day 1348: Closer Than It Seems

"When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied."

Success and failure share a trait; they both, like the images in the right-hand side mirror of our cars, can seem closer than they really are.  Success can feel close, but might still be a ways away so we have to stick with it, don't take our foot off the gas, and don't assume that we can change course before we achieve the success that we are trying to achieve.  Failure, on the other hand, can feel so close that we start to get fearful and paralyzed of what might happen next, when we are still far from failing.  The truth is that success and failure are located just about the same distance away from where we are.  We can't over anticipate either nor overreact to what we encounter along the way.  I have seen too many people who make decisions based on not accurately knowing where they are on the road to either success or failure.

God can seem close and far, but here's what we have to remember: He is always closer to us than He appears.  What that means is that if we just allow Him to be as close to us as He desires, that it just gets better and better.  We can't go wrong in that He wants to inhabit every part of our day, our thoughts, our actions and our attitudes.  As we work through today, and the meetings, phone calls, emails, etc., take a moment between each activity and ask Him to come closer.  He will and the closer we get to Him, the more great and wonderful things can happen.  When Moses got closer to God, Moses could hear God call His name. Now how cool would that be? Why don't we find out?!

Reference: Exodus 3:4 (New Living Translation)

day 1098: Trappings of Success

"What is your charge against this man?"

When we are successful we can get caught in taking ourselves too seriously.  When this happens we can find ourselves acting out as we would be expected in someone in a position such as ours.  We can start to dress like we think we should.  We can start to hang with people that others want us to hang and who we think help support our position of success.  We can start to go to meetings, conferences, places that benefit our persona/brand more than give us growth or really mean anything to us.  We can start to take on the language of those like us and what we are expected.  If we are not careful, we can trapped by success and before long we are making decisions and moves that are those that are expected, instead of what we think are right or should be happening.  This doesn't just happen with individuals.  Companies can also fall into the trappings of success and find themselves not innovating or resisting change and compromise because of their position of success.  Watch out, the trappings of success are subtle but very real and very, very dangerous.  Once trapped, it is very hard to escape.

We are nearing Easter weekend and all around the world churches are teaching the Easter account and the lessons that we can take from the events that occurred in the days leading up to Jesus' crucifixion.  Our church in San Francisco, Cornerstone is doing the same.  The last two weeks we have we looked at the decision of Pilate and it was clear that he was a man who was trapped in his own success and when his final decision was to be made, He was so much a caricature of his position that for him to have gone against the request of the people would have been out of character and unseemly for one in his position.  We can learn something about ourselves in the actions of Pilate.  Have we ever been in the position where we wanted to stop and help someone else or go against the decision of the group but we haven't because we are trapped into our own success and to to do something unexpected would put continued success at risk? Sure we have.  Now the question needs to be - will we stay trapped or will we rescue ourselves from this going further?  Consider today and as we get closer to Easter what trappings need to be shed?

Reference: John 18:29 (New Living Translation)

day 896: Success Patterns

"Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed."

I wrote about it last week and it continues to dominate the business sections.  That is the Facebook IPO and all that surrounds the event. As I write this now, the stock is down 13% from it's offering price and all of the skeptics are pounding on their chests.  Many like to say that the success of Facebook, and other internet companies, has come too easily and that because of this we shouldn't value these companies as highly as those that have been around for many decades, if now not centuries.  I would point out though that even though Facebook has only been around for eight years that the person hours that have gone into that company might rival that of decades of an established company. A pattern of success for start-ups is the commitment and sheer energy, hours and cycles that go into the company.  Anyone who has studied Mark Zuckerberg knows that he has been nearly one-dimensional over the last eight years with his work on Facebook dominating everything else in his life.  It certainly has paid off for him and I believe he has earned his success. His success pattern has been one of extreme commitment, dedication and devotion to something he loved, his business.

Joshua gave us a verse about a success pattern for our own lives and that is in how we utilize God's Word.  Think about if we were as committed and devoted to God's Word as we were to the other things in our lives, what might happen for us?  Joshua says that we need to meditate and obey to receive success.  So, simply, think this way about the Bible:  Adopt the pattern of "reading, thinking, speaking and doing" to achieve success.  Read God's Word.  Think about the Bible day and night. Speak out what we have learned and know from the Bible (verses, lessons, etc.), and then do what God's Word says.  It is then that we will find the success that God wants us to have.  It's a simple, but not always easy pattern to follow, but one that we should not ignore.

Reference: Joshua 1:8 (New Living Testament)

day 383: Secret of Success

I am often asked to speak on the broad topic of how to become "successful" in whatever endeavor that is chosen. At the end of the day, most of the leadership books, lectures given and classes taken are all about how to be more successful. A strong orientation towards success is what it takes to make it through a career and without this in one's DNA it is difficult to rise above the challenges and competition that faces us in the workplace. On the other end of the spectrum though are those who are so obsessed with success that they miss many opportunities along the way to have a more fulfilled life outside of work. Work, and success at work, becomes the focus and the overarching goal of life and then things end up out of whack when that success is not achieved. So, it is a game of balance that we play and we spend our careers trying to strike that balance to get the most out of work and out of life. Along the way we try and find that "secret of success" much like the Spanish explorers looked for the Fountain of Youth. I marvel sometimes at the books that are written about the secrets of success. If it really is such a secret then why are mass-market appeal books written about the topic. There really are no secrets, there are only suggestions and examples to follow to find one's own formula to success. We are fortunate to have our own book that is chocked full of examples and suggestions. That book being the Bible. In 2 Chronicles 31 we learn of King Hezekiah and how he managed his kingdom and how he became successful. We read in verse 21: "In all that he did in the service of the Temple and God and in his efforts to follow the law and the commands, Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. As a result, he was very successful." There are no secrets in life to success but there are sometimes clear directions that we just have to follow. If you have been searching for your own secret to your success, then you can stop looking and try to follow King Hezekiah's example and just put God first and with all you do and seek Him wholeheartedly. Once you have followed that example, then you may find that your search for the secret of success can end.

Reference: 2 Chronicles 2:21 (New Living Testament)