Challenges on the Road to Personal Effectiveness

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1)

Some people may wonder why we need to be so organised in order to be effective leaders. After all, there is no record that Jesus planned his schedule in a diary. We must remember that our modern lifestyle is very different to that of Jesus' day. In fact, the pace of life has increased dramatically just in the past two centuries. A journey that could have taken a week can often be achieved in a matter of hours in today's society. Communicating a message internationally could take days whereas now we could make a quick telephone call.

Technological advancements have brought many advantages, but also a number of disadvantages. One area that has become a casualty is that of reflection. With a slower pace of life, it is much easier to consider and reflect upon life. In today's society, we need to make an effort to make time to pause and reflect. Compare this with the Apostle Paul's lifestyle. Apart from the long journey times that he had to negotiate, he also spent a considerable time in prison where he took time to reflect and write letters to some of the churches.

Whenever we begin to set aside time to focus on our personal development, we will find several other activities that will clamour for our attention. For example, one leader set aside a certain time each week in order to read and study. When it came to the time for him to open his books, he found that he was tired and did not feel like reading. However, knowing the value of reading, he decided that he would study anyway. But just before he did, he would watch a few minutes of a football game on the television. Two hours later the match ended and he had missed his opportunity to study. He realised that in order for him to invest in his personal development he would need to turn off the television. Many of us will not have problems with turning the television off, but we will face distractions of another nature that we will need to be determined to deal with. One way to approach this is to write a 'stop doing' list: writing down a list of activities and responses that we need to stop in order to do that which we need to do. Writing the list, in itself, will not achieve the life changes that we desire. We need the personal desire, determination and discipline in order to live the kind of life that we deeply desire.

At times, we will find that some of the areas of private disciplines will just feel routine or mechanical, and lack some of the inspiration and motivation that we would like to see. We need to remind ourselves that there is a delay before we begin to reap the benefits of investing in private disciplines. Though we may not feel any immediate benefit, we are investing for the long-term. We need the patience of a farmer who has worked the soil, sown the seed and watered it regularly, and then waits before he sees the first shoots of the plants beginning to emerge. It takes time to establish a new habit and we need to continue in our determination and discipline in order to see change in our lives. As we have seen in a previous study, development can come in quantum leaps after we have been consistent in our disciplines over a period of time.

One of the real benefits of the small group is that we can support and encourage one another to persevere through the hard times. In addition, we can benefit from the insight and experience of others in the small group so that we remain committed to living lives that are more effective.

Effective leaders are learners. So, we need to be continually maintaining and expanding our capacity in order to live effective lives, those that fulfil God's purposes for our lives. A vital part of remaining effective is investing in all four areas of private disciplines: spiritual, mental, relational, and physical disciplines. If we just invest into our spiritual lives, but neglect the other disciplines we can become distant and alienated from those that we are seeking to lead. If we just invest in the mental disciplines and neglect the other areas, we can become intellectual and lack God's direction and a heart for those we are leading. All four areas are needed for us to remain effective.

As we begin to plan the private disciplines as a regular part of our weekly schedule, we will find that we will be able to combine different areas. For example, by exercising regularly with some of those that we want to spend time with, we can combine the physical and relational disciplines. By sharing our insight and experiences in small group meetings, we invest in spiritual, mental and relational disciplines.