What You See Is What You Get

As a leader you will always find your current team, circumstance, assignment, or organization as you saw your last one.

There was an old man walking from one town to the next on dirt road & a young man entering the town the old man just left asked him, “How do you find the people in the town you’re leaving?” The old man asked, “How did you find the people in the town you just left?” The young man replied, “Mean, angry, thieves, complainers, selfish, & good for nothing.” The old man responded, “You will find the ones in this town just the same.”

Your perspective is either your greatest asset or your greatest enemy. If you are constantly telling people what they are not good at, exploiting all their faults, & exposing their flaws then don’t ever expect them to rise to a higher standard. Leaders have to learn to constantly call out who their team can be, not just harp on how they are acting now. Leaders set a higher standard for their team, communicate their belief in their team to rise to it, & walk with them there.

Leaders take responsibility for their perspective & recognize that their perspective will drastically impact the outcome of their organization. If something is not happening in the organization, the leader immediately looks at himself or herself. As John Maxwell says, “Everything rises & falls on leadership.” True leaders will never shift blame upon their team, staff, or employees for the organization not being where they want it to be, they always look at themselves first.

You are the common denominator in every town, relationship, job, team, church, & place you go in the world. If you want to see your team grow then start with you. Your team will most often rise to how you see them just as you will most often rise to how you see yourself. If you want to see growth, transformation, & more productivity, check how you are seeing things now. What you see is what you get so start seeing more, better, & greater.

Let’s Do This Together
How do you view your organization, church, team, or relationships? Where have you been shifting blame on others? In what areas do you need to change your perspective?

Would You Hire You?

If you were a CEO, founder, boss, or manager of a company would you hire you? 

Stepping back & evaluating your habits would you be someone that you would want on your team? After dissecting your heart & thoughts, scrutinizing your work ethic, & analyzing your willingness to work for the betterment of your company, church, organization, etc. would you still give you a job?

It’s funny, many times I hear people complain about why their organization is horribly run & how their bosses could do things different, but I rarely hear them share how they can change to better the company or support their boss. I don’t know about you, but I would not want to hire someone who is constantly pointing out the faults of their organization or leaders. I want people who are solution-oriented, support prone, & team focused.

At work you have to recognize that you either contribute to the growth & betterment of the work culture or you cause it to become destructive. There is only one person you have complete control over, one person that you can make better, you! If you want to see things change on your job then start with you.

Do you cut corners when no one is watching? Do you immediately complain or seek a solution? Are you doing the minimal or are you causing things to excel?

What you do as an employee you will do as a manager. With the degree that you serve as an employee you will be served as a leader. You are perpetuating and replicating something right now, what is it? You have to learn to do now what you would want people to do if you were a leader; to support, serve, encourage, & help your leaders the way you would want someone to support, serve, encourage & help you.

If you want a positive environment at work then let it start with you. If you want better communication then let it start with you. If you want more support then start by giving more support to your leaders & team.

You will replicate what you perpetuate. 

How you work now is setting the pattern for all those who follow & will follow your example. Stop blaming, waiting for everyone else to change, & expecting your organization to figure it out, become the person that you would want to hire.

Let’s Do This Together

How often do you complain about your boss, organization, or team? Where can you change to better your organization? Do you intentionally seek to support your leadership & better your organization? If not, how can you?

Is God's Will Really Good For Me?

As hopeful as I am, I have realized there are areas in my life where disillusionment has kept me from rigorously reaching God’s fullness. You know what I’m talking about right? The times where you have believed for change, contented for transformation, expected healing, or had faith for movement, but nothing seemed to happen. It is as Solomon shared, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” (Proverbs 13:12). Many times I have chalked it up to, “It must not have really been God’s will for it to happen.” But is that really the truth?

