All of us in life need to learn to make responsible decisions. We all need to be alert to the peer pressure that comes from family, friends, work colleagues and a society that, on the whole, doesn’t know the Lord and follow His ways. It can also come from those who are Christian. So how do we handle such pressure?
‘The Competitive Edge – how to win every time you compete,’ is a helpful book for getting us on the right track with decision making and living with integrity. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes like the stance taken by Honus Wagner, ‘a member of the National baseball’s Hall of Fame inaugural class of 1936.’
Despite pressure from others and regardless of what everyone else was doing, he chose to remain true to what he believed. Read this anecdote on pages 28-29 and see the impact and result of his decision.
Stubbornness might not be such a bad trait to have in some circumstances. The positive side of stubbornness is determination and stickability, not being willing to give up when the going gets tough. Or when the majority is taking a different view.
Page 34 suggests when faced with a decision, making a pro and con list. There’s a lot to be said for making such a list. Our daughter does it and my husband and I have down it from time to time when faced with making a decision. Just seeing it set down and detailed helps make everything clearer in our minds.
At the end of each chapter of the book Dr Brown gives a summary of the major points raised in each chapter. It’s helpful re-enforcement.
Goal setting was the one that challenged me, being specific in them and not vague. I admit I’m not good at setting goals. I can tend to meander along. But these goals Dr Brown mentioned were based on ‘performance rather than outcome.’ I think that’s where I’ve had trouble in the past. The other point he mentioned is that goal needs to be observable. He suggests practical strategies for achieving these goals, whatever they many be.
It seems to me this strategy would work not only in business life but in marriage and parenting as well. We need to set realistic goals about what we expect from our children. Make sure the goal is ‘reasonable.’
Sometimes it may require a re-thinking in the way we look at things. Despite the things that happen you can still be a winner because ‘the Lord is at work in your life.’ He always has a plan designed for our good, Romans 8:28. Isn’t that such an encouragement?
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