So, what happens when you are in the midst of a struggle?

You do all you can.  You fight for it.

This can be said of any struggle really.  At least any struggle that truly matters.  (Figuring out the difference between important ones and unimportant ones is another matter)

When the job is on the line, you do whatever it takes to make it work.  When a life is at stake, you do all you can.  When you see something that needs to be changed, you do all you can.

As someone once told me, “Just take the next step.  Do the next thing.”  You may not know where you are going.  But you can see where you’ve been and where God looks like He’s taking you.  Go that way.  Move towards that.  Keep getting better at your craft.  Keep refining yourself.  Even when the road looks like a dead end, there is something you can do.  Sometimes that something is to wait, but there is always something.

Go forward with confidence, and go with God.  He can tell you where to go, but He doesn’t make you do it.

Time to step up.

[ Image by rbrwr ]

One thing I’ve been realizing lately is that awareness by itself is not enough.

It is not sufficient to just be aware of a problem.  If I am aware that I have cancer and yet do nothing to kill and destroy it, the cancer will still kill me.  Only when I take action against the cancer does it ever go away.

Raising awareness is good.  Knowing your enemy is good.  These things will prepare you for the battle.

But there is still a battle.

As it says in a song I like, “How can you expect to win this war if you’re too afraid to fight.”  And the fight will be hard, but it is better than not fighting at all.

Be aware.  But also take right action.

[ Image by mendhak ]

Sad fact: leaders in the church don’t always get fed.

Who leads worship leaders into worship?  Who preaches to and teaches the pastors and teachers?  Who mentors the mentors?

Burnout is a very bad thing.  But we too often do so much for the sake of the kingdom that we forget to rest and be filled.  God created the entire universe and He still got a day of rest in there!  There’s a reason.

Leaders, don’t be leading so often that you forget to be filled by God or forget to learn from other leaders.  No one can do it all by themselves.  Look for new perspectives or better methods from other leaders.  Take a day to sit and talk with God, or just to enjoy the day with your loved ones.

This isn’t to say that you should neglect responsibilities, but be sure you don’t overdo it.

Balance, my friend.  Balance.

[ Image by a4gpa ]

Think of a baseball team.  9 guys all playing together.  They all have one goal: win the game, be the best team.

How do they get there?  They practice, they work together.  They usually have very good players.  But they’re not perfect.  They have imperfections.

No team is made up of perfect players.  That means they all have strengths and weaknesses.  The shortstop plays there because he’s a good shortstop, not catcher.  The catcher isn’t a good pitcher.  The pitcher can’t hit very well.

We have teams because we need each other.  We can’t all play every position.  Nor should we.  God made us all different, so together we make a better whole.  We should learn to use our diversity.  It gives us a vast resource to lean upon.  The slugger can teach the pitcher how to hit better.

When you have a team, you can rely on your teammates to help cover your weaknesses.  And you can help cover their weaknesses.  As a team, you can accomplish more.

In your team, where do you fit in?  What are your strengths and weaknesses?  What are theirs?  Once you learn these, your team can work better together and achieve more.

Some things to think about.

Now that you’ve done something, you can’t go back and do it over again.  Ok, now what?

Take Responsibility

There’s not much I dislike more than someone who has obviously made a mistake try and act like it wasn’t really their fault.  Own up to mistakes that are truly yours.  It takes some honesty on your part, and it isn’t very fun.  But it’s the right thing to do.  Sometimes, the mistake is not completely your fault.  Even then, take responsibility for the part that was yours.  Don’t let people walk over you, but own your own actions.

Learn From Them

Now that we’ve taken responsibility for our goof, learn from the blasted thing!  In other words, don’t do it again.  Take stock of what led to your mistake, and note what choices you made that were wrong or not the best.  Sometimes the decisions you made will not initially seem wrong or less than optimum.  Next time you are in the situation, remember the previous outcome.  With that in mind, you should be wary of decisions which lead there again.  Don’t waste a mistake!

There’s not much else.  Pretty simple.

Also, remember your mistakes when someone else makes one.  Some mistakes deserve hard consequences, but do not act as if it makes that person anything less.  It’s not like you’re perfect either!

What mistakes have you learned the most from?  Which ones do you laugh at in retrospect?

One thing to always remember, whether you are a buisness person, a musician, an artist, a writer, whatever; be somone of integrity.

In this world of growing transparency and information, what you say and do will be seen by someone.  Your business will get word-of-mouth reviews by previous customers.  If you have treated that customer with integrity, they will most likely recommend you.  As any kind of artist (visual artist, musician, writer, etc.) you must be an artist of integrity.  People generally see when you’re creating art for non-creative reasons.  Personally, I think the music business is putting out much that isn’t really art anymore; it seems to be too much about the money.

Here’s an example.  A writer should write for themselves first.  By this, I mean that if writing is not fun or enjoyable or rewarding for the writer, then the writing will suffer for it.  The writer can never please everyone, and if that is the only reason to write, then the writer will always be disappointed.  Example number two.  Why do you think that so many sophomore albums do poorly compared to the first album?  The artist had spent years perfecting the craft of being what they were.  Once that hit big, they were asked to write ten new songs for the next album in a fraction of the time.

Just remember why you started doing your thing to begin with.  Find that passion.  If your work is full of that passion, coming from that integrity, then someone will enjoy it.  And isn’t that the point?

Posted via web from On Life, Stories, and Music

As a leader, your performance affects the rest of your team. If you lead with an iron fist, your followers will mostly obey, but only out of fear. Not a fun environment. If you lead like a servant, your followers are more willing to sacrifice for you and for the vision. When you are willing to dig in and fight with your team, it makes the team more willing to fight with you.

I think a part of our culture is skewed when it comes to this. We think that we lead by force or by right. While strength, talent, and wisdom are all important leadership qualities, we need to remember that unless we lead like a servant, our leadership is not whole.

So, how do you lead? How does your team think you lead?