Goals – Vic Clevenger

Category: Goals

The Chimney Cartel – A place of purpose

Like many school age kids, I hated school. At least this is what I told people when the subject came up. But in reality, I enjoyed many aspects of school. I enjoyed going to school although I didn’t appreciate the time I had to get up to get there. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and the fun we had, I even enjoyed some of my teachers along with the classes they taught. I enjoyed English class even when we had to diagram sentences or read a literature piece in front of class. I enjoyed my shop class, small engine repair and auto mechanics classes, where I got my hands on something to work with. I even like the reading assignments where I had to read McBeth, not to mention being introduced to Poe and Hemingway.

However, in school I learned so much more than just the “Three R’s.” I learned to get goals accomplished it begins by rising early. I learned how to interact with my peers as well as my superiors (my teachers). Looking back I can see the course of my career was being laid out early on because what I enjoyed is still what I do today, like writing (thus this blog), reading and speaking. As I’ve gotten order I’ve taken a side road here and there on my life’s journey but it I always find my way back to writing, teaching, and speaking. Which brings me to the Chimney Cartel.

A Place to Teach

I’ve been fortunate learn cooking from the school of Mom’s kitchen as well as hang out with world champion Pitmasters. They have taken me in teaching me tricks and tips elevating my skills to a whole different level. This has allowed me to win more contests (finishing Top 10 at the World Food Championships) and more food fans in my neighborhood when I have a dinner party. So when I began the Chimney Cartel as a joke, I soon began to realize this could be a place where cooks can me a mentor to others. So now days, I take the time to teach others how they can be a better cook in their sphere of influence.

A Place to Learn

A great teacher never knows it all but always seeks to try. What this quote is alluding to is in order to be a better teacher, you never stop being a student. I was watching a buddy of mine the other day teach a class on prepping ribs and just when I thought I was doing ok wit this piece of meat, Eric taught me something new. Sometimes what you learn is small or it can be life changing. Another aspect I decided would be a part of the Chimney Cartel would be learning. Not only are tips and tricks shared but questions can also be asked without feeling stupid. In my years of teaching this is the one constant, students are afraid of asking a stupid question. In the Chimney Cartel, when it comes to wanting to learn, there are no stupid questions.

A Place to Have Fun

The one thing I remember about school is the fun I had being there. Don’t get me wrong, some of the classes where soooo boring and when I would get in trouble, this wasn’t much fun. But overall, I had a blast at school. I enjoyed some of my classes but most of all I enjoyed hanging out with my friends telling stories, skipping an occasional class and the football games. This is the what I am hoping the Chimney Cartel becomes as well. A place where it’s fun when we hang out not only at competitions but even here in the cyber world. If anyone knows anything about me is, if I’m not having fun doing something, I don’t want to do it. This is not the case with the Chimney Cartel, this is the place we all can joke and enjoy our common ground, cooking especially over a live fire.

This once a joke of a title will now have purpose as we seek to teach and learn from one another all while having a blast doing it.

Chasing the Lion – Part 1

October 7, 2018 / jvc5368 / 0 Comments

The other week while sitting in church our preacher quoted a verse of Scripture which intrigued me quite a bit. It was a story, within a larger story, but not a lot of detail was given. I guess it was more of a character story to impress upon the reader what kind of guy Benaiah was as he was listed among King David’s Mighty Men. Here is the verse I’m talking about – Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it (2 Samuel 23:20 -21). See what I mean? Did it capture your attention like it did mine? Let me help you with why I was caught by this.

The first thing was, he chased a lion! WOW! This is impressive, but why? Why would he chase a lion? Growing up in Kentucky I would spend all summer playing in the woods behind my house. On one of those summer days I remember climbing a tree and noticed a snake climbing the limbs just beyond me (probably dropped by a bird is my thought). Being who I am, I climbed the tree faster chasing that snake to catch it. Just as I reached for it, the snake lost its grip and fell to the ground. I know why I was chasing it but a little snake is a far cry from a lion. But why was Benaiah chasing this beast? We don’t know but I’m sure it wasn’t because he was just playing in the woods with nothing better to do. However, if one is going to chase a lion they should have a purpose for it.

You don’t face a challenge like a lion with no purpose for it. We all have some lion in our lives and for this article, this lion of ours is our dreams, passions and what we want to be when we grow up. Perhaps this lion was eating travelers or was preventing the advancement of a plan but regardless of the why, he found his purpose in this moment and was able take the steps necessary to accomplish what he set out to do. Look at your situation and discover your purpose in this moment. Some purposes are temporary while others are long term but both are life changing.

