4 opportunities to improve your life and leadership
By Stan Toler
By now, you are either running flat out toward that New Year’s goal or you are still adjusting your footing on the starting blocks. January isn’t just the first month of the Gregorian calendar; it’s an open door to the next 11 months. The month was named after Janus, the Roman god of gates and doors—the god of beginnings.
Of course eons before secular scholars hung the title on a false god, the true God of beginnings was forming the days and deeds of our redemption. Every new day would be a doorway of opportunity. Think about some current doorways of opportunity, and move on through.
1. Move through the doorway of devotion. Work on being more devoted to your devotions, your daily quiet time. Add an inspirational book to your Bible reading. Vary your devotional time with music listening, prayer walking, or journaling.
2. Move through the doorway of improved relationships. Make family and friends a calendar priority. Utilize text messaging and social media. Actually “do lunch” instead of just promising it. Write a note, send some flowers, or have that promised round of golf. Make the first move.
3. Move through the doorway of wholeness. Put yourself on your calendar. When you neglect DOWN-time, you’ll be more apt to get UP-set. Find a stress reliever and incorporate the time into your planning. It’s just what the Great Physician ordered (Mark 6:31).
4. Move through the doorway of improvement. Schedule vocation-related reading, seminars, podcasts, or online classes. None of us have truly arrived until we discover we have a long way to go!
So get started or keep going! James Conant said, “Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”
You are loved and appreciated.
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