Mark Cole: A More Brilliant Future

The first half of 2020 hasn’t been what anyone expected. In fact, the challenges of the past few months have left many people wondering if the world will ever break free from this season of hardship. There are signs that things are getting better, but many people remain skeptical about the future and whether or not things will be better.

Leaders, I want to ask you a vital question: do you believe you have the competence, confidence and ability to sustain this difficult time and to have a more brilliant future than anything you’ve experienced in the past?

Despite our current financial realities, our leadership team here at the John Maxwell Enterprise is resolved that we are going after a more brilliant future with more zest than we ever have before.

So many leaders have asked me over the last three months, “Where do I even begin in planning for the future?” For now, I have two prevailing answers.

1. Stop comparing.

Comparison is going to impede your health. Comparison is going to stall your growth. Comparison is going to cripple your team. So stop comparing!

Yes, I mean stop comparing yourself to others; but I also mean stop comparing yourself to yourself! Your goals for 2020 should not exist right now. It’s not going to happen. Don’t compare yourself to those goals. Write new goals. Last year’s performance is history.

Stop comparing yourself to others. So, the business down the street got more from the government stimulus plan? Who cares!? Forget about it. The longer you spend looking at what they have instead of managing what you have, the more you will paralyze yourself and your team.

Quit playing the comparison game and take control of the future of your business.

Your propensity to familiar and comfortable leadership is causing you to wait for the world to return to normal. Game-changer alert: the world is not returning to normal.

It’s a waste of time to pick up the pieces and try to put the same box back together. Go envision a new box. The box that worked yesterday will not work tomorrow. How do I know? The global impact is too extensive, and the long-term ramifications will be too violent.

Your ability to quit comparing today or tomorrow to “normal yesterday” or “normal a year ago” is going to be a difference maker for you as we blaze our way into the future.

2. Get serious about your intentional think time.

The need for serenity is amplified when the world around you is chaotic. Find a time and place where you can break away from the storm and get centered so that you can build and dream.

Planning for the future must take place in serenity, not on the height of an emotional wave that could come crashing down with the next news report. And it certainly shouldn’t come from a place of desperation where you’re in a hurry to do something. Nope! You will not come up with good plans there.

You need to settle yourself.

You need to remove the emotionalism.

You need to limit the chaos of distraction.

You need to silence the voices.

Then, you need to reach deep into the vision and purpose that is already inside you. That is where you will begin to envision what the future will look like.

For some, the notion of shaping a new future is terrifying—they’d rather hold on to the past. But leaders, this is our opportunity to not only shape a new future but create that future to our specifications. All we have to do is let go of yesterday and dream about what tomorrow can be.

The future is ours. Let’s lead!

The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast