Cycles of Leadership
Every leader should have a leadership cycle: a basic process or pattern to follow throughout the course of their life. I have regularly cycled through these five things all throughout the course of my life. I encourage you to identity, develop, and pursue an underlying process of your own. You should start now.
You may already apply some of these things subconsciously. Yet, I’ve found it’s better to become familiar with your own processes. This will enable you to more consistently and purposefully pursue your dreams and take greater disciplined initiative toward your goals. Don’t lead on accident. Be purposeful.
1. Pray
This is where it all starts, ends, and everything else that happens in-between. As leaders, we must align our will with God’s will (1 John 15:4-5). Often, our passions are unfiltered, scattered, indistinct, and selfish. Desire without direction is destructive. We need clarity. Prayer helps us to purposely create significant moments to search the heart of God on the matter.
Numbers 14:28 says, “As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you.” Leaders must pray and listen to God. This isn’t optional, nor is it simply an element of a leader’s life. It’s the whole kit and kaboodle. Prayer is everything in a leader’s life. It is the hinge on which every door swings; both in the closing and opening.
Pray about everything, ask God to lead you, speak to you, and move things in place or out of the way for you. Ask Him for provision, wisdom, discernment, grace, strength, and whatever else you need (James 4:2-3). Faith up! Pray big, bold, bodacious prayers. God is good on His word. Whatever you ask in His hearing, He WILL do it for you.
2. Hustle
I once heard a wise saying, “When you pray, move your feet.” Success happens in the hustle. Proverbs tells us that idleness is hazardous. Don’t consider for a split-second bailing on your pursuit. Too long a pause precipitates self-doubt. Keep moving. Mind your footing lest you break your stride and stumble off course.
The hustle is not just a dance step; it’s a leader’s life stride. The necessary inertia for hustling is created by wanting something more than anyone else. Does this describe you? Are you this motivated? If you go hard after your dreams, expect to have some setbacks. Those who have no setbacks are the ones that are just sitting back.
If you are not significantly striving towards something, you’ll end up surrendering what is most meaningful and worthwhile. To reach your goals, you need gumption. Former member of the Colorado House of Representatives, Steven C. Hogan, once said, “You can’t have a million-dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic.”
3. Build
There is a famous phrase in the movie Field of Dreams that has become common place in business and life, “If you build it, they will come.” The movie brilliantly conveyed, in surreal cinematic commentary, that if you have a dream and step out to make that dream happen, then it WILL happen. Things happen to those who make it happen.
So many opportunities are missed because people don’t build. Numerous doors have opened for me simply because I set out to build. Heaven will be more populated because I obeyed God and built on His instruction. Sure, some things I’ve started didn’t last, but if you over analyze every single dream you have, you’ll never do anything.
Draw up the plans, acquire your resources, assemble your team, and break ground. Don’t lay your potential to waste. There is a guaranteed life principle, that if applied, it will ALWAYS work for you. Are you ready for it? Here it is... If you make a 0% investment in your dreams, you will get a 0% return. Don’t do this. Start building now!
4. Trust
Trust happens in the spaces between the work and the reward. Yet, waiting is as vital a part of the process as the work. Often when you’ve done everything you know to do, you just have to wait and allow God to do what only He can do (Ephesians 6:3). There’s no shame in waiting. You have to own this part of the process. Wait on purpose.
Sometimes, after you’ve laid the foundation and erected the structure, you have to believe that something good is coming of it. Trusting is not giving up or casting off restraint. It’s taking a position of expectancy. If nothing is happening right now, don’t force it. The gap between hard work and fulfillment is intentional waiting.
After you’ve done all you can do, sometimes you just need prolonged patience. “For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36) The reward is always on the other side of patience. And remember: The Lord gets all the credit for building the thing, not you (Psalms 127:1).
5. Repeat
When I was a young boy, my dad told me a joke. “Pete and Repeat went down to the river to fish. Pete fell in. Who was left?” I’d answer, “Repeat,” and he’d tell the joke over again. Get it? I know, it’s not funny. Most dad jokes usually aren’t. I have some of my own dad jokes that are hilarious. However, my kids do not share the same opinion.
Some leaders are under the assumption that they get to quit. Nope! Opting out is not an option. Once a season or cycle has reached its completion, it’s time to rev back up and do it all over again. We don’t have the luxury of forfeiting leadership. One go-around is not enough. We have to keep praying, hustling, building, trusting, and repeating.
Good things come to those that do, but greater things come to those that KEEP doing. Although each new cycle requires fresh vision, passion, energy, and determination; real leaders are in it for the long haul. You can either lead for a season, or you can lead for a lifetime. The latter requires going back down to the river to fish.