Did you notice he chased the lion? Yep, that’s a weird one, unless your Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, but something tells me the lion in our story wasn’t of the cowardly and singing type. Once Benaiah found the purpose, he chased after it. He didn’t wait for it to come to him or for someone to lead him to it. He chased after it and did not let up until he caught it. If you are looking to accomplish anything, large or small, then you must chase after it regardless of the obstacles in your way (which we’ll discuss in our next blog). Whether you want to be a caterer, writer or comedian (your purpose) you have to decide if you have the gumption to chase that purpose. But lest you think it’s easy, there where obstacles, which brings us to next week’s blog. Work on your purpose for this week and make your preparations to chase it.

Lead With Your Left

June 18, 2018 / jvc5368 / 0 Comments

With Dad and Elisabeth at her graduation

With Dad and Rebecca at Bass Pro Shops

Yesterday was Father’s Day and what a difference it is than Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is full of flowers, diamonds and dinner she didn’t have to cook. Then you have Father’s Day where there’s no flowers, no diamonds and most of the time dinner is cooked by Dad, himself. Now usually they are nice big steaks and he does a way better job anyway. However, if the kids decide to surprise him by going to his favorite restaurant they encourage him to get whatever he wants on the menu. Which he does because he knows his favorite people are going to pay for it with his credit card and he doesn’t mind at all.

However, when you celebrate Dad you can’t help but think about all he has done for you as you grew up. The stories of how he walked to school uphill both ways in the snow even during summer permeated my childhood. Truth be told, my dad grew up where I grew up in eastern Kentucky and there are a lot of hills there. He ran those hills all summer long mostly without shoes. So he taught me to tell great stories to my kids as grew and continue as the occasion warrants. He took me and my brother fishing at Grayson Lake when one of the coolest things happened. 20 or 30 yards out a snake was swimming along when we made a bet that Dad couldn’t hit the snake with a rock. Well not only did he hit but the rock hit the snake square on the head.

If your childhood was like my childhood you helped your dad work on the family car a lot. Replacing spark plugs, changing the oil and if you’re my age you can remember helping to adjust the headlights so they didn’t shine up at a tree instead of the road at night. Also if your childhood was like mine, your helping work on the family car was more about holding the flashlight steady. We had to put a deck on the back of the house and I was finally allowed to help. I got to hammer, haul lumber and paint. Come to think of it, this helping dad work on something wasn’t really that much fun. I take that back, it really is one of my fondest memories even if I did jam a nail into my foot jumping off.

Then there was the one thing most dads teach their boys, lead with your left. He didn’t want me picking fights or being a bully but he did want to make sure his boys knew how to handle themselves if the need arose. For me, it arose a little more than the average kid and I remembered those words, “Lead with your left.” I enjoyed this so much I joined the boys club and took up boxing but this is not what my dad intended because he knew my competitive spirit. He just wanted me to be able to handle myself, lead with my left.

One of my questions I asked my dad was why lead with the left when my right arm is dominant? The left is me weakest but it still serves a purpose. It would keep my opponent at arm’s length setting them up for the knockout punch. When you’re in a fight like this you will probably land more punches with the weakest hand but this doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. Now it won’t ever be as effective as your right hand but is still an asset in getting the job done.

In their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton wrote about our weakness never being our strengths. They write about us putting so much effort into our weaknesses trying to make strengths which they’ll never be. So their premise is let your weaknesses be just that and focus your attention on improving your strengths making them stronger. However, I contend and I think Buckingham & Clifton would agree, work on your weaknesses to make them stronger so they will actually accent or aid your strengths. The greatest of all boxers was nothing without leading with their left.

Dreams, Goals and Aspirations – Part 2

June 11, 2018 / jvc5368 / 0 Comments

Teaching at the NBBQA in Ft. Worth, TX

I loved being a kid with all the adventures which comes with it and I had several. On more than one particular Saturday, I climbed trees and lurked through the woods like Tarzan. If only I had vines and a monkey to live in a tree house. Mom said I wasn’t allowed to pretend my little brother was my monkey. There are pictures of me with a cowboy hat and a pair of six shooters just like the Lone Ranger wore. The Lone Ranger with his sidekick was a superhero to me and I would dream of riding the west with him placing the bad guys behind bars then quietly slip away.

As I grew older fishing began to fuel my passions and I still love to go wet a line whenever I can. For Christmas and my birthdays gifts revolved around fishing. Subscriptions to fishing magazines, tackle fishing poles and more saturated my wish lists. My brother and I subscribed to Bass Pro Shop catalogs devouring what they had to offer. We dreamed of fishing on the big circuit with our heroes, Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin (two of whom I’ve met). We even tried saving money to buy our very own Bass boat. Do you know how many quarts of blackberries you would have to pick and sell?

