I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the exhortation and teaching from Maxwell. This is the first book I have read by him. This is a little and powerful book. Don’t let the cheesy cover deceive you.Poignant Quotes:“Success means a person is reaching the maximum potential available to him at any given moment.” – Ted Engstrom“Plans go wrong with too few counselors; many counselors bring success” – Proverbs 15:22You will never succeed beyond the purpose to which you are willing to surrender.Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them. There’s no such thing as a man who was born great.Some of us have to be racing for our lives before we’re motivated to stretch. What motivates you? What makes you want to be your best for the glory of God?If we have no goals, we won’t recognize failure, but if we’re stretching for success, we will fail from time to time.The most important time to affirm people is when they stretching.When you stop stretching, you become boring.Few people stretch all their lives, but those few people inspire the rest of us. I have found that you do one of two things in life. You either pay the price now and enjoy later, or you enjoy now and pay the price later. But you will always pay the price.Average doesn’t look so good when you realize it’s the worst of the best and the best of the worst. When I counsel people, I find that their number-one problem is that they’ve lost their dreams.Victory becomes ours when we think right about our problems, feel right about our problems, and then act right about our problems. We need more than just a positive mental attitude.P.U.R.P.O.S.E. – John C. MaxwellPray more than the ordinary personUnite more than the ordinary personRisk more than the ordinary personPlan more than the ordinary personObserve more than the ordinary personSacrifice more than the ordinary personExpect more than the ordinary personIn addition to criticism, you should count on some lonelinessEvery person who has never killed a giant will tell you that it’s impossibleAs a leader, I will listen to anybody. There’s no one who can’t teach me something. But the only ones I’m really going to take seriously are those who have an investment in my cause and are willing to charge the hill with me. When they give me their advice, they’re putting their lives on the line with me. There are all kinds of people who are willing to stay in the background and tell you how to do it – but they’re not willing to be part of it themselves.I can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting success under our belts. We’ve got to have some victories. It is winning that gives us confidence.P.L.A.N.A.H.E.A.D. – John C. MaxwellPredetermine your course of actionLay out your goalsAdjust your prioritiesNotify key personnelAllow time for acceptanceHead into actionExpect problemsAlways point to successDaily review your planWhen leaders fail to conquer their own problems, their followers never become victoriousWe ought to pray that God will give us a seemingly insurmountable barrier so that our people can see the power of God at work in us to defeat giantsWe fail, not because of big problems, but because of small purposesWe usually have to charge Goliaths by ourselvesSmall successes lead to greater successesSuccess for most people comes after someone else has done the impossibleA vision will help us pay the price. It provides the motivation for us to give up good things now for better things later.A big vision will help you overcome any problem, but a small vision or no vision at all will cause the smallest of problems to trip you up and keep you from becoming what you should be.Vision always comes before victory.It’s seeing the dream consume us and seeing the commitment that makes us act on that dream that causes others to follow it. Commitment is contagious. People will only catch what has caught you.Fear of failure probably keeps more people from positive action than anything else.S.E.C.U.R.E. That Dream! – John C. MaxwellState dreamsExamine motivesConsider optionsUtilize resourcesRemove nonessentialsEmbrace essentialsThe secret to handling conflicts successfully is to live according to the 101 percent principle. If there is someone under your umbrella of leadership who tends to be obstinate, find the 1 percent on which the two of you agree, and give it all you’ve got – 100 percent of your effort and ability. Let that 1 percent shred of agreement be the tie that binds you together.Love people more than opinions. Anyone who loves his opinions more than he does his friends will defend his opinions and destroy his friends.Give others the benefit of the doubt.The greater the man, the more flexible he is. Good leaders learn how to say “I’m sorry” more quickly than followers.I decided that leaders will always be hurt. Don’t let anybody sell you on the idea that everybody’s going to love you all the time. If you are out front leading people, you will be hurt. The issue is not will you or won’t you but in what way will you be hurt? I decided that I would be hurt because I trust people and make myself vulnerable to them.Cultivating Good RelationshipsKnow them. ABCs of beginning effective relationships. Acknowledge your need for others. Believe in the value of others. Concentrate people, not programs.Timing is more important than time in a relationship. Walking into the lives of people when they really need you is more important than being with them all the times when they don’t really need you. Timing is essential.As a leader, be reliable so your people can always feel comfortable coming to you.Our relationships with people will determine the success of our leadership.If you are going to be a successful leader, you are going to experience a great amount of discomfort.The great goal of becoming what one is capable of becoming can be achieved only by those who are willing to pay the price, and the price always involves sacrifice, discomfort, unpleasantness, and even pain.Paul would tell us to never get comfortable. He understood that if comfort is our highest aim, we will miss out on the riches of the kingdom of God.The Apostle Paul didn’t have to survive; he was committed beyond the point the survivalNever fall into a maintenance mind-set.Dissatisfaction is a tool God can use to motivate us to greater things.You show me a person that is in a strategic leadership position and I’ll show you a person who will be disrupted.People who are schedule oriented, who have their to-do