The Best in You

My unofficial mentor is Jim Rohn.  He's 'unofficial' because he passed away last year, and we never met while he was alive.  I call him Mentor because of the wealth of wisdom and valuable advice he amassed, and passed along, during his professional career.  Wisdom and advice I have leaned upon as I construct a new life in pursuit of my passion for communicating.

Steven R. Covey, famed author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, and numerous other works of practical wisdom and insight, has likewise affected how I view the world and my place in it.  When I finally committed to read 'Seven Habits' I found I couldn't put it down.  Timing is everything, so they say, and my time for his landmark work had come.  It became foundational.

What do Alice Walker and James Fenimore Cooper have in common?  Me!  I count, The Color Purple and Last of the Mohicans among my all-time favorite reads.  The Color Purple may be the magnum opus of Ms. Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning career.  Told through the eyes and voice of Celie, The Color Purple is a wonderful read.

I love the breadth, the scope, and the cinematography of Michael Mann's screen adaptation of Last of the Mohicans.  In major ways it is completely unlike the book, but if you agree with me about the movie, you must read the book.  Immerse yourself in the grand scope of one of the all-time classics, Last of the Mohicans.

I am sure you agree that life comes at us from all angles with challenges, obstacles, and opportunities.  From these we craft victories, suffer defeats, endure, shut down, cry, shout, laugh, mourn, or just sit in wonderment that we are still alive.  I have chosen to be victorious though I have suffered defeats (bankruptcy and foreclosure to name two); to shout frustrations as well as great praises to God, to laugh often, and to mourn those who have passed into God's presence before me.

I still sit in wonderment that I am alive some days, and I thank God for His mercy and faithfulness to have preserved me thus far for the work yet to be done.  Today that work consists of encouraging you, the readers of this blog, to find a mentor you can trust to challenge you to raise your game to the stars.  Find a book that will reorganize your thinking in such a way as to re-shape how you do business (and how you do 'personal').  Finally, make the time to lose yourself in a really good novel at least once a month.

Seek the best around you and within you, not the average.  Then ask yourself the questions that Jim Rohn asked, "Why wouldn't you push to the best you can be?  To make all the money you can?  To read all the great books you can?  To learn all you can?  To be the best spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, or friend you can? Why wouldn't you?

Andrew Carnegie said, "The man unable to motivate himself will never rise above mediocrity no matter his talent or his giftings."  Make the best in you, the daily you.

Fearlessly,
JD

Always Be Both

Plato was both, as was the Apostle Paul, and these are but the most famous.  Each of these men was mentored, and gave of their time to be a mentor themselves.  It is vitally important that we endeavor to be both mentee and mentor.

I suggest mentee first because we don’t know what we don’t know until we come across someone who, in fact, does know.  While we may think we have all the answers, it will become apparent when we begin the quest for our mentor that there are yet questions we have never contemplated.

Plato was mentored by Socrates and he, in turn, mentored Aristotle.  The Apostle Paul was most famously mentored by Jesus of Nazareth and then he mentored Timothy.  The impact of these relationships in thought and belief has resonated and echoed through the centuries.

The impact of greater eternal significance is, of course, held by Paul who was miraculously discipled by Jesus, the acclaimed Son of God.  You may disagree on this point as that is your option, but nevertheless the impartation of wisdom was advanced in world-altering ways.  It is the attainment of wisdom we must earnestly pursue, and then a willingness to share our discoveries.

Have you a mentor?  I have been blessed to receive mentoring from close friends, business associates, fellow speakers, and even thought leaders whom I have never personally met (Jim Rohn, who passed away in 2011).  I routinely call upon them for advice and wisdom as to how they conduct their affairs, manage their time, and live the life they purpose to live.

Making myself available to others, being a mentor, is likewise fulfilling, but also educational.  Two things must run concurrently in our lives:  Learning and Breathing.  They should continue together until our breathing gives way to eternity.

To the extent possible we must make every effort to be both mentee and mentor while learning and breathing are operable.  Find that person or those individuals who have been where you seek to go and learn all you can about how best to prosecute this life.  But also be open to the addition in your life of people who wish the same from you.

Always be both, and marvel at the enriching impact your life will have.

Fearlessly,

JD