The Significance of a Day

                                                                                         Photo: Patricia Betts

As a pastor, I have served many church parishioners in times of the sudden loss of a loved one or close friend. Each experience has given me a strong appreciation for the fragile nature of life and the necessity of making the most of every day God gives us. Each day of life is a precious gift from our creator and carries with it a great responsibility to use it wisely, productively, and significantly.

I offer three ideas on how to get the most of your day:

• Love those closest to you. The day will come when the what the people closest to you believe about you are the only opinions that will matter. Everyday, make an effort to love your family and develop meaningful friendships.
• Learn something new, fresh, and significant everyday. Learning is a cumulative activity. As you apply yourself to learning something each day, you steadily develop a body of knowledge and level of expertise in your chosen field. Life long learning helps you to stay engaged in your work and your relationships.
• Live each day to its fullest potential. John Maxwell writes, "The most successful people in life are the ones who settle their critical issues early and manage them daily." Each day's activity is a stepping stone on the path toward your personal and professional significance. Lean into your potential every day.

You write your future by remaining fully engaged in your present. When you make today count, your life starts adding up to success and significance.

Become the Best at What You Do Best

                              

As you focus on increasing your value to potential clients or employers, you have two options available. You can work on improving in your areas of weakness, or you can pay greater attention to developing your strengths.

If you work diligently to improve in an area in which you are just okay, you might be able to become average at doing it. In other words, you will be equipped to do an acceptable job. On the other hand, if you devote yourself to developing a skill in which you are already good, you have the potential of being great at doing it.

In either of the above scenarios, you will improve your abilities. In the first scenario, you can achieve average performance in an area that you were once only doing acceptable work. In the other, you are now performing at a great level. You are beginning to be the best at what you do.

What's the motivation for becoming great at a skill over becoming average in a skill? People pay the minimum for average, but they pay the maximum for great. Discover what you do best, then commit yourself to becoming the best at doing it.

Integrity

“The dictionary defines integrity as the ‘state of being complete, unified.’ When people have integrity, their words and deeds match up. They are who they are, no matter where they are or who they’re with.” –John Maxwell

Your personal character will eventually determine the direction of your decisions, your level of consistent productivity, the quality of your professional and personal relationships, and the significance of your influence in the lives of those closest to you.

Let me offer a few suggestions on developing your character and personal integrity:

--Live out what you expect to see in others.

--Do what you say you will do.

--Always be honest with clients, friends, and family.

--Put what is best for others (the team) ahead of what is best for you.

--Be you…the best you.

The best time to make good ethical, integrity building decisions is before you are faced with situations requiring good ethical decisions. Patricia Cornwell observes, “We can all do bad things if we don’t pay attention.” Developing integrity is quite often a matter of just paying attention.

When You Need Help

John Maxwell writes, “One is too small a number for significance.” If you can accomplish your goals by yourself, your goals may be insignificant. Significant goals require the significant involvement of people who have the skills, resources, and inclination to help you achieve your major objectives. Here are a few things to consider as you set out to secure the help and cooperation your significant goals require for their attainment:

--Don’t focus only on what you want to achieve, but envision the impact that your achievements  will have on your life, your family, your organization, your team, and the world around you. The more people you want to influence with your work, the bigger you must dream, and the more help you will need in pursuing it.

--Goals require an effective strategy for their fulfillment. People buy into you at two levels. First, they are attracted by the significance of your dream. Help them to see what it can mean to them and to others. Second, they want to see a viable plan for achieving your vision. A sound strategy gives them a road map to your destination. If they are going to travel this road with you, they want an idea of how they will get to the desired destination.

--Know who you want to take this journey with you, then approach them with the information they need to evaluate the dream and the strategy. Spell it out so they can check it out.

--Get excited about what you want to do. Enthusiasm is contagious.

--Keep your promises. Do what you say you will do. Sometimes your best effort will fail, but never be guilty of failing to give your best effort.

Remember that if you are above asking others for help in achieving your major objectives in work and life, then you will succeed only to the limits of your personal skills and resources. With the assistance of others, you can far exceed those limits and achieve a higher level significance.

Buy a Ticket

                                               

You may be familiar with the story of the man who prayed every evening that God would help him win the lottery. Night after night, he repeated the same prayer, “God, please help me win the lottery.” Finally, after one of his lottery prayers, God responded, “Before I answer your prayer, I need you to do one thing for me…BUY A TICKET!”

If you are praying for or wishing for personal and professional success, I encourage you to “buy a ticket” by significantly investing in your success. You can buy your ticket to success by first investing in yourself. I read this statement recently, “Discover what you do best, then make a commitment to becoming the best at doing it.” Continual personal and professional growth is the ticket to enjoying significant success in your life.

Second, invest significantly in your work, business, or profession. Commit yourself to an effective strategy for accomplishing your important objectives. Many people create a dream board on which they place pictures and objects to represent what they truly want in their lives. The problem is that while many people have a “dream board”, they do not have a corresponding “do board” outlining what they will need to become and do to fulfill their dreams. Investing time, energy, talents, and resources into your work or career is your ticket to eventual success.

Finally, invest in the lives of others. Zig Ziglar often observed that if you help others get what they want, they will help you get what you want. As you invest in the success of others, they will in turn invest in your success.

Not every investment results in a return, but every significant return does require a significant investment. In other words, “BUY A TICKET!”