 

My pastor & spiritual father, Benjamin Robinson, challenged me this week by sharing how Christians often refer to the will of God as a default. If something great happens then it was because you made it happen or had enough faith, but if you are expecting God to do something & it doesn’t happen then you just say it was not God’s will. God’s will is often spoke of in a way that is ‘less than.’

The will of God is often seen as something that needs to be endured, rather than something that is pleasurable, good, exciting, & profitable. When you view God’s will this way you are positioning yourself either for glorifying your efforts to make something good happen, settling for something that may be less than God & blaming it on God, or priming your heart disillusionment. You may be settling for something that has nothing to do with God!

When Jesus was in the garden preparing for the cross He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done,” (Luke 22:42). This was not Jesus saying that God’s will was unpleasant, powerless, or less than good; it wasn’t just something Jesus saw as He had to endure. He was praying for the greatest manifestation of God’s goodness & power to be revealed. Jesus could have called down legions of angels to His defense, but if that was not the Father’s will then He didn’t want it. Jesus was coming in line with the Father’s heart, recognizing that it took more power for Him to remain on the cross, to allow Himself to suffer, then it would to call down angels.

God’s will is a powerful thing & it is a good thing; not just good for Him, but good for you too! Matter of fact, Paul tells us that, “it is God who works in to will and act in you according to His good purpose,” (Philippians 2:13). God’s will is that His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:9-10). In heaven there is no sickness, anxiety, fear, demon oppression, sorrow, poverty, or division. You can’t allow your experience or lack of experience to keep you from believing, contending, & reaching for the fullness of God’s will to manifest in your life; God’s will is good, pleasing, & perfect & He desires you to know it in every area of our life (Romans 12:2).

Let’s Do This Together

Where in your life have you been disillusioned because something you believed for didn’t happen? In what areas of your life do you see the will of God as less than: finances, family, work, healing, etc.? What does the kingdom of God look like in those areas?

Fighting For Your Relationships

Have you ever walked away from a relationship because it seemed too hard to remain in?

Growing up in a culture of convenience & individualism has its perks, but I think it also has some major consequences, especially in the area of relationships. Some great things about convenience are it makes things easy, it can diminish toil, & it brings about great access to things. Some great things about individualism are that it brings about a sense of independence, uniqueness, & personal value. However, these great gifts can also become great weapons of relational destruction.

When you look at your relationships, what happens when it does not seem convenient to be somebody’s friend or spouse anymore? What happens when it is no longer easy to talk through things or work through things? You can allow convenience & individualism to condition us so much in relationships that we end up walk away from them because it is “too much work” to remain in them.

Sometimes in your relationships you can be so focused on being ‘you’ that you are not willing to bend, change, or compromise for the sake of the relationship. Of course this can be taken to an extreme in which someone losses their sense of self for the sake of compromise, but more often than not I have seen the opposite. For the sake of guarding your individualism you are not willing to change your position & the relationship seems inevitability over.

Regardless if they are friendships, dating, working, team, ministry, or marriage relationships, they take work. Relationships are not always convenient. Sometimes you need to rearrange your schedule, stay up later than you want too in order to talk through something, keep calling when the person doesn’t return your call, or make the drive even when it is far.

Every relationship that you are in will help to shape your life if you allow it. If fact, to cut certain relationships out of your life will only result in stunting your growth & losing something that is of great benefit to you. When you hit a rough patch in a relationship in the short term it is usually easier to just cut it off, but in the long run you are only perpetuating a pattern of unhealthy abandonment. When the going gets tough that when it is time to remember the value of that relationship & why it is worth the fight.

You have to recapture the value of relationship. God has made you for healthy, loving, challenging, & fruitful relationship. Your relationships are valuable, necessary, & essential for your growth as individuals. God uses relationships to reveal more of Himself to you & to reveal more of you to yourself. It’s time to fight for your relationships, work through the hurt, forgive, determine to understand, be willing to compromise, be willing to take a stand, & be willing to grow together regardless of how hard it may be.

