Padawan

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”

~ Shannon L. Alder

“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” Philippians 4:9 (KJV)

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2 (KJV)

MULTIPLICATION

Multiplication is just a very fast and efficient form of addition. If you want to leave your mark in life, this is one math fact which you will want to embrace, because multiplication is the best way to ensure your legacy. It is though the lives of others you invest in as a mentor, that you can have your greatest impact.

We sometimes call a person being mentored - a disciple. A disciple is a person who follows a leader and they do something more; a disciple reproduces themself in the lives of others who come after them. So we have two important aspects of discipleship; copy and multiply. These two ideas can change your life and even change the world! If you don’t multiply your beliefs, practices and experience in the lives of others, they will soon be lost.

Do you remember the Star Wars movies? They tell about a religious sect called the Jedi who had a very strict system of training their understudies called "Padawans." Their whole plan went wrong when they failed to properly mentor and govern one from among their own ranks and he became their nemesis. Darth Vader was a disciple … but of the wrong leader. He became the Dark Lord of the universe as a direct result of ineffective discipleship by the Jedi. I am not saying that if you do not properly disciple those under you, they will bring the universe to ruin - but it is something to think about. What could you be doing right now to properly guide those who look to you for leadership?

The philosophy of reproducing ourself through others relates to raising our children as well as training our employees and the impact we have on any others who may be looking to us for leadership. It is a universal truth that we will reap what we have sown.

I have been blessed to have a series of great men who have invested in my life to guide me when I needed it. It has not always been easy to receive their input but because the relationships were built on love and trust, there was a solid foundation making it easier. We all need to be looking around us for someone we can invest in and for someone to invest in us – it flows both ways. I never met a successful leader who did not have a series of mentors helping them and I never met a wise man who did not seek to mentor others. The choice is yours to take this admonition seriously; copy and multiply. That is the best way any of us can leave a lasting legacy and assure our long-term success.

Essential Insight – “Multiplication is the only math that really adds up.”

Magic Formula

“Positive thinking by itself does not work. Your embodied vision, partnered with vibrant thinking, harmonized with active listening, and supported with your conscious action - will clear the path for your Miracles.” ~ Sumner M. Davenport

What is the secret handshake; the magic formula; the correct prayer that will bring us what we want? I hear it a lot; “Why doesn't God answer my prayers?”

The short answer is that I don’t know. But let me share a few things I do know that will take the edge off of your frustration and bolster your confidence toward God.

1. God is not a vending machine - If He was it wouldn't do us much good because we would always get what we want and sometimes we need someone to say, “No!” If I always got what I wanted, I would be in a lot of trouble.

2. God knows everything that is going on and only He can deliver the perfect answer that fits all the needs - If we were the only people and this was the only time maybe we could figure it all out by our self, but sadly this is not the case and we live in a very complicated world far beyond our comprehension.

3. You can absolutely trust God – no matter what happens God is completely reliable. True, He is not always on your side but you can always be on His side. Line yourself up with His purposes and character and you will be in a position to be blessed by God.

4. We will get the best result in the end – God promises us that everything will work out for the best possible outcome if we are aligned with Him. Our problem is that we do not trust God to do things in His way but we want to do it all our way. Sometimes pain is necessary to get the desired result. Ask any Olympic athlete about their training schedule and they will gladly enlighten you on this point.

5. Trusting God is the point of the exercise – Things will work out in the end and we will have the best result we could ever imagine, but the important thing is for us to be aligned with our Heavenly Father. It’s not about getting what we want; it is about becoming what He wants.

As I lay in bed last night it hit me hard that I do not really believe what I am constantly saying to others about God. I only believe when my life is good and I do not have any challenges. I want to change that fact about myself. When my child has a disease or my job goes down the toilet or I cannot stop a relationship from failing – that is when I want to learn to trust God; that is real trust!

The magic formula is to trust God. He will never fail us.

Dreamers

“Status Quo is just a Latin phrase describing the mess we are in.”

