Do you believe you can do it?
By · Comments“The human animal is only driven to the level that their belief system will allow”.
— Steve Siebold —
Have you ever been discouraged? Or saw someone achieve something amazing and think to yourself, “man I wish I could do that”? I know I sure have.
I recently watched the movie “Soul Surfer”. It is an amazing true story about a young woman who was a surfer and well on her way to being a pro. That is, until she lost her entire arm to a sudden shark attack. For the average surfer that would be the end of a career. And rightfully so. But not to the one who believed. She truly believed that she could surf again. And just as important, she had family and friends that believed that she could do it also.
We were created to be able to endure and accomplish incredible things. We all were. So the real question is, do we believe we can. I haven’t come face to face with a shark. But I did nearly loose my arm when nearly 1000 pounds of glass fell on me. My shoulder muscle was completely severed in half and my arm was almost ripped from my body. After several hours of surgery and well over 150 stitches, I was put back together. But the surgeon proceeded to tell me that I would loose a considerable amount of the use of my arm. I, like the young surfer, was young enough to believe anything is possible and that I would recover 100%. The doc said, 6 weeks to heal, 6+ weeks to rehabilitate, and as much as 25% use loss. The result was, 4 weeks to heal, 2 weeks self rehabilitation, 100% recovery. Doc was a bit surprised to say the least and said that if I had taken the easy slow road to recovery his estimation would have been likely the result.
So does that mean I’m special? No, I just simply believed it could be done and was willing to do the work. Do I believe in divine healing? Of course I do. And I also believe that we were designed in an amazing way with real purpose. And was surrounded by people who believed the same.
What am I saying? Our drive to achieve, endure, survive, and overcome is directly linked to what we ‘truly’ believe.
Mark 10:27
Discipline pushes champions past pain and punishment
By · Comments”It’s easier to activate yourself into good thinking than it is to think yourself into good action.”
— Bill Gove —
In some areas of my life discipline comes easy. For example, brushing my teeth every morning after the bowl of reasonably healthy cereal and 2% milk. Daily talks with the Lord throughout the day. Daily reading the Word. Telling my wife every day that I love her. Well, you get the picture. We all have things that we do every day that we believe are good for us. And, we probably have things that we are sure not to do each day that we feel would not be good for us. Anyway, those things we do each day, do they really represent discipline? Or, have we been doing them long enough that they are now habits?
Let’s be real, these things that we do easily because we’ve been doing them a while, they are habits. They are good things but they are habits. So let’s be careful that we don’t throw out a shoulder patting ourselves on the back for doing them.
Shifting gears, quite often I determine in my thinking that I am going to get back to a regular exercise. Then, when I do finally get on the elliptical or treadmill, I am quickly reminded why I hadn’t started doing that yet. The truth is, I am having a hard time converting desire into action. I know I need to. I know it’s good for me. And I really want to do it. The simple reality is that I have not been “disciplined” enough to push through the pain and suffering to the point that it becomes a habit again. They say that if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit. Well, even if it took a little longer, it’s worth it.
Let’s face it, if it’s easy, it doesn’t take discipline. But if it’s tough and it does take discipline, it’s bound to be worth the effort.
Now, the same thoughts can be applied to anything in life that should be done but is tough to do. It will take discipline to start and keep it going long enough to become a habit. But that’s what it takes to keep moving forward; to keep learning and growing; to become a champion. If all you do are the things that are already habits, you are just maintaining at best.
Be blessed.
Do you really believe in what you are putting out there?
By · Comments“What convinces is conviction. You must believe in the argument you are advancing.”
— Lyndon Johnson, US President —
If you are speaking a message, teaching a lesson, preaching a sermon, or leading a charge, and no body seems to believe or follow you, you might need to ask yourself this question: Do I really believe what I am putting out there?
If the answer is no or even not sure, you then need to ask why. The truth is that if you don’t believe the message you are putting out there, people just won’t follow you in that direction. But, if you do believe in what you are putting out there and do with conviction, people will likely follow. And when they do, remember that you have a great responsibility for your message or charge. So, make sure you check the moral compass before you blaze that trail.
If you do believe your message and feel good about your moral compass and still have difficulty getting people to listen, check your level of conviction in what your message is. It is possible to believe what your saying without having real conviction in it. Dig deep, try to remember why you began your journey to begin with. Find your passion and allow that to come through the message. Conviction becomes contagious. If you really believe it, there is a pretty good chance they will as well.
