Self-Discipline - The Blood and Sweat of Leadership - Day 12: 100 Days of Leadership

Self-discipline is a requirement for every good leader. James R. Lowell says, 'No one can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself'. Leadership demands self-discipline.

When you have a project that is due on a pressing deadline, you may need coffee, but you definitely need self-discipline.

When you are trying to lose weight, you may want another donut, but what you really need is self-discipline.

When you’re trying to write a sermon for a congregation, it might be easier to prepare the message in the microwave, but you really know what the congregation needs is a sermon that has been bubbling away in a crockpot.

Self-discipline may feel like a word that grates against every fibre of your being. Though every leader I look up to, I see that they have learnt to conquer the battle between their own flesh and the self-discipline they need to succeed.

To overcome the fight between mediocrity and self-discipline, one needs to continually make the right choices. Will I send that email or refresh my facebook page? Will I have that difficult conversation with another work colleague or will I postpone it indefinitely? Will I go for that walk or will I grab an extra hour of sleep?

We wrestle with this every day. Good leaders conquer self-discipline. God helping us, we can be a holy, disciplined people who love God, who serve God and spend our time in ways that honour God.  

What does the Bible say?

 

Hebrews 12:11 - No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

What will I do now?

Here’s where the rubber hits the road. What do you need to do that you’ve been putting off? What practical things do you need to be more disciplined with? Will you consciously make the choice to have self-discipline?

Mediocre Prayer for Mediocre Christians

I'm about to say something about prayer that should get your ears pricked and your heart beating.

Prayer is essential to every Christian's walk with God; we know that. We speak of spending regular times with God in prayer. Pastors speak of spending time in devotions and being prayerful on all occassions.

I wonder though whether the church (especially in the west) is missing something. Something crucial.

I want to be frank with you right now. I don't seek to offend, but I want to lay a thought out on the line. Maybe you'll disagree, and that's probably good, because it means I just over stood the mark, and what I'm about to say is not true...

Here it is...

If we truly believed that our prayers could transform society, prayer meetings would be overflowing. 24/7 prayer rooms would be packed. Mountain tops would see Christians gathering. Homes would be places of consistent, faith-filled prayer. BUT! The fact is, that deep down we don't actually believe God really, really hears our prayers and that God intends to answer them. I mean, seriously, if we believed wholeheartedly that our commitment to intercessory prayer could change a circumstance, we would pray with greater hunger and tenacity. If people in our churches ACTUALLY believed God COULD heal the sick through THEIR prayers, you wouldn't have to pay them $100 to attend a prayer meeting (you hear my sarcasm, I'm sure).

There I've said my piece. We are missing a deep conviction inside of us, that believes God hears prayers.

Generally speaking, we don't need to convince each other, that God knows the end from the beginning. We don't even need to be reminded that God has plans and purposes for our lives. We've heard it continually. We know God loves us, and cares for us, and so on and so on.

Though do you believe deep down, that God wants you to pray, to fast, to 'press in', to cry out and intercede for your country and its people? If so, great. If not, it's time to change.

Rinse your Cottage Cheese and other Great Leadership Tips

A great leadership tip is like a good toothbrush to a dentist, it helps a leader brush up on their skills and not get bogged down by plaque!

Leaders are not simply born, they are made. I assume Winston Churchill never woke up one morning and said, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now a leader'.

This is the thing: leadership development is not just gleaned from a one off conference where the facilitators are nice enough to let you get to keep the name-tag! The leadership development process is a day-to-day adventure, of grabbing hold of God-given dreams, inspiring others to help you, and to change the world in the process!

Amongst the plethora of leadership teachings, tips and ideas, leadership Blogs, leadership articles and great leadership books, here's another Blog post. A Blog post that offers ten leadership tips and will take you a step further along the adventurous road of leadership discovery and growth. 

So here is my 'Rinse your Cottage Cheese and other Great Leadership Tips' post:

Leadership Tip No. 1: Rinse your cottage cheese. One small step of discipline can make all the difference. Jim Collins in Good to Great writes:

The analogy comes from a disciplined world-class athlete named Dave Scott, who won the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon six times. In training, Scott would ride his bike 75 miles, swim 20,000 meters, and run 17 miles - on average, every single day. Dave Scott did not have a weight problem! Yet he believed that a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet would give him an extra edge. So, Dave Scott - a man who burned at least 5,000 calories a day in training - would literally rinse his cottage cheese to get the extra fat off. (p. 127)

Leadership Tip No. 2: Integrity  and trust are the foundations of leadership. Without good character, and developing trust, sooner or lately the foundations will crack.


Leadership Tip No. 3: A positive mental attitude is much better than a mind that wanders down a road of negativity.


Leadership Tip No. 4: Without vision the people wander aimlessly (Proverbs 29:18).


Leadership Tip No. 5: Developing leaders who develop other leaders creates multiplication.