Are you inclined to think about how things could be or ought to be or do you more often bemoan the way they really are? A dreamer should be a person who wants to be a difference-maker. They are not content just to identify the problem; they want to help fix it and make the world a better place.

There is a fine balance between being a dreamer and just being discontent with our circumstances. It is possible to make yourself miserable by finding something wrong with everything that happens ... and that is not dreaming; it’s complaining! A complainer is selfish and worried about themselves ahead of everyone else.

Most dreamers never get engaged in problem-solving. They dream about the way things should be but they cannot connect the dots in a constructive manner and just leave us all dissatisfied and ill at ease with the status quo. A lot of news and particularly political analysts are this type of dreamers; we typically call them idealists or even critics. They are people who are disconnected from reality and can only find fault and never seem to know what the solution is.

So we have dreamers who are self-centered, dreamers who are just critics or complainers and dreamers who have no answers. Let me propose another kind of dreamer that we should all seek to become. Let’s be dreamers who are change-agents. Let’s strive to spend as much time on problem-solving as we spend on identifying the problem. Or if we don’t have enough good ideas let’s try to partner with someone who does, instead of providing just half the formula and frustrating everyone around us.

I love dreamers and want to be classified as a visionary person myself. But let’s not be satisfied with just half the formula and end up pointing out the obvious and failing to provide what’s needed most – solutions. That will separate you from all the rest and confirm your right to be a dreamer!

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” ~ T.E. Lawrence

Mistakes

“We made too many wrong mistakes.” ~ Yogi Berra

My life has been plagued with all kinds of miscues and errors in judgment. After almost 60 years on the planet, I would like to think I am getting smarter and that my experience would count for more, but surprisingly it doesn't seem to work that way as often as it should. How are you doing in that department? It’s not that I don’t know what to do as much as failing in the application of my insight. For example, I have always been a kidder and liked to laugh. As a young man this trait often led me into trouble but it also made me the life of the party. On more than one occasion I remember coming home after being with a group of friends and thinking that I had made a fool out of myself by all that I had said. Other times my embarrassment was just a result of a miscalculation in human relations or perhaps insensitivity to someone’s feelings.

I don’t remember ever going out to intentionally hurt anyone or to be mean just for the sake of it. Introspection has been a habit for me. That’s where the lessons come in. After the dust has settled I usually evaluate what has happened and how I could correct it next time. But that doesn't erase the mistake. Some of my mistakes still burn in my heart even years afterward.

It’s not always about relationships or social skills; sometimes my mistakes have to do with money or my job or just priorities. Let’s face it – no one is perfect and mistakes happen. The more I attempt to do, the more mistakes I make. But here is the good news: we are not judged by our inconsistencies but by our consistencies. Mistakes are a part of life but so is forgiveness and redemption.

My mistakes have made me more tender to others and deepened me more than any other thing in my life. So I have become philosophical about my mistakes and learned to embrace them. My scars are actually medals of honor and badges of battles lost and won – all part of the story called my life. I’m not proud of my failures but I value them as part of the process making me into the man I am becoming. There is one mistake I hope I am never guilty of committing; not profiting from my mistakes and allowing them to make me into a better person.

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” ~ Bruce Lee

Crutches

My beautiful daughter had an injury recently and needed crutches to get around for weeks afterward. Actually, she needed more than that, but her crutches were the last thing to go. It wasn't easy to give them up either. At first they were essential and then they became less important physically but more and more important psychologically.

Eliminating your crutches is not as easy as you might think. There is a fine line between giving them up at the correct time and giving them up too early, which might cause you to develop a limp that you could carry with you the rest of your life.

We all have something we use as a crutch. When we are in trouble a crutch may be just the thing to help us out; that’s not entirely bad, but we need to get rid of the crutch at the right time so we can learn to walk on our own again.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but nothing is meant to be our perpetual crutch. In reality, the plan is for us to eventually be able to stand on our own intellectually, emotionally and psychologically. We will never be able to handle all our own problems, but we must learn to be normal to the fullest extent possible. We are all dependent to a certain extent but we must not be permanently debilitated by our situation or circumstances. The goal for each of us is that we would be complete and whole as an individual.

