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Tag: success

Don’t Strive For Success

November 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

In a culture that is bent on getting ahead and being the best and coming out on top, this is not a very popular idea. But if you hang with me for a bit hopefully you’ll come around and see things a little differently.

Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

At face value success isn’t really a bad thing. Actually there’s nothing really wrong with success in and of itself. Being successful simply means that we’ve done something the way it was expected of us.

But there’s a problem when success is our aim. When all we care about is success at all costs things go off the rails quickly. And just like a train that goes off its rails, when we go off the rails people get hurt. Innocent and unexpecting people get hurt.

When we strive for success it will quickly overcome us. Success isn’t the problem. We are the problem. When we let success become the driving force behind what we do, it quickly takes over. If you’re in it for yourself then success might take you a decent distance. But it will always have a ceiling. Success can only take you as far as your achievements allow.

I’d like to encourage a little different approach than mere success. Instead of success strive to be a person of value. The difference between striving for success and striving to be a person of value is that a person of success will never surpass their talent, but a person of value builds on the success and value of the rest of the team or organization.

Being a person of value means that you’re not just in it for yourself. Being a person of value means that even when you don’t succeed you still don’t fail because you maintained value for the team or organization.

Striving to be a person of value is something lacking in so many aspects of the world today. Instead of getting ahead at all costs, perhaps we could stop and find how we can add value to the group granting us an even better chance at long term success.

Mindset

May 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

There has been a lot of ink spilled in books and articles on the idea of changing your mindset. Some call it self help. Others call it mind over matter. Some think it’s the best advice ever while others think it’s all a bunch of hocus pocus superstition. But if you really take time to think about it, what you think about and how you think about it affects how you approach something.

There’s a quote attributed to Henry Ford that says whether you believe you can or you can’t, either way you’re right.

The idea here is that of a self promoting or defeating mindset. Yeah I know, sounds kind of wizardish at first. It sounds like saying if we think about something one way then it’s sure to happen that way? Kind of but not really.

Think about the last time you didn’t feel well. There are two ways to react when you’re not feeling 100%. No I’m not talking about death bed feeling bad. I’m referring to the crummy, I have a cold and don’t want to do anything kind of feeling. If you’ve ever had one of those feverish, tired, achy kind of moments, did you realize that the more you just laid around and thought about feeling crummy the worse you actually felt? Then when you had something to distract you and take your mind off of the crummy feeling, you almost felt normal for a moment? Yep that’s what Ford was getting at I think.

There is a really powerful thing that happens in our brain. When we don’t think we can do something and when that’s the focus of our attention, then we pretty much set ourselves up for failure.

I love to workout. I like to throw heavy weight around. So I’m not a big dude by any stretch and I’m not a powerlifter or anything like that. But once upon a time I maxed out my benchpress at 350lbs. And I remember the first time I tried it. I got all settled and grabbed the barbell then told myself there is no way you’re going to lift this. It is way too heavy. You weigh less than half this amount.

Guess what…I didn’t lift it. It was too heavy. The moral here is that we can convince ourselves that something is impossible or too much or too hard or whatever the case may be.

So what’s holding you back? What are you wanting to do that you just can’t accomplish? What is it that you have been dreading? If we follow the mindset shift analogy, then we can approach things a bit differently and actually make a real effort to get the job done. Be honest with yourself but don’t sell yourself short. Change your mindset and watch as the possibilities open up!

The One Thing

January 12, 2023 / / 1 Comment

In a book written by Gary Keller titled The One Thing, we are challenged in our fast paced, multitasking world to simply focus. The author challenges the idea of diversifying ourselves into so many areas that we are largely ineffective.

There are really three basic thoughts in this book as I see them:

  1. Focusing on the ONE thing is the best way to get done what needs done.
  2. You’re more successful when you do one thing well.
  3. Success happens most effectively ONE building block at a time.

