From Seth Godin’s blog: “Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over.”

We hear people, and churches, say, “We already tried that before, and it didn’t work.” Are they referring to the goal, or the tactics for accomplishing that goal? If the goal remains worthy, just try different tactics to accomplish it. But don’t say, “We tried to accomplish that goal, and it didn’t work.”

That kid who beat me in the table tennis tournament on Saturday–if I played him again, I would definitely need different tactics.

One more note from Mark Cuban’s post about destiny, which I referred to Monday. He wrote:

The greatest obstacle to destiny is debt, both personal and financial. The more people you are obligated to, the harder it is to focus on yourself and figure things out….Financial debt is the ultimate dream killer. Your first house, car, whatever stuff you might want to buy are going to be the primary reasons you stop looking for what makes you the happiest.

A lotta truth there. I hear a lot about bright young people who feel called to missionary service, but college debts keep them tied to the States until they can pay down those debts. Meanwhile, their commitment to missions dissipates. Sad, sad.

Churches run into dream-killing debt issues with overly-ambitious building programs. The demands of debt create a constant distraction from the church’s mission. Way too much time at board meetings focuses on money issues.

But Cuban also mentions “personal” debts to “people you are obligated to.” Sometimes missionaries return from the field to care for an ailing parent; I can’t fault that. In a book I wrote about our missionary work in Honduras, I learned about an incredible missionary named Betty Brown who did just that.

But sometimes, the reason is that a parent isn’t on board with your missionary call, or can’t stand being separated, or whatever. They put up a fuss, and the missionary feels compelled to return (or not go in the first place). What would I do in such situations? Well, I don’t have to worry about that, because my parents would be thrilled if Pam and I became missionaries.

At any rate, Cuban’s words about personal and financial debts being dream-killers are well noted.

• Yesterday one of Pam’s tax clients brought her flowers. She said, “Today is the anniversary of my husband’s death seven years ago. On this day I always buy myself flowers, and I thought I’d get some for you, too.” Neat.
• I’m working feverishly on designing a new website. Incorporating a lot of social-media type of features. This stuff always energizes me.
• I kinda feel sorry for Hillary. She was the hands-down nominee, but got upended by a freak of nature, a historic phenomenon that happens rarely–the Obama express. She’s got the experience, the mastery of details, the connections, the money…but along comes this irresistible force.
• Karl Rove is pure evil. There are many evidences of it, the most recent being this situation involving the former Alabama governor who now sits in jail for seven years. Destroying people is a game for him. Without conscience.
• Just finished Marketing to the Social Web. A really good treatment of the Web 2.0 world.
• I love “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. They get all the stars, and more, that Don Imus once got in that same time slot. But without the crudeness.

I’ve not been following college basketball this year. I’ll watch the tournament–of course!!–but I’m not gonna bother doing brackets.