The danger is in not finding the balance between trying to go it alone in life and ending up limping through it, or never trying to walk on our own and not maturing to become that which we were intended to be.

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” ~ H. L. Hunt

War of the Mind

“My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.” ~ Bjorn Borg

I have a very simple message for you today – Don’t quit! Everyone I have known who has experienced great success over a long period of time, has one characteristic in common; persistence. You don’t have to be the best at what you do. If you stick with it, you will find you outlast them all and win simply by attrition. The fact is that everyone else will quit and you will be the last one standing. You must win the war of the mind.

I would rather win because I am the smartest, best, and most talented, but someone else can beat me in every one of these categories. However, I can decide that I will never quit, never stop and never give in. That is my choice and I am committed to finishing what I begin. How about you? You may not always make the right decision but you can make your decision right if you will stick with it and perfect it until it is just what it needs to be.

How often have you quit just as victory was within your grasp, but you didn’t realize it so you gave up and missed your dream? We will never know the answer to that particular question, but we can rest assured that we did not miss our mark if we never quit and learn to press on despite the discouragement and pressure to withdraw.

I was never the best or most talented so early in my life I had to decide that I would be the most committed and it has paid off handsomely. Billy Graham is my hero. He has addressed more people face to face than any man who has ever lived. One of my greatest successes was to lead the largest public gathering Billy Graham ever held in North America. We were under-staffed, under-funded and had no real momentum going for us. I will never forget that we held a rally the week before our meeting was to take place and less than 1200 people showed up! We were in a jam and our backs were to the wall but we did not give up and a week later we had 250,000 people crowding into New York City’s Central Park. Our meeting was a record for Billy and a personal high point for me. The next day, an aerial photo of the gathering appeared on the front page of the New York Times - above the fold. We had realized our dream – and then some.

You are a winner if you never quit. No matter what the circumstances or the emotion screaming for you to give in, don’t do it! If you go down, don’t let it be because you held back or second-guessed the outcome. Give it all you have and push to the end. Your victory is at hand!

“Persistence is the ability to force your desired outcome by sheer strength of will and determination.”

It Will Wreck Your Life

“Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

A dishonest life is full of rot and will be exposed, causing us great embarrassment. It is not a question of “if” but “when” will you be exposed? Writers across the ages have exalted the virtue of honesty. Where does this trait stand in your set of values? I am ashamed to admit that I have sometimes struggled with being completely honest. Maybe you have been tempted in this area of your life too.

Years ago, I learned a very important lesson about verbal honesty that is seared on my consciousness – I hope it will help you as it has helped me. A friend of mine wanted to come visit me for the weekend but had responsibilities at his church which needed his attention. In order to get permission to leave, he told the entire congregation that I had been hurt in a car accident and that he was needed at my bedside. Unknown to my friend, someone in the audience knew a girl I was dating and found out that my friend was lying – what an embarrassment when the truth leaked out!

The theory of six degrees of separation says that no one is more than six relationships removed from anyone else. This idea is not just about networking – it speaks to our need to be honest as well. Once we are proven to be dishonest, it is difficult to regain the trust of others. Confess your lie immediately, take back the thing you stole; don’t let it go uncorrected. It will fester and start to erode your character. You will be exposed and humiliated. Face up to your failure and admit that it is wrong. Then you will have healing and restoration. There is nothing so pure and strong as a man with a clear conscience.

“Determine that honesty will be a hallmark of your life and pay scrupulous attention to maintaining it at all times, no matter what the cost.”

The Oscar

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing.” - Vince Lombardi

Who will win the Oscar? It is always a horse race until the very end, but along the way we are given some important clues. Just as in life, the race does not always go to the hardest worker or most gifted. The award sometimes goes to the most popular or charismatic.

When you are recognized for your life’s work, will you be deserving of the accolades you crave or will the ceremony be a sham in which you can take no pride or pleasure? The choice is yours because the path leading to the winner’s podium is cobbled now as you are far distant from the finish line.

