As Christians, we are so fortunate that God gave us a roadmap for life and shares His wisdom through the Bible. If we follow His loving directions, we can live a joyous and wise life.
If any roadmap for a businessperson has been written this century, it is Good to Great by Jim Collins. Mr. Collins describes several ideas or principles- driven by data- that explain how a company can go from average- even good – to great.
“The right person in the right seat on the right bus” is a principle from the book. It is a phrase that is repeated often by many businesspersons. It means having the best person fill the job. It is having the correct person/ job fit. Mr. Collins states this is a huge make or break factor for the success of a business.
Mr. Collins goes into detail that a key aspect of great leadership is the necessity to have a vision. Vision is the preferred future that the business must identify, layout for itself and strive to achieve. The way the business reaches its vision- their preferred future- is the commitment to BHAG’s- Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. BHAG’s are established with understanding of reality.
What is fascinating is all of the concepts laid out by Jim Collins are just as applicable to our own lives.
What should we understand? People who have written goals are 700% more successful than people who do not have a written vision- a preferred future- for their lives.
We all should have written Big, HOLY, Audacious Goals. If you prefer, you can call them habits. Before we can write them, we need to understand what does God say is required for a life to become great? It is a life that grows in wisdom by living in a close, personal relationship with Him. That is accomplished by having time dedicated to prayer and reading the Bible.
Can we begin this year by committing to a personal spiritual plan that has two Big, HOLY, Audacious Goals? These two goals- or habits- are to have a daily prayer time and scripture reading time.
Jim Collins also stated that great businesses are honest and confront the brutal facts. A brutal fact is most people keep their New Year's resolutions for less than a month.
We can be successful with our Big, HOLY, Audacious Goals because we do not have to rely only on our self-discipline.
Pray for God’s help
Team up with someone else when you pray and read the Bible
Get an accountability partner
Join a Westbrook small group
Keep a prayer log or journal. Write down what you are asking God and when He answers those prayers.
Have a systematic plan to read the Bible. Westbrook has a plan to read the Bible in a year available.
Jim Collins wrote Good to Great in 2001. An unfortunate, brutal fact is many of the companies listed in the book have progressed from good to great to gone.
We do not have to experience a downward slide. Many of us do not experience the great life and plan that God has for us because the brutal fact is we put ourselves first. We want to be in charge of our lives.
Commit to these 2 Big, HOLY, Audacious Goals. Give God a chance to show you what a great life can result. “You will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand” Philippians 4:7. We can go from:
Goal- a HOLY one- to
Grateful- we will see how good an intimate relationship with God is- to
Gratitude- God is pleased when we worship Him.
God loves it when we Live Big, HOLY, Audacious Goals!
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