Craig Groeschel says, “Great leaders do consistently what others do occasionally.”
I’ll be frank. Leadership is hard. It never gets easier. The rewards may increase, but the path never smooths out; the journey never ends.
It takes consistency and hard work to be a good leader, and even more consistency and hard work to be a great one.
Consistency is rare today.
Our attentions spans are down to 8.25 seconds on average (shorter than a goldfish). We binge watch, binge eat, binge drink, and binge work.
Society no longer trains us for consistency - we have to train ourselves.
What is the hard work? Serving others. Sitting by their side, throwing your shoulder into the yoke of partnership, and striving together.
The hard work is being WITH.
Part of being WITH is identifying what is in our best interest today and then doing it before the day ends.
Do you know that decisions you are presented with today may not even be an option tomorrow? Some of us have this mindset of “I’ll do that tomorrow,” and that is hazardous.
For many reasons, tomorrow may never come.
I’m not being morose. While it is technically possible today is your last, I’m talking about the much more dangerous reality that you are not the same person tomorrow because of the decisions you make today.
You may not even see the same opportunities tomorrow as you do today.
Desires for great leadership behaviors that lead to an abundant life are right as far as they go; but if you stop there, you’ve lost.
Many will stagnate and live a life of frustration and difficulty while hoping and desiring to be good leaders. They do not come to the point of sticking to the hard work and yielding their will to the service of others.
They do not choose today to be great leaders.
An entire change can be made in your life today, right now, through the right exercise of will.
Allying yourself with the power that comes from looking away from self and looking for ways to serve others - ways to be WITH - you will have strength to train for and simultaneously run the marathon of leadership.
Great leadership takes constant work, consistent choices, and a steadfast surrender of selfish wants.
Through constant surrender to unselfish pursuits, you will be enabled to live an abundant life, even the life of a great leader.