If you’re a multitasker or one who likes to jump from idea to idea constantly, then this book might be a good one for you. The author asserts that the time it takes to change gears actually slows down our ability to be productive in life. Focusing however on ONE thing until it is complete is a far better approach to work, success and productivity.

I was reminded of the Debt Snowball approach by Dave Ramsey when I considered the ONE thing approach to life. If you’re unfamiliar, the Debt Snowball basically is focusing on one debt at a time until it’s gone, then taking what you put toward that debt and add it to the next smallest debt. Like a snowball rolling down a hill your power over the debt becomes greater over time as you collect more leverage against it. The same is true with our time and focus with regard to productivity.

I’d recommend reading through this one. I did this one as an audiobook and feel it worked fine in that media style. So if you have a drive ahead of you, pop this one in your book reader and give it a listen. Then look at what is distracting you from getting the real tasks done. Focus on one at a time until it’s completed, then add that time to the new task and snowball your way through your day ONE thing at a time.

Learn To Fail

May 5, 2022 / / 0 Comments

No one likes to fail. Well, I’m pretty sure no one does, but I guess there could be that rogue person who just longs to fail at everything they do. Still failing isn’t really all that fun. But, oddly enough, I’m a huge advocate for teaching people how to fail because I firmly believe that failure is the best teacher.

In a former life I was a church planter. That pretty much is a person who desires to see a church started in a given area so they start it from just a seed of a few people. There’s no land, not much money, no formalized group of people, and often not even a building. The goal is over time to build a team to help you build relationships and start a church. Well, as I was building my team to start this would be church, one of the first questions I’d ask people was are you willing to fail.

If a person isn’t willing to fail then they’re sure to never succeed.

I firmly believe if we don’t have a willingness to fail, fear will creep in to the point where we won’t ever really accomplish the things we’re setting out to accomplish. In other words, fear of failing will seize us from taking the necessary risks needed to move forward. This is true on so many levels in our personal and professional lives.

If we are afraid of dropping a weight on ourselves while weight lifting, then we won’t stretch ourselves to lift heavy. If we’re unwilling to fail in a race then we won’t ever run. If we’re not willing to miss out on the promotion, then we likely won’t even apply for the job. There are so many places where failure is critical for success! I know that sounds like a contradiction but think about it.

Ever hear of WD-40? Most people know that it stands for Water Displacer. But the 40 is often lost. It represents the 40th try before getting it right. That means he failed 39 times before coming up with the product he was really trying to make. Thirty-nine failures? Most people would have given up after the third failed attempt. But 39?!?!

You see failure, while it doesn’t teach us the right answer, it always narrows down the field of possibilities. Every failure shows us what not to do. The issue is that most of us don’t research our failures closely enough to find out why they failed.

I have failed more times than I can even count! I know that each failure gets me closer to the real answer. Our system in life doesn’t really allow for failure in many places in life but I think a good leader will give his/her people the freedom to fail. When we teach people how to fail, we truly empower them to succeed.

One last illustration on failure. I can remember vividly learning how to ride a bicycle. I did the training wheel thing for a time but eventually I needed to learn how to balance without those extra (ugly) wheel additions. So my dad held my bike and ran with me as long as he could. But eventually he had to let go. In letting go he enabled me to fail. He was pretty sure that I’d fall but it was in falling off my bike that I learned how important balance really was. If I didn’t fall off my bike (read fail), then I would never have realized how important it is to not look behind you constantly to see if your dad is still holding the seat.

Failure is critical to any area of success. Until we’re able to embrace the failures in life, we’ll never experience the true success of which we’re capable.

Formula For Success

August 31, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Who doesn’t want to be successful? Some of you will put on your humble pants and step onto your soapbox, start wagging your finger and pointing out how this idea of successful living isn’t appropriate for a follower of Christ.  Put the finger away. Calm down. Listen up. I know this sounds a little self-serving and even completely contrary to what you would normally expect to read from a pastor, but hear me out. This week at Living Word Galena we’re talking how to be successful.  Continue reading

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