HEY YOUNG LEADER,
If I had the opportunity, what would I say to a younger version of myself? 15 years into the life of leadership, what are the truths I’d to pass on to those ones starting out today?
Simple things. Timeless things. Tested true things. The long-haul things.
Well here are four lessons I’ve learned and adopted.
1. INVEST INTO YOURSELF
Guess what? No one is going to rescue you from the busy, from the demands, from the urgent. And the truth is, you are never going to be any less busy than you are right now.
It is vital that you carve out time to be creative and strategic.
It is your responsibility to create space to dream of the possibility and imagine the plan. No one will do it for you.
Schedule time for creativity and strategy.
Schedule time for rest as well.
Ensure that your rest is just as purposeful as all the other things you do. Ensure that you are being refuelled. Sitting in front of the TV or scrolling on your device may be a brain-numbing activity but it is not rest – you are not refuelled by it.
Make sure that your rest is a time of investment, restocking, filling and restoration. Read broadly. Eat well. Maintain healthy sleep patterns. Be active. Get outdoors.
Rest! Rest properly!
Learn your personal rhythms.
I know there are times in my week when I am more positive and so I schedule my meetings with people on those days. I know there are times each week when I routinely feel tired and sometimes deflated (usually Monday morning), so I have banned my self from sending emails or text messages at those times.
I know there are times in the week when my imagination is firing and I’m ready to problem solve, so I sit with a notebook at those times and dream and plan.
Learn your annual rhythms.
For some reason I’ve found winter to be my season for reflection and personal growth. This is the time I read more, journal more, pray more intensely. This has become my season to dig deep.
Every month of the year brings a different opportunity and purpose.
Know your rhythms.
2. KNOW WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE
This is a learning curve. Young leader, don’t rush this one. Be humble and become aware. Be kind to yourself, diligent to learn, and graciously willing to step into your calling.
Ask God,
“How do you see me?”
and walk in that.
The real me is what I see when I speak to God. He places it in me through a dream, a passion, a vision, a revelation.
The false me is the version of myself I see through comparison with others.
The most blessed destination is that place when you finally realise you have nothing to prove to anyone else. You are not in competition with anyone or trying to elbow anyone out of the way. You are no longer intimidated or paranoid about the opinion of others. You just know what you bring to the table, and you feel at ease in bringing it.
Trust your voice. Stay humble. Lean into the call.
3. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE
It is the age-old wrestle between our Human nature and our Spirit nature. The flesh is always drawn to what is not working, while the Spirit is full of faith and convinced of the possibility.
I have written about it before. It is a discipline of intention to lean into who is with you, to realise that there are, in fact, heaps of them. And for the ones who aren’t right now, give them space for their season.
Sleep on it.
Everything looks different in the morning.
Increase your capacity to love, to breathe, to believe the best.
Don’t take the bad personally.
Look to the good and allow spades of grace for the not-so-good.
Everyone is on a journey, including you.
4. LEARN THE RHYTHM OF GRACE
The unforced rhythms of grace.
Don’t strive, young leader.
As a leader you are prophetic by nature.
You see what is to come and that’s why you lead – you are taking people into that place.
Sometimes we can get ahead of ourselves. We get frustrated when things don’t work out. We were convinced this was the right thing; why did it not go the way it should have?
You may not have been wrong, but perhaps the timing was. Maybe the idea was meant for a later time. Maybe the team wasn’t ready yet. Maybe the climate was not able to sustain it.
Sometimes the most prophetic thing you can do is say nothing.
Ride the wave of grace. Lead with ease, and in a rhythm.
Learn to allow grace for yourself, for the ministry and for others.
Hey young leader, you want to do the distance, you want to run well, you want to be proud of your race.