Then career thinking began to form in my head because every time I’d turn around an adult would ask me the question, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” I honestly didn’t know but what I did know is I enjoyed being on stage with no problem with people looking at me. Back in the day it was called, “Being a Ham.” So what can I do with what skills I have? I’m a talker. I’m a teacher. Well, the teacher part came later of sorts but talking, I had that down pat. Maybe at the time I was a diamond in the rough but I did know I could stand in front of people at talk.

With each year the dream of being a talker has taken many forms. A preacher, college professor, corporate speaker and comedian each having their own challenges as well as joys. But this dream continues to evolve but the core remains and that is one of being a talker. Now I’m wrapping up food, specifically BBQ, into this aspiration of being a great talker, teacher and writer. The question still remains, however, “Why do dreams change?” The simple answer is I get older and my interest continue to evolve.

Looking for my place in this world using my passions to make a difference and leave a legacy has steered me to where I am right now. Years of speaking, writing while dabbling in a little cooking has brought me this point where I want to bring a message to people using food. Robert Frost talked about a road less taken and this is where I find myself on this day. The Lone Ranger me of years gone by never had a clue the Lone Ranger me of today would be where I am. Nevertheless, I’m here because as I got older my dreams, goals and aspirations have change. Remember our example last week, Danica Patrick, with all the changes she has gone through in a year? She gained maturity and with that came a change in her dreams, goals and aspirations so do not be afraid if yours do the same.

Dreams, Goals and Aspirations

June 4, 2018 / jvc5368 / 0 Comments

Dreams, Goals and Aspirations come with their challenges. Much like pioneers had when trying to cross the Grand Canyon

Dean Martin is credited to have said something to the affect, “Dreams are for lazy people. I don’t have time to dream, I need to get out and work to achieve what I want.” However, as we look to what we want out of a career, hobby and live in general, we’ll use the terms in the title almost like synonyms. Perhaps they are, but regardless of that, if you want to achieve whatever you call it, you’re going to have to get out there and work for it. But don’t be surprised if while chasing one, you find yourself following the path toward another, sometimes leaving the other behind.

One glaring example of this is race car driver, Danica Patrick. I say race car driver because it’s how most of us recognize her. This year though she walked away from it all to pursue other aspirations which in my opinion wouldn’t have been possible without the race cars. She spent many years pursuing this dream, which will undoubtedly land her in racing hall of fames for a number of reasons. Only woman to lead an Indy 500, get the pole at the Daytona 500, win an Indy race just to name a couple. Because of this she broke stereotypes and was an inspiration for many young girls many of whom may not even follow racing but they know her.

Some may remember her from her early racing days as the GoDaddy girl. As beautiful and fit as she was (and still is) it was her charisma which projected her from the TV screen into our living rooms leading us to GoDaddy to build our websites. It was probably a part of her contractual agreement as they sponsored a big chunk of her racing but it didn’t matter, they saw her modeling value. I’ll venture to say it became a dream of hers to be a world class model as well as an athlete which furthered the brand of “Danica.” She popped up everywhere as a model who knew what she wanted and got it but it’s changed somewhat now. We still see model Danica but not as much and not the same way.

If you’re like me, you follow her on social media and have noticed the transformation of her dreams. This year with the running of the two biggest races, the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, she said good-bye to her racing dream. I had just mentioned we don’t see her modeling in the same way either, perhaps she’s even winding that down to pursue her new dreams, goals and aspirations. She is now business mogul Danica Patrick. Her Instagram is full of her exercising every single day when I struggle to make it to the gym three days a week. As I watched her through Instagram she began to post her balancing handstand challenges, which now represents the struggles of achieving a life balance. As she worked and worked to achieve this goal, I noticed there began to be less and less racetrack talk in her posts. Looking back on this, it’s as clear as day but in the moment I didn’t realize her dreams, goals and aspirations where changing. She may not have even noticed it but it has taught me a huge lesson. A lesson we all know and have espoused ourselves but may not have even caught on until now. The lesson? Things change.

Pretty simple, huh? Danica is that phrase, in a positive and inspirational way. She has shown us not only do things change, but Dreams, Goals and Aspirations can be those things which change. Even modifications to the original dreams, goals and aspirations is still a change. What I would like to do over the next few weeks is to examine together why they change. The answers can be somewhat simple while others may be a little more complicated (but rest assured not too complicated, remember who’s writing this). Regardless of what we find out I hope its insightful and helpful as your Dreams, Goals and Aspirations continue to evolve. So stay tuned to the Monday Morning Blogs as we discover more together.