I am quite sure that I do not need to persuade you with this post that storms are brewing all around you. Most of us are well aware of the multiple storms we face in every facet of our lives every day. If you don’t have enough that are affecting you personally, you can certainly find plenty to worry about by consulting almost any form of media or communication. It is true that if it bleeds, it leads, and there is plenty of bloodletting to go around these days.
It is also true that as we have all lived through the past couple of years of societal unrest topped off with a worldwide pandemic, we have all become more stressed, anxious, and unsettled in our lives and minds. The subject of mental health is thankfully being addressed publicly now when for years it was hidden and regarded as something to be avoided and discussed only in private. As with each of my weekly posts, however, I want to give you hope and light on how to combat all of this.
This is an unplanned second installment of a personal memoir that I began in last week’s post. I am writing to you, my friend, but at the same time, I am writing to myself. I know you will benefit from it for the same reasons that I am benefitting from it. As I learn to live more authentically as the person I believe God created me to be; I hope to help you do the same.
This week, I want to talk metaphorically about driving slower through life. This sounds easy, but I can tell you for me, and for just about everyone that I have the pleasure of interacting with, it is not. In fact, I spent most, if not all, of my adult life speeding through one thing after another. Granted, I checked a lot of things off of my “To-Do List,” but I stunk at taking time to check out my surroundings.
This week, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas I want to issue you both a challenge and goal to ponder. Warning and spoiler alert: It may make you a little uncomfortable. If it does, then I have accomplished my objective for this blog.
I do not wish to debate, nor try to convert you if you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. In my life, I know for a fact that He is. My objective is to use the lessons He taught and the love He showed with everyone with whom I have a chance to make an impact. Simply steed, I would rather show you that I am a Christian, rather than tell you I’m a Christian.
To varying degrees, we have all felt the adverse effects of 2020. It will likely go down in history as one of the most difficult, if not tragic years in world history on a number of fronts. The long-lasting implications of everything that has happened this year may indeed take the entire decade of the ’20s to fully recover.
Who would have ever imagined that the horrific shootings that occurred throughout the country at the dawning of the New Year, or the tragic helicopter crash that took the life of Kobe Bryant and 8 other souls on that late January morning in Calabasas, California would become almost forgotten by the end of the year?
Despite all of the difficulties we have all been faced with, I believe there is still great hope in the future. I believe that brave people just like you and I turn tragedies into triumphs every day. But for a few very limited exceptions, these triumphs happen in anonymity. And I believe those are the best kinds.
Why? You may ask? Because the biggest and best expression of any characteristic of quality or integrity is best expressed by people who don’t do it for any other reason that to better themselves by first positively impacting the lives of other people.
If you look closely enough, you will see heroes all around you. People from all walks of life that care more about making a positive impact than being rewarded personally for what they do. Many of them wear uniforms but many more of them do not. They are our neighbors, local business owners, school teachers, volunteers, public servants. The list goes on and on.
Where we go from here is anybody’s guess. At least, that’s what “people” like to say. I’m not sure who “people” are but they have a lot of opinions and a lot of reasons why we shouldn’t have hope, shouldn’t try, and why we should just lay low. Those “people” are not my people. And they’re not yours either.
If you are reading this and are a loyal reader and watcher of my material (if not, see below), you know that I am going to encourage you to Be Different, Act Different, and Make a Difference. How? I don’t know that I can tell you exactly what you need to do for yourself. The only thing I can tell you is to do something. Anything that will get you moving in a positive direction that you can begin building on. The key is to just start. Today.
Start with kindness, mix in a measure of gratitude, and top it off with love and integrity and you can’t go wrong. It may be uncomfortable at first but anyone (including YOU) can form a new habit in just a few short weeks. I’ll close, as I often do with a quote that I hope summarizes my encouragement for you, and my motivation to keep “movespiring” you forward:
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well.”
I also invite you to review my coaching page on my website here. I have only a couple of spots left in my Personal Development Coaching Practice. Each week I offer two free strategy sessions on a first-come, first-served basis to people interested in exploring how to become a person who pursues their goals and dreams. These special hour-long sessions prove again and again to be invaluable to those who participate. You can book these directly on my coaching page – I look forward to serving you.
Last week, we discussed the visions of what helps determine your definition of success. We determined that each definition is as different as each person. At the end of the post, I promised to come back this week to discuss the significance in light of success. I will conclude this three-part post next week identifying the importance of leaving a legacy.
Success, while something we all shoot, for is often fleeting and circumstantial. I am sure like me that you have achieved milestones in your personal or professional life that you were proud of. The problem is that we soon discover that what made us feel successful yesterday makes us feel like we must strive for more the next. Significance is different.
Significance takes our focus off of ourselves and shifts the importance of serving, helping, and blessing other people. When we achieve success, we are happy. When we achieve significance we experience true joy. Why? Because we have set aside our needs to focus on the needs of other people.
As I outlined in my book, Mustard Seed Faith, any success achieved by ourselves is hardly worth celebrating if we have no one else to share the joy with. When you begin to focus on helping other people achieve their goals, dreams, and yes, visions for success, then you are able to truly enjoy building a life of significance. And the more people you help, the more significance you grow in your life.
This is a timeless message but it’s time for right now is unquestionably and arguably more important than ever. I don’t have answers to many of the problems and divisiveness gripping our world today. I only know that what I can do is to do my small part in building into the lives of others. Chances are very likely that no one will ever know I have done it.
My hope, and frankly my prayer though is that enough other people begin to adopt the same mindset, we can and will begin to change our world one person at a time, one conversation at a time, and one random act of kindness at a time.
So practically speaking, what does building a life of significance entail. Oftentimes, when I read something like this I quickly form in my mind a superhuman effort that will be required to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that will undoubtedly stand in my way.
The truth is, you just have to start. Maybe it will be a little uncomfortable, perhaps even a little scary, however, I suggest you start small, build momentum and see how high you can climb as your confidence builds. It might start with a note, a text, a voice mail, or just simply a random encounter where you allow yourself to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
I’d love to hear how you start, where you grow into, and how far ahead you move. If you start today and then do it every day, you will over time experience a certain type of joy that I can assure you will be unlike any other success you have ever had. Significance.
I also invite you to review my coaching page on my website here. I have only a couple of spots left in my Personal Development Coaching Practice. Each week I offer two free strategy sessions on a first-come, first-served basis to people interested in exploring how to become a person who pursues their goals and dreams. These special hour-long sessions prove again and again to be invaluable to those who participate. You can book these directly on my coaching page – I look forward to serving you.