Be blessed and lead well.
Gotta get moving
By · CommentsEven if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers -
As an analytical, it is possible for me to get analysis paralysis. I know, you are totally surprised by that aren’t you. Well, it’s true. My wife will tell you that on some things I can research forever before finally making my decision. Take a TV for example. I researched LCD vs Plasma for months before I finally decided on the Plasma. (just my personal preference)
Anyway, a good friend of mine said I have a habit of …. Ready, aim, aim, aim, ….. aim some more, then fire if all is perfect and clear. He says, “just pull the trigger already, if it’s wrong we will fix it later.”
Although I thought my method was the “correct” method; you know, get that thing perfectly dialed in on the scope, check the wind and distance, calculate the rate of drop, etc., etc., I was typically over-analyzing. I had a hard time accepting the fact that he was wright. Take the TV for example, I ended up selecting the one that I originally thought of buying to begin with. I made my family miss out on 5 extra months of HD TV just because I wanted to make sure I picked the right one. What a knuckle head.
The reality is that if we get too bogged down in the details and don’t get things rolling we can get run over. Or, at the very least, get left behind, waving goodbye as the train rolls on down the tracks. So, what do we do about it? I’m glad you asked.
First, be diligent and do some homework. Then, trust both the results of your homework and your instincts. Finally, make the decision. Don’t get caught up second guessing all of that and find yourself going around the mountain over and over again. Doing that will only frustrate you and, more importantly, the people who count on you to make those decisions.
If you have done your homework and checked your instincts and you still aren’t sure, get some counsel from someone who has been there that you trust. Then, MAKE the decision. STOP second guessing. Get on the train, get in the drivers seat once-in-a-while and push the throttle down.
Yes you will make a mistake every now and then. But you would have made the mistake whether you ran around the mountain or not. Don’t worry too much about that, after all, part of your homework should be “have I been here before and what were the results”. Which means you likely won’t make the same mistake again.
So, get moving, and be blessed.
Measure twice cut once
By · Comments“Measure twice cut once”
— English Proverb —
Most of us have heard this saying many times but if not, it simply refers to double checking your measurements before you cut something to prevent wasting material. That makes sense doesn’t it? Especially if you cut something too short. Once you cut something you really can’t un-cut it. This is one of the most basic principles in manufacturing. If you do make a mistake you might be able to weld or epoxy or glue it back together but it will not be quite the same. If you work in the glass business you know that there is nothing you can do to glue it back together. Once it is cut, that’s it. No going back.
Ok, ok, I’ll get to the point. Once we say something we can’t un-say it, right. Sometimes we wish we could take it back but we can’t. Sure, we can apologize and we might be forgiven. We all need grace, but it has been said. And if the damage is severe the relationship might never be the same. So let’s employ that same principle to our speech. The tongue is often referred to as a sword. And it has the ability to destroy if not kept in check. It can also be referred to as a scalpel and be used as in instrument to bring healing. So let’s measure twice and cut once. Let’s double check our intents before speaking. Let’s use our speech to bring healing instead of pain. The only time to use the sword should be to defend the weak against the enemy.
How is your conscience
By · Comments “Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.”
— Josh Billings —
With the hustle and bustle of our busy lives we are frequently faced with decisions that will have lasting impact. Although emotion plays a part of the decision making process, reason also plays an important roll. Unfortunately both of them have flaws. I don’t know about you but if I make a decision based on emotion it usually turns out a little rough at the least. Somewhere along the way our conscience comes into play. I believe our conscience is a byproduct of our belief system which is the culmination of our reason, emotions, experiences, and influences through the years. All that being said, if we will listen to our reason, pay attention to our emotions, and balance it all against our conscience, we will make better and more effective decisions that we can live with.
Are you tough?
By · Comments “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”
— Gregory Peck —
When times get tough, you find out what you are made of. That is when your true character is revealed. It is also a time to find out what areas you need to work on but we’ll cover that another time.
For now I want to talk about what it means to be tough. Many will say that being tough is being stern, direct, aggressive, and being able to take tough news. I’ll have to say that those are good qualities to have and have their place at the right time. But, I would submit that there is a seldom recognized trait that requires real toughness. “Consistency”.
Consistency in a crisis is critical. It is easy to waiver or shift when the pressure is on. But staying consistent and steady under pressure takes real mental toughness. To keep your emotions under control so that you don’t create more problems in the wake of the disaster takes a stable and tough approach.