Let’s Do This Together

Is it easy for you to walk away from relationships? If so, why? What relationships do you need to learn to fight for?

Are You Broke or Poor?

Do you realize there is a difference of being financially broke & poor? There is a difference from not having any money compared to thinking you will never be financially secure. When we look at our lives & money we tend to only look at it in terms of amount, but the reality is that beneath the amount there is something way more powerful driving our lives, it is our mentality.

When you are broke it means you don’t have any financial resources; your pockets are empty & the only things that live in your bank accounts are crickets. When you’re broke you are living pay check to pay check, your savings account has it’s “vacancy” sign buzzing, & you can’t rub two quarters together. But, when you are broke you still may have something in you that never says die, a drive that keeps you envisioning for a better tomorrow.

However, when you’re poor you have allowed yourself to seep into a mentality that is never satisfied, fulfilled, & always in lack. Of course there are systemic things that contribute to poverty, but someone can be financially broke without ever entering into a poverty mentality. A poverty mentality is always a victim mentality; no matter how much it receives, the poverty mentality can never envision beyond the experience of lack.

Here are a couple ways to identify if you are experiencing being broke or if you are possessing a poverty mentality:

Being Broke:

1.      You don’t constantly lack, but at this time you don’t have resources you need.

2.      You are living pay check to pay check, but only because you haven’t made good financial decisions.

3.      You are constantly envisioning for ways to move forward & you are acting on them.

4.      You don’t have resources, but you are making efforts to increase your resources in a healthy way.

5.      You have not yet developed the skills & habits of good spending, saving, giving, & investing, but you are working towards it.

Being Poor:

1.      No matter how much you are given you spend it immediately or hoard it because you don’t know if you will ever have it again.

2.      You don’t see any end to your financial woes.

3.      You have no plan for your financial future & you don’t want to set one because you think things can never change.

4.      You constantly blame the system & people for holding you down & not giving you opportunities.

5.      You have no desire to develop the skills & habits of good spending, saving, giving, & investing because you don’t see yourself being out of where you are; you don’t think those things are possible or needed for you.

The first step to truly being financially free, getting out of debt, & walking in God’s fullness for your life in the area of finances is recognizing where you are & where you will end up if you keep going the route your going now. You have to be real with how you think & what you believe about finances. You can never come out of poverty if you don’t realize that you are in it in your heart or mind because poverty is not a financial issue, it is a heart & mind issue.

Let’s Do This Together

In what areas are you experiencing being broke or poor? What ways of thinking need to change in order for you to move toward financial freedom?

*Finances Fridays #2

Attention: You Have A Spouse, Did You Forget?

Honestly, I can’t tell you how many times I have hurt my wife because I have not given her the attention she is worth. Trust me, I don’t say this as a good thing, but as a confession of long desired growth. Your spouse is one of the greatest gifts from God that you will ever know or experience; do you treat him or her that way?

It is so easy to get preoccupied with the things of life that we forget the one we at one time could not live without. You know how it is right? When you get all excited about a new iphone, hobby, show, or even job & you are giving more attention to that thing than your spouse.

If we were to be honest this happens most often in the small things. If we were to look at our lives we would in no way think that we are giving more attention to TV, shopping, or sports than our spouse. But, how about in the little day to day things?

I’m sure this never happens to any of you, but I’m starting to punch myself every time my wife says, “Babe, can you look up at me from that computer?” Or, “How you going to just walk right pass me when you first come home?” The neglect happens when you get ready for bed & before your wife could say, “Goodnight,” you are already drooling on your pillow. It happens when your husband wants to share something exciting about his day, but you’re too ‘busy’ watching a show. The neglect happens in the small things & those small things add up.

Now before you write off your spouse for just being needy or before you shame yourself to death, know that both you & your spouse are worth attention & you can give it. Every fruitful relationship takes intentional care, effort, time, & attention. You can have a great marriage, where you both know you’re valued & loved. If you want a better marriage you can choose to make time for your spouse & give her or him the attention she or he is worth.

