day 625: The Benefits Of Prefinishing

"The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site."

Being prepared and ready for what is next is like bringing in prefinished materials to a work site. Just the word, "prefinished" tells a story in itself in how we think about our work. If we are more about prefinishing than starting from scratch on site, then we likely to be better ready for the curve balls that inevitably come our way. This week I was coaching a CEO who was getting ready to have a difficult meeting. I encouraged him to spend time the night before writing down the three points that he wanted to get across and to be conscious of getting those three points across before the conversation was completed. I asked him to bring his thoughts in prefinished. This doesn't mean that he, and all of us at some point, have to shift and be ready to make accommodations or changes, but we are so much better off when we come ready and prefinished.

The same can be said in how we approach bringing glory to God in our work. We can also come prefinished to our jobs if we have prepared our spirit through prayer, reading God's Word and being in fellowship and accountability for when we hit the office door. We can come prefinished and ready for what will come our way. It may well be that this prefinishing is what allows us to keep from being marred, scraped up, dinged and dented. Not that we have any promises that we will have it any easier or better off than a non-believer, but we know that God will never put more on us than we can bear. And, if we do the work to be even that much more ready then we can reap the benefits that God wants to give us. This weekend think about where you can be more prefinished and then start working on that now.

Reference: 1 Kings 6:7 (New Living Testament)

day 624: Perservance For The Future

"It was in the midspring, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign, that he began the construction of the Temple of the Lord. This was 480 years after the people of Israel were delivered from their in the land of Egypt."

In business, we just can't think day to day, week to week, month to month, or quarter to quarter. We have to have a long-range vision and plan to execute if we are going to continue to move in a constant and direction. However, this is harder to do than say. Forces are always moving against and toward us to take off of our plan and to deviate from the vision. It's not easy to stay consistent and to follow through. Most of us would never think of what we do on our job having much, if any, bearing on what the company will be like in 50 years. I have a friend who likes to ask people in their jobs if then can name the person who was in the job before them, and then before them, and then before them. Unless they are CEOs, the line of questioning usually stops at the third generation question. Better yet, ask someone who was the first person in the company to be in the job and they won't have a clue. We don't think that long, even though we should. If we did, then we might find that we would make better decisions and investments of our money, resources and time. It's just not in our DNA to think much further ahead than the lifetimes of our offspring and when we do think about the future it is usually bleak or fatalistic. When did Hollywood create a movie about the future that was not post-apocalyptic? Yet, it is easy for us to make the past look good. To be the best we can be, we need to be able to look into the future and then deal with it for the hope and the optimism that only the future can bring.

Solomon built the Temple from what should have been started 480 years earlier, even though he wasn't around then. He planned and laid the foundation that nearly 500 years of history would be built upon. He gives an example of what it means to grasp a vision and then stick to it, without waver. Maybe what some of us need to do is start looking a little harder now for the future and then setting a plan to get there. If we decide that that future in our careers and life are to be days, weeks, years and decades that we will invite God to walk along and inside of us then we will find that we can see a bright and exciting future that others will want to follow us towards. The walk we make to the future with conviction and perseverance is a powerful message to others who are looking for a reason to want to see the future. Think today about what that futuristic direction you can begin taking today and will follow through with as Solomon did with the Temple. Start building that future today. Another day of waiting gains nothing.

Reference: 1 Kings 6:1 (New Living Testament)

day 551: First Time Leaders

One of the hardest times we ever have in our careers is the first time we become leaders of others. One day we are like everyone else and the next we are asked to lead and manage others who yesterday were our peers. Not only is this hard on the person who is stepping up but it is also hard on those who are being managed by this person as they learn through trial and error. Some companies will put people through a leadership and supervision course before they are promoted but most just allow people to sink or swim in the new responsibility. Net, it is hard on everyone when first time leaders are created and everyone should jump in and help. The manager over the newly promoted person has to work harder to mentor, advise and coach. Peers need to step forward and provide advice, counsel and encouragement. Subordinates, some who wish they should have gotten the job, need to be patient and understanding as the new leader finds their way. The new leader also must be humble and open to feedback as she/he makes their mistakes and learns. It can be a hard toll on the organization and everyone has to pull together for success to happen. We should also say a prayer for these new leaders. Great King Solomon even understood the challenges of first time leadership when he said in 1 Kings 3:9, "Give me an understanding mind so that I can govern your people and know the difference between right from wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great nation of yours?" Today, you may run into the challenges that come from a first time leader. See if today you can encourage, prop up and support this person as their success is your and your organization's success! Your word of encouragement could be just the thing that they need today.

