If you’ve kept up with this blog for long you have heard me talk about a number of books which have had a profound influence on my life. The book Reposition Yourself by T.D. Jakes is no exception. In fact, I credit this book with playing a huge part in reigniting my hopes and dreams about six years ago. In it, Bishop Jakes speaks truth about what it means to be fully alive and engaged in the pursuit of what God has put inside you. He states, “There is nothing worse than reaching the end of your life and wondering what could have happened, or should’ve happened, but somehow didn’t happen!” He calls this “madness” and goes on to state, “Instead of being fully alive to the possibilities of the future, the pursuit of the dreams that God has planted like seeds in your heart, you have resigned yourself to an existence without dreams, a parched desert place of indifference where nothing can grow. You can’t go on this way – it’s killing you.” When I first read those words, every alarm went off in my head. I knew that I had drifted into a state that was literally killing me. For reasons beyond my control as well as some I had allowed, I was in desperate need of what Bishop Jakes calls “repositioning.”
Another way to say this is that from time to time all of us, especially leaders, must go through a reinvention in the way we dream, plan, function, lead and live. As leaders, we have chosen to give up the luxury of accepting the status quo, so we have no choice but to be in a continual state of growth and change. Yes, there are people who do the same thing for their entire life and somehow convince themselves that they are happy doing so, but I must insist that they are not leaders. I have heard it said, “Change is the currency of leaders,” and I believe that is so, for as Kegan & Lehey state, “We must grow into our future possibilities.” In order to do so, we must be willing to cast off what they call an “immunity to change” (a great book, by the way) and become intentional about the practice of self-examination so as to find what may be keeping us stuck where we are instead of achieving the dreams we have deep inside. Kouzes & Posner state, “Personal-best leadership cases are all about significant departures from the past, about doing things that have never been done before, and about going places not yet discovered.”
All leaders come to decision points where they have to make a choice to remain in their present state, position, habit, and mindset, or step out in faith and do something different. They must reinvent themselves, sometimes multiple times. I’ve had to do this very thing and I know that you will have to as well, if you want to reach the heights of which you have dreamed. Jakes states, “If you are to reposition yourself, you must seek out the options that are most conducive to your ultimate goals.” If you have done as I have done and written out the things you truly want to see happen in your life, you may find that you have to make some changes so these will come to pass. And, let’s be honest, change is hard and change is frightening, however, change is absolutely necessary. Another of Bishop Jake’s statements which gets my attention every time I read it is,
If you’re dissatisfied with your life, long for much more, and feel the desire to take some risks and make some changes, but those impulses are countered and blocked by your past disappointment, by the safety of your present status quo lifestyle, and by the uncertainty of your future, you are on the fence. You are flirting with the tragedy of a life wasted and regretted. Get off the fence and onto the road of repositioning.
I say amen.
Lead well.