Andy Andrews - The Butterfly Effect (How Your Life Matters)

THE
BUTTERFLY
EFFECT

HOW YOUR LIFE MATTERS

Copyright 2009 Simple Truths, LLC

Published by SimpleTruths, LLC
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Printed and bound in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-60810-028-6

01 WOZ 09

Dedicated to Doug and Julie Cassens,Mike and Lynn Jakubik, and Todd and Brenda Rainsberger.You are such an important part of our lives,yet it is through this amazing principlethat we even met!

Contents

N ot long ago, I finally told the story of when, at the age of twenty-three, homeless and scared, I was given guidance in a most unusual fashion by an old man named Jones. I remember completing the manuscript for The Noticer and being somewhat troubled by the fact that there were so many incredible moments with Jones that I hadnt been able to include. After all, hed done nothing less than change absolutely everything about my life and future. I neednt have worried. The conversation I am about to reveal deserved a book of its own anyway

With a little perspective, Jones said one day,
you can live a life of permanent purpose.

When I asked what he meant, the old man answered with a question. Do you sometimes find yourself unconsciously judging your actions by level of importance? I frowned a bit, not certain I understood. For instance, he continued, the time you spend with friends is important, but the time you spend with family, is more important. You might rank an hour fishing as very important, thirty minutes visiting a sick friend in the hospital much more important than the fishing, and a sixty second conversation with a convenience store clerk as not very important at all.

I nodded my understanding and he returned to his initial point. When you know that everything mattersthat every move counts as much as any otheryou will begin living a life of permanent purpose. A life of permanent purpose will make you a better parent, a better spouse and a more valuable friend. Your productivity and financial success will soar to new heights while the old days of uncertainty, doubt, and depression fade into the past.

Of course, that conversation with Jones changed me. But even more, it became the guiding force that produced the kind of speaker and author I have become. You see, I understand fully that my very value as an author and speaker must ultimately be judged by the success you achieve. And as I consult with companies or speak to organizations and teams, I am keenly aware that much of my clients (your) ability to succeed beyond imagination depends upon my ability to prove this very concept!

When a sales organization sees proof that casual conversations in town matter just as much as an arranged meeting with a major prospect

When the second string right-guard sees proof that his every action on and off the field, whether he plays or not, is as critical to the teams successful season as everything the starting quarterback does When a teenager sees and understands proof that every choice made in leisure today will affect the choices that will be available to him in more pressing times ahead

When one lives a life of permanent purpose, sales figures soar, team chemistry thrives and teenage decisions become wiser and more cautious. And these are just a few examples of what will happen Simply put, when we understand that every action matters, every result of our actions immediately improves!

In these pages, I know you will find hope and direction for yourself, but I am most excited that you will now be equipped to lead others to their own life of permanent purpose! My hope for our families, our places of worship, our businesses, our nation and our world is an incredible life of permanent purpose that can be achieved when at last we understand: Every move we make and every action we take, matters not just for us, but for all of us and for all time.

Andy Andrews
Orange Beach, Alabama

How
SIGNIFICANT
is my life?

Do I make a difference?
When I move
when I act
when I do something
does the universe notice?

DO
I REALLY
MATTER?

IN 1963,

Edward Lorenz presented a hypothesis to the New York Academy of Science. His theory, stated simply, was that:

A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet.

Lorenz and his ideas were literally laughed out of the conference. What he had proposed was ridiculous.

IT WAS PREPOSTEROUS.

BUT IT WAS FASCINATING!

Therefore, because of the ideas charm and intrigue, the so-called butterfly effect became a staple of science fiction, remaining for decades a combination of myth and legend spread only by comic books and bad movies.

So imagine the scientific communitys shock and surprise when, more than thirty years after the possibility was introduced, physics professors working from colleges and universities worldwide came to the conclusion that the butterfly effect was authentic, accurate, and viable.

Soon after, it was accorded the status of a law. Now known as The Law of Sensitive DependenceUpon Initial Conditions, this principle has proven to be a force encompassing more than mere butterfly wings.

Science has shown the butterfly effect to engage with the first movement of any form of matterincluding people.

Did you know

that there once existed a single man
who, more than a century ago,

MADE ONE MOVE

that still dramatically affects
how you live today?

He was a thirty-four year old schoolteacher, but on the hot, humid day of July 2, 1863, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was in the fight of his life.

A former professor of rhetoric from Bowd-win College in Maine, he was now a Colonel in the Union Army. Chamberlain stood at the far left edge of a group of eighty thousand men strung out in a line across fields and hills, stretching all the way to a little town called Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Earlier that day, a Colonel Vincent had placed Chamberlain and his men of the 20th Maine at the end of that line, saying,

Whatever you do,