AN ENEMY CALLED AVERAGE BY JOHN MASON (NUGGETS #15 & # 16)
NUGGET #15
STATUS QUO (LATIN FOR “THE MESS WERE IN )
Change. I Hope this word doesn’t scare you, but rather inspires you. Herbert Spencer said , “ A living thing is distinguished from a dead thing by the multiplicity of the changes at any moment taking
place in it.” Change is an evidence of life. It is impossible to grow without change. Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. The truth is, life is always at some turning
point.
What people want is progress, if they can have it without change. Impossible! You must change and recognize that change is your greatest ally. The person who never changes his opinion never
corrects his mistakes. The fact is the road to success is always under construction.
Yesterday’s formula for success is often tomorrow’s recipe for failure. Consider what Thomas Watson, the founder of the IBM Corporation , said , “ There is a world market for five computers.” Where would IBM be today if Mr. Watson had not been willing to change?
You cannot become what you are destined to be by remaining what you are; John Patter son said , “ Only fool sand dead men don’t change their minds. Fools won’t. Dead men can’t. If you don’t respect the need for change, consider this: How many things have you seen that have changed just in the past year? When you change yourself, opportunities will change. The same kind of thinking that has brought you to where you are will not necessarily get you to where you want to go. Do not fear change, for it is an unchangeable law of progress. The man who uses yesterday’s methods in today’s world won’t b e in business tomorrow. A traditionalist is simply a person whose mind is always open to new ideas, provided they are the same old ones.
Odell Shepard observed , “ There are people who not only strive to remain static themselves, but strive to keep everything else so … their position is almost laughably hopeless. Mignon Mc Laughlin said , “ It’s the most unhappy people who most fear change.” When patterns and tradition are broken, new opportunities come together. Defending your faults and errors only proves that you have no intention of quitting them. All progress is due to those who were not satisfied to let well enough alone. They weren’t afraid to change. Change is not your enemy – it is your friend.
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NUGGET #16
D O N ’T W A ST E Y O U R T O M O R R O W S
WANDERING ON YOUR YESTERDAYS
Get rid of any “ loser’s limps you’re still carrying from your yesterdays. As you do , you’ll break the power of the past domination of your present and its influence over your future.
In Luke 9:62, Jesus said, “ N o man, having put his hand to the plough , and looking back, is fit of the kingdom of God .” If we are not careful, we will allow the past to hold us. The more we look backward, the less we are able to look forward. The past is not the only determining factor of what God can do for us today.
That is the beauty of the Christian life. Even when we fail, we can ask for forgiveness and be totally cleansed of and released from our past actions. Whatever hold the past may have on us can be broken; it is never God who holds us back. We hold ourselves back by allowing the past to keep us from living to the fullest in the present and future. Failure is waiting around the corner for those who live off of yesterday’s successes and failures. We should choose to be forward-focused, not past-possessed. We should learn to profit from the past and to invest in the future. In Philippians 3:13-14, the Apostle Paul writes:
“ Brethren , I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The key here is “ forgetting those things which are behind ” in order to reach for “ the high calling of God in Christ Jesu s.” To fulfill our calling in Christ, we must first forget that which lies behind us. The most common stronghold in people’s lives is probably their past failures and mistakes. Today is the day to shake off the shackles of the past and to move forward. The past is past; it has no life