Here are some quick tips for giving your spouse 

the attention he or she is worth:

1.      When your spouse walks in the room after work stop what you are doing & loving greet her.

2.      When your spouse wakes up in the morning give her a kiss & tell her how thankful you are to have her.

3.      When your spouse does something you ask immediately acknowledge it with a loving thank you.

4.      Plan to have at least 10 -15 minutes to talk before you go to bed.

5.      If you are on the phone with a friend & your spouse asks to speak with you tell your friend you will call him back & talk with your spouse.

6.      Look up from the computer when your spouse walks in the room; your work, facebook, or email can wait.

7.      Plan something weekly that you two do together for at least 30 minutes with no distractions.

Let’s Do This Together

What neglect traps do you seem to fall prey too?  What is one specific way that you can show your spouse more attention this week? How would your marriage be different if you gave more attention to your spouse?

Random Acts on Purpose #1: Notes of Encouragement

I want to issue a loving challenge on Wednesdays called, “Random Acts on Purpose.” Every Wednesday I am going to commit some kind of random act with a specific purpose in mind & I want you to join me. Sometimes you need to exercise intentional spontaneity, strategic randomness, & purposeful living outside of your comfort zone.

The Why & The What

“Random Acts on Purpose” are meant to challenge you to step outside of the box, do something you may not normally do, take loving risk for yourself & others, & bring about life transformation one act at a time; they are “random acts” because they are out of the norm, but “on purpose” because there is a reason behind each act. These acts may be buying a stranger lunch, helping carry someone’s groceries, doing something for yourself you have never done, going somewhere you have never gone, giving someone verbal affirmation, challenging yourself to meet new people, etc.

The Process

Every Wednesday I will post a challenge in the morning & invite you to join me in your own context. Then later in the day, after I have committed the act, I will briefly share on the experience of it, how it impacted those around me, & how it impacted me. I would love for you to also share your experience & the impact of committing your “Random Act on Purpose.”

Today’s Challenge: “Notes of Encouragement”

Gary Chapman, author of “The Five Love Languages,” shares how powerful a note of encouraging words can be. It can brighten someone’s day, infuse them with strength, transform their attitude, & even free someone from a destructive mental rut. We often go about our days so focused on things before us that we forget to share with our team, leaders, friends, & family how much we love & appreciate them.

Today, the “Random Act on Purpose” is to pick 3 people & give them each a 1 paragraph, written note of encouragement with the purpose of strengthening, appreciating, & refreshing them. If you are able too, hand-write the note. If you can’t because of distance, then email, facebook, text, etc. the note. Make it personal, make it encouraging, make it loving, & make it specific. Let's go!

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” -Mother Teresa

Let’s Do This Together

How do you feel when you were writing the 3 encouraging notes? Was it hard to think of words to encourage 3 people? How did people respond when they received the notes?

Great Leaders Are First Great Followers

Often times, one of the hardest things to do for leaders is to follow others. However, you show your true ability to lead by the way in which you follow your leaders. Being a great leader does not mean that you are always at the front, great leadership begins with the ability to champion your leader’s vision.

How can you be entrusted with great vision yourself if you can’t be entrusted with someone else’s vision? Whatever you do at the level of following, you will do at the level of leading. At work, in ministry, or in your family, when your leader shares his or her vision with you how do you respond? Do you attack it, criticize it, try to sabotage it, or do you abandon ship?

Great followers can take their leader’s vision as their own & multiply it. They do this by understanding the heart of their leader’s vision. They spend time knowing the in’s & out’s of it. They carry it in their heart as if they came up with it. And they are constantly thinking of ways they can make that vision greater.

Great followers know they are needed in order to carry out their leader’s vision; they know that if their leader wins, they win. A great follower refuses to criticize his or her leader’s vision for the sake division, but they study it to see how they can make it a reality. When you ask questions about your leader’s vision, do you do it to negatively pick apart all the faults of it or do you ask questions to see how you can enhance it?

