[The following is an excerpt from the motivational book, Believe. Do. And Follow Through!, that I co-wrote with Isaiah Whittaker]
Chapter 5
People ask us, “How did you guys become so successful?” Our reply is usually something along the lines of, “Well, we came up with an idea, and we did it. We kept telling each other that we could do it, and we didn’t listen to anybody who told us otherwise!” We took all of our other experiences in life and parlayed them into greater ones. From those came a myriad of ideas for books, videos, seminars, and other things to help people.
Once in a while, imagine what you would see if you could sit out in space and look at the whole world. Think about what you would want to change, if you could – and then start with yourself. We’ve done that very thing over the years, and it’s worked!
In organizations and groups, some people look around at everyone else wishing that the others would “shape up,” “change,” “improve,” or “be different.” Instead, why don’t YOU BECOME the kind of person you wish others would be? Then, by example, you can spur others on to greatness with your daily, living leadership. Will you do it perfectly? Never. But, shooting for greatness and failing will still land you and your colleagues/friends/family in a much better place than before. By combining your servant-heart with your leader-heart, you will learn to master servant-leadership on a daily basis as you do the things that you need to do.
Life doesn’t happen all at once, thank goodness. It happens one day at a time. So, use that to your advantage – meaning, during your 24 hours today, positively work towards your dreams, goals, and ideas. Hopefully, you already do that and not just when you’re reminded to, because some major thing happens in your life.
Part of the reason that major things happen to us is to jolt us awake from our sleepwalking through life. Some people forget to wake up (mentally) when they get out of bed in the morning. One of God’s ways of reminding us to live to our fullest is to allow exciting, big, and sometimes scary things to happen to us. Those things jolt us enough, hopefully, to help us “get the lead out,” and to get moving in the right direction, again.
Success breeds success, and greatness attracts greatness. When you launch out and do something inspirational, other like-minded people will contact you and want to be a part of what you’re doing – not that they couldn’t do things on their own, because they do – but because they know the amazing power of collaboration and combined force.
You may go through some hard times with people you collaborate with, but one of the greatest things that will come out of it is friendship. We all have a deep need for friendship – for positive relationships – and the more you invest your life in others, the deeper and richer the rewards will be for everyone around.
So, BELIEVE in what you’re setting out to do. Live adventurously, and let your leadership shine to others. They need it as much as you do!
Live out leadership, every day.
Marty Reep 