“A leader must give up to go up.”
–John Maxwell
When you are reading this email, I’ll be with an international team of John Maxwell Team coaches in Costa Rica as they kick off transformation in their country! We will be working with leaders and people of influence in the 7 pillars of society: government; media; business, education, family, religion; Arts and Culture, training them in a set of values and leadership principles. I am so excited, as this begins a new chapter in my life, even if I get to sacrifice a bit of my comfort zone.
As the CEO of Life Options, my job was really fulfilling. In fact, I really loved it. About a year ago, I began to feel restless and I wasn’t sure what that was all about. I felt my passion rising for training and coaching others in leadership skills and professional development. It’s the key to living up to your potential and it’s my joy to coach people and organizations to grow and change. I didn’t feel “all in” at work anymore.
I am a person of faith, so whenever I don’t understand or am wondering about something, I pray about it. By October, I was almost certain that God was moving me out of Life Options into my own business of coaching, speaking and leadership training. By January, I had The Words that I was being moved on out and up. I don’t argue with God…well, I argue, but He always gets His way.
But how was that going to work? What does it look like to risk a safe, secure job, which I felt called to initially, to do something on my own? Could I do it? How does one give up a ministry that they have led for 13 years so they can go up to another career calling? I haven’t worked through all of that yet, but the process is exciting.
I knew I wanted to become a more influential leader. In fact, I felt God was calling me into this risky business. To become a more influential leader I needed to be willing to let go of something of value that I possessed to gain something more valuable that I didn’t. Here I am, sacrificing security for risk, comfort for adventure, a position I love for something I love more even though it’s scary.
The heart of leadership is putting others ahead of you. It’s doing what’s best for the team and for that reason, Life Options needed a new leader. They needed a leader whose whole heart was present at Life Options –they didn’t deserve any less.
Yes, this new life chapter is going to be totally out of my comfort zone. I have found that’s where the best fruit is–out at the end of the skinniest branch where you have to risk falling off the ladder while reaching for it. It’s the sweetest fruit, too.
Where are you today? Are you restless? Are you settling for? What do you really want? What is your inner voice telling you?
Maybe it’s time for you to give up to go up. Need some help? I’m just a phone call away. Well…you can’t call this week–I’ll be busy in Costa Rica, but you can email me.
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