When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
All service is sacred in the spiritual world. Our celestial associates appreciate our efforts because they know there is no such thing as menial work. One minor change in perspective can turn the necessary but mundane task into an exhilarating, even fascinating, experience. The key is in seeing the parts within the whole or the forest from the trees.
Good management always involves three main processes: The probative, the directive, and the perfective. These become cyclical once any initiative comes to life.
We think of the probative as the assessment phase. It involves questions such as: “Should we be doing this?” “What resources, both human and material, can be brought to bear?” and “How can we best convey our findings to those who will be engaged in planning?”
The directive includes developing and refining plans in light of prior findings. Working even the best of plans usually involves some amount of improvisation the first time through. This is why managers are often selected on the basis of “Who’s best qualified to wing it.” They also possess a core skill set that includes an understanding of team dynamics, attention to an appropriate level of detail, and effective communications.
Perfective phasing is also known as the Virtuous Cycle. This includes a debrief, a post-mortem of sorts. “What went well?” and “What didn’t go so well” are at the top of the list for questions asked. Individual team members are encouraged to share their experiences, to reach a deeper understanding of any lessons learned, in ways that might benefit the whole team as well as those who depend upon them.
The cycle then repeats as the assessors consider the lessons learned in light of any additional and available resources that may be of value.
Whether you jump on a shovel for a living, or manage a multi-national corporation, this assess, direct, and perfect routine can help you. It applies to self-discipline just as it does to corporate governance. Self-mastery is a pre-requisite to the effective management of others.
At the Aevia Institutes of Management, we believe that developing an Appreciation for the Enduring Value of Individual Advancement (AEVIA) also benefits the organization, the nation, and the world. That’s why our management curriculum has an initial focus on such basic skills as managing your time. Your first step in the successful pursuit of a management career begins here:

The teachings of Jesus, even though greatly modified, survived the mystery cults of their birthtime, the ignorance and superstition of the dark ages, and are even now slowly triumphing over the materialism, mechanism, and secularism of the twentieth century. And such times of great testing and threatened defeat are always times of great revelation.
Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.
The modern age will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with facts and out of harmony with its highest conceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness. The hour is striking for a rediscovery of the true and original foundations of present-day distorted and compromised Christianity — the real life and teachings of Jesus.
Primitive man lived a life of superstitious bondage to religious fear. Modern, civilized men dread the thought of falling under the dominance of strong religious convictions. Thinking man has always feared to be held by a religion. When a strong and moving religion threatens to dominate him, he invariably tries to rationalize, traditionalize, and institutionalize it, thereby hoping to gain control of it. By such procedure, even a revealed religion becomes man-made and man-dominated. Modern men and women of intelligence evade the religion of Jesus because of their fears of what it will do to them — and with them. And all such fears are well founded. The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.
Selfish men and women simply will not pay such a price for even the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered mortal man. Only when man has become sufficiently disillusioned by the sorrowful disappointments attendant upon the foolish and deceptive pursuits of selfishness, and subsequent to the discovery of the barrenness of formalized religion, will he be disposed to turn wholeheartedly to the gospel of the kingdom, the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.
The world needs more firsthand religion. Even Christianity — the best of the religions of the twentieth century — is not only a religion about Jesus, but it is so largely one which men experience secondhand. They take their religion wholly as handed down by their accepted religious teachers. What an awakening the world would experience if it could only see Jesus as he really lived on earth and know, firsthand, his life-giving teachings! Descriptive words of things beautiful cannot thrill like the sight thereof, neither can creedal words inspire men’s souls like the experience of knowing the presence of God. But expectant faith will ever keep the hope-door of man’s soul open for the entrance of the eternal spiritual realities of the divine values of the worlds beyond.
Christianity has dared to lower its ideals before the challenge of human greed, war-madness, and the lust for power; but the religion of Jesus stands as the unsullied and transcendent spiritual summons, calling to the best there is in man to rise above all these legacies of animal evolution and, by grace, attain the moral heights of true human destiny.
Christianity is threatened by slow death from formalism, overorganization, intellectualism, and other nonspiritual trends. The modern Christian church is not such a brotherhood of dynamic believers as Jesus commissioned continuously to effect the spiritual transformation of successive generations of mankind.
So-called Christianity has become a social and cultural movement as well as a religious belief and practice. The stream of modern Christianity drains many an ancient pagan swamp and many a barbarian morass; many olden cultural watersheds drain into this present-day cultural stream as well as the high Galilean tablelands which are supposed to be its exclusive source.
Consider the Source

7 Checkpoints Curriculum Strategy for Students is an intentional, systematic approach to discipleship focused on the content of discipleship. These seven student-specific principles are the irreducible minimum. The authors are convinced that these seven basic principles every student should understand, commit to memory and embrace before they leave the safety of their homes and youth ministries. These are the must know, can’t be without principles. They are not all that is important. But they are what are most important for students. They are as follows:

