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Week 17 :-: Discipline – Overcoming stagnation


They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him]. Psalms 126: 5-6

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27


Personal discipline is the vehicle through which leaders can achieve their mission. Without personal discipline, goal setting is futile, and prioritization is useless. Servant Leadership success hangs on the thread of a life lived in obedience to God’s leading. God is on a mission to redeem men and women (young and old) back to a right relationship with Him and as a servant leader, you are a vital part of that mission. He communicates His kingdom’s agenda to His disciples through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and His Church which can only be executed by men and women who are willing to submit themselves to the discipline of His leadership. Psalms 126 referenced above, shows the results (“joy and a harvest of fruitfulness”) of walking in discipline ( “sow in tears”, “weeping and sowing seeds” ). When a leader sows seeds of discipline therefore, he or she will reap both joy and fruitfulness.

We live in the age of the Information Technology (IT) revolution. Some benefits of this revolution include faster communication, greater connectivity of the globe, the automation, greater transparency and efficiency of some work processes and huge advances in basically all fields of sciences. While the benefits of the IT revolution are many, the human race is being unconsciously changed in ways which are not necessarily beneficial. Impatience is on the increase as people become used to instant solutions. Engineers program social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram etc and mobile applications such as WhatsApp in ways that make them addictive while video sharing sites such as YouTube, study your viewing habits and suggest videos with the goal of keeping you on their platform as long as possible. The overall impact of using these tools without any discipline in most cases includes:
·         Procrastination. Recently I set a goal for accomplishing some written work within three to 4 hours but then decided to check out 1 video that popped up on my Amazon account first.  This video was pretty short and that’s how they got me. It turned out to be part of a series and even though I have a rule never to watch any series I broke my more than maybe 10 years rule. I got carried away in the series and before I knew what was happening, my precious 4 hours were gone forever. Everything else I had to do was affected. What did I gain from watching those videos? Nothing! Absolutely nothing except getting my adrenaline up. I got caught in the web by taking the bait on that first video. My ability to meditate and pray efficiently, sleep well and exercise were all impacted negatively as I was basically left feeling exhausted, empty and ineffective.
·         Unaccomplished goals. Effective self-leadership is dependent on discipline and good time management. We need time to change habits, develop new competences, learn new things, rest appropriately, exercise, meet friends etc. This precious commodity can either be used in activities that help you meet your goals or not. A life of indiscipline will have dire consequences with regards to your ability to accomplish your goals. How often do you set goals that you really feel good about but somehow ended up not accomplishing anything?
·         Poor self-image. A lack of discipline can lead to you feeling very insufficient and developing a poor self-image. Accomplishing goals on the other hand, is mentally rewarding. Think about how you feel about yourself as a bank account. When you walk in discipline that’s a huge deposit in your self-image account. The deposits you make, the better you feel about yourself. It has been proven that people who spend too much time on social media can become depressive which in certain cases may lead to suicidal thoughts. A lack in discipline regarding eating and exercise for example will likely have serious negative consequences on your health which will in turn impact how you see yourself.
These are not the only negative effects of a lack of discipline in the life of a servant leader. Giving in to seemingly “innocent activities”, will dig seriously into your time and impact your ability to execute your goals. There is hope even if you have failed in this domain multiple times. Discipline represents your ability to stay on track and act according to your values with a mind that is set on the mission. Discipline does not mean, you are counting on your strength, it rather means you are determined to walk in obedience to God as a true disciple that is willing to let their light shine. It is about doing the right things in order to get where you are supposed to go.