Leadership Tip No. 6: The sweet potato credibility test - You cannot take a sweet potato and sniff it, bake it and garnish it, and thus make it into a normal potato. It will always be a sweet potato. Likewise, you cannot dress up someone without good character and sustain credibility for very long. People will see right through it.


Leadership Tip No. 7: Leaders have a different vocabulary. You do not hear words like mediocrity, apathy and half-heartedness often. Tenacity and perseverance is the order of the day.


Leadership Tip No. 8: Godly leaders set their hearts on things above (Col 3:2); not on worldly success, fame, fortune or any other hedonistic ambition.


Leadership Tip No. 9: Proximity changes perception. Allowing people in your circles of influence to be involved in understanding your decision making processes, and to be up close and personal to the leadership challenges you face, will change their perception. Proximity builds understanding. How often have you whined about a Prime Minister, Queen or President? Now, how often have you been inside their office, read their emails, understood the pressure they are under and worked as hard as they work? Proximity changes perception. 


Leadership Tip No. 10: Leaders create, build and sustain momentum. Like the winning team in a game of football, the momentum shifts. It is hard to knuckle down what this element is, but holding on to it is great!


Now that you have brushed up a little on some leadership tips, keep scrubbing and check out more leadership tips and teachings here.

Join Disciples in Training on Facebook for more discussion.

Addicted to Mediocrity - Tips on Beating Apathy and Half-Heartedness

This is a post I have procrastinated about for months. Maybe that is because half-heartedness is so easy to achieve. Maybe the cause is apathy. The reason is, mediocrity is so much easier!

Leadership teachings tell us, the fulfilment of any vision in life cannot be accomplished with apathy; not at least if the vision is grandiose! Apathy and a mediocre attitude will never allow you to rise up and reach those heights you dream of.

I want to give you some tips on how to beat mediocrity. This is by no means a complete list, but a list that will help you rise up to new heights!

Tips on beating mediocrity and apathy:

1. Be Decisive - When you are lying in bed wondering whether you should get up or not, you need to be decisive, and choose to get up! When you are sitting in the office wondering whether you should refresh your facebook page, or finish that document you know you need to complete, you must be decisive
2. Press In - These are the two words my wife Jo and I use often. When things get tough, either physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we look each other in the eye and say, 'It's time to press in'. What we mean by that, is that we are choosing to push on and persevere. The only other choice is to give up, and that is where mediocrity happens! (See Philippians 3:12).
3. Be a Learner - Mediocrity at times can be closely linked with ignorance. We remain ignorant about a particular subject, and therefore feel alright not to have to do anything about it. Let me give you an example. When you learn, you become informed about information that now requires you to make a choice. When you learn about extreme poverty in Sudan, for example, you are now privy to information that should cause you to respond. Learning about a particular topic can help deal with mediocrity, as it informs you about the topic at hand, and generally can equip you to make an appropriate response (See Daniel 1:3-4). Another example is this: I am mediocre at times with administrative tasks (probably because I put more emphasis on people becoming followers of Jesus than admin!). Part of that apathy and mediocrity about balancing the finances is because of my lack of understanding of the processes and procedures required to fulfil the task. So, if I learn, it helps me deal with mediocrity.
4. Find Creative Solutions - Sometimes we ebb and flow out of half-heartedness because we lack the capacity to implement an appropriate solution. The challenge, is to continue to learn (as previously stated), and to brainstorm creative solutions to the problems. Rather than giving up, which results in apathy and mediocrity, hone your skills in gathering the right people around you and implementing a creative solution. An example would be a time I had two community groups wanting to hire our facilities at the same time. I procrastinated with responding, because I had not chosen to sit down and nut out a creative solution! Some would relate this to intuition.
5. Let the Cause Drive You - Mediocrity can be nipped in the bud by allowing the vision you have for your organisation, family, business, church, etc, to be greater than your desire to do nothing! Let the cause be so strong that half-heartedness is not an option! For me, as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have such a passionate desire to see people saved, set free and part of the journey of faith (see Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 28:19-20 and other Scriptures), that any inkling of giving up, letting go, sitting down or going through the motions, is not an option! If it becomes an option, then I must revisit the original vision I had, and ask myself whether that vision is worth working hard for...
6. Do it Anyway Attitude - How often are there tasks to complete and expectations to rise up to, and you wonder whether it's worth it? For me, this is often. The choice for me, is a lousy attitude, or a 'Do it anyway' kind of attitude. I can sit and complain about the task at hand (whether it be work, home duties, etc), or I can simply press in, and have a decisive attitude that will finish what it required of me.

Well, I hope those tips on beating apathy and mediocrity were helpful. I write these as a personal challenge for myself in leadership, and hopefully you have been inspired by some of the tips yourself.

Don't be addicted to mediocrity, but committed to excellence.