So, are you tough? Do you stand firm and unwaivering when you are accused? Do you keep your cool when things go wrong. Are you steady when someone lets you down? Or, does a different you come to the surface when these things happen?
Be tough, and be blessed.
Are you being coached?
By · Comments”Great coaching is helping people discover what they already know”.
- Bill Gove, 1912-2001 -
The greatest athletes in the world have coaches. One of my favorites, Jerry Rice, had a coach. Michael Jordan had a coach. Michael Phelps had a coach. Lance Armstrong had a coach. The list goes on.
Back to my favorite Jerry Rice. His former coaches and teammates are often asked what they thought of Jerry’s dedication to practice. All would talk about how dedicated he was and how hard he worked even during the off-season. Even with his high skill level and natural talent he worked hard. What I thought was very interesting, though, was the fact that his former coaches talk about how coachable he was. Jerry was a student first and athlete second. Typically, the great ones are all very coachable which basically means that they seek out people who can teach them something about the game that they don’t know and they will listen and put into practice what they learn. They never reach a point where they say, “that’s it, I know all I can know about what I do”. The great ones know that they can never know it all. There is always more to learn.
John Maxwell says that Teachability is one of the 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.
It’s true that a self motivated person can continue to grow. But at what pace? Is it taking much longer than expected? The fact is that we all need a little coaching from time to time; some help from someone who has been there and done that. We should be looking for people we can learn from. Please remember though, it’s better to give than to receive. Be ready to give of yourself. Be ready to serve in some capacity the person you seek to learn from. Chances are that person will learn something from you as well.
So get out there and get connected to people. Spend some time with someone who has been there and done that. Who knows, we just might learn something that will save us some serious headaches down the road.
Be Blessed
“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself — and be lenient to everybody else.”
- Henry Ward Beecher -
Of course there is a level of this that can be too much. That is the point you become self critical. An extreme in this area can be destructive and send you into a downward spiral. But that is usually the result of unrealistic standards. It’s when you put demands on yourself that aren’t humanly possible.
However, as a general rule, self discipline is very important to leadership. It is important to living a healthy life for that matter. If you are going to go the distance, self discipline is a primary tool. We all know that settling down and accepting status quo can sometimes be very tempting to do. Let’s be real. Sometimes we just want to coast. Sometimes we just want to kick back and take things as they come. I know I struggle with that from time to time. The problem with that is it can easily leave us with our self-check guard down. We can easily be a target for the complacency arrow and that is destructive. Getting rest at the right times is very important and we will talk about that later. For now we are talking about guarding ourselves against falling into the rut.
So, stay engaged. Be disciplined to doing what needs to be done even when nobody expects you to do it. Hold yourself to an achievable but high standard that stretches you. Know that you will make mistakes but don’t excuse them. Own them and work hard at correcting them. Don’t sit back and just say, “Oh well, I tried. That’s all anyone else would have done”. Dig deep, fix it, and move on.
The latter part of the quote talks about being lenient to everyone else. Another subject for later but it doesn’t mean let your team get away with everything. Accountability is still necessary, just don’t beat them up over every little thing.
Be blessed.
What are we thinking?
By · Comments “Of course we become what we think about. The question is, ‘Do we know what we are thinking about’?
— Steve Siebold —
My pastor once asked, “do you have to work at getting bad thoughts to come to your mind?” Of course the answer is no. The truth is we have to work at making sure we focus on good thoughts. Negative thinking kind of creeps up on us sometimes and if we don’t recognize them and push them out of our mind we can certainly find ourselves in a bit of a cloud and left unattended that can actually lead to depression.
You might say that negative things are just part of leading and that’s the way it is. Well that is true but how we think about and respond to those negative things is our choice. You might also ask what’s the big deal? I’ll get through it some how. Well you probably will. The question I ask is how many casualties will there be in the end. If we approach every thing with negative thought and speech we will have a terribly negative impact on our team and we might even loose them all together.
So it is imperative that we approach every situation with positive thinking and speech so that our team can have some confidence and hope in what is to come and will want to get behind you and help with the solutions.
And if you do find yourself in a struggle with negative thinking that you can’t seem to shake, talk to a trusted peer. Someone who can handle the fact that you are struggling and give you POSITIVE feedback and encouragement. Even if it means a swift kick in the pants, with love and respect of course.
Be blessed