What you call this season will define this season! Is the dream delayed…you need to hear this!

Are in a period of delay right now?

You may have been there for a long time in the period between when you conceived the idea, the dream the goal and actually being able to deliver on it; to see it become a reality.

If you’re in that period the delay then let me encourage you because it’s very easy to become discouraged. The delay can breed uncertainty and the unknown can lead to doubt.

It can be so easy to draw conclusions that ‘this is just never going to happen’, ‘it will never become a reality’. If we stay agree with this conclusion then it can lead us exiting prematurely.

Let’s face it, sometimes the pain of delay can be so great that the immediate thought of relieving that pain by exiting convinces us that the sense of immediate relief would be for the best.

The biblical proverb says

…hope deferred makes the heart sick…

…and when we are in that deferred period and we don't belie...

 It's time to stop running away and run toward moments that make us 'feel' small!

The journey of personal growth requires us to face challenges that are intimidating.

We all face moments when what we are faced with makes us feel small. 

In episode 5 of the High Performance Disciple podcast I share about the moment I had to face my intimidation. I had an opportunity to visit the Shard in London with a view to potentially hiring some surplus office space. The opportunity looked disproportionate to my age and stage of journey and whether it was right to do it or not wasn’t the question. It was the challenge to see myself as worthy of the opportunity. 

Whilst I didn’t follow through on the offer it was a breakthrough moment in seeing myself differently that led to me moving my family to London and expanding the vision for our future.

The moments when we feel like running away from challenge or opportunity because they ‘make us’ feel small are the very challenges we need to run enthusi...

‘Are you sure this is the right way?’ 

‘This doesn’t look familiar.’

I’m sure like me you’ve uttered those words on countless journey’s in the car or walking around a city. 

We associate the familiar with the right way. However does that stack up when it comes to the journey on route to seeing our vision become a reality?

When what you meet on route to your dream doesn’t match up with expectation the result can be confusion. 

Over the past several years both me and Leanne would have set planning days. A planning day sounds like it should be fun, like it should be about blue sky thinking and dreaming up new ideas, but for us it was painful. 

Why?

We both carried convictions but combined they felt like a contradiction and incompatible. So did one of us have it wrong? Based on our experience only one of us could be right. However, what was happening was the formation of a third way. A third way is an innovative new route that isn’t based on what we’ve seen but is birthed out of a t...

High achievers often want everything perfect first time. John Maxwell calls it the ‘perfection gap’. This reduces our willingness to take risks and often gives way to procrastination.  

Why do I seek perfection?

For me perfection is a self-imposed expectation that feeds an insatiable desire for validation. ‘Unless I hit perfection, then it's not good enough!’ This is usually linked to my own perception of self worth. I tie my self-worth to the result. 

I believe in excellence as a value which is giving my very best, but this is different from perfection.

Don't let perfection ruin your future...

The future dream we carry insists we embrace experimentation if we are to make our highest and best contribution!

If we impose perfection as the standard on everything that we do, then we reduce the space for creativity. Creativity encourages a healthy relationship with failure but failure is the enemy of the perfectionist!

In my latest High Performance Disciple podcast I unpack why we ne...

I will lose the motivation to live when I lose a reason to die.

I am going to ask you a question that I am guessing no one has asked you already today, this week or even this year maybe. The question is, "What would you give your life for?”

Take a moment to think before you answer. Most people might suggest somebody they would die for. Most parents would give their lives for their children. Maybe you would say “I would give my life for my friends.” That too is a noble statement, and you would be a good friend to have if that were truly the case. 

Yet I am of the belief that the level to which we fully get to live the life we have, is determined by our ability to define the cause for which we would give our lives. 

Let me make it clear from the outset that I am in no way suggesting that dying is desirable. The reason I pose the question is because I am trying to get you to dig down deep and answer the question “what really, I mean REALLY matters to me?” I believe in ever...