Choices; in the beginning we make them and in the end, they make us. What kind of choices are you making today that will lead you into the winner’s circle despite the dictates of popular opinion?

Live according to the promptings of your heart. You know what to do! Even when they are not immediately gratifying, cling to the values you know are correct. Do what is right. Virtue is its own reward. And when the final verdict is rendered, you will know in your heart that you held nothing in reserve. That will be your reward and no one can take it from you.

“If you give your best every day, you will be given the Oscar for the performance your life.”

Flat Tire on the Fast Track

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin

An acquaintance of mine bought one of the first DeLoreans to come off the assembly line. It used to belong to John DeLorean himself but he had to give it up. You have probably heard the story of DeLorean’s amazing rise to success in the auto industry with development of the Pontiac GTO and then later his own car make named after himself. But he lost it all; his family, his business and yes, even his car, because he went too far too fast in his pursuit of success. Patience was not a virtue in the fast paced auto industry in which the young and ambitious DeLorean circulated and it may not be in the circles you travel either. Impatience was a major factor in bringing about his downfall; will it bring you down?

What you may not know is that John DeLorean had a major philosophical life-change when he hit the speed bumps of life and reinvented himself as a new person. I think it is safe to say that John learned the truth late in life after he had almost given himself away to his debtors and strangers while traveling down the fast track searching for fame and success.

A very successful and wise businessman once warned me that “you do not go into business but you grow into business.” Take time to build what you want very carefully and thoroughly so it is solid and will resist the bumps in the road that all new ventures inevitably face.

It is never too late to throw our life into reverse if we detect that we are travelling too fast or are on the wrong road. Have courage today. Slow down. Be honest with yourself and work to develop the patience you need to build your own success over time. When we see a door of opportunity, there is nothing wrong with turning the doorknob to see if it will open but a lot of heartache can follow if we break down a door that is locked. I have learned some bitter lessons when I have done this. Being in a hurry to create my success also places a burden on me to sustain that which I have created. On the other hand, when a door is open and I am allowed to go through it without force, I can rest in the knowledge that the timing is correct and the other supporting factors on which I depend are also in place.

“Patiently wait for your success and the results will be greater than you could ever create through the force of your will.”

The Message of Leadership

I wrote the Message of Leadership as an inspirational book for leaders of all kinds. It contains 31 daily readings on different topics inspired by the 31 chapters of the ancient book of Proverbs which was written by the wisest man who ever lived.

My goal was to combine these proverbs with pithy personal insights and stories that will make a leader think about the way they exert their gift of leadership on those around them. It is suitable as a gift for those graduating from school, leaders in government, teachers, business associates, moms or anyone who leads others or aspires to do so. I originally intended it as a special way to say thanks to those who give of themselves for our benefit.

Not only will you get my inspirational thoughts, but you will also receive the entire book of Proverbs as translated by Eugene Peterson in "The Message." The volume comes either in the regular paperback edition or a special first edition cover and I will gladly autograph it to you upon request. This book is available directly from: http://www.danielsouthern.com/products.html

I hope this little book of insights will be a blessing to you.

Trophy

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
- Unknown

I am running a race and so are you; whether you realize it or not. At the end of the race is a finish line with a ribbon strung across the track and a winner's stand for the finalists. I want a place on that podium and am running with it in mind. So every day I am giving my best to assure myself that I am in contention for the prize.

Other people have been giving up and stopping to rest, but I will never give up until the race is over. I want to win or at least set a personal best each day. I have learned that if I just stick with it and never quit; I might be victorious, simply because I am the last man standing. That thought gives me hope. Even though I may not be the best, I can still win if I decide that I will never quit. Never!

So today run your race with all your heart knowing the prize does not always go to the fastest or most talented; sometimes it goes to the one who stuck it out and never gave up. That is you! You can win the trophy. Give everything you have and never quit!

"You are a winner if you persist to the very end"