Do you walk in discipline?
1.      Does God dominate every aspect of your life? Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, and He responded by asking those present to love God with all their hearts, souls and being as well as loving their neighbors as themselves. As Servant Leaders therefore, the love for God should dominate every aspect (at work, home, etc.) of our lives. The implication is that there is never a time when you should not be manifesting your identity and love for God. This is in addition to having a love for people which is comparable to loving yourself. If some of the decisions you make in life are not guided by what the mind of God is, go to God in prayer now and ask him for help.
2.      Are your goals accessible and do you have a fixed time to review progress made? You may have written your goals but if they are not in a format that you can easily access and review, you may possibly forget about them and get caught up in the daily grind of life. Goals will give you prayer topics that you can share with someone close. It is important in some cases to have someone who can help hold you accountable.
3.      Have you identified the activities that easily take away a big chunk out of your time? How can you redeem that time from those activities to invest in more wholesome activities? Identifying activities which are of a non-urgent and not important nature is good but you must take practical steps to help you roll back from spending time doing them. One of the things that helps me is a focus on the truly important things. Think about where you would like to be as an individual in the next 5-10 years and start doing something about it now.
4.      Do you consistently spend ample time in private prayer, meditation and worship? Nothing can replace the grace received from spending time in talking to God. When you spend time rubbing yourself with God’s presence, there are certain, tastes, thoughts and commitments that will drop off as you forge your walk as a disciplined Servant Leader.
5.      Have you assigned time to your different goals? Do you know approximately how long it will take to complete different aspects? We saw earlier that joy and fruitfulness are the results of a life lived out in discipline. Leaders need to train themselves to manage their appetites (self-control) and be consistent in sowing good seeds through discipline into their life. This requires time, repetition and a willingness to change. It is not a passive process where you sit and do nothing.
6.      Let’s be honest are you complacent? The easiest thing anyone on earth can do is to give an excuse. Excuses are cheap! How often do you hear phrases such as:
·         “everyone is doing it”;
·         “somehow, I forgot”;
·         “why do I have to beat myself so hard”;
·         “I just need a pass, an average, nothing more.
Man has been endowed by God with so much potential, but many do die without accomplishing their purpose because of the big C (complacency). We somehow feel time is unlimited and that we have all the time in the world to sort ourselves out and slowly cruise through life. We spend hours on end in the non-essentials (quadrant 3 and 4 activities) and very little time actually doing those things that really matter. Show me someone that is bearing much fruitful and I will show you a person who has discovered the secret of investing their time wisely. A complacent athlete, team, student, husband, wife, leader is guaranteed failure. Do not be complacent, take ownership of your fruitfulness by investing your time wisely in the activities that will help you accomplish your desired goals.

Building discipline
Some practical steps a leader needs to take to walk in discipline include;
1.      Submit every aspect of your life to God and apply kingdom values everywhere - Consistency in seeking to live out your identity as an Ambassador of Jesus in all your different spheres of influence, will help you walk in discipline.
2.      See time as a scarce resource over which you have been made a steward - Unless you change your mind set on how you view time, this precious resource can be misused. As a steward of time, you are aware of the brevity of your life and the importance of this gift which God gives daily, for proper management. Your stewardship of time will be evaluated so take out the time wasters and focus on those things that build you, your family, the Kingdom of God, your team and the community.
3.      Be purpose minded – Make your life mission, visions and goals clear and accessible. You need to have them handy somewhere for a quick review. The more you live a life of purpose, the more you become disciplined. Making your goals accessible will put pressure on you to do something about it. Determination will be further ignited as you start seeing results.
4.      Identify your fears and limitations – Sometimes a lack of discipline just hides fears and limitations. A servant leader in addition to a strong biblical identity needs to have a healthy personal security which grows as your intimacy with God does. You may be afraid of the perceptions of others and of failing so you prefer to choose the road of least resistance. What are your fears? Identify them and commit them to the Lord in prayer. Scriptures remind us fear is the absence of faith. Faith tells us to act while fears deform who you are, limiting your potential. Pray as well as work on your fears and limitations. If public speaking is an issue for you for example, learn how to speak better and practice frequently. With time, you will notice that you may actually have a gift of public speaking that just needed to be ignited and fanned.
5.      Train your appetites – Do not be controlled by anything be it technology, food, money, women, men or anything else. If you do not train your appetites, they may lead to your destruction. A person who does not train their appetite when it comes to food, may end up being obese which can lead to chronic health problems. The same is true with someone who does not train their appetite regarding the use of social media, money etc. The only thing you should consume without limitation is God’s word!
6.      Constantly evaluate yourself – Evaluation helps you confirm progress, identify lapses as well as subjects of praise. Without consistently carrying out an honest evaluation, you may not be motivated to change. Establish a plan for evaluating yourself regarding progress that is being made in the different aspects you have goals for.

These steps are not exhaustive but represent a template from which you can draw inspiration to motivate yourself to sow into discipline. My prayer for you is that you will experience abundant good fruit and joy as you seek to consistently walk in discipline.

Assignment 17
1. Share your weekly plan for next week (5 days) with a course mate (pairs will be constituted by mentors). Your peer will make suggestions regarding your planning as well as evaluate you at the end of the 5 days period. Write a short report for your peer showing where they did well and how they can do better. What did you learn about your peer?
2. Pick two 1-hour periods during the day for 3 days of this week. During those days, discipline yourself to use social media only during the two 1-hour periods. For example, I can pick 7-8am ad 9-10 pm and Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. These days and times will be the only time I will use or check WhatsApp, YouTube or any other social media sites. Write a short paragraph on the time slots and days you selected, your challenges and how you were able to overcome them. How did you feel?
3. Research using both YouTube and Google on a subject that you currently know either little or nothing about. Write 3 things you learned about your topic. Post it on your blog and share it with the peer you were paired with in exercise 1.
4. Write a brief summary of what you learned this week and explain why it is important for all leaders. Post on your blog and share the link in your group.

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