How you follow is how you will one day lead. When you are a follower you are laying a foundation for your future leadership. The reality is that you are also setting a precedence for all those who are following you now, whether you see them following you or not.

Let’s Do This Together

On a scale of 1 – 5 how would you rate yourself as a follower? When your leader communicates vision do you immediately criticize it or do you think of ways to contribute to it & make it greater?

Making the Most of Your Work Week

Let’s face it, work is often looked at with a taste of disgust. I’ve often heard it said by people in the work force that Fridays come too slow & Mondays come to fast. But, does work always have to be dreadful to look forward too? It’s time you change your perspective about work & begin to make the most of your work week.

As you prepare for your work week, check your attitude. Attitude is everything. Life is 80% attitude, 20% action. I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché, “Your attitude will determine your altitude.” Cliché as it may be, it is so true.

You can’t change your boss, co-workers, or hours in the day, but you can choose to have a good attitude. Your work week will always be viewed through attitude-colored glasses. Internationally known leadership guru John C. Maxwell once said, “The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.” 

Next, set a high standard of excellence for yourself at work. If you have a job then you are blessed. Why work if you’re not going to give it your best? Everything you do on your job reflects who you are, it communicates something about you. What are you communicating?

Are you telling people you are lazy, don’t want to be there, frustrated, or disgruntled? Or are you communicating integrity, enthusiasm, quality, & excellence? You don’t need to work hard to prove to anyone you are excellent, work hard because you are excellent. If you set a low standard for yourself you will probably always meet it, but you will also probably never exceed it!

Finally, choose to work hard. Many people don’t want to work hard unless they are going to be recognized for it. That is like saying you won’t eat healthy until people acknowledge how healthy you are. What? You eat healthy so you can thrive physically regardless if people recognize it!

In the same way, work hard because that is what you do, despite whether people acknowledge, praise, or promote you for it. Refuse to settle for the good, pursue the great. You have to learn to become disgusted with mediocrity & reach for greatness in all you do. If you file, be the best filer on your floor. If in retail, give the best customer service in the business.

It’s time to see work in a different light. It’s time to enjoy it, excel at it, & make the most out of our work week. One thing in life that you will never regret is giving your best at all you set your hands too.

Let’s Do This Together

How would work be different for you if you changed your attitude, had a higher standard of excellence for yourself, & if you determined to always work your hardest? 

When You're Not Being Fed At Church

Have you ever gone to church & felt like you were not being fed? Or, have you ever talked with someone who left a church & the primary reason was because he or she was not being fed? Let me share some loving, pastoral wisdom...

Church is not the place you go primarily to be fed; it is the place you go to feed. 

We often place so much responsibility on church leadership to feed us spiritually when we also share in that responsibility. Writing to the Corinthian church about worship Paul instructs, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church,” (1 Cor. 14:26).

What? Paul, you actually expect that every Christian that comes into a church should have a song, word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation? Yep. The worship experience for Paul is not something that you come to be a part of, enjoy, & simply receive from; it is something that EVERY believer contributes too, not just the pastor & leaders. For Paul, ‘ordinary’ believers can & should receive powerful revelation just like the pastor. In fact, for Paul this has to happen in order for the church to be strengthened!

As Christians we can’t allow our consumer culture to infiltrate our worship experience. 

Going to church is not just about having an enjoyable experience; it is about allowing what God has deposited in you throughout the week to come out. Rather than going to church to simply receive we should be going to give. Rather than going just to be fed we should be going to help feed. We are not just going to church to consume something, we are going to contribute something.

Let’s Do This Together

Have you ever felt tempted to leave a church or get frustrated because you felt like you weren’t being fed? What do you need to do during the week in order to come ready to contribute to the worship experience at church, to help feed?