What gets you out of bed?
This question stared at me from a piece of paper one day; and I struggled to provide an honest answer.
Oh sure, I had all kinds of noble responses. They were the ones that most people expected to hear. But in the quiet of my mind, the question actually kind of haunted me. Why do I get out of bed in the morning? What is it I am really trying to accomplish each day
Truth be told, I don’t always have to get out of bed to actually have a productive day. I’m a thinking-man, and much of my thinking can be done in the car, at a desk, or, yes, even in the bed with a computer on my lap.
Do leaders really need to have an answer for the question, what gets me out of bed? I think yes. But not in the traditional sense.
Leadership doesn’t necessarily happen in the factory or job site any more. Our culture has gone digital and shows no signs of regressing anytime soon. A leader can lead from anywhere and the tools necessary to be effective are, literally, at the fingertips.
To answer this question well, I think a leader must reflect on two different questions:
- What’s my global purpose? The answer is abstract. Some examples might be: To know Christ and make Him known; to make hell a ghost town; to change the lives of children or women or minorities or whatever else inspires you. It’s really not a very tangible purpose and one that is very difficult to measure.
- What’s my local purpose? The answer is concrete. Some examples might be: To romance my wife; to submit my will to authorities in my life; to help my friend, Mike, with his problem. The local purpose can be measured at the end of the day, but it supports the global purpose. Without a local purpose, we end up as wanderers never truly knowing if we hit the global mark. Anyone can come up with a global purpose that’s shiny and impressive. It takes a person of real leadership to craft a local purpose and hold themselves accountable to it.
I think both of these questions need to be answered before your feet hit the floor each day–especially the local purpose. The reason you get out of bed is your first real act of leadership everyday.
What about you? What gets you out of bed?
Don’t be discouraged by the lack of comments. People are reading!
My local purpose is to take on the reasons men’s groups fail. Me and my co-leader feel we have a mandate from God to bring the fun back to men’s groups and shed the stigma that men just can’t get real with get another.
I’m not so sure about my global purpose. My heart is to help make intelligent Christians. Much what Gateway has been doing long before i ever came along. I would love to be a part of that. Bob Hamp, Alan Smith, and yourself are truly paragons of men who not only know what the bible says, you know what it MEANS and how to live it out. It should be a simple thing, really, but the church body, as a whole, needs this desperately.
Thanks for the comment, Jeff. I’m confident comments will continue to come in over time!
I love your local purpose. I think you’ve nailed something tangible with men’s groups. And it’s an area that needs quality leaders capable of redefining the medium.
Sometimes the global purpose can be more difficult to identify. Don’t give up. I’ve no doubt God will grant all the revelation you need!