3 Thoughts That Help Me
From time to time I get asked a “best advise” type question, that very thing happened the other day. It got me thinking about what has been most helpful to me on my journey in leadership. Here are three statements that I think will help any leader move forward:
1. You get good at what you practice.
Anything you’ve ever seen or heard that was dynamic and impactful was first practiced and rehearsed. Very rarely do awesome things just happen. The top paid Pro’s in any field are the one who practice the hardest and perfect their craft. This is a leadership fact you’ll never get away from, you will get good at what you practice.
2. Doing things right, helps you do the right thing.
Sometimes in life the “right thing” to do isn’t obvious. It’s in those times that if you’re doing things right, you’ll begin to see what the right thing is. I’m a big fan of the statement, “motion brings clarity.” When you’re not sure what the next step is, go back to the basics and get in motion.
3. You are what you think.
How you think about yourself in leadership will make or break you. This is not only biblical but practical. I see leaders sell themselves short all the time. The common thing I hear is, “I can’t.” If you don’t think you can then you can’t. If you start thinking about yourself the way God thinks about you, your confidence and ability to accomplish whatever your dream is will shoot off the charts.
These thoughts have really helped me along the way, I hope they help you.
Good Advise PT.2
So a few weeks ago I asked is this statement true?
“Good judgement come from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.”
Here is my take. I don’t have a problem with the first part, good judgement comes from experience. I do think it might be better said the good judgement comes WITH experience. I don’t think you have to be all that experienced in anything to be able to make a good judgement, however, experience does help. That first part is the end of where I’m ok with the statement. The thought that I need to have bad judgement in order to acuire experience is beyond me. I understand that mistakes can be, I stress “can be” a good teacher. However, I have often made some really great decisions in areas that I don’t have much experience. If you take time to learn from other people and and have a solid mentor in your life, you can do some incredible things with very little experience. It seem that almost daily I hear a story of someone young with little to no life experience is doing something that is making a difference in the world. I think that’s awesome! I hope you never let your age or lack of experience hold you back from making great decisions and doing things that will change the world.
Good Advise?
One thing I like to do is people watch and when possible listen in on conversations. Yes, I am one of THOSE people. I had a great opportunity to listen in on a conversion today during lunch. The gentleman behind me was talking really loud which made listening in a part of my lunch experience. He was giving some advise and made this statement:
Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.
That thought really interests me. Is it True? Can you apply this to all areas of life? For instance, as a parent would you teach this to your kids? As a business owner or leader would you teach this to the people under you?
I’m interested to know what you think… Is this statement true?
Let me know why you agree or disagree in the comments below. I’ll follow-up in a few days with my thoughts.
p.thad
Negativity Is Bad For You
I just read an article (you can read it here) that states being negative is bad for your health. Here is a clip from the article:
Cristián Oyanadel, who co-authored the study, said: “We have observed that when people are negative about past events in their life, they also have a pessimist or fatalistic attitude towards current events.
“This generates greater problems in their relationships and these people present worse quality of life indicators.”
Mr Oyandel said: “According to what we have observed in our study, the most influencing dimension is the perception of the past. A negative view of the past is highly related to worse health indicators.”
He said people who tend to be negative find it hard to make a physical effort in their day-to-day activities and have physical limitations for work performance; they perceive greater bodily pain and are more likely to become ill.
He added: “Furthermore, they generally tend to be depressive, anxious and present behavioural changes.”
I recently had this thought: The more connected you are to the kingdom of God the less connected you are to a life of stress and worry. I believe that to be true! Here’s why, when you are connected to God’s kingdom and live with the promises found in God’s word you simply don’t have room for negativity. According to the study above when you cut out the negativity your health increases, your relationship get better, the things that cause stress get smaller and smaller.
It’s amazing how often we compound our problems with negativity. Believe me I’m not belittling your situation, I realize there are big struggles and hard things that many people deal with from day-to-day. That being said, if you fix your eyes on Jesus you just may realize that your going to make it!
Christmas Time
Really this time of year is one of my favorites! The lights, decorations, pumpkin spice lattes, you just can’t go wrong. In all of the fun stuff that happens around this time of year I want to take time to remember and know why this time of year is so special. It’s special because we celebrate the birth of Jesus. In Luke 2:12 it says
12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
It’s important that we recognize who Jesus is. It’s easy for Jesus to get lost in all the busyness of the season. For me personally, I want to recognize Jesus for who he is and what he’s done in my life. Bad cliché or not… Jesus is the reason for the season!
Thanksgiving More Than Words
This past Sunday Pastor Ryan made a memorable quote. He said,
Simply acknowledging something doesn’t make you thankful for it. Thanksgiving is more than words!
