Most
are ready to accept these success formulas but for some
reason never get them into high gear. You've noticed many
who have great potential and every reason to be tremendously
successful, but nothing seems to happen. What is it that
chains so many of us to the pit of mediocrity? What is
it that dampens the fires of greatness that are lit so
many times in our hearts?
Perhaps
my findings are not the only solution, but with all my
heart I believe the fires of greatness in our hearts can
be kept aglow only after we develop a sense of urgency
and importance of what we are doing. I mean ~a sense of
urgency to the extent that we feel it is a matter of life
and death; and it is a matter of life and death, for in
growing we are alive and in quitting we are dying in a
sense. If you don't believe this, talk to anyone who has
lost the sense of urgency of getting things done and has
been drifting in complacency, mediocrity and failure.
If you are without a sense of urgency in your work, you
know what I mean.
A
sense of urgency is that feeling that lets you know yesterday
is gone forever, tomorrow never comes. TODAY is in your
hands. It lets you know that shirking today's task will
add to wasted yesterdays and postponing today's work will
add to tomorrow's burden. The sense of urgency causes
you to accomplish what today sets before you. Thank God
for the sense of urgency that can change a dull shabby
job into a sparkling career. While. this may not be the
complete solution, I think we can all agree this will
be a tremendous step in the right direction. Right now,
ask God to give you a sense of urgency in your work. Believe
that He did, and then act accordingly.
To
help our sense of urgency help us, let's look at seven
"tremendous" laws of leadership and follow that
up with an examination of two important qualities--discipline
and loyalty.
SEVEN "TREMENDOUS" LAWS OF LEADERSHIP
I.
Learning to Put Excitement In Your Work
Why is it that some people work and work, and never have
anything to show for it? And others do less and accomplish
more? The secret is learning to put excitement in your
work.
If I'm not learning to get excited about what I don't
like, I'll never get much to be excited about that I do
like. Everybody looks for "the right job." Sometimes,
you'll hear "I'm looking for a job that fits me."
I say, "I hope you get something better than that."
We need to be learning that no job can make you, but anyone
that can put excitement into their work can make a job.
2.
Use or Lose
There's a law that says we all have certain attributes,
characteristics, and talents. If you use what you have,
you'll get more; but if you don't use it, you'll lose
it."
One night, as I was coming out of a seminar, a person
asked do you think it's possible to be excited about their
business, be thrilled and successful, and then, three
years later. be sick and sorry they ever heard of the
whole business? Here's a perfect example of one who doesn't
know the law of Use or Lose. Once he was in his glory,
using all the talents he had. As a result, he was successful.
But one morning, because he wasn't using what he had,
he began losing it. And one morning he woke up and asked,
"What went wrong? Who let me down?"
The answer is that nobody let him down. Nothing went wrong.
Because he wasn't using what he had, he was losing it.
Arid the people who lose it always blame somebody else.
Remember nobody is ever a failure until they blame someone
else.
3.
Give to Get
Leadership is learning to give whether or not you get
anything in return. If you ever give to get something,
you're not giving; you're trading. And there's a big difference
between giving and trading.
If a person gives whether or not they get anything in
return, then they are learning to give. If you give whether
or not you get anything, you get a greater capacity to
give more, whether or not you get anything in return.
And out of this begins to develop a reservoir of reserve
and readiness that becomes a tremendous asset. You can
lose your reputation, you can lose your home, you can
even lose your family, but you can't lose your capacity
to give once you've begun to live this law.
4. Production to Perfection
Someone will say, "I'm a perfectionist. I believe
in doing everything perfectly, and if I can't do it perfectly,
I won't do it." That's the person who never does
anything.
There's a law that says if you're not learning to make
something happen today you'll never know more than your
own whimsical, shallow dreams. Production will teach you
a little about perfection, but perfection will never be
more than your own fantasy.
5.
Exposure to Experience
In the beginning of life, God gives everybody an imaginary
key ring. Every time a person exposes himself to another
situation they get another key of experience for their
key ring. Soon, the key ring begins to fill with thousands
and millions of keys of experience.
As a person gets exposure and experience, they get to
use the same keys over and over again. The law of exposure
to experience gets better with the years. Finally, a person
gets to know which keys unlock which doors while the inexperienced
don't know if they have a key. All they can do is fumble
around and hope to add another key of experience to their
key ring.
6.
Flexible Planning
This is the age of the planner. Everybody's planning,
planning, planning. Don't ever tell anyone that planning
will do it. I believe you have to have a plan to exist,
but the real law is not planning. it's Flexible Planning.
Flexible planning says, "Plan on it going wrong."
You say what if it goes right? We will just have to work
it in. Growing is learning that nothing ever goes wrong
except to make you more right.
7.
Motivated to Motivating
Which would you rather be: a miserable motivator or a
happy motivated flop? I would rather be a happy, motivated
flop, because if I can be motivated long enough, I'll
get to be motivating. And if I can be motivated long enough.
I'll eventually become a motivator. And l'll get to enjoy
what I get. That's not the case with the person who has
learned to motivate everybody but themselves. Our problem
isn't motivating them, but keeping them from demotivating
me. The motivation will flow when you are totally committed
and involved.
DISCIPLINE & LOYALTY
We live in a world where these two great words -- discipline
& loyalty are becoming meaningless. Does this mean
that they are worthless? On the contrary, they are becoming
priceless qualities because they are so hard to develop
in the first place. And should you be one of the fortunate
few who by God's grace have caught the vision, your battle
has just begun because the greatest battle is to keep
what you've learned through these two priceless qualities.
Discipline
is that great quality that few people use that enables
them to be constructively busy all the time. Even in discouragement
and defeat, discipline will rescue you and usher you to
a new place to keep constructively busy while you forget
about doubt, worry and self pity. Oh, that more men and
women in this day would realize the absolute necessity
of discipline and the degree of growth and happiness to
be attained from it.
Most
people think that loyalty is to a thing or to a person
when actually it is really to one's own self. Some think
that it is to a goal or an objective, but again it is
to one's own convictions. If loyalty has to be earned
then it is deserved and is hardly more than devoted emotion
based on a temporary feeling. No, loyalty is the character
of a person who has given himself to the task before him
and he will always realize that out of a loyal heart will
spring all the other virtues that make life one of depth
and growth.
