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!”

Three Planning Questions for Church Leaders

When church leaders consider goals and plans for the ministry of their churches, a lot of factors have to be considered. These factors are both spiritual and practical. Yes, a pastor and his leadership team do serve in churches that depend on spiritual direction for the development of strategies to reach God-given objectives. On the other hand, practical issues have to be considered.

This presentation addresses what I consider to be the key questions that church leaders should ask themselves and their ministry teams as they plan for significant ministry in their churches and communities.

Text? Email? Phone?

While I am an endorser of a handwritten note of approval, I’m acutely aware that people communicate in a variety of ways. People communicate primarily through text message, email, or phone calls. The challenge for a business person is to discover how clients and potential clients prefer to communicate; and most people do seem to have a preferred mode of communication.

                                                         

Two ways exist to find out a client’s preferred mode of communication. The quickest way is to simply ask. The other way is to try each mode and see which one the client responds to most quickly. Even after you zero in on what appears to be the preferred method of connecting, you may have to communicate with the client a few times to get a feel for which form of contact to which he responds.

Finally, understand that the nature of the contact determines how you most effectively communicate. Some situations require that you go beyond a text or email contact and make a verbal connection. It may even require a face to face appointment.

Also, consider what the client or potential client is communicating by not responding to your efforts to connect. In those instances, remember that most people will not work with you, but some will work with no one but you. So, keep communicating and connecting to find the people in that latter group.

The Challenge of Change

Change is challenging. Let me rephrase that, “Positive change is challenging.” The world, your world, is going to change often and quickly. You will continually face the challenge of effectively adapting to meet the challenges of changes taking place that affect your business.

As a pastor of churches seeking to take significant steps in effectively navigating the challenges of positive change, I found myself facing two challenges. First, I had to make positive and productive changes in my own thinking and actions. To lead others in making positive changes, I needed to be convinced that the changes were necessary. This required a commitment to personal and professional development for myself. Then, I faced the challenge of convincing others of the needed change and leading them to make the positive changes efficiently and productively. At best, I found change, even positive change, a potentially overwhelming undertaking.

As you navigate the challenges of making positive changes in your business and life, keep these four elements in mind:

 

1.      Keep your vision or dream in focus. A clearly stated vision enables you to navigate the challenges of change effectively and productively. It also keeps your team on the same page.

2.      Consistently evaluate your current reality. Don’t be oblivious to what is happening in the world and your industry that has the potential to significantly impact your business.

3.      Set challenging, yet attainable goals. You and your team need to know where they are headed if they are going to make daily progress.

4.      Develop strategies for moving forward with your professional and personal growth. If you are not consistently becoming better, you may find yourself unable to respond to the challenges of the changes taking place in your industry.

If you do not know where you want to go and lack a strategy to get you there, you will end up going wherever the current of change takes you. Remember, even positive change is challenging.

Big Dream...Big Team

Don't be hesitant to dream big, but if you do, don't be shy about recruiting a big team. By that I mean bring on board people who enthusiastically buy into the vision and have the ability and character to make the vision a reality.
As you consider the kind of team you require to realize your dream, understand that potential members of your team are asking this question, "Will helping you realize your dream enable me to realize mine?" Never forget that significance is not measured by what you do for yourself, it is measured by what you do for others.

Is Your Glass 1/2 Empty or 1/2 Full?

We are all familiar with the illustration of a glass of water being either half-full or half-empty. The pessimist sees it as half-empty and thinks he is missing out. The optimist sees it as half-full and is encouraged to build on the success he has already experienced.

Well, I’ve got great news for both the pessimist and the optimist. Half-empty or half-full, there’s room for growth, improvement, and advancement.

 If You Have a 1/2 Empty View:

• Change your perspective. Think positively instead of negatively. Communicate a positive message to your team. Is this just playing mind games? Maybe, but then again, the mind is where the game is being played.
• Set fresh goals. Make sure they are challenging, achievable, measurable, and time bound.
• Set out on a plan for personal growth and development. To do more you will have to be more.
• Start doing on a daily basis what you need to do to fill up your glass from this point forward.

 If You Have a 1/2 Full Perspective:

• Stay the course while you evaluate your next big step toward the top of the glass.
• Keep growing personally and professionally. Leaders are learners. If you stop learning, you will stop leading. Read good books and publications, listen to effective leaders, and attend dynamic conferences.

Half empty or half full, where you go from here is up to you. If by chance your glass is already full, try moving to a larger glass.

Vision Casting

What good is it to develop a bold vision if you don't boldly cast it to your team? I've seen many leaders fail to achieve their most significant objectives simply because they failed to boldly, passionately, and convincingly share the vision with their leadership team. Sharing vision is the riskiest thing a leader does. You are literally laying your dream on the table for people to accept or reject...to buy into or dismiss; but until you effectively cast your vision to the people whom you expect to help you achieve it and get their buy in, your significant dream remains a fantasy.