Theresa's September Maxwell Post

I enjoy reading this book, there are so many one-liners that just make you go "yea" that's right, kind-of that light-bulb moment. Now walking it out, taking the action, and not just sitting back saying what a good book. I hadn't read chapter 5 on our last reading assignment so I will start there.

5- Competence: Show up, keep improving, follow through, accomplish more than expected, and inspire others. Nobody keeps improving without being intentional about it. Wow, put so simply, yet not the easiest to walk out. I think I need to put this on a post-it note and have it on my mirror at home and my computer at work.

6- Courage: There can be no courage unless you're scared, courage begins with an inward battle, courage is contagious, courage can encourage others, courage not only gives you a good beginning but also provides a better future. I love all these sayings. However, I would tend not to think of myself as a courageous person, I don't like to be in a battle, but I don't want to be weak and taken advantage of either. So I'm looking to apply the next saying into my life: courage is making things right, not just smoothing them over, and needing the ability to see when to stand up and the conviction to do it.

7- Discernment: Discernment enables you to use both your gut and your head to find the best option. Sometimes it's easy to follow your gut instinct but not your head and this is were we usually get ourselves in trouble. Also it states that intuition will only increase with use, we need to broaden our horizon experientially. This is definitely an area that I could put more focus on and ask God for His help on.

8- Focus: To achieve focus the keys are priorities and concentration. I'll admit these can get a little skewed in my day to day life. I'm not always good at setting my priorities in the right places and it definitely causes strife in my life. It never fails that when my week is going well it's usually because my priorities are placed in their proper position. This chapter also states that we should focus on what we do well rather than what we do wrong. It's so much easier to beat ourselves up rather than see the good we accomplish. We need to draw from our strengths rather than just focusing on what we did wrong, because a divided focus always works against us.

9- Generosity: True generosity isn't an occasional event, it comes from the heart. Wow, isn't that the truth. I think this is one area of a person's life that can't be faked, you can tell when someone is truly sincere or when they are just going through the motions. Generosity also permeates every aspect of a leaders life, touching his time, money, talents, and possessions. This is something I know for myself I continually lift to the Lord, that I may not become spoiled because I don't let what He has given me pour back out of my life.

10- Initiative: A person who works in this area knows what they want, push themselves to act, takes more risks, and makes more mistakes. I can say that this is a bit more true for me in my job but not so much so for me in ministry. I think it's much more intimidating to have initiative in ministry because there is more of an eternal aspect and maybe you won't always have a second chance to do it right. I hate making mistakes which is probably why I'm more hesitant in this area, probably means I need to work at this quality more.