Pirates are notorious pillagers and hijackers. They roam the seas preying on innocent victims carrying valuables and supplies. In recent months, pirates off the coast of Somalia have made international news as they terrorize the vessels along the coast of Africa. These water way terrorists strike fear in the hearts and minds of mariners and bring productivity and progress to a screeching halt.
In similar fashion there are emotional and mental blind spots that can play pirate to your personal growth and to the expansion of your leadership capacity. These dark and secretive terrorists notoriously hold hostage your ability to advance along the sea lanes of destiny and purpose. They board your ship, pillage your cargo and commandeer your mind, will and emotions rendering you incapacitated.
Here are a few blind spots that become Leadership Capacity Pirates.
Unrealized Expectations
The gap between unrealized expectations and your current reality can become a very lonely and isolated place. Everyone else has moved on and you are left wondering why the people you loved and were committed to became distant while you struggled to create momentum in your life. It is very likely that you set out with a set of expectations that were either unrealistic or simply shaped by your personal experience and paradigm but were not matched to the reality that you entered into. People were never meant to be the avenue for your personal growth and success. The real work of progress happens in the heart and mind of the individual. No person can impede your progress unless they are allowed to. God will often use these moments of unfulfilled expectation to reveal an inward hurt, faulty paradigm or un-healed event that needs to be addressed in your life. Stop asking the question “Why did they…” and start asking yourself ”What is causing me to…”
Performance Mentality
Seeking out validation can be a dangerous road. Mostly because our carnal nature is prone to look in all the wrong places. Looking for validation by way of our performance is a very common bind spot. The real catch to performance validation is described best by Solomon in Proverbs 30:16…it “never says, Enough!” A performance driven attitude will (1) always leave you wanting and wondering for more approval, (2) keep you busy doing things that are unproductive and off course and (3) keep you stuck in old cycles and old paradigms, steering you away from breaking into new dimensions of growth in your life.
Integrity Gaps
We often make the mistake of ignoring character flaws and integrity gaps that do not seem directly related to our public face. The mistake is assuming the areas of my life that are private and personal are just that…private and personal. The truth is that although they may be very personal they are also very public. The level of your personal/private discipline and integrity is directly proportionate to your capacity to lead and influence in a public setting. Everything from spiritual disciplines, to financial decisions, to relational and personal purity contribute to the “You” that people interact with and experience on a daily basis. The “issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23) serve as the rudder to your ship. In what direction is your life rudder taking you?
Continued…
