"We cannot live in a way that is inconsistent with our expectations for ourselves."

A thought by John C. Maxwell in his book, Talent Is Never Enough (p. 26). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Our expectation can make such a difference in our life.

John continues, "It just doesn’t happen. I once heard a story that I have not been able to confirm about an aviation pioneer who built a plane the year before the Wright brothers made their historic flight in Kitty Hawk. The plane sat in this inventor’s barn because he was afraid to fly it. Maybe it was because it had never been done before. Maybe it was because he expected it to fail—I don’t know. It’s said that after the news reached him about Orville and Wilbur Wright, the man flew his plane. Before then, he didn’t believe in himself enough to take the risk."

John goes on, "There are two kinds of people in this world: those who want to get things done and those who don’t want to make mistakes. The Wright brothers were of the first type. The would-be aviation pioneer was of the second. If you’re of the first type, then you already expect to believe in yourself and take risks. But what if you’re of the second type? There’s good news: you can grow."

He says, "A story in Robert Schuller’s book Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do! is about Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest along with Tibetan Tenzing Norgay. Prior to his success on Everest, Hillary had been part of another expedition, in which the team not only had failed to reach the summit but also had lost one of its members. At a reception for the expedition members in London, Hillary stood to address the audience. Behind the platform was a huge photograph of Everest. Hillary turned to face the image of the mountain and exclaimed, 'Mount Everest, you have defeated us. But I will return. And I will defeat you. Because you cannot get any bigger, and I can."

John then says, "I don’t know what challenges you face. They may be getting bigger every day, or they may already be as big as they can get, like Mount Everest. But I do know this: the only way you can rise to meet the challenges effectively is to expect to. You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller. You overcome them by making yourself bigger!"

And it really help by connecting to God who for sure is bigger. Yes, yes! #continuethought

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Just Continue That Thought...

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