day 1422: What It Takes To Get Noticed

"When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

Most of us, at some point or another in our careers and our business, want to stand out from the rest of the crowd.  It could be as we launch a new product or service.  It could also be as we remake the branding of the company. Or individually, it could be when it is time for a promotion or reassignment to a new project.  But, what does it take to get noticed?  Some will say, "Just do what you do well and notice will come."  There is truth to that, but I would say that is a base requirement and that's not all of the answer.  We have to be willing to do something that moves us out of the throngs and into a place where we will be noticed.  It could be stepping forward and being the first at something.  It could be changing tactics to promote or market what we have created.  Or, it could be that we need to show extra effort, extra initiative and be the company or the person who goes beyond what is expected of us to delight who it is that counts on us. What is for sure that for whatever we desire or are working on, we need to have a plan that we can follow on how to gain notice of what it is that we are bringing forward.

Imagine the most well-known bad guy in town bringing public notice, recognition and exposure to himself? Hardly, right?  But, that's what the notorious tax collector Zacchaeus did when he climbed a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus.  What happened when he ran ahead of the crowd, found that tree and perched himself above the crowd?  He got noticed and Jesus called him by name, and then went on to dine with him that evening, in Zacchaeus' house of all places.  Jesus knows us all by name, and He is always here for us, but He is also teaching us that for Him, we should be willing to run in front of the crowd, make the effort to climb the tree, expose ourselves to see Him, and then be ready to hear our name and be invited to be with Him, where we are!  What crowd do we need to leave and get ahead of today?  What tree is there to be climbed?  Are we ready to do so this week?

Reference: Luke 19:5 (New Living Translation)

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day 1353: Going Out On The Limb

"Zacchaeus, come down at once, I must stay at your house today!"

Sometimes to get the recognition and notoriety that our brand or service requires, we have to be willing to go out on the limb to get people to take notice.  Whether or not this is smart or not, we find out when the limb holds us and causes others to look up, or the limb breaks and we fall.  We are in the age of being able to crawl out further and further because of the support of low cost technology and infrastructure support.  We can try small things, at low cost and if they work, continue them.  If they don't, then discontinue and look to the next idea.  Google and Amazon are the leaders in this.  It seems every month, they each offer something new and they climb a little further out on the limb.  Not all of their moves work, but lots do.  Their latest moves?  Google:  Google Express Shopping.  Amazon: Kindle Fire Streaming device.  We are looking up to both of these to see where they lead us next.  What are you offering that has you inching out further on the limb?

"Zacchaeus, come down at once, I must stay at your house today!", said Jesus.  Jesus would never have noticed the short chief tax collector had Zacchaeus been bold, inquisitive and courageous enough to climb the tree to see Jesus.  Did he do it see, or did he do it to be seen?  Either way, what we learn is that when we are willing to go out on the limb to look for Jesus, then he sees us, and calls us by name to join Him.  What limb do we have in front of us today at work, or at home that we might want to make a move out and towards Him?

Reference: Luke 19:5 (New Living Translation)

day 1287: Heat Seekers Are Still Out There!

"Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy."

Beyonce surprised everyone (well maybe Jay Z knew) with her new album last week.  With no marketing, no pre-hype build up, no leaks, no radio promotional copies, no early singles, she just released a full album with music videos prepared and all.  With her record breaking sales of 828,773 albums sold on itunes in the first 3 days, she proved that the heat seekers still are out there.  We think we need to prime the market to get the hard core fans the people who want what they can't get to be there first. Beyonce proves that the heat seekers, the ones who want it first, show up no matter when and how they hear about it. The PS4 and the XBox One both saw their heat seeking fans this holiday season too.  The videogame consoles have to tell everyone well ahead of time because they need the developers to be building games that will play on them when they are shipped, but I suspect that if everything could be kept under wraps (like Beyonce did with her music videos), that they too could prove that the heat seekers will always be there.  Do you know who your heat seekers are in your business?

How excited are we today to hear from Jesus?  Are we heat seekers of His?  Zacchaeus was willing to look like a fool, climbing a tree to just see Jesus!  Yet, we don't open up our Bibles daily or enter into conversation of prayer, or go to church on Sunday to hear what God has to say to us? We need to ask ourselves what has cooled us down in our seeking of God in our lives and see if we can't heat back up.  God needs more heat seekers for Him!  This is the time of the year to recommit and set our sights in 2014 on what really matters.  Being a heat seeker of Jesus should be at the top of our all our lists.

Reference: Luke 19:6 (New Living Translation)