The American Crisis, Part 2

THE PERSONAL BATTLE:

“He knows not how to rule a kingdom, that cannot manage a province; nor can he wield a province, that cannot order a city; nor he order a city, that knows not how to regulate a village; nor he a village, that cannot guide a family; nor can that man govern well a family that knows not how to govern himself; neither can any govern himself unless his reason be lord...” Hugo Grotius (1583-1645)

The first, and the last, battle we will engage in along our leadership journey, is the battle with ourselves. And as Hugo Grotius so eloquently states, "neither can any govern himself unless his reason be lord." In other words, we're gonna need help, and a lot of it. Self-mastery is hard enough, but when you throw in the constant barrage of Anti-Hero egalitarianism, which brings everyone down to the lowest common denominator, you could say we've got a real battle on our hands.


There's better than a 95% chance that 95% of us were raised with faulty programming which has created deeply set, limiting beliefs. These beliefs have tightly fastened the lid on achieving our full potential. Just like when you close the lid tightly on a jar full of fleas, they will only jump and hit their head against the lid for so long until they just stop jumping. Then when the lid is removed, the fleas remain captive because they have been programmed to believe that they can never jump out.

The first big guns we face then, in our battle for self-mastery and excellence, will be our limiting beliefs. One of the reasons these weapons are so dangerous is because most of the time, we don't even know they exist, much less limit us. One day I was prompted to get out a piece of paper and put down all the "you can't do this," or "you're not worthy of that," statements that run through my head, almost on automatic, and I found that as I looked at my limiters on paper, they became exposed as the out right lies that they really were. I learned that day that limiting beliefs can only be exposed through listening to, and taking note of our self-talk. If we don't root these out, they eventually become true, just as a self-fulfilling prophecy. So let's start with some big ones that are very common in our society today:

1. Fate vs. Destiny

-Fate says, "I have no control; why try; just waiting for my ship to come in; it's the luck of the draw; que sera sera, what ever will be will be; I'm a victim."

-Destiny believes, "I've been called by a higher power to do something great. I can tap into His vision, work hard and serve, knowing that I'm responsible to follow Him and He's responsible for the results. Where ever He takes me, I'm O.K. Ultimately, you control your thoughts; your thoughts control your actions; your actions produce your habits; and your habits produce your destiny."

2. Self -or- Service

-Self says, "It's all about me," and "Who cares, as long as it doesn't effect me."

-Service knows that in a true win/win environment, if you serve others, you will naturally be lifted up to victory after victory.

3. Ease -or- Excellence

-Ease clings to, "Success should come easy," or "I'm just going to play it safe."

-Excellence has seen that anything worthwhile takes effort. A good marriage takes work. Leadership takes work. And anything else fulfilling takes courage, discipline, focus and determination. Excellence says, "I'd rather deal with the price of excellence, than the pain of regret."

4. Relativism vs. Absolutes

-Relativism believes in situational ethics. "Maybe being honest all the time is right for you, but it's not for me." "If he feels like stealing once in a while, let him do it." That's a great idea, until it happens to me.

-Absolutes say, know why you believe what you believe. Not sure where to start? Try Exodus 20:2–17 in the Bible for starters and find 10 absolutes for happy living, whether you're Jew or Gentile; Muslim or Hindu. Survey after survey says the #1 thing people want in a leader is...Character.

5. Competition

-If someone else is winning, I must be losing. Criticize and get angry when others are winning. Dog eat dog. Compare my worst to their best.

-The power of the team. Help others win and I will win. Don't worry about the other guy, just do your best, give full effort. If you are prepared, ye shall not fear.



I have come to realize that if I'm not where I'd like to be, I need to start by checking my self-talk. Negative self-talk leads to fear, fear causes in-action, in-action causes lack of experience, lack of experience breeds ignorance, and ignorance perpetuates more fear. Expose your limiting beliefs, confront them, let your reason be Lord, and He will cause the change.

Keep Moving Forward.

Rusty Robson

[See the audio CD, "Four Laps," by Orrin Woodward for reference].