Right now, you are becoming either cynical or successful. One thing will determine which you will become. Over my decades as a leader, I’ve seen influencers whose hearts have grown cold or were set on fire. When I noticed what made the difference in these leaders, I made a commitment to follow the example of those whose hearts were on fire. Here’s how to do it…
We’ve all been around cynical people and influencers. They are no fun. They are a downer at parties and in conversations. But what makes them like this? As an influencer yourself, you will need to understand what makes people become this way.
And here is how they became cynical…THEY DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEIR HURT.
HOW YOU HANDLE HURT WILL DETERMINE IF YOU BECOME CYNICAL OR SUCCESSFUL Click To Tweet
You will become hurt in ministry leadership and in life in general. Many times this hurt will catch you off guard. Someone will say or do something or NOT say or do something that will hurt you. I’ve found that many times in my own life, the people who have hurt me had no idea or intention to do so. And let me be clear, I’ve done my share of hurting others too.
But, I have also had many experiences of people intentionally trying to hurt me. Make no mistake, there are some mean people out there. There are some people out there who don’t like me and talk bad about me. People may consider me their enemy, but the feeling is not mutual. I remain steadfast in my position: I have no enemies.
I could tell you some of my own horror stories. I’ve been cheated, stolen from, lied to and about, betrayed, and on and on. And if you’ve been leading for any amount of time, you have your own horror stories too. Some are worse than others. My point is we all will become hurt in life and leadership.
Do you know what the #1 reason is people leave ministry leadership in my experience? They get hurt, and they don’t know how to handle it. They allow it to derail them from leading and influencing. This is tragic because I’ve seen great leaders fall away from being an influencer because they didn’t know how to respond to hurt.
If you DO NOT handle hurt the right way you will…
…quit
…become critical
…become cynical
…feel sorry for yourself
…allow your heart to grow cold
If you DO handle hurt the right way you will…
…go on
…become tougher
…become tenacious
…show grace and mercy
…allow your heart to grow stronger
In my next post, I’ll share the 3 ways you can handle hurt.
Keeping leading!
Jeff Eckart, CEO
Never The Same
© 2021, Never The Same
Photo by Fab Lentz on Unsplash