Wow that a great thought. So just in case your not sure what to be thankful for today here is a little help I put together for you. These are just some great things to be thankful for and take action on, and I did all the work linking to the scripture (Your Welcome)
Thankfulness
- Thank the Lord because he is good (Psalm 107:1–3)
- Be thankful for answers to prayer (Psalm 138:1–5)
- Be thankful for salvation (Ephesians 2:4–10)
- Our prayers should include words of thankfulness (Philippians 4:6)
- Our life should be characterized by thankfulness to God (Colossians 3:15–17)
- We are called to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18)
In one of these you should be able to find something to do to show your thankfulness today! I’m super thankful for food, so I’ll show it by eating… lol
p.thad
Sitka Dodge-ball Tournament
If you’re a student in Sitka you don’t want to miss out on this event! November 23 @ 6:15p Here is the sign up….
#My1Shirt
In the last few days I’ve received a few questions as to what this whole #My1Shirt thing is. I’ll take just a few seconds to answer what it is, then ask that you think about supporting it.
60% 0f the world lives in what is called the 10/40 window. 85% of those in the 10/40 window are among the poorest of the poor. 95% of those in this region of the world have no personal relationship with Jesus. Many in this region of the world only have 1 shirt.
my1shirt is where students, pastors, leaders or really anyone, commit to wear a “my1shirt,” everday for a month. They will wear the shirt during the daytime, but not when different dress is required or when a t-shirt would be unacceptable.
The purposes of wearing the same shirt for a month are the following:
- Personally IDENTIFY with those in the 10/40 window by chosing to wear only one shirt over the duration of the my1shirt campaign. After all – “If they have to…WE NEED TO!”
- Help bring awareness to the needs of the people groups and missionaries who live in the 10/40 window
- Raise finances and INVEST in Speed the Light resources for leaders who have chosen to not overlook the needs of those who live in the 10/40 window. STL is committed to providing transportation and communication resources focused on the immediate humanitarian needs, as well as equipping and raising the standard of life in this vast region.
- IMPACT the world by acting locally! “Remember if we ACT locally we will impACT globally!”
We are currently partnering with Global University and Convoy of Hope with $50,000 worth of projects related to resourcing approximately 75 faith-based post-secondary schools and 10,000 students in India to impact their world. These students are being equipped to bring hope to this region. Some of the ways they will do so include digging wells, helping with AIDS prevention training, providing and equipping villages with the best agricultural practices, bringing much needed medical attention to those in isolated regions, helping free those trapped in sex slavery, and planting churches and schools.
As you can see this is no small thing we are going after. So how can you get involved? Glad you asked… buy a #my1shirt from me! You can also donate to our Student Ministry STL fund to support this project. On the form below you will find all the details you need to get involved.
I hope you will think about supporting this campaign, I know that we can make a difference for the people in the 10/40 window!
Thanks,
p.thad
Photo Shoot
For those that don’t know my wife is an amazing photographer. Today I reaped the benefits of her talents. Here are a few shots she took…
You can check out her work on Facebook, Like her PAGE. Contact her and book a shoot she is cheap and fantastic!
Would You Rather…
A few weeks back my family and I went on a hike. While we were walking along the path we started the would you rather game. Some of those questions got interesting. One of them was, “would you rather have your thumb hit with a hammer or have a 14 pound bowling ball dropped on your foot from 6 feet?” In the spirit of the would you rather game here’s one for you:
Would you rather be a smart person or a wise person?
For me, hands down I’ll take the wisdom. I was never great in school, my grades were not terrible, but no one was asking me how to do the home work if you know what I mean. For me that’s beauty of wisdom, you don’t have to be smart to be wise. It says in James 1:5
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking
I believe if people would start asking for wisdom instead of going after knowledge our world would be a different place. My prayer is that we can raise up a wise generation! One that they will be able to, by God’s help, lead our nation. Without going too political here, I think it’s important that we begin to seek after wisdom from God, putting our human intellect on the back burner. What make rational sense to us as humans often is opposite of what God wants. If I could be so bold as to say, we as a nation have “thought” ourselves into the predicaments we are in. Do I know who is the right person to elect as President? NOPE! But I’m asking God that he will give me the wisdom to follow him as I cast a vote. This might help someone; there is no chart or statistic for wisdom. God’s wisdom usually breaks the laws of logic. There are so many examples in the bible of God using bazaar circumstances and things that don’t make any human sense to work the plan he designed. Isaiah said it best in the bible, God’s ways are higher than ours. There is nothing wrong with being smart. I really like smart people, I need them. However, in the grand scheme of things if I get to choose, give me wisdom.
p.thad