• Check point #1 – Authentic Faith

Principle – Can God be trusted that he will do what He has promised to do.
Critical question: Are our students trusting God with the critical areas of their lives?
Key passage – Proverbs 3:5-6

• Checkpoint #2 – Spiritual Discipline

Principle – When you see as God sees, you will do as God says.
Critical question – Are our students developing a consistent devotional prayer life.
Key passage – Romans 12:2

• Checkpoint #3 – Moral Boundaries

Principle – Purity paves the way to intimacy
Critical question – Are our students established and maintaining Godly moral boundaries?
Key passage – I Thessalonians 4:3-8

• Checkpoint #4 – Healthy Friendships

Principle – Your friends will determine the direction and quality of your life.
Critical question–Are our students establishing healthy friendships and avoiding unhealthy ones?
Key passage – Proverbs 13:20

• Checkpoint #5 – Wise Choices

Principle – Walk wisely
Critical question – Are our students making wise choices in every area of their lives?
Key passage – Ephesians 5:15-17

• Checkpoint #6 – Ultimate Authority

Principle – Maximum freedom is found under God’s authority.
Critical question – Are our students submitting to the authorities God has placed over them?
Key passage – Romans 13:1-2

• Checkpoint #7 – Others First

Principle – Consider others before yourself
Critical question – Are our students putting the needs of others ahead of their own?
Key passage – Philippians 2:3-11

Consider the Source

His was a positive influence. And as the world morns the loss of Stephen Covey we have highlighted his Seven Habits in the hope that you will make them your own. We highly recommend buying his book and digging a bit deeper into the qualities that have changed the lives of so many who value personal growth.
1) Be Proactive
As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. We have the independent will to make our own choices and decisions, and the responsibility (“the ability to respond”) to make the right choices. You have the freedom to choose your own fate and path, so having the independent will, imagination and self-awareness to make the right move makes you a proactive, and not a reactive, person.
2) Begin With The End In Mind
Mental visualization is extremely important. Covey says that all things are created twice: first, the mental conceptualization and visualization and a second physical, actual creation. Becoming your own creator means to plan and visualize what you’re going to do and what you’re setting out to accomplish and then go out and creating it. Identifying your personal statement and your principles will help.
3) Put First Things First
With your power of independent will, you can create the ending you want to have. Part of that comes with effective time management, starting with matters of importance. Then tasks should be completed based on urgency after you deal with all the important matters. If you deal with crises, pressing problems and deadline-driven projects first, your life will be a lot easier.
4) Think Win/Win
If you believe in a better way to accomplish goals that’s mutually beneficial to all sides, that’s a win/win situation. “All parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan,” Covey wrote. “One person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.” If you have integrity and maturity, there’s no reason win/win situations can’t happen all the time.
5) Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
If you’re a good listener and you take the time to understand a concept, it will help you convey your opinions, plans and goals to others. It starts with communication and strong listening skills, followed by diagnosing the situation and then communicating your solution to others.
6) Synergize
Synergistic communication, according to Covey, is “opening your mind and heart to new possibilities, new alternatives, new options.” This applies to the classroom, the business world and wherever you could apply openness and communication. It’s all about building cooperation and trust.
7) Sharpen The Saw
Sometimes you’re working so hard on the other six habits that you forget about re-energizing and renewing yourself to sharpen yourself for the tasks in front of you. Some sharpening techniques include exercise and nutrition, reading, planning and writing, service and empathy and commitment, study and meditation.

For those considering an in depth exploration of Positive Qualities, we also recommend the work of Jim Downs. His Positive Qualities Chart and the companion book are essential references. The Positive Qualities Company website gives an overview of the attributes embraced by Covey and others making the most of this life.
Consider the Source

Here we have not to do with the union of absorption, but with a union that grows out of reciprocal intercourse, a union of heart and will and intellect; and such a union is possible only between personal beings. Only the personality of God makes possible the union of communion with him.  —Albert C. Knudson (1930)

The religion of the spirit leaves you free to follow truth whithersoever it may take you. —Ernest Fremont Tittle (1928)

It has been said that modern civilization could not have been built upon any such foundation as the words of Jesus. That may be true. Quite imaginably it is also true that what could be built upon his words would be a better thing than modern civilization is. —W. R. Bowie (1928)

True religion exists only so far as “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” … It is not a special group of propositions but a special kind of insight and of trust. —John Baillie (1928)

When we recall what keen interest children take in all work with tools, how they follow eagerly each process, and what pleasure they derive from using chips, blocks, and shavings as playthings, we may be sure that however humble the carpenter’s shop of Joseph, it afforded inexhaustible delight to the child Jesus and his playmates. —George A. Barton (1922)