For many years I have been encouraging leaders to be focused…to not spread themselves too thin; more like a laser and less like the sun. You see the power of the sun when the rays are focused onto a mirror or piece of glass causing all that energy to zero in on a single target. That is the new technology of laser surgery which is becoming more and more popular.
It is my increasing conviction that most leaders are trying to do too much…traveling too fast. Consequently, they often feel overwhelmed and overcommitted…because they are! It’s like lying on the beach being hit by wave after wave…barely able to catch a breath of air…but, instead, inhaling mostly foul tasting salt water.
In his book “Drive” Daniel Pink mentions that in 1962 Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce gave some advice to President Kennedy because she feared Kennedy’s energy was so scattered that he risked becoming a muddled paragraph instead of a single sentence.
Boothe Luce told Kennedy that Abraham Lincoln was defined by a single sentence. “He preserved the union and freed the slaves.” Franklin Roosevelt was defined by a single sentence. “He lifted us out of a great depression and helped us win a world war.”
Having a “single sentence” define you is akin to creating a purpose statement. Mine is “He left footprints in the hearts of God-hungry leaders who multiplied.”
What’s yours? Do you have a defining sentence? Are you focused or scattered? Do you feel energized or depleted most of the time?
Even if you are in your 20’s or 30’s it’s not too early to begin thinking about who Jesus made you to be and what you need to focus on. Even if you are in your 60’s or 70’s it is not too late to think about who Jesus made you to be and what you need to focus on in the years you have left.
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