day 747: Flying Off

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry."

Quick to do this and quick to do that. We must be quick in our businesses so that we don't dilly dally and let the competition pass us, or lose our momentum. It's almost an internal forcing function to be quick and go, go, go. Of course there are many hazards with being too quick and not thinking or planning. When we are quick, we can get too caught up in the moment that we miss important signs and signals that we would have been sensitive to had we been more methodical or deliberate. What we are really looking for is the ability to be fast, but at the same time run and finish well the marathon. It's a hard balance to find. When we are also overly preoccupied with speed we can find ourselves operating backwards and we end up slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to fly off the handle. Many a company or leader who is moving too fast wishes they could take back their first reactions to a problem. How they wish they would have slowed down and not allowed themselves to just fly off the handle. It's a hard discipline to have, but one that we can all apply to our business; listen, be quiet and be thoughtful before reacting.

James puts it right in in our faces on how we are to handle this in our own lives; "Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry." He is saying that if we do the opposite we are putting ourselves at major risk that we are going to mess something up at work, at home, or anywhere. It seems so simple, but again it is another life lesson that is so hard. Each of these areas that the Bible gives us to self-improve are pointing out that we, by human nature, are flawed. What we must also undestand and do so in accepting His gift, is that we cannot be perfect, but with His assistance, we can overcome and manage the basic flaws that are inside of us. But, we can't do it without Him. This is why we must come back daily to His Word and talk to God in prayer so that we can see our areas of weakness and then improve for His Glory and sake. This week, we will be given our own tests and we can practice being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. We won't be perfect, but we can be attentive and we can see if we can keep from flying off the handle. With His guidance and support, that is something we can certainly control.

Reference: James 1:19 (New Living Testament)

day 706: Who Speaks Up First?

"Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies."

Ever been in a meeting and every time a question is asked there is the one person who jumps in and speaks up first? After a while it gets annoying and if we were to watch the room dynamics we would notice that the rest of the room just gives up and lets the know-it-all keep going. It happens all the time in meetings and also on a larger scale. There are businesses who as a part of their PR strategy always want to be the first ones to speak out so as to stake their claim, or to gain some ground that they are fearful of losing. Being the first to speak up doesn't always work. Those who speak first run the risk of getting ahead of themselves and missing other important facts that could be very relevant to the issue. They also run risk of having to retract or correct their first statements. When it comes to speaking out first, the bleeding edge can be a dangerous place to be. It behooves us to take a deep breath and do some listening before we speak up.

Many times the reason that we might speak up first is because we are really trying to speak for ourselves and prove to someone else what we know, how smart we are, or that we have information that others don't. Speaking up for ourselves, in the big picture, doesn't do us a lot of good. When others speak up for us, then that can earn us credibility and respect from others, but building ourselves up or speaking out first to prove ourselves to others can hurt more than help. We get a great lesson in this from Jesus who tells us that we shouldn't speak of our ourselves but instead find ways to honor Him and others. He says that when we do that we are speaking truth and to anyone, anywhere, there are no stronger words than words of truth. That is how one builds credibility and respect of others, not by speaking up first to try and honor one's own self. Let's think about it when we get the opportunity to speak up and out today!

John 7:18 (New Living Testament)