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Cultivating Discipline, Part 5: Suck It Up…

August 18, 2010 in being christian, creativity, leadership with 3 Comments

Aw... Poor thing... Suck it up...

The “path of least resistance” is virtually the same as the “road of good intentions”…

Think about this: If you have a goal (let’s say you intend to lose 10 pounds) but you skip the gym every time you come to an obstacle or time conflict, you are never going to reach that goal…

Because all of our worthy aspirations are met with resistance…

I don’t really have an explanation for this, but I have a theory:

Since our best, most worthy goals are designed to improve us or our world, they are likely to run afoul the status quo…

I’ve never made it my goal to gain 10 pounds of fat, unlearn an instrument or narrow my friend-network to something manageable like 2 or 3 people… Those outcomes can happen all by themselves because I am introverted, lazy and tend to medicate with Oreos…

Paul has this to say:

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.     – Paul, The Bible, Philippians 3:13-14

It always makes me smile when I hear Christians talking about “pressing on” or “pressing in” because that’s so 15th century… Modern paraphrase: “Suck it up.”

To conquer the inertia of the-way-things-are, I have to suck it up to reach for the-way-things-could be…

Here’s an example:

I’ve been trying to interview an artist for the site for 3 months. We’ve set appointments and I’ve missed them… sometimes through no fault of my own… but I feel like a schmuck every time it has happened. The temptation to just quietly stop trying is overwhelming to an introvert like me…

But the goal is more important than my insecurity… The prize more appealing than the comfort of retreating into my embarrassment…

So, I suck it up and keep trying…

The payoff is that I’ll have the opportunity to learn from this artist, share his encouragement with you and move closer to my own larger goals…

So, what inner turmoil is holding you back? What does it look like when you “suck it up” and push toward your goals?

NEXT in this series: Cut Yourself Some Slack…

What Makes Artists Succeed…

August 12, 2010 in being christian, creativity, leadership with 0 Comments

Arguably, the most famous work of an artist in church: Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling...

I’m primarily concerned with what makes artists succeed in the the context of church and christian life… Some of us make it work: finding ways to use our gifts… Others struggle and never really find their niche…

What I’ve observed as I work with artists in this context has been pretty interesting… I’m not attempting an exhaustive list, so feel free to add your thoughts in the comments…

The first quality that leads to success is a willingness to be “commissioned.” I am working right now with an artist on some preliminary set and graphics work for a production of Godspell. It’s especially fun for me to cast vision and then let an artist go off to create… but as a leader in church, I recognize that sometimes that creativity needs a bit of direction.

A successful artist will take direction (even from a square)… This is not just the key to success for artists in the church, but it is the key for many areas of commercial art and graphic design.

This leads me to the second quality: humility.

And, wow, do I struggle with this one…

In fact, humility is the underlying foundation for the entire christian existence… It keeps us loving, prevents us from judging and makes it possible for us to collaborate.

I can trace almost every conflict that I’ve had working on artistic projects in church to my own pride.

I hesitate to say that I’m getting better, but I am working on it… This verse helps:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
-The Bible, Philippians 2:3

The last thing that I want to mention is this: using your gifts should give you pleasure… it should be fun. Many of us grew up in church cultures that looked down upon people who took pleasure from their service, but that’s so backwards.

Your gifts come from God… He created you to be most alive when you paint or dance or sing or do whatever it is that you do… It’s ok to enjoy serving…

Anybody want to add anything? What makes artists succeed? or fail?

Cultivating Discipline, Part 4: Habit-forming…

August 11, 2010 in being christian, creativity, leadership with 2 Comments

I am a creature-of-habit… There are restaurants where everybody knows my name and that I drink Dr. Pepper… But I’ve found a pattern:

It takes more time and purposefulness to develop a good habit (like going to the gym) than to develop a bad habit (like eating a whole bag of chips in front of the TV)…

Maybe you experience the same struggle: the inertia of the status quo makes forming new, better habits hard… it’s work… and when I’m honest with myself, I don’t really want to do the work…

And here’s the circular logic that I get tangled up in:

Cultivating discipline relies on forming better habits and forming better habits is an exercise in cultivating discipline…

A few tips that I’ve gleaned from the www:

1. The 21-Day Rule… Everybody is different and some research in the UK has indicated that there may even be people who are “habit-resistant,” but the average person will form a new habit by repeating the desired behavior for 21 days.

2. It’s OK to Get Help… There is a reason that Alcoholics Anonymous is successful… It relies heavily on the esprit de corps (“spirit of the group”) to help group members form new habits, relationships and coping skills. Having a workout partner or Bible study group can make forming a new habit more challenging and more fun.

