A Life of Significance – The Rascal

One of the greatest lies you can buy into is that your life, your purpose, is insignificant.  Perhaps you have bought into the lie that you are not equipped for a life of significance, not strong enough, not worthy, or simply not worth anything all that dramatic. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  There is no one that can replace you in your mission.  No one can fulfill your unique purpose.  If your place is left unattended, your mission will be left undone.  No one else can be who you were meant to be.

You need to allow yourself to become the unique individual you were created to be.  You need to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks.  You need to stop trying to be what everyone else wants you to be.  You need to find the courage and the freedom to be yourself.

Personal development – development to maximize your gifts and your talents, unlocks amazing potential and provides a wealth of opportunity. Oddly, many people instead spend their whole life trying to change how they were made.  They ignore their talents, their gifts and their strengths and actually try to change their natural makeup.  Instead, they should do everything in their power to build on them.

What a shame to deny your purpose and abandon your dreams from a lack of courage to pursue them. What a shame to allow your life to be wasted on a career, or series of occupations, that you accepted as a result of obligation.

You were created so that your life would count, not to count the days of your life. Average people compare themselves with others; extraordinary people always compare themselves with who they have been called to be.

Bottom line, if you have read this far, and this resonates with you, I believe you are called to be a Rascal.  What is a Rascal? Author Chris Brady shares it well, in his “Rascal Manifesto.”

Rascal Manifesto – Chris Brady

• I was born free and I intend to live like it. 
• This means that I will live my life while I'm alive.
• No one owns me except my Creator.
• No one can put me in a box, a category, a social group, a voting bloc, or a classification.
• I am fiercely independent, and with those aligned with me in common purpose, interdependent.
• I know that with my freedom comes responsibility.
• I take responsibility for my own actions, and I hold the bar high on myself.
• I am not afraid to struggle, because it's the struggle that makes me great.
• I know that excellence always lies on the other side of inconvenience.
• I am a learning machine.
• I read, I confront brutal reality, I grow.
• Long term, no one and nothing can defeat me, because I will keep coming back, stronger and better than before.
• I will educate myself about the true principles of freedom, and I will strive mightily to preserve freedom for the next generation.
• I rely on no man and no government to provide for me.
• I will not follow the herd of mediocrity and victim-thinking.
• I don't follow herds, instead I run with a pack - a pack of Rascals.
• Let others bask in their privileges, as for me, I will invest them in my purpose.
• I will defy tyranny.
• I will charge the hill.
• I will make a difference. 
• I'm a Rascal!

I believe I am called to be a Rascal.  As a Rascal, what follows below are my thoughts on the purpose I am called to live.  As I continue down this path, I’m sure this will be refined and an even deeper purpose will be revealed. I share this here as a reminder to myself, to guide my steps and empower my actions…

I believe that everyone is called upon to be a leader sometime during the course of their life, even if only for a season. I believe I am called to be a leader. I believe I am called to develop other leaders as well. I believe that one person can make a difference. I believe that I can, I do, and I will continue to make a difference.

I am thankful for my privileges, and I leverage them for my purpose rather than my pleasures. I choose to step out and lead, and I will serve those I am called to help. I will even polarize, if necessary, to serve my purpose rather than compromise myself to please those who may disagree with me.

I am concerned about the freedoms on which our country was founded, and the principles that serve as that foundation. I am concerned about personal finances, and the individual freedoms or constraints that they drive. I am concerned about healthy relationships, healthy marriages and healthy parenting. I am concerned about the information - the “thinking” - that we are using to guide our decisions.

I refuse to compromise my character in any circumstance or environment, no matter the cost.  I strive to be the same person both in private and in public, in thought and in action, devoted to personal discipline and self-mastery. I never stop learning and growing, always drawing from the best sources of information.  I guard my thoughts from unwholesome information and unhealthy environments.  I seek wise counsel and mentorship.

