Category Archives: Patient Leadership

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Success has a familiar process

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Every successful person goes through a process that determines the magnitude of their determination. The statement, “Occupy until I come,” is taken directly from the Bible. The quote from Luke 19, verse 12 and 13, is “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” In this foundational scripture each servant or worker has the opportunity to create a profit or be successful. As part of the process each person has to decide:

•What business are they going to start?
•How they are going to acquire the product or service?
•What is their market advantage?
•How best to distribute what they are selling?
•What process will replicate their efforts?
•How to stay true to their original values and beliefs?
•What constitutes profit and success in the business world?
•How does the Holy Spirit want you to proceed?

These are general principles that if followed will demonstrate a road map for success. This process can be applied to any endeavor, small or great. I challenge you to name any success by an individual or business that you view as effective and determine if they do not draw on many or all aspects of these principles.

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Are you dissatisfied with mediocrity?

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskarn/I was jogging the other morning, and when I say jogging I should amend this to trudging along. As I finished what had been my normal routine for a while I told myself I could do more. When I thought about it I could do a lot more. I chided myself and said “I am dissatisfied with mediocrity.” This may seem strange for someone who has exercise in their normal routine, so judge yourself on your own curve. My routine was mediocre for me. I was not challenged at all. So I continued to run and added more distance and speed to my workout. Then it hit me that I lived most of by trudging along. All the times that I could improve I chose to accept the status quo. Seth Godin in a blog post titled “The False choice of mediocrity” says

“Remarkable work is always not on the list, because if it was, it would be commonplace, not remarkable.”

Following is the definition of mediocrity and mediocre to add clarity to the sentiment.

me•di•oc•ri•ty
1. The state or quality of being mediocre.
2. Mediocre ability, achievement, or performance.
3. One that displays mediocre qualities

me•di•o•cre
Moderate to inferior in quality; ordinary

The last word of the definition is ordinary and that sums up many facets of our lives and we should strive for extraordinary. Now you have to decide what areas of your life does mediocrity has a strangle hold on and then shake it off. The difference between dominating and participating is small but significant. Decide to be great. The Bible has a take on this subject as well.

Revelation 3:15-18 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,

Because most of us live an okay lifestyle we rarely challenge ourselves and with even more scarcity do we put our ideas and efforts in the fire to be tired like gold.

What are you areas of your life are you going to denounce mediocrity and set in the fire?

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What to do when the enemy has eaten you up.

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My wife, Queen Janetta came up with this title when she saw what happened to the Georgia Hybrid Collard Greens that we planted in the garden. This was our first year planting this vegetable, so our only experiences with Greens were faint memories from childhood. As the plants grew we were very proud and we daily watered them and removed weeds. One evening we noticed that bugs had attacked one plant and I said that I would get some spray the next day. Well, by the next morning all of my plants had holes in them. It was too late but I went out before work and purchased the spray. We thought this mishap was an indicator of many scenarios in life. Below are three quick observations that we took away from this experience.

1. Do not fret over the problem.
You cannot cry over losses that have already occurred. To complain was our first response. We even asked a crazy question, “where did theses bugs come from?” Do not lose time in remorse. For a while when something challenging happens the normal human response is to be upset and brood over the issue. The pouting or whining over the problem only takes you down a long path of destruction.

2. Immediately spend the resources to alleviate the problem.

First do all the things that do not cost much money. In our case we first removed some of the damaged leaves. When money is necessary do not fear to promptly produce your investment. We were not excited about going to the Lowe’s in Bessemer and paying for more gardening supplies but either we were committed to growth or we were pretending.

3. Make the adjustment and continue to apply the things necessary for growth.
You are aware of the loss so now you must adjust your expectation for yield. We planted a lot of greens and we even talked about having them throughout the entire winter but now our expectation had to be altered. This is what you must do in life sometimes. Make the adjustment and enjoy the fruit that makes it through the antics of life. Now, we had to apply faith by continuing to water damaged plants. If watering and fertilizing is necessary don’t be afraid to be patient and work through a mess.
I am proud to report that we harvested a batch of those Georgia Hybrid Collard Greens and it appears that the garden will yield another batch really soon.

What are you going to do when the enemy has eaten you up??