Author: wes

Is Boring Growth the Best Growth?

Share this:
Share

What I’m about to say may be one of the most off the wall things you hear someone say today.

I think my favorite color is the color of wheat as it grows.

Hear me out. When wheat is planted, the field is freshly tilled, and the brown of a freshly tilled field is a gorgeous color. Maybe not for a shirt or a coloring book, but when you see a few hundred acres of freshly turned soil, you’ll know what I mean.

Slowly over time, the wheat starts to break through the ground, and now you have the brown soil peppered with flecks of green, yet again a beautiful sight.

After even more time, the wheat grows more and eventually you can’t see the field beneath the plant, but it’s still green. And it’s the most gorgeous green I think I’ve ever seen. It’s a dark green but has a brightness to it.

Stick with me, I promise we’re going somewhere.

Eventually the wheat begins to dry out and turns a golden yellow. A wheat field ready for harvest isn’t just a golden yellow, it’s a golden yellow that seems to pulsate. It waves back and forth.

But to see these different stages, you have to wait. Patience is key. You can’t set out a lawn chair in the field and expect to see the growth in a day.

The same is true for us in our leadership journey. Someone willing to learn is incredibly inspiring. Over time, as we start to show our own growth, there’s another boost of excitement. As we continue to grow, slowly growth has become not just a habit, but a way of life. Finally, the end isn’t the end. It’s the culmination and we see the movement around us.

Boring growth – the kind of growth that takes years not days, the kind of growth that happens because of time not just in time – may very well be the best growth.

John Maxwell calls this the Law of Process (my favorite of his 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by the way). Maxwell says Leadership develops daily, not in a day. And I cannot think of a better summary of my experience the past decade.

Are you prepared for boring growth? It’s not flashy, but it’s worth it. Show up and do the work today.

Unlocking Your Growth Potential

I was looking for something to help me stay motivated as a blogger, and the premise looked interesting. What I didn’t realize was I picked the exact right book for my attention span.

Share this:
Share

What book have you read that has changed your life? (Besides the Bible…)

It’s been a while since I blogged consistently, and I want to get back to it. One of the reasons I enjoy blogging is it gives me an outlet to process my own thoughts.

But the real reason I spend time blogging is because I want to help you grow in your own leadership influence. I think you have incredible leadership potential and opportunities, but the best growth rarely happens on accident.

So today, I want to share a book that has, and I don’t say this lightly, changed my life.

At the end of 2018 I did a quick read of a book titled The Miracle Morning for Writers, and immediately put it into practice. But I kind of tricked myself.

I was looking for something to help me stay motivated as a blogger, and the premise looked interesting. What I didn’t realize was I picked the exact right book for my attention span.

You see, I have a hard time finishing books. There are so many good ones available and I tend to lose interest at about halfway through, but feel obligated to finish, so my pace slows down drastically. But let’s not psychoanalyze my reading/commitment issues (or undiagnosed ADHD?).

The book I unknowingly read was two books in one. The first part summarized a different book (The Miracle Morning), and the second part was putting it into practice for writers.

Because it was two parts, it read quickly. But that wasn’t all–it was incredibly motivating. Up to that point in my life I had always wanted to be the kind of guy who woke up super early, but rarely did. But that soon changed.

Within a day of finishing the book, I was waking up at 6am to execute the framework set out. So, I started practicing The Miracle Morning in January of 2019. Fast forward to today (January 2025), and I’m still prating The Miracle Morning. I’ve read the original edition of the book twice, and recommended it to people when they mention wanting a morning routine.

If you’re looking to jumpstart your morning routine, or add a little extra discipline to your day, here are three reasons why I think the book is worth a read:

  1. There’s a mindset shift that takes place, and the author (Hal Elrod) does a great job of providing a simple shift to make waking up even easier. Seriously, it’s worth the read just for the mindset shift.
  2. I love a routine. The SAVERS give me one. Granted, my routine has shifted over the years, but it’s there and incredibly valuable.
  3. What do you have to lose? Sure, you might “waste” part of your life reading the book, but is that any worse that binging yet another TV show on Netflix?

It’s good to be back. I hope you’ll join me on the journey. If you’re not, you can subscribe to get these delivered to your inbox.

3 Shifts to Make to Unlock Your Leadership Growth, Part 3

Mistakes bother me. Especially mistakes I make that could have been avoided. But that leads us to our next point: Evaluated Mistakes Unleash Growth

Share this:
Share

How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown. Maybe you added an arrow to your quiver, like moving conversations from surface to something more using intentional questions. Maybe you’ve spent more time pouring into someone. Maybe you’ve swung for the fences and learned something along the way.

Today we are looking at part 3 of a three part series. You can check out part 1 and part 2 to catch up.

