Skip to main content

“Look to your aspirational role models.”

A thought by John Townsend from his book, Leading From Your Gut (p. 38). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Having an aspiring set of values is so important to leading from your gut.

Old gold mine
John says, “All of us have role models, mentors, and coaches who have inspired us to be more than we are. Mine the values of the people you trust, admire and have been helped by. If they are alive, simply ask them: What are the foundational values you live by? If they are no longer living, review your history with them and determine the values you saw. If they are unknown to you personally, such as authors or great leaders in history, look to their writings or biographies to identify the values they embody. Add their values to your list.”

He goes on, “For many years, I have had a board of advisors, several people who help me stay on track with my life, mission, career, and business areas. These are people who know me well and give me guidance and accountability. They are also very successful and accomplished individuals in their own rights, so they have an experience base to speak from. I have picked up many aspirational values from my time with them, such as living with a vision, wisdom, authenticity, honesty, structure, and strategy. These helped form my thinking for my final internal values list.”

He then shares, “Take advantage of the massive amounts of information available on the Internet. I have done many searches on values and have discovered several that I might otherwise have overlooked. One was the value of creativity, for example. It didn’t make the final cut, but it’s on my longer list!”

And these are such good places to go in finding ideas for our list of core values to live by, aren’t they? 

Yes, yes?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Sometimes we think we’re stuck simply because things are hard.”

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the That is a possible trap for many, isn’t it? Matt says, “But if you’re continuing to make progress and aren’t experiencing huge snags, you’re not stuck. Rather, you’re in a dip. “A dip is a temporary hard slog that you will get through if you keep pushing and don’t give up. And pushing through the hard slog is actually the fastest route to the destination. In these cases, you will be especially tempted to bail. Be discerning and able to identify that you’re in a legitimate dip and you’re not a failure.” Matt says another trap to be careful of, “Some people are stuck and don’t know it.” He goes on, “Everything can be going your way, going smoothly, and going quickly. Everything feels and seems wonderful. Yet... you are still headed toward a dead end, a form of getting stuck, if you are leaving God out of t...
Post a Comment
Read more