Mark 8:36- For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?





What does it matter if we are the most successful individual and something and lose everything that is important in this world? I think of the men in my life who have forsaken their families for trivial earthly pleasures ranging from: drugs, alcohol, pornography, infidelity, and much much more.

Why do we as humans lose sight of the things that truly matter? Why is it so easy for us to look at the rich and famous and believe this is something worth aspiring for? I recall a talk show I watched on the all time greatest quarterback Tom Brady. They asked him how he felt with all he had done... His response was "I can't help but feel like this is something more out there." I remember distinctly feeling like this man had the "perfect" life by many bystanders. He was married to a super model, he is the greatest quarterback of all time, he is rich, he is famous, he has a beautiful family, heck, he even has a kid with another woman who happens to be his best friend before he married the super model and she likes him and so does the kid. Everything seems to be perfect in this man's life yet he still feels there is something more out there. Frankly there is. The gospel of Jesus Christ.


Why do I bring this up in a blog about entrepreneurship? I do this because I think that Tom Brady could and is a role model in my life and he is searching for the very thing that I have and take for granted. I think as we remember these things that the Lord has given us so much and we need to prioritize and not lose site of the big picture. We shouldn't get caught up in the he said she said bull that happens all to often in our society.

Be strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak.

2 Chronicles 15:7 - "Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak."

 

 What does it mean to be strong? How can we develop hands that are not weak?  I find it interesting that in the languages of the world that we use "hands" to describe what one does. How do you use your hands?

Strong is defined as: "able to withstand great force or pressure." When we look at life and we see who the real leaders are we see that these individuals are those who remain moral, decent, and/or note worthy individuals during and throughout pressure and trail of great force.

 

As an entrepreneur are your hands strong? Do your values crumble when you feel bad or are weak? In your moments of weakness do you spend your time focused on you or those your decisions may effect? I feel like a leader is one who stays strong or can maintain their goals in alignment with the bigger picture during the lows of life. True leaders are those who even when tempted know who to run and flee from temptation.

I have been thinking a lot about the role of leadership and what it means to be a leader. The world is quick to label individuals with intangible traits such as enthusiasm or public speaking as great leaders. We see that these traits or in some of the best known leaders.




There are plenty of leaders who live each and every day not in front of crowds who make just as much of a difference if not more then many. These leaders are just a lot more known. What about the school teacher who leaves a lasting impression in one of these men's lives? What of the silent leaders who leave lasting messages for peace without uttering single word.



What about the leaders who protest injustices using the means of art?



Who in the end pay severe prices...
Fear not because these leaders send their messages even when there is much pressure to stop. Ai Wei Wei was beaten for speaking out both with his words and art against the Peoples Republic of China.

How about the leader who is faithful, loving, kind and perhaps never known? All this elderly woman may do is pay her tithes and give her very last mites. Is this not a leader leaving a teaching that the greatest master of all time taught us with?



There are so many real leaders that are seldom heard of or thought of when the conversation of leadership arises. When we look at our lives however, how many of us were inspired to follow our dreams by one of the public figures? Or were we more influenced by teachers, parents, spouses and the everyday heroes who may never be labeled as such. Let us stay strong and let our light shine. For in each of us there is a light.

                                                                   

                                                        Ode to Loyalty
                                         
                                          

        Many people throw around the the phrase "man's best friend" when referring to dogs. I found it interesting through the discussions from this week's homework assignment which centered around loyalty that there were many comparison with dogs. Some of the thoughts I had were serious and others were silly yet, insightful. I would like to approach this post a bit differently this week. I want to express the importance of loyalty in business by comparing two types of dogs as a metaphor for the environment and employees entrepreneurs should strive to surround themselves with in their businesses. With no further adieu I'd like to draw your attention to the above picture. Here you see a little boy and a "loyal" dog. This dog is one that parents, and children alike have no fear of the dog getting angry and biting them. This loyalty is born through training, experiences, and love. A loyal dog is one that many times you hear stories of coming to the rescue when you are in need.

                                 
The loyal dog earns the respect and love of its owners gaining "special" treatment and "extra" love. So it is with a loyal employee. I will elaborate a bit more after we speak of the next dog.Dog number two is the dog of which is feared like that of the "BEAST" from the movie The Sandlot.

                                 
This is the dog that children and employees fear. The dog is not trained, not obedient, and surely not considered loyal. Loyalty has more to do with obedience in the worlds of dogs and business than it does anything else. Everyone knows that annoying dog who defecates all over the house making a mess and causing problems ruining your home and the things you worked so hard to obtain. Is this any different than the employee who is constantly running to HR or their manager with the problem of the week which seems life or death. This could be the individual who sleeps all days and hardly moves or wont work without some sort of incentive. You have to give them a treat to get them to go through the motions of going outside (like a trained dog). In the long run this dog sleeps all day, eats all day, and will never listen to what you say. This "monster" wastes resources (Eats all the food) and in the end does nothing because it would rather sleep and lick its nose. This is the same dog that will lash out at you an try to bit you if you step to close or try to get it to be obedient.



 


No matter how big or small this dog is it could be the worst "friend", "pet", or "employee" you come in contact with. My step mother in law has a Shiatsu dog that is not trained and acts exactly like the above. This dog has ruined carpets and made children bleed. This is not nor will it ever be a "loyal" creature.


In conclusion, no one has heard of the famous dog "Gizmo" because he is bad and does nothing but causes problems. However, there are many loyal dogs like Lassie or Buddy who have movies made about them.


So it is with the good employees. Hopefully they are the ones we keep around and work with. Let us train them, learn from them, love them, and through time trust one another.

 

When is it okay to quit? I love how Seth Godin points out that we NEED to quit many things to enable us to be able to focus our best efforts on the right things. I have been thinking what things should I quit so that I can make it through the dips in my life at this time. What are some of my personal endeavors that I should quit? The first thing I thought of was wasting time. I need to "quit" wasting time and come up with wholesome recreational activities. I spend way too much time playing games, filling my mind with random information, or surfing social media. I looked at the things that I own that help perpetuate this problem and the big thing at fault I found was my Ipad. I actually decided that I should get rid of my iPad to make my life more productive. I contacted my facebook friends and put my ipad up for sale. I think this is one example of quitting the right things to accomplish the bigger goal in this case (doing well in school).  
 The goal is to be able to use a bigger perspective to make decisions so that I can focus my efforts during my plateaus in life and when I fall into a dip I can realize that I will be able to rise to new lengths.
  No matter where we are there will be climactic moments on the horizon and great dips before we get there We truly must master ourselves and "quit" the right things and to not get discouraged when perhaps we cannot see on the horizon where our next climactic experience will be.