lists, and who have strong goals will always have some tension over disruptions.Don’t try to survive.Do the circumstance of your day have to be smooth and easy for you to have a good day? Some people’s only happiness comes on vacation – so they can only be happy two weeks out of the year. It’s a sad thing when people can’t enjoy the problems of life.What conditions do you set on your service to God before you’ll be happy in ministry? I would encourage you to put down the book as you finish this chapter and spend some time answering that question. Write down what you need to have before you’ll be happy. Is it a place where you must live? Is it a salary you must receive? What conditions must be met?The happiest people on earth are people who have learned to appreciate the possibilities for growth that problems bring.The first similarity is that all fail. There’s not one person who does not experience failure. The second similarity is that we all fail often. We don’t just fail once and walk gingerly through life so that we’ll never fail again. Failure is something that we experience every day. And third, we will continue to fail until we die. Death itself is the only thing that’s going to keep us from failing. Sometimes I have a feeling that people are trying to tiptoe safely to the grave without goofing up somewhere along the way.How can I allow failure to make me a better person?The second observation I want you to see is that too many people treat their failures as enemies. They look at a flop and see a foe. This kind of thinking; in itself, is a mistake; failure should be treated as a friend.We successfully fail when it stirs us to keep trying.We successfully fail when we see our mistakes and are willing to change. The greatest mistake we make is not correcting the first mistake. When we see where we went wrong, we should make every effort to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.Leaders bring people to a point of decision.Anticipate problems. Don’t let problems take you by surprise. List them. Write down all the problems you’re aware of. Address them. Examine each problem thoroughly and think of a solution. Outsmart them. If plan A doesn’t work, be ready with plan B.The wrong decision at the wrong time = disasterThe wrong decision at the right time = a mistakeThe right decision at the wrong time=unacceptanceThe right decision at the right time=successA leader’s ability to make decisions and see them work means the difference between success and failure. Remember, success is not for the chosen few, but for the few who choose.If our number one goal is to survive, we’re no longer free to make the best decisions.Also, if we desire to survive, we are encouraged to excuse our lack of effectiveness. We talk a lot about being faithful in the church; we talk very little about being fruitful. A fruitful person has to die first, so since most of us haven’t died, we would rather talk about faithfulness. We may not really accomplish much, be at least we’re consistent.There’s something common to all these people who tried to survive: they lost what they tried to keep. Whatever the survivor holds tightest he loses. It’s a paradox evident in the teachings of Jesus. “Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it” (Luke 9:24)Let me give you four characteristics of “I don’t have to survive” people.They have faith in god, not in themselves.They change people, nations, and generations.They are willing to stand alone.They possess unusual powers.But if you can become secure in God, you will gain a freedom that people can never give you.He was telling me that if I’m to be successful for Him, He needs my listening ability, not my preaching ability.If you are running in the reputation race, you need to decelerate and get off the track. I’d like to suggest five courses of action that will help you do this.Don’t take yourself too seriously.Fear God more than man.Make room for innovators, entrepreneurs, to work. We need to make room for people who don’t fit the average mold, people who are daring enough to risk failure. We need to be their cheering section.When we feel satisfied with ourselves, we lack the compassion needed to reach out to others. It’s hard to care for others when you don’t understand need. When we are satisfied and full, it’s hard to help people who are hungry and hurting.You show me a satisfied person or a satisfied church, and I will show you one that is not able to make right decisions, because the right decisions are the hard decisions, and the hard decisions are going to cost them something.Before you accomplish anything great for God, I promise you, the issue of survival will arise in your life.If I’m to be like Jesus, I too have to give up all my rights. The first step in “becoming of no reputation” and relinquishing our rights is in coming to the clear understanding that everything we are and everything we can ever hope to be can only be due to the power and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.Let me give you three characteristics of people who have been willing to die for a greater cause than themselves.A purpose worth the price.A vision that is bigger than life.A power that is greater than theirs.The greatest days of your life are the days when you sense your commitment to its highest degree.Our concept of God in crisis situations will determine our commitment. If we think God will fail us, flee, or be fickle, we’ll never make strong commitments. We would be foolish to commit ourselves to someone who is irresponsible. But if our concept of God tells us He’s sure, steadfast, true, and faithful, then we can make those commitments confidently.…God expects us to do right regardless of the consequences.Our problem is not a lack of display of the power of God, the miracles of God, or the anointing of God; God is ready to His part. He’s just waiting for somebody to get into the furnace.There is relationship between our willingness to die for God and His willingness to deliver us.All great men have a fiery furnace in their lives. The second thing is that the degree of their commitment is what really made them great. They weren’t smarter, they weren’t faster, and they weren’t better educated; they were more committed.Commitment starts with the little things in our lives.The battle is won before the battle is begun.Application:Love God – dream big and don’t think I must survive. Relish in the freedom to fail and learn from mistakes which are normative.
