My friend, Ray Johnston of Bayside Church, wrote a great book a few years back, The Hope Quotient which I enthusiastically recommend for everyone, especially leaders, to read. Ray gives very practical advice on how to live a hope-filled life. In this micro-blog post today, let me share one little snippet from Ray’s wonderful storehouse of practical advice. He stated,
“The road to a better future is never traveled on an empty tank.”
Leadership is a full time job. In fact, it’s an all-the-time job. When you lead others, you’re always on the job, so it can be extremely physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually draining. That’s why Ray’s advice is so important for us to take seriously. If we never take the time to refuel, we will eventually completely run out of gas and fall short of the impact that we want to have with the people we lead and the mission we serve.
So, my encouragement today is for all of us to make sure that, even while we are doing a immense amount of things to further our vision of the future, we must take some time to breath and refill our tank. If we don’t, we’ll find ourselves on the side of the road. Think about what you can do to refuel, regenerate, and regain the momentum you need to do all that you can envision.
Lead well.