Free The Mind Connection: How the Thoughts You Choose Affect Your Mood, Behavior, and Decisions by Joyce Meyer

not mine. At times I am headed somewhere and need to stay focused, when I am approached by someone who only needs “one second” of my time. Nobody ever needs one second, so it is best to ask the person to contact you later and stay focused. We cannot avoid all of these situations, but we can learn to manage them better if we truly want to focus on what our priority is.
    Try to get to your main priorities while your mind is fresh and not filled with too many other things. Since our thoughts are connected to all of our other feelings and decisions, it is best to keep them peaceful and calm rather than flying in ten different directions. We have only a certain amount of energy for any given day, and if we divide it among too many things, we end upgiving a weak effort at best to everything, instead of a focused and creative effort to a few things.
    When I woke up this morning, my main goal for the day was to work on my book. I had a goal of finishing a certain number of words by the end of the day if at all possible. I have had some difficulty getting started writing this morning, because I had to deal with about eight other things before I began. Could some of them have been avoided? If I am honest with you and myself, I have to admit they could have. I think one of the most difficult things for us to learn is how to divide what we really must do from the things that we just get caught up in, things we probably should have avoided. But with God’s help and some determination, we can do it!
    “The sooner the better” is my new catchphrase when it comes to working on my main goals for each day. Any successful person has to develop an ability to choose more important things over less important ones. They are not merely lucky people who don’t have interruptions in their life, but they have simply learned to make better choices. Let’s decide together to make the best choices every day and choose what is excellent and of the greatest value. Paul prayed this for the churches and I pray it for you…
    … that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value [recognizing the highest and the best…].
    Philippians 1:10

Think About It!
    • If you have a goal, something you truly want to accomplish, you will need to focus your thoughts, energies, and time toward it.
    • Find out what God has gifted you to do and give yourself wholeheartedly to it.
    • In order to stay focused in life, it’s important to reprioritize as you go.
    • You can’t do everything. Choose what is important to you and put your focus on that.
    • Discipline is the tool that God gives us to help us be who we say we want to be and do what we say we want to do.

CHAPTER 7
Would You Want to Be Friends with You?
    The only way to have a friend is to be one.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Our thoughts and attitudes affect our friendships in many ways. For example, a positive attitude attracts many friends, whereas someone who is negative may find themselves isolated and alone. Like the old saying goes, “You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”
    I doubt seriously that people who think and speak negatively are aware of how much their negativity affects their relationships with other people. To be honest, the only people who enjoy a negative person are people who are also negative. Anyone who is happy, or wants to be happy, will quickly discover that being with negative, sour people doesn’t help them attain or maintain joy. As a matter of fact, they can have a joy-draining effect on others.
    I have openly admitted that I spent many years as a very negative person. I have teasingly said that if I thought two positive thoughts in a row my brain would get into a cramp! I can look back and realize that during those years in my life I was lonelyand had very few friends. I had no idea why people didn’t like me, but I now know that my sour attitude was one of the reasons.
    My husband was, and is, very