4 responses to “Destiny”

1. 

   Michael Geiser

   January 8, 2008

   Hello Chris, Your articles are inspiring and thought provoking and we also have our daughter read them as part of her School. I have done much soul searching in the last couple months. We have been leading 2 leadership study groups for about 4 months now and it has been going extremely well and has challenged the tar out of me and has been rewarding seeing others grow in their leadership ability and confidence. As the group grows in size it has been totally exciting to see others step up and lead. It is an awesome place to be in to see others replace me and then the Lord gives us our next challenge. It has put me on my knees many times when people come with marriage problems and relationship issues and then to see my mentor Dean Frey talk to me about the very issue I am dealing with or to have God direct me to the book or pull info. out of my brain that I read at one point so that I have the right answer to point the person to. From what Dave C. tells me, he has been participating in writing on this blog! He is in one of our study groups and I enjoy his wisdom that he has brought to the group. Well I guess I should get to the point! Through our study of Maxwell’s Difference Maker, the Coach book that came through system and now the LLR I have come to a much better understanding of the word Destiny. It is a challenging, exciting , and sometimes plain terrifing journey that makes you want to chase destiny harder to see what else is instore, and what the Lord may require of us. I don’t have much trouble chasing that “requirement”!!!! I have come to learn that chasing your destiny with a team is definatly much more enjoyable and has way more potential then by myself !!! Thanks so much for all you guys do and for putting the vision out in front of us !!

   LikeLike

   Reply
2. 

   Chris Brady

   January 8, 2008

   Mike:
   Thanks for your excellent contribution here to an enormous topic. I put these quotes up just to serve as thought starters. Your response is exactly what I was looking for. As usual, what readers write is much better than what I put up on this site!
   Destiny is an interesting concept, and it is one that is a little hard to define and become like grasping smoke. But nearly every great leader I have ever spoken to has sensed some type of pull on them in the direction of accomplishing great things. It’s almost as if they have a feeling deep down inside that they were meant for something great.
   Also, I wanted to let you know I got your earlier correspondance and forwarded that along to the appropriate parties.
   Keep leading, learning, and growing! Fulfill your destiny!
   God bless!
   Chris

   LikeLike

   Reply
3. 

   Matt Franks

   January 8, 2008

   Hey Chris,
   Thanks for the wonderful quotes on destiny! As always learning from leaders like you and Orrin continue to stretch me to reach up to another rung on the leadership ladder. It has been so awesome reading everyone’s posts on this blog and Orrin’s blog about how they are growing and learning. In other words people are taking charge of their destiny!
   “Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
   Watch your words, for they become actions.
   Watch your actions, for they become habits.
   Watch your habits, for they become character.
   Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
   In regards to destiny it saddens me that most people don’t lead their life, but rather accept it. Legendary coach John Wooden said “in everything you do there is a choice you need to make, so just know, in the end the choice you make is what makes you.”
   I have discovered that life is what happens when you sit around figuring what you want to do! I think one of the things that holds most people back from fulfilling their life’s purpose/destiny is not who they are, but who they think they are not! People need to realize that THEY ARE A PERSON OF WORTH!! Whether it is some past failures in life someone has experienced, or how they were raised, it does change the fact that we all have been created to do great things!!
   This quote always serves me well when I think of who I used be “though you cannot go back and make a new start my friend, anyone can start now and make a brand new end.” Anyone who is trying to fulfill their destiny needs to make that statement their battle cry. Your past should serve as only something to learn from. It should not be your slavemaster!
   So how do we start the success/destiny journey? We have to first debunk the different myths about success.
   1. “I could be successful if I just work hard”
   It is true that successful people have worked very hard to achieve what they have achieved. I do not want to discredit that in the least bit. However I think people confuse hard work with sacrifice. If you work hard, but don’t sacrifice, chances are you will not be successful. How many of you know people that work very hard that are not successful? My point exactly.
   2. “I could be successful if the right opportunity came my way.”
   It is true that successful people have capitalized on opportunities that made them successful, but it just never came to them. In fact it was just the opposite. They went out and pursued what they wanted. Too many people wait for an opportunity to come their way and can I tell you something: it won’t come knockin.’
   3. “I could be successful if I knew the right people”
   It is true that successful people know influential people. However it is not true that if you know the right people it will make you successful. Too many people that begin their success journey think they need to know the right people. You cannot get into the “inner circle” unless you make some sort of a contribution.
   4. “I could successful if I had the right knowledge”
   It is true successful people in their field or industries have a vast accumulation of knowledge, but having knowledge does not make you successful. You need to apply that knowledge and be able to learn from your experiences. If you wait to get started in any endeavor until you have all the knowledge you will never get started because any endeavor worth doing requires continuous learning. Knowledge without action means nothing.
   5. “I would be successful if I had a successful past”
   This is one the most over-used “excuses” as to why people never define what they want out of life. As we discussed earlier your past has nothing to do with your success. To prove this point how many of you have known companies that have been successful in one decade and aren’t even around now. If that myth was true a company could exist on what they did and not worry about what they are doing.
   Another great example of this would have to be the greatest basketball player of our time or maybe even of all time, Michael Jordan. When Michael was a sophomore in high school his basketball coach decided to cut Michael. After he was cut from his basketball team Michael worked harder than ever to prove his coach made a BIG mistake. After reading his list of accomplishments how would you like to be the coach that cut Michael.
   Now that we have debunked the myths, how do we start our success journey:
   1. Define what you want
   2. Develop the right habits
   3. Develop a learning appetite
   4. Choose the right mentors
   5. Pick the right teammates
   Thanks again Chris for all you do!
   Best,
   Matt

   LikeLike

   Reply
4. 

   DaveC

   January 9, 2008

   Chris,
   I saw Mike Geiser last night and told him that he had given me too much credit for wisdom, since all that I do is say what I have heard on CDs, read in books or on the net, and heard on DVDs and in person. I don’t know if you can say about me what one of my college profs said about a certain author someone asked him about: “He is both good and original; what is good is not original and what is original is not good!” I hope that that is not true of me because some of what I have to say about destiny is more or less original to me, although I am sure I have picked it up from someone else along the way! lol!
   Back in college I picked up this answer to the question: “Do you believe in the Sovereignty of God or the freewill of man?”
   “Yes!” Which in effect means both. Now I explain that like this (a lot of which Matt has already hit upon in slightly different language): Basically, God has a perfect plan or blueprint laid out for the life of each of us. This plan or blueprint is not exact and detailed in every particular, but gives each individual much
   leeway in his choices to still be within the will of God. However there are boundaries in that plan which can take us out of the will of God or at least get is away from the best that He has for us. In this maybe it is better to compare God’s will to a route planner, which many of us are becoming familiar with from software and the internet. (Although God’s will is a lot better than the route planners which could not find the road that Swareys live on where the Geisers and others met on Monday night. lol) Deviating from a route that you have been given could take extra time, it could get you lost, and it could even have worse consequences like causing an accident because of a wrong turn. Getting away from God’s will can have similar, and even worse, consequences in our life. We need daily to remind ourselves a few basic principles. God didn’t make no junk. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. God’s way is ALWAYS the BEST way! If we stick as close as possible to God’s blueprint or route plan we will have our best life now (to steal some words from Joel Osteen, but I think that he wouldn’t mind.)
   DaveC

   LikeLike

   Reply