I am the leader of my family. My life will produce lasting impact through generations. I will impact lives globally and eternally. I am on a mission to change lives, one person and one family at a time if necessary. I am willing to partner with those who have a passion to do the same.

I am ultimately accountable to my Creator, and my life is dedicated to His purpose for me. I am responsible for discovering, and living, that purpose to the fullest.

If you are indeed a Rascal, you may share in some of these thoughts, but this will certainly not define you verbatim. This is my mission, and I am uniquely equipped to live it. I invite you to find out what makes you a Rascal, write it down (and share it if you dare), and set out to live it to the best of your ability. When you unlock the Rascal within, I believe you will be amazed.

The Art of Performance - a Zig Ziglar Perspective

Execution… Tasks… Initiative… Hard work… Results… For much of my life, my concept of “performance” was centered exclusively on such action-oriented terms.

Most everyone would agree that there is a “science” to performing.  When we consider effective performance, we often think of tools and techniques, where the most effective methods and patterns of performance drive the best results.

In Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy provides a simple method to prioritize and complete tasks. Simply put, evaluate what needs to be done, prioritize the tasks, and then don't stop till you finish the most important one. When finished, repeat the same approach on number two.

Some use the acronym WIN – What’s Important Now.

In Launching a Leadership Revolution, Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady cite “Performance” as the second level of the Five Levels of Influence.  To become an effective leader, you must perform.  Performance builds credibility, the substance from which influence is made.  At the higher levels of influence, it is this credibility that drives others to follow.

And by definition, leadership requires movement.  You have to do something… you have to move! If you are not moving, can anyone be following?

In addition to the science, however, there is also an “art” to performance.  In LLR, Woodward and Brady provide an excellent analysis of both.  On the art side, here are just a few of their concepts to consider:

• Results come from personal efforts
• Nothing worthwhile comes easily – success always exacts a price
• Performers don’t expect fair treatment
• The better you do, the stronger the competitors will push back
• Breaks will come to those who prepare
• Desire trumps talent

Beyond the above, I consider their core performance principle the most empowering – Persevere though failure to find success.In the article below, Zig Ziglar provides a fresh, personal perspective on the “art” side of performance. This was a great addition to my understanding of the subject. I trust it will be the same for you.

The Five Principles of Performance By Zig Ziglar, author of Born to Win

Much of success is about performance. It’s about what we do and what we are able to inspire others to do. There are some simple performance principles I have learned in my life, and I want to share them with you.  They really bring success, and what it takes to be successful, into sharp focus. They are also the basis for developing and maintaining an expectation of success.

The Five Principles of Performance

1. We generally get from ourselves and others what we expect. It is a huge fact that you will either live up or down to your own expectations. If you expect to lose, you will. If you expect to be average, you will be average. If you expect to feel bad, you probably will. If you expect to feel great, nothing will slow you down. And what is true for you is true for others. Your expectations for others will become what they deliver and achieve. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

2. The difference between good and excellent companies is training. The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them! A football team would not be very successful if they did not train, practice, and prepare for their opponents. When you think of training as practice and preparation, it makes you wonder how businesses survive that do not make significant training investments in their people.

Actually, companies that do not train their people and invest in their ability don’t last. They operate from a competitive disadvantage and are eventually gobbled up and defeated in the marketplace. If you want to improve and move from good to excellent, a good training strategy will be the key to success.

3. You find what you look for in life. If you look for the good things in life, you will find them. If you look for opportunities to grow and prosper, you will find them. If you look for positive, enthusiastic friends and associates who will support you, you will find them. On the other hand, if you look for ways to cheat, you will cheat. If you look for ways to justify leaving your spouse, you will find them. If you look for justifiable reasons to hold a grudge against another person, you will find those, too. It is a natural tendency of us all to look for things that will justify what we think we need or want. If you are not living by the foundation stones of honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty, you will be drawn to seeking selfish gratification, and that leads to misery and unfulfilled dreams. Whatever you have will never be enough. Always look for the good and for ways to help others.