Reference: 1 Kings 3:9 (New Living Testament)

day 459: When It Looks Like It Is Over...

If you have ever run a business or been close enough to a part of managing the overall business you know that there comes times when it you know it is just about over and time to call it quits. While it might be the overall business itself, more often than not it is a product line, a project, a customer who will be lost, a financing, an employee who can't be saved or one who can't be hired. It happens to every business and it is hard, really hard, to call it quits after all of the time, effort, energy and money has been spent to get this far, only to see it slip away. The fact is that it never slips away, what really happens is that we just don't want to see it coming or make the decision or worse yet, make the decision from a place of fear, despair or anger. It happens. What is important is that we don't let that become the way that we operate all the time. The other side of the coin are those who run business as though today is the last day and that the threat of going out of business or closing down a product line, division, etc. always looms so that there is a constant feeling of fear and oppression that takes much of the joy out of work. There is a balance in a lesson from the Bible in the book of 1 Kings about the time Elijah met with the widow at Zerephath. He asked the widow for water and a bite of bread. The woman was at the end of her food and she told Elijah that there was no bread, only enough for her and her son to have one more meal before they died. Elijah said back to her in Chapter 17, Verses 13-14; "Don't be afraid! Go and cook that 'last meal', but bake me a little loaf of bread first. Afterward there will still be enough food for you and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!" Elijah was saying to her, have faith and don't worry about when the end arrives. If we trust in the Lord for all that we need then He will provide enough to make it through. There are times when it is the right time to quit something and it becomes foolish to keep at it. But, that decision should never be made without the faith and trust upon God as as the provider of the needs. That means that our decisions can and should be made from a place of strength and confidence, never fear or despair.

Reference: 1 Kings 17:13-14 (New Living Testament)

day 455: Prefinished

I love to tell the story about how Henry Kissinger would not accept the work of his people until they had done multiple revisions. He would send them away time after time until they were exasperated and said that they could not do any better. It was then that he would accept their work and read it or send it forward. In our age of immediacy we don't do lots of pre-writes or rewrites or have others edit our work before it goes forward. We shoot emails to the CEO or the Board, or to our bosses, from an original thought and many times those thoughts aren't really finished and we end up having to go back and rework from a place of being admonished or embarrassed or just corrected. How much better it is when we "prefinish" our work before we take it forward. It takes discipline and thought to prepare something ahead of time that when brought forward it is already ready to go. I wouldn't want to count the number of times I have still been scrambling at the last minute to bring it all together on a project. While it may all come together at the last minute, the work could definitely be better if it was prefinished. Solomon gave us an example of the importance of prefinishing when he was building the first Temple to the Lord. In 1 Kings 6:7 we read; "The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site." Last month I used this verse to demonstrate how going about our work quietly can be a good thing. This verse also show me the power in prefinishing and the errors that can be alleviated, the conflicts that can be avoided and the waste that can be eliminated. And maybe most importantly, the reverence that is demonstrated by the thoughtful planning, the priority setting, and the commitment to be done ahead of time. Today, try prefinishing something and see how much easier everything falls into its place when it is time.

Reference: 1 Kings 6:7 (New Living Testament)

day 425: Quietly Going About...

There are multiple categories of people who we work with on our jobs. There are people who are "loud" about their work and there are those who are "quiet" about their work. Those who are loud are the ones who when things are going well, everyone knows about it and when things are going poorly, surely everyone knows about it. These people tend to be the people who are quick to boast and brag and also quick to deflect and point blame, or be sure that it is always some other reason for things not coming together, etc. Then there are the quiet workers. We know them well. They do their job without a lot of fanfare, drama, or extras. When things are going well, they may have an additional step in their gait or a smile on their face, but they don't go tell others much about it and when things don't go well, they shrug their shoulders and they get back to work. They quietly go about their jobs. There is something calm and peaceful about these people and while the spotlight may seldom come their way, we all appreciate them and we like to be with them, especially when things get a little rocky and wavy. When we think about how we work, I believe we can take some lessons from those who quietly go about their work. Calm, peaceful, steady, predictable and quiet about ourselves is a good way to be known. I was reading in I Kings Chapter six about how Solomon went about building the temple and I was struck by verse 7, which reads; "The stones used in construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site." The Temple was built quietly. There is a lesson here for us today.

Reference: I Kings 6:7 (New Living Testament)