Let’s get vulnerable for a moment. Mistakes bother me. Especially mistakes I make that could have been avoided. But that leads us to our next point:

Evaluated Mistakes Unleash Growth

Some situations require swinging for the fences, only to strike out and learn from the misfire. Mistakes don’t mean failure. Unevaluated mistakes mean failure.

Did you catch that? Once again, evaluation makes the difference. I am constantly amazed at what growth can be unlocked when we learn to evaluate our mistakes.

But that means we have to make mistakes. Not mistakes of ignorance, but mistakes of innovation.

A mistake of ignorance is making a mistake when you should have known better. Going to a Mexican food restaurant and binging chips and salsa when you’re trying to cut carbs, for example. Or planning an event without checking the necessary calendars, again.

But mistakes of innovation are mistakes made when trying something new. You plan an event you haven’t done before, or introduce a new emphasis for a season. Sometimes these things work really well, sometimes they flop.

Ultimately, mistakes provide an opportunity for evaluation, which in turn will unleash growth.

I’m going to guess you’re in one of two camps: you’re like me and cautiously move forward, rarely making mistakes, but also not innovating very well, OR you repeat mistakes over and over. I guess you could be in a third place and have this nailed down, to which I cheer you on.

But no matter where you find yourself, what’s your action step going to be? Do you need to do some evaluating? Do you need to take a risk on something? How can you improve? How have you learned from a recent mistake?

3 Shifts to Make to Unlock Your Leadership Growth, Part 2

Share this:
Share

How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown. Maybe you added an arrow to your quiver, like moving conversations from surface to something more using intentional questions. Maybe you’ve spent more time pouring into someone. Maybe you’ve swung for the fences and learned something along the way.

I realized this morning I made a mistake with my first post. I assumed ignorance on your part. It’s possible I’m not sharing new information with these posts. In fact, it’s probably very likely.

So why am I writing them?

Because these are the things I either (a) wish someone would have shared with me 20 years ago or (b) completely missed when someone shared them with me 20 years ago. Sometimes we need to hear the same thing for the first time again.

Here we go.

2. Leadership is Most Effective as a Group Effort

I write a lot of my posts directed to you as an individual, hoping to help YOU grow as an individual. But the truth remains: we are better together. The very nature of this blog proves itself. I enjoy writing and reflecting, but I am better if you grow as a result.

Leadership can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the best leadership isn’t lonely. Leadership works better when we understand we are part of a team working to improve. Accountability, camaraderie, encouragement, problem solving and so much more are only enhanced when multiple people participate.

Please allow me to be blunt. You need other people. You need people who will come alongside you and support your wild ideas. You need people who will challenge your outrageous ideas. You need people who will encourage you when your crazy idea doesn’t work.

And leadership is not always a top down activity. Sometimes leadership happens every direction in a group. The bottom rung of the ladder can still leverage influence up, if the leader understands and champions that everyone has a voice and a role.

For me, it’s easy to tackle opportunities on my own. To take things into my own control and move forward. After all, who knows what should happen better than me?

But leadership is better, stronger, longer lasting, and more effective when we lean into the reality that leadership is most effective as a group effort.

What shift do you need to make? Who do you need to invite into the conversation?

3 Shifts to Make to Unlock Your Leadership Growth, Part 1

How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown.

Share this:
Share

How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown. Maybe you added an arrow to your quiver, like moving conversations from surface to something more using intentional questions. Maybe you’ve spent more time pouring into someone. Maybe you’ve swung for the fences and learned something along the way.

Whether you can answer the questions above or not, I want to share with you the first of four shifts you can make to help unlock your leadership growth. Collectively, these shifts may not produce immediate results, but as you learn to lean into them, I think in time you’ll begin to see the benefit.

Here we go.

1. Learning is a continuing process.

Recently, I had a conversation with a former student and reflected on life after seminary. It took me quite a few years for me to decide I wasn’t done learning, but when I did, something started to happen.

Instead of relying on things I had learned, I started to pull from things I was learning. I know it’s a subtle shift, but hear me out. Instead of tapping into a well that was potentially growing stagnant, I started to tap into a well that was producing.

How do you learn best? Reading? Listening? Watching? Do you prefer a live workshop? What about an online masterclass? A YouTube deep dive? We live in an age where we have no excuse not to learn!

For the longest time I’ve identified myself as an auditory learner. My early days on a tractor taught me to appreciate the power of an audiobook over music (might make a good Lessons from the Farm post). But lately, I’m starting to realize how reading a book unleashes creativity in me. I can miss a lot when I listen to something (just ask my wife!), but a different part of me engages when I read the words on a page.

What’s your attitude about learning? What’s the last book you read that challenged you? What was the topic? I love a good Harry Bosch novel, but Mac Lake highlighted an itch I’ve been trying to scratch for the past year!

If you’re ready to unlock some leadership growth, embrace the reality that learning is a continuing process. So get started!

WP to LinkedIn Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com