4. Never make a promise without a plan. Far too many people make promises they can never keep. They may have the best intentions in the world to keep their promise, but if they have not made a plan to keep it, they will not be able to do it. Business leaders who make promises to their employees will not honor them if they do not create a plan on how the promises will be kept. If you make a future commitment, you must understand and be willing to do whatever it takes to complete that commitment. One of the reasons marriage commitments fail so frequently is because the husband and wife do not understand what it takes to have a great marriage. They do not plan for or understand the sacrifices each must make for the other to enable a long-lasting relationship.

5. Happiness, joy, and gratitude are universal if we know what to look for. I believe you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. All people want happiness and joy in their life, but you have to know what produces real happiness and how to do the things that produce it. The moment you begin to worry about the things you want and the things you don’t have in life is the moment you will lose your gratitude for what you actually have. If you are ungrateful, you will never be satisfied or content or joyful about your life. The greatest source of happiness is the ability to be grateful at all times.

What a True Leader Really Is

Many people are intimidated by the term Leadership. To some, it may represent someone in a lofty position, a position that most will never attain. If not based on a rung on the corporate ladder, it can likewise represent an image, a look, or a personality profile that very few would ever display.

We often consider the leaders to be in the exclusive category of “They”. “They” have the title, the prestige, or the look, and “They” have the responsibility. “They” have the power, as well as the perks.

In reality, leadership is open to more than just those with a title or an image. A leader is anyone who influences others in a positive direction. A leader is someone who has a picture of what can be, and really what should be, and they cannot get rid of that thought… and that thought causes them to move in that direction.

Everyone is called upon to be a leader at some point, and often many points, in the course of their life.

In the video below, Chris Brady provides an insightful introduction to leadership. If you are going to be called upon to be a leader, wouldn’t it make sense to learn more about it?

Working to Become a Leader

If you study the path of any (credible!) leader, their story is not one of “overnight” success. Most started from humble beginnings. Many had little more than the rest of us. Some would have been characterized as the least likely to succeed. A few had breaks or fortunate circumstances along the way, but the core of their journey consisted of hard work, perseverance, and a drive to work when most others were idle. None of their victories came without a struggle.

In their book Launching a Leadership Revolution, authors Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady outline the Five Levels of Influence.

- Learning
- Performing
- Leading
- Developing Leaders
- Developing Developers of Leaders

This is the playing field of leadership development, much like a flight of ascending stairs. As a leader progresses through each step of the process, his or her influence increases and the impact of their efforts have a broader scope. Each step builds on the prior step. None of them can be skipped.  That said, learning must precede performing, and performing must be accomplished prior to gaining the influence to lead.

In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell submits that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. Mastery is what often launches most individuals to a position of influence, indeed to leadership. An investment of time and energy - to learn, to grow, and to perform - is always required.

Everyone has the same number of hours available. And everyone has the power to choose how to invest, spend, or even waste each hour. Each of the people highlighted in the article below were working from the same 24-hour clock. You will see that each invested their time in a way that developed mastery in their chosen field, and through that, influence and leadership. I would qualify that by saying it’s not about the number of hours you put in, but what you put into those hours. Leaving the rest of your life to waste in pursuit of success is a very dangerous road as well. Bottom line, though, if you are looking to succeed, lead, or both, how are you investing your time?

From People Who Worked Incredibly Hard to Succeed by Max Nisen (edited)

Successful people in every field are often said to be "blessed with talent" or even just lucky. But the truth is, many worked harder than the average person can even imagine.

From athletes like Michael Jordan to executives like Howard Schultz, these people are known for waking up early and working toward a goal while other people are still in bed, and staying later than everyone else too.

Old fashioned hard work. Anyone can do it. Let these people be an inspiration.

