Don’t say no to opportunities…say yes to an organized plan…
People always ask me how I do it all…
The truth is I don’t…
I just have a plan for my life…
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The most common reasons for not pursuing a dream or goal are the fear of failure or the uncertainty of success.
I was inspired while visiting the small town of Jerome, Arizona on our recent vacation to the Southwest. While Cheryl enjoyed some local shopping, I enjoyed perusing the streets discovering nuggets of the city’s rich history. Jerome began as a mining town. People came hoping to get rich off the minerals in the area, especially copper. When the mines dried up, the city nearly died. Jerome’s population went from a height of 15,000 in 1920’s to 50 people in the late 1950’s.
Earlier this week I was looking for an old file and ran across some notes from a “Dream Big” planning retreat we did as a staff in August of 2007. We were almost 2 years old at that time and the assignment was to brainstorm about “the sky is the limit” and “money is not an obstacle” dreams the staff at the time had. It was amazing to look at the list today and realize that much of the list is being accomplished or could be in a short amount of time. I realized it is time for us to dream big again!
Recovering after a mistake or a fall is what keeps a lot of people from ever accomplishing much in life. Failure does not have to stop you from achieving your dreams and goals. A lot of bouncing back depends on your response to the fall.
When I meet with people who have made mistakes in life in my role as a pastor, I am always less concerned with where they have been or what they have done wrong. I am always more concerned with where they want to go in life and how dedicated they are to get there. My dad is an example of someone that wants to end well. I believe his legacy will prove he achieved his goal.
A few weeks ago, in preparing a message for Grace Community Church in which I celebrated the victories we have seen in the last year at Grace, God convicted me for my line of thinking. I was preparing to remind people of the strategy of the church, as we do at the beginning of each new fall season, to encourage them to continue giving their time and resources to further the vision. I believe God gently reminded me that apart from Him, we would have no vision and we would certainly have no success.
That is a hard concept for many leaders. They own their vision. They have in their mind what they want to achieve. They have pre-determined exactly what a win looks like. They can almost detail it out in their heads. Therefore, if a leader is not careful he or she begins to stress the details of that vision as opposed to stressing and rewarding people for results achieved.
Taylor, one of my 18 year-old son Nate’s best friends, is going to Wheaton University this fall. I am excited that he will be an hour away from Nate who will be at Moody Bible College. I wrote a blog about their friendship a couple months ago. Read that post HERE. I had coffee this morning with Taylor, because he is leaving this weekend for an extended and unusual college orientation.
Most businesses are being forced to think through and add a social media policy to their human resource policies. The rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking choices means the workplace is being impacted greatly by social media. Individuals represent their organization even during their personal time and that needs to be considered in employee management.