Category Archives: Leadership

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Life Plan Review

Staying On Top Of The Greater Things

Several years ago, I developed a Life Plan, outlining the most important aspects of my life, and what I wanted to achieve in each of those areas. Periodically, I take the time to review that plan, in order to make sure I stay on track.

Life Plan Review

I was first introduced to the idea of a Life Plan by Michael Hyatt, through his blog on leadership. At that point, he was the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, and was striving to help others develop their leadership abilities on the side. Since then, he has made his leadership platform his main work, and has developed it into a full time business.

His blog and podcast are full of great leadership resources. Most of these are designed for the corporate or business mind, but there is a lot of overlap into the church as well. I find a lot of his resources to be extremely helpful, to the point of being almost invaluable.

One such resource is the development of my Life Plan. I initially wrote out a detailed plan for my life around 2011, identifying those areas of my life that were most important to me, and striving to make them the best that they can be.

I have written about this before, describing what a Life Plan looks like, and how I have fit it into my life.

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Digital Minimalism

Takeaways From The March LeaderBooks Selection

I recently joined a book club designed for leadership building called LeaderBooks. The book selected for March was Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport. Here are a few of my thoughts concerning the book, and my reactions to it.

Digital Minimalism

Our culture is noisy, and a voice of reason in the midst of that noise is needed. Cal Newport strives to be that voice with his book Digital Minimalism. The subtitle seems highly appropriate for the culture we live in: Choosing A Focused Life In A Noisy World.

The premise Newport begins with is that we have been hooked by the digital conglomerates that operate in our world, and we are no longer the user being targeted with need to fulfill. No, we are the product being sold, and our consistent tapping, clicking and swiping is an addictive habit that is designed to keep our attention focused in on the apps we use. Because, the longer we use them, the more money they make.

In response to this, Newport calls for a heavily moderated digital detox. His approach is simple. First, remove all optional digital use from your life for thirty days. After that time, as you allow certain products back in, evaluate just how effective they are at meeting your needs, and if there is a better tool, use it instead. Then, finally, you set the parameters that it can operate under. The digital product no longer has mastery; you do.

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Why LeaderBooks May Be The Best Book Club I Have Found

Building Leadership Skills Through LeaderBooks

I read a lot. I enjoy it, and it helps spark my personal growth in several different areas. I also review a lot of the books I read. But now, I want to review not just a book, but a book club.

LeaderBooks

I have been a follower of Michael Hyatt’s blog and his work as an innovative leader in the blogging community. When he branched out into the realm of helping others develop a platform from which to operate, I was intrigued, but wasn’t able to really participate. It was pretty expensive. One area which I did invest in was his presentation theme for blogs and websites. This website is built upon his platform, in fact.

Several months ago, he released a new program called LeaderBox, in which he curated and sent out two books on leadership each month, creating an online community where discussion could happen as people sought to grow through those books. Again, it was pretty pricey, and I declined to participate in it.

However, quite recently, he has revised that program into a new entity called LeaderBooks, and I decided this was a level at which I could jump in and participate. And I am glad that I did. (This is not an affiliated post in any way; I am simply passing on to you a tool I have found to be immediately helpful.)

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Being Fully Committed To God

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

One of the most critical elements of the Heart of a Champion is to be aware of the promised God has given us and staying fully committed to him through everything. Paul shows just how solid both of those are in 2 Corinthians 6 and 7.

Being Fully Committed To God

In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Paul shows the Corinthian church that God desired to make his people his temple, instead of the Old Testament structure that was in use for so long.

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
     and I will be their God,
     and they shall be my people.
Therefore go out from their midst,
     and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
     then I will welcome you,
and I will be a father to you,
     and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

God had promised to make his dwelling among us, and to live in us, and to restore us to a right relationship with him. Paul understood this, and he knew that it applied to his own life, as well as the lives of every other believer who put their faith in Jesus Christ. That includes you and me.

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The Importance Of A Faithful Example

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

Having the Heart of a Champion can be difficult sometimes. But as Paul shows us in 2 Corinthians, there are some key things that we can incorporate into our lives in order to succeed in this.

The Importance Of A Faithful Example

One of those characteristics that we can develop to help build the Heart of a Champion is the ability to stand strong as a faithful example. Look at how Paul states this in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10:

Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”— giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

What Paul is saying here is that people are watching us. They are looking to see how we respond to the circumstances, often difficult, that we experience in life. And their response towards God is influenced by our actions. And so it is critical that we remain steadfast as a faithful example.

I don’t know who said it, but I have a quote in my files that states, “The most valuable gift you can give another is a good example.”

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Live A Life That Pleases God

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

Our physical lives last just a short time in the broad span of eternity, and keeping that in mind helps us to keep our priorities straight. And striving to do that is another way to have the Heart of a Champion.

Live A Life That Pleases God

Developing a heart like Paul’s is a worthy endeavor, whether you are in a leadership position or not. While these characteristics are especially true for those who lead, the simple fact of the matter is that they are equally applicable for all who seek to serve and follow Christ closely.

In 2 Corinthians 5:10-11, we can how Paul reveals another characteristic of such a person. One who has the heart of a champion seeks to please God, knowing full well that one day he will stand before Him. Take a look:

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Let’s look at his passage in two different ways. First of all, Paul says that our ambition should be to be pleasing to God. The Greek terms he uses here are ones that describe one who loves honor and seeks to achieve some level of civic recognition. It is used widely outside of the New Testament in Koine Greek. Within the New Testament however, this terminology is only used two more times, and it takes a higher, more pure view of aspiration and ambition.

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Stay Focused On The Eternal

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

Paul had the heart of a champion, and he displayed it clearly. He understood his calling. He knew that life had ups and downs. He depended upon prayer. He let go of his grudges. He saw things with God’s perspective. And he knew where he lived.

Stay Focused On The Eternal

Paul had a very clear understanding of where he lived. He knew that this world was his home, for a time. But he also knew that this world was not his permanent destination, and he understood clearly that there was much more than just his day to day life.

He maintained a clear vision of the eternal, even though he lived daily in the temporal.

Read what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Paul did not lose heart. Even though this world had thrown a lot of things at him, many of which would have destroyed someone who wasn’t secure in his relationship with God, Paul remained steadfast in his unwavering commitment.