Make Action Your Asset

Principle #3: Self-leadership means doing what’s important to you.

Make action your asset.

Don’t be the type of person who goes through life living for someone else. When you perform just to please others you can get caught in a trap that steals away your identity. If I went through life always allowing my priorities and passions to be defined by others, I would cease to be the person I was meant to be. I pursue the things most important to me because I believe they were placed inside of me at birth. Throughout my life they have been refined and honed to be what they are today. I do what is important to me because those things define my purpose.

But you cannot keep your eye on the important things in life without a heavy dose of discipline and positive self-speak. You have to live on purpose, striving after your purpose, believing that your purpose matters and will ultimately give you deep self-worth. The teacher in the book of Proverbs said, “He who neglects discipline despises himself” (15:32 NASB).

The wisdom here is simple: if you are not intentional about pursuing what is important to you, then you lack discipline, which makes you a self-despiser instead of a self-leader. This passage by my friend Og Mandino says it all:

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, every day, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing; and the action, which follows, becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now.

I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have.

Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

NEW POST: What I Want My Boys To Say About Me After I'm Gone

I was at the beach last night watching my boys surf. I was thinking about life's magical moments and this was certainly one of those. I was reminded about how important it is to be a parent with purpose. I have made alot of mistakes in my life and learned many lessons about effective parenting. Without question, one of the things that has made the biggest difference is asking my boys to hold me accountable. Weird? Think about it.

We all need accountability, coaching, friendly reminders from time to time, on how we are to live, and honoring comitments we have made. I feel healthy, excited and purposeful in life and yet the other day I went negative in front of my oldest son, Jon. He reminded me of my covenant - "he was a positive man and always looked on the bright side of things." Instantly, my heart and spirit got happy and I smiled. Jon said, "see dad, that wasn't hard".

Here's my point - whether it's a covenant you make with your spouse, kids or your customers, when you go on record saying you will be something or do something, and then share that with key people in your world, they will help you stay on track and stay the course.

Here's what I wrote down when I thought about the legacy my actions would leave for my boys - this is my covenant to them. And by the way, I did the same thing with Sheryl - still too raw to share- but I'm convinced it helped us finish strong and spend 25 years together before she lost her battle to cancer.

Enjoy:

1. He loved God with all of his heart

2. He loved mom and treated her with respect and kindness

3. He always spent time with us – he put us first during his moments at home

4. He was fun to be with and made us laugh

5. He taught us what manhood was all about

6. He prayed with us to ask God into our life

7. He taught us the importance of prayer and scriptures

8. He was a positive man who always looked on the bright side of things

9. He made a difference in our lives

10. We learned from him:

 Honesty
 Gratitude
 Attitude
 Love
 Discipline
 Completion
 Focus
 Honor
 Persistence
 To always be our best


Go ahead! Be bold! Make some promises that will lift you and those you love to a higher level.