What you put into your mind is exactly what you are going to get out of your habits, actions, and words.  If you practice talking bad about people behind their backs it will show in the way you treat people.  If you practice being kind even to people who don’t have what you have, it will show in the way you treat people.

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When your worried, how do you think?  Do you focus intently on the thing you’re worrying about or do you focus on something else?  You focus on the thing you’re worried about.  You put every ounce of hand wringing effort into thinking about that one thing.  Why not use the same effort to think about good things, positive things, things that will change your life or the life of someone else.  I know bad things happen and they worry us.  Cancer, disease, bills all worry us. What I am saying is use the same effort you would worrying, when you’re not worrying, to think like a leader.

So how do leaders think?

Leaders think about the future.  They think about what God has planned for them and their organization 1, 5, or 10 years down the road.  They envision the changes that will have to take place in them and their people before the changes happen.  They dream about what’s to come and they let God change them through the process.

Leaders think about their people.  They want to know who is in the right position and who isn’t, because they understand people need to be good at what they do.  They want to know who is growing, and how they can help everyone grow.

Leaders think about their families.  I have never known a great leader who didn’t love his or her family.  If you are going to be a leader in the church especially you must lead your family first (1Timoty 3).

Leaders think about their legacy.  Who are you building up to become a better leader than you are? We all want to be remembered, and the best way to do that is by investing in someone else.  Find people who want to grow and invest in them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way,

Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.

 

If you’re looking for books to help your thinking here are some good ones

• Think on These Things By John C Maxwell
• The Power of Positive Thinking By Dr Norman Vincent Peale
• As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (Free)
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

To turn it around we have to take responsibility for ourselves.  When you realize you are the only person you can control and you take responsibility for that, you will begin to change.  You can only control you and no one else can control you, unless you let them. Chose what you watch, chose what you listen to, chose who you hang around, and you will see a difference in your life.  When I stopped watching the political news everyday I began to see a change in the way I thought about politics and people on the other side.  Instead of thinking of them as stupid or bad or dumb, I began to see their point of view. I also realized that most politicians are just talkers who have no goal but to stay in power, so now I have no party affiliation. Sorry for the digression, but don’t miss my point.  When I started taking control of what went into my mind, my thoughts changed.

Paul ends his letter to the Philippians by telling them to think about the good things,

Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise. You know the teachings I gave you, and you know what you heard me say and saw me do. So follow my example. And God, who gives peace, will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 CEV)

Put the good stuff in your head and the best stuff will come out of you.

Ever since James Allen wrote “As A Man Thinketh” people have asked that question.  do you lay in bed every morning and think about how bad your day at work will be?  Do you stay awake at night because you think about how bad it will be to get up in the morning?  Or, do you Spend time at night focusing on the possibilities that lay ahead of you the next day?  Do you take time every evening to lay out the things that need to be done the next day and think about the success you will have when you accomplish them?

All the examples above focus on thinking about your work, but two focus on the bad and two focus on the possibilities.  If you spend your time every day thinking about how to get out of work or how bad your job is, that is what it will be.   You will always get what you think about.  I’m not talking manifesting millions of dollars.  I’m talking about just changing the way you view your life and career.

1.  Change the questions you ask .  If you are asking how can I get out of this, or how can I kill time this afternoon.  You will get the answers.  Ask those questions enough you will get to answer them from the house, and then you will be asking how do i pay my bills.  Instead of asking questions that will get you out of work ask, “How can I make this fun,” or “How can I get better ideas for this job.”  You can get all the answers you want if you ask the right questions.

2.  Finish an important task.  When you spend time focusing on how to get out of work you tend to leave the things that really need to be done until the last-minute.  Stop procrastinating and do the things that need to be done before the deadline.  When you get an important project off your desk you feel better and a great weight is lifted from your soldiers.  Don’t say if I do the work they will only give me more.  That is bad thinking.  If you want to succeed you will have to pay the price and if it means doing more work you can handle it because you are asking better questions.

3.   Don’t focus on the past.  We all work with someone who has gotten under our skin at some time.  You can not dwell on those past arguments or on people who have gotten promoted before you.  If you focus on why she said this or why he got promoted and you didn’t you will never get promoted and possibly not keep your job to long.  Focus on what can be.  focus on that next promotion opportunity.  focus on who is in charge of that promotion and begin to find out what he or she is looking for in a candidate for promotion.  When you look to the future, the past will become very dim.

4.   Don’t focus on your critics.   “Just Drop it.”  Have you ever  said that, well us it to your advantage.  Just drop it.  If you focus on people who criticize  you are going to become angry and they will gain power over you.  Think about it.  No one can make you mad, unless you let them.  When you let them make you mad you give them power over you so they can come back at any time and change your whole attitude.  this will make your work poor and your focus from the good to the bad and how to get out of work.

5.   Focus on Others.   Giving back is a vital key to a successful life.  when you turn your focus off of yourself and begin to look at how you can reach out to others you begin to see success in a different light.  When you work with anyone who is handicapped in any way, you begin to see that success is not just having things. some times it is just seeing, or standing, or just listening.

If you follow these five steps you will begin to see your mind focusing on what it takes to succeed more and more and on failure less and less.