1. NBA legend Michael Jordan spent his off seasons taking hundreds of jump shots a day

Michael Jordan had prodigious physical gifts. But as his long-time coach Phil Jackson writes, it was hard work that made him a legend… In a piece at NBA.com, Jackson writes that Jordan's defining characteristic wasn't his talent, but having the humility to know he had to work constantly to be the best.  

2. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz continues to work from home even after putting in 13 hour days

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz must be a frequent consumer of his company's products to maintain his frenetic schedule. Since returning to turn around the company, he gets into the office by 6 in the morning and stays until 7. Schultz continues talking to overseas employees even later at night from home. He goes into the office on Sundays and reads emails from his thousands of employees on Saturdays.

3. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban didn't take a vacation for seven years while starting his first business

At first glance, the amazing success of Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban looks like a stroke of luck. He sold his first company at the peak of its value, and got into technology stocks at exactly the right time. Cuban writes on his blog that it took an incredible amount of work to benefit from his luck. When starting his first company, he routinely stayed up until two in the morning reading about new software, and went seven years without a vacation.

4. Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay's workouts are so intense, others can't make it halfway through them

Cy Young award winning pitcher Roy Halladay is one of the hardest working man in baseball. According to Sports Illustrated, he routinely puts in a 90 minute workout before his teammates make to the field. His former pitching coach told SI that when other pitchers attempted one of his workouts, none of them could complete half of it. His pre-game preparation is so intense that he had a personal entrance card to his former team's training facilities.

5. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt spent 24 years putting in hundred hour weeks

A 2005 Fortune article on GE CEO Immelt describes him as "The Bionic Manager". The article highlights his incredible work ethic, he worked 100 hour weeks for 24 years. Immelt strictly divides that time, devoting a specific portion of each day to deal with every part of his business. All of that comes after a 5:30 A.M. workout where he's already reading the papers and watching CNBC.

6. Apple CEO Tim Cook routinely begins emailing employees at 4:30 in the morning

Steve Jobs left incredibly big shoes for Tim Cook to fill. However, the man got the top job for a reason. He's always been a workaholic, Fortune reports that he begins sending emails at 4:30 in the morning. A profile in Gawker reveals that he's the first in the office and last to leave. He used to hold staff meetings on Sunday night in order to prepare for Monday.

7. American Idol host Ryan Seacrest hosts a radio show from 5 to 10 A.M. and runs a production company while appearing seven days a week on E!

Seacrest told the New York Times that even as a young child,  his goal was to be a “a classic iconic broadcaster". He's moved towards that goal by taking on a preposterous workload. In addition to hosting American Idol, Seacrest appears 7 days a week on E!, hosts a daily radio show from 5 to 10 A.M., appears on the Today show, runs a television production company, and recently received $300 million in private equity funding to acquire more businesses.

8. Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn flies more than 150,000 miles a year

Carlos Ghosn runs two of the world's largest automakers, which should tell you something about his work ethic. A profile in Forbes describes how Ghosn works more than 65 hours a week, spends 48 hours a month in the air, and flies more than 150,000 miles a year. His turnaround of Nissan is the subject of many case studies. Within a month he deployed a system that completely changed ingrained practices, helping save a company many thought irredeemable. 

9. Venus and Serena Williams were up hitting tennis balls at 6 A.M. from the time they were 7 and 8 years old

The Williams sisters, who have dominated women's tennis for many years, were all but raised on the court. From an extremely young age, their life was, as described to the New York Times "..get up, 6 o’clock in the morning, go to the tennis court, before school. After school, go to tennis..." The Williams family was built around propelling the two towards success in the sport.

10. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant completely changed his shooting technique rather than stop playing after breaking a finger

Nobody in basketball drives their body harder than Kobe Bryant. A profile in GQ describes how he has changed his shooting technique repeatedly rather than take time for dislocated and broken fingers. When growing up outside of Philadelphia, ESPN describes how Kobe would spend his free time endlessly practicing jump shots in the park. The Laker's staff finds him doing the same thing at their practice facility at all hours of the day and night.