Little things that happen to all of us, as we live out our own lives, have a bad habit of adding themselves together and becoming a very big and unruly conglomerate that truly can distract, derail, or even destroy you as you attempt to succeed and/or lead other people in a combined effort to accomplish great things.  Being or becoming anxious is an acceptable condition with which you can still ably function.  Frustration, on the other hand, indicates that one does not really know what he or she is doing.  Frustrated people are always confused as to what they are doing, which is always why they lack performance or related production in their efforts.

Just as a “flat line” showing up on an oscilloscope screen indicates no effective or efficient production is occurring, so does it also apply to effective performance and productivity of a business operation.  All of life is dynamic.  God created everything in this world to be in a continual state of either growing or dying.  There is no such thing as standing still…or of being “status quo.”

This attribute of leadership is the “litmus” test.  If you are growing, your personal relationships will be increasing in number and in quality.  The size of your business operations will be getting larger and more productive.  The influence you exert on or in the lives of other people will be ever increasing as will the size of the cadre whom you lead.  If these attributes are not happening or existing within your life, your family, and/or your business, then you are not growing….consequently, by default, you can only then be dying!  Self test with all honesty.  As William Shakespeare so eloquently put it…“To thine self be true.”

Permit me to honestly and boldly tell you the truth.  You alone control your own mind and therefore your own thought processes.  Thought precedes all words or actions exhibited by any human being.  Everything you do, was preceded with a thought of doing it exactly as you did it.  That is the manner and way that God designed us to act and perform.  We are all the same in that regard…we are all a product of our combined thoughts.  

Have you ever heard, seen, or witnessed the actions of other people and wondered what in the world caused them to conduct themselves the way that they did?  Well, the truth of the matter is that they acted in direct concert with their own individual thoughts regarding their efforts as related to the things that they did.

Thoughts produce words, and words produce actions.

So if you ever want to change your actions and efforts that are happening or are failing to happen in your life, then first you must change your thoughts! This is the ways and means that transforming oneself always occurs.

Transforming yourself is changing who you are on the inside.  It is giving yourself an internal makeover.  Rather than being a juggler of sorts and keeping the small stuff in your life from bothering or irritating you or overwhelming you as you go about living your life, may I suggest that you transform your life.  Transform yourself  into a person who is not bothered to begin with, who doesn’t even perceive the world as an inherently stressful or miserable place.

The truth be told, we all live in a stressed filled world today.  Most of the stress we encounter each day is self inflicted.  We are working longer and more intense hours every week.  We are bombarded with many more distractions, and we are anxious for our futures because of the state of political and financial affairs around the world.  With all of this war, rumors of war, or threatened war going on around the globe,…chaos runs rampant.  Worry, doubt, and fear tempt us to believe that the only way to find true peace is to escape all of the chaos.

One way to such an escape, we incorrectly believe, is to actually move far away from the chaos to a more peaceful place,…say like to Hawaii or Australia,…or to a small remote country town or village.  Escape can be short or long term in nature.  Even a vacation to a favorite special place can serve as a temporary means of escape.

A second manner of escape is simply by “tuning-out” the reality of life through television, computers, movies, too much work or some other major distraction designed to take our attention away from the chaos surrounding us that we just can no longer stand or tolerate.

I want to tell you that either one of these two ways of escape are at best a temporary short-term solution to the problems you are facing.  Neither choice addresses the root cause of your stress related anxiety and chaos.

To be truly transformed, a person must first learn to be at peace while they are right in the middle of the confusion that is pounding on them.

You see, there are really only two directions a person can and does take or pursue. Either they are heading in the wrong direction or they are going in the right direction towards a viable solution to the problems or challenges they are facing.  Life can be either a vicious cycle or a virtuous one depending totally upon the choices a person makes and the direction in which they live their life.  The storms of life can be likened to an approaching hurricane.  Any person can choose to charge on, in a forward capacity or direction, straight into the eye of storm, full well knowing that it may be very uncomfortable at first, but with perseverance and adaptability they can learn to embrace the new environment and accept it for all that it is or that it can become.  Such an action is, of course, going to require a person the make appropriate changes and adjustments to their course of travel.  But the good news is that by making a small change, we can alter our course, turn ourselves around, and then head off once again in the right direction that we wish to go.

The real answer to our dilemmas of life is for us to mature to the adult level to where we will stop designing or concocting ways to avoid our problems and instead find the courage and internal strength to move forward with an open mind and heart.  This situation is easily recognized by the fact that once it occurs, we immediately start to feel or experience a newly discovered personal calm, self confidence, and feeling that we are at last in  control of our own life.  The long term reaction to these experiences is that you will automatically know such a wonderful transformation is going on within your own being.  You will discover that there is more love and joy in your heart.  You won’t have to work so hard at being a loving and caring person whenever someone else acts or conducts themselves in an unloving or hurtful way towards you.

Once you have been transformed, being a loving and caring person just comes to you naturally.  It is called the Grace of God.  It is a gift from your Creator.  God’s Grace is your reward for His unmerited favor being bestowed upon you.  Your newly discovered gift will give you a much greater appreciation for what is right with your life.  You will find yourself becoming a much more appreciative and generous person.  You will begin to automatically assume the innocence in others,…forgive them as necessary, and want what is best for everyone–even when some people do wrong or bad things  to you or to others.  Compassion for all of humanity will ooze out of your being.  You will see kindness and compassion as extremely important ingredients necessary for you to live a successful and meaningful life.  In short, you will begin and continue to love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable…just as the Lord Jesus Christ did and continues to do for you and for all humanity.  

The words of Christ ring loud and clear through the pages of history.  It is all recorded in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 11, verses 29–30,  NKJV:

(29)   “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for  I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will rest for your souls.

(30)     For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”     

Being a leader of men or women requires you to be the right and correct example for them to follow.  That is really what love is all about…being the right example.

Leaders Gotta Lead…………….