A
thought by John C. Maxwell (2013-02-15) From his book, Be A People Person: Effective Leadership Through Effective (p. 46).
David C. Cook. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to
Amazon.com to buy the book.)
And
this is very true with what is happening to us right now as a nation. We are in the middle of hearing a lot of
negativity because we are in an election period and it is killing our confidence.
John
says, “Most people fall into two categories: confidence builders and confidence
shakers. If you are unsure of yourself, a confidence shaker can do you in.”
He says, “The following story provides a great
example of confidence breakdown. A man lived by the side of the road and sold
hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble with his
eyes, so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs. This man put up
signs on the highway advertising his wonderful hot dogs. He stood on the side
of the road and cried, ‘Buy a hot dog, Mister?’ And people bought his hot dogs.
He increased his meat and bun orders, and he bought a bigger stove to take care
of his trade. He made enough money to put his son through college.
Unfortunately, the son came home from college an educated pessimist. He said, ‘Father,
haven’t you been listening to the radio? Haven’t you been reading the
newspaper? There’s a big recession on. The European situation is terrible, and
the domestic situation is worse.’ Whereupon the father thought, ‘Well, my son’s
been to college. He reads the paper and he listens to the radio; he ought to
know.’ So the father cut down his meat and bun orders, took down his signs, and
no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs. Of course,
his sales fell overnight. ‘You’re right, son,’ the father said to the boy. ‘We
certainly are in the middle of a big recession.’”
Hebrews
10: 35 in the Bible says, “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which
has a great reward.” That is a
confidence builder.
So
which are you listening to, the builder or the shaker?
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