Whats Your Reason for Becoming Better?

Last post we talked about becoming the change we wish to see in the world. In this post lets assume you want to change, you want to become better. That's great! Whats your reason for becoming better? All change is driven by a reason, whats yours?

There are only two reasons people or organizations change. One is inspiration, the other is desperation. You're either inspired to make changes in your life or, you're driven to change your life by the circumstances around you. The illustration above is a graphic of what I'm talking about. In image 1 on the left you see inspiration. In image 2 on the right you see desperation.

The dictionary says inspiration is