quality and length of the journey depends on the condition of the vehicle we choose to use. Not only that, but we need to make sure we know how to get to the desired destination. Otherwise, we'll end up somewhere unexpected. (Should have asked for directions!)
I would say that life is a journey constantly in motion, always going somewhere, whether we like where it’s going or not. I think we can all agree with that.
We Choose How We Move Forward
The great news is, we as human beings can choose which vehicle we want to travel in every single day of our lives. The exceptions are the situations beyond our control, which are also a natural part of life. I know we often think that we didn’t choose our own vehicle, and that life circumstances chose them for us. But in almost every case, we actually did have a choice.
How is this so? Moving forward (or backward!) in life often starts within us. We are the ones who choose what we think about, how disciplined we are, and what our attitude will be. We freely choose our alignments based on where we want to end up in life. And then we make plans of how we'll get there. Most of the time, we are the ones who choose how we move forward.
Cornerstones 1-5: Your Vehicle to Move Forward
Just as a vehicle is meant to move you forward, Cornerstones one through five describe the way your life is naturally progressing. This goes for the natural and the spiritual aspects of life. What I mean is that evaluating these five areas will tell you exactly how your life is going today—exceptional, good, fair, poor or the abyss. What type of vehicle are you traveling in? What is the condition of that vehicle, and in which direction is it headed? In other words, how is your life progressing?
Are You Able to Move Forward?
Let’s think about this a minute. What is the natural progression of not taking care of the car you drive every day? It will die on you. Not immediately, but it’s the natural progression of a thing. If I use my cell phone all day and don’t charge it, the natural progression is that it will run out of juice. On the other hand, if I work out regularly and eat right every day, the natural progression is that my body becomes healthier. The first five Cornerstones are a natural part of life and each one has their own natural progression.
You will naturally progress into what your alignments, plan, thinking, disciplines and attitude are. Whether or not you believe in the first five Cornerstones is immaterial. They are still consistently operating in everyone's life every single day. That's why it's critically important to go to work on these Cornerstones every day, starting today. I suggest that you memorize them and engrave them on your heart until it’s second-nature to travel in the right vehicle and move forward in the right direction.
Keep Going! Fuel Up with Cornerstones 6-11
We can easily take for granted how important a role that fuel plays in our everyday life. Have you ever thought about that? Everything that moves needs some kind of fuel or energy to keep it moving. The same goes for your life’s vehicle. How are you going to keep moving forward? The answer lies in Cornerstones six through eleven, but be aware of the quality of fuel you choose. Using bad fuel can contaminate your engine parts, causing your engine to sputter or even stop your car from running altogether. After you choose the vehicle, the type of fuel you use is everything.
The 11 Cornerstones are essential, strategic tools to help you reach your highest potential in life.
Take a moment to think of how you're investing into your own life. How are you already utilizing the 11 Cornerstones of life, and how could you grow in them?
The 11 Cornerstones are strategic tools that can support you when your life is upside-down. They are also solid strategies to get you on track to move forward again. Growing in them will prepare you for when you do face the storms of life, and they will certainly help you get through the storms. I would even go so far as to say that these Cornerstones can also alter the course of your journey and keep you from experiencing certain storms of life. It’s like taking preventative measures, since many of our storms are brought about by poor choices we made and poor disciplines to which we have been accustomed.
In many cases, there are no easy answers or simple solutions, but it's okay to start where you are today. God can help you where you are, and He always has a strategy that’s perfect just for you. I am convinced of that. Your best is yet to come!