3. Attitude is Everything… Optimistic people are 4 times more likely to achieve their goals. If you are a generally pessimistic person (you will know this is you because you like to describe yourself as “a realist”) then your first goal should be to discipline yourself toward positive thinking. It won’t make your rich, beautiful or thin overnight, but it will open your heart to the possibility of substantial changes.

4. Remind Yourself… If I decide today that I’m going to drink 8 glasses of water everyday, I have got to remember to do it TOMORROW… Forgetting my goals is a real problem… Write it down, tape it to your bathroom mirror, or the fridge, or that bag of Oreos… Re-commit every time you see it… Decide everyday to do it again.

5. Suck it up… Sometimes, you need to just get to work… because nobody pays you to believe in the power of your dreams. Sorry to sound harsh, but some of the most pivotal times in my life have been those moments when someone cared enough to kick me in the butt…

You might find this website helpful: Habit Watcher helps you track your progress toward multiple goals…

What habits are you trying to make? or break? What tools have helped you?

NEXT in this series: Suck It Up…

Cultivating Discipline, Part 3: Character and Discipline…

August 2, 2010 in being christian, leadership with 1 Comment

As a particularly undisciplined person, I have often shrugged-off the connection between discipline and character… But lately, I’ve sort of been challenged to do things that only a person of great character could do…

And I don’t wanna…

I’m not whining, just generalizing in a way that I hope will challenge you to think about this…

Jesus told his followers that this world would throw hardship and trouble at them (John 16:33) but “take heart,” He said, “I have overcome the world.”

Could character be fueled by the discipline to do things that are difficult, painful or heart-killing?

This promise that Jesus overcame the world sometimes seems hollow in light of the very real pain that the world dishes out. But the same power that fueled Jesus is alive in those who follow Him…

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Paul, the Bible (Romans 8:35)

When Paul wrote these words, he was facing tremendous persecution, in the next verse he says that he faces the threat of death continuously… Then he goes on to answer his question:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  (above, verse 37)

So, there is a supernatural work going on inside that gives us the potential to more-than-conquer (overcome even) some pretty extreme hardship… But I find that I am often way-laid by some simple slight… or thrown off-course by someone’s harsh words… or discouraged by the decisions of those in leadership…

Where’s the disconnect? What happened to all of the overcoming and more-than-conquering that I was supposed to experience? After I pray and repeat the promises to myself… After I conjure all of the spiritual-sounding jargon that has ever been thrown at me… If I’m still way-laid or off-course or discouraged, what am I missing?

Discipline?

Really?

I’m throwing this out for your consideration… I think I’m onto something life-changing.  You see, lately I’ve been discouraged and it effects every aspect of my life: I don’t feel like writing, don’t feel like balancing the checkbook, don’t feel like doing anything around the house, don’t feel like taking my daughter to the library… You get the idea, right?

But when I push past the feelings and do these things (that’s discipline, right?), something cool happens: I find that I have just a bit more “feeling” for the next thing… and the next thing… and the cumulative effect:

I’m overcoming that discouragement.

I think this is why Paul compares the life of a Christ-follower to the life of a distance-runner:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training… I beat my body and make it my slave…
- Paul, The Bible (1 Corinthians 9:25, 27)

There is a balance between the work that Jesus did (when He overcame the world) and the discipline I need in order to access that work (to overcome obstacles in my own life)… Does that seem right to you? Do you see a similar truth in your own life?

NEXT in this series: Habit-forming…

LeadershipIssues: Collaborate or Die…

July 30, 2010 in creativity, leadership with 0 Comments

I’ve been looking at the array of media that churches are putting together these days… Some of it is really impressive.  For example: Church on the Move in Tulsa has the beginnings of a really top notch media ministry.  You can watch some of the highlights on their YouTube channel.  I’ve probably watched their Father’s Day tribute, Dad Life, fifty times.  It’s that funny and well-done and it inspires me to do something:

Collaborate.

The truth is that all of us experience limits in our skill-set… I actually have lots of limitations in mine… I often need to surround myself with a team of experts in order to realize the considerable potential of my vision.

Dad Life is a prime example of a collaboration that could not have possibly been accomplished by a individual’s effort.  In the one 2:50 video, we see the combined talents of songwriters, comics, actors, editors, audio technicians and videographers… The quality at every level of production demonstrated the expertise of a team.

It is a symphony of gifts… and no one can whistle a symphony…

To reach this level of excellence in artistic expression, we need teams… and those teams need to be composed of people who respect, trust and rely on one another.

How can we cultivate these teams?  What are the challenges inherent in building teams of creatives?  What have you been able to accomplish through team effort?

I’d love to hear your thoughts…
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