3 Simple Tips that Create Momentum in Winning Organizations
Leadership Tune-Up
It's Time to Go Offense
Stop playing defense; offense is so much more fun.
There's for sure different seasons of your life. Sometimes we play offense... sometimes, we have to play defense. But if you played for too long… you're just letting life happen to you. You're not pursuing.
Are you making things happen or letting things happen? It’s time to become Fully Alive in 2025!
Here’s 5 simple ways to switch to offense:
1. Wake up ready
-How you wake up will set the tone of your whole day.
-If you lay in bed and hit snooze you'll be doing that all day.
-Get up with urgency and excitement!! You've got stuff to do!
2. Use the HALT method
-You're not playing offense if you're: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired (HALT)
-Sometimes you're playing defense because you're just trying to catch up.
Stay on top of your meals, take a sec to cool off if you need, get in community, and get good rest. Otherwise you don't have a shot.
3. Perfect your to-do list
-Your to-do list doesn't have to be perfect... but perfect your method!
-Is it best on your notes app? Written in a journal? Morning of? Night before?
Find out what works for you to be most productive, and stay on it! there's nothing better than checking things off...
4. Know your weaknesses
-We all have stuff that sets us back.
-Make a plan to attack those things, and try to predict when they'll come for you.
Maybe you need to set a reminder on your phone, tell a friend to let you know when you're acting some type of way, or set boundaries. just don't ignore it!
5. Stay focused on the present
-The past is just the past and the future isn't here yet,
-What's most important is what's right in front of you.
When you worry about tomorrow or overthink about yesterday, you're wasting the most valuable thing you have... the present!
Fight for Real Friendships
Something I’ve learned over the past five years:
Friends are revealed when you’re at your worst, not your best—when you're at the bottom, not the top.
When you have nothing to offer but liability to anyone who comes close, that’s when you take notice of who is still with you.
For pastors, it is very, very hard to experience true friendships.
Many times, it turns out that they weren’t really your friend to begin with.
Carey Niuwhof writes: “They were using you, or rather, using your power as a leader.
Beyond the power to hire and fire, you also hold the power to determine the mission and direction of the organization. Your words weigh more, and you have the clout that simply accompanies the position you hold, whether you feel like you do or not.
As a result—and here’s the dynamic—people build relationships with you for reasons other than just pure friendship.
Sometimes they’ve built a relationship with you because they want to be close to their leader or they want some influence over the organization’s future direction. Other times, they’re just drawn to the leader’s charisma.” (See: Why They’re Not Really Your Friends)
But here’s the thing: pastors need friends — real friends — they can depend on.
And so you have to fight for them. You have to double-down, grit-it-out fight for real friendships as a leader. And you have to learn to trust again after you’ve been burned.
If you’re like me, you’ve experienced friends leaving your life. For whatever reason.
If you have a grudge or a hurt or a misunderstanding that needs attending to, pick up the phone and make the first move.
Contrary to our instincts, hard conversations usually don't kill relationships.
They save them.
It's choosing the short, life-saving pain of surgery over the long-term, fatal pain of cancer.
You've Gotta FAIL If You Want to SUCCEED
Did you know that the average small business owner fails 2.7 times before finally reaching success? That means they have to publicly fall flat on their faces and lose everything over two times before they learn all the secrets necessary for full-time success! The term “Overnight Success” is an oxymoron.
I believe the same is true in ministry: you’ve gotta FAIL if you want to SUCCEED!
In failure:
You learn how not to treat the people you lead
Discoveries are made in scheduling and planning for major events
Emotional IQ is enhanced and increased
Persistence is stirred up for later reliance
WHO you can trust and count on during tough times is revealed
Humility is accepted as the pathway to greatness.
Every crisis is an opportunity.
Dream Again. Dream Bigger. Dream Better.
The Dream is the Distance: Everything looks different from a distance.
Even though you see empty seats, there is an opportunity for growth.
Genesis 41 tells us the following:
The dark room is where he develops the negatives.
The more God uses you, the more He humbles you.
Purpose Over Position -- Believe this and you will never get offended!
No Mess, No Ministry
No Drama, No Dream
God did not say this would be easy; He said He would be with you.
If you are currently experiencing or feeling failure, GREAT! It’s a necessary prerequisite to achieving greater ground for Kingdom expansion! Keep your chin up, your head low, and your posture as a servant-leader. In Christ, the best is yet to come!
4 Hacks for Easier Leadership
Leadership and responsibility can get overwhelming... i know. No one is saying that it's easy! It takes effort and dedication, but i think it's simpler than you're making it. Here are 4 tips that have helped me through overwhelming times:
4 hacks for easier leadership
1. Stay honest
- honesty isn't a standalone character trait... it's linked to your overall integrity!
-if you don't feel bad about a small lie, chances are you won't feel bad about a big lie.
-whatever you can't talk about OWNS you... stay open and stay free.
2. Do the right thing
-you always have choices in every situation.
-when it gets hard to make decisions, ask yourself and ask God, what's the right thing to do here?
-every decision might not be easy or even preferable, but you'll never regret doing the right thing.
3. Invite accountability
-accountability doesn't mean someone checks in on you, it means you check in on yourself to someone.
-people won't enforce it if you don't invite it.
-get accountability from people who you want your life to look like!
4. Stick to the golden rule
-how can anyone respect you as a a leader if you treat people badly?
-treating someone the way you'd want to be treated means not always taking the easy route.
-this simple value will not only get you in the door, but will keep you in the room.
I love inspiring and pouring into church leaders!
That's why I formed the Fearless Leadership Network.
Rob Little on Comedy, Dealing with Rejection, and Creating New Material
Rob Little is today's guest! Having established himself as one of the funniest, most progressive, comedians in the country, it’s easy to understand why The Detroit Free Press selected him as the “Best up and Coming Comedian,” and he was selected as a feature performer at the Chicago and Boston Comedy Festivals. Rob was excited to be named Budweiser's “Real Man of Comedy." Last Comic Standing on NBC named him, “The Happiest Comic in America”. Campus Activities Magazine named him “College Comic of the Year” and Maxim Magazine named him "Comedian of the Year".
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Discover a fresh new podcast for leaders full of raw encouragement plus insanely-practical tips and interviews.
Subscribe now to The Fearless Leadership Podcast and grab more free leadership resources at JonathanHerron.com and on all social media platforms @HighFiveJon!
How to Deal w/Chronic Critics Online and in Your Church
This was a Facebook livecast of a Staff Meeting from 7 years ago. The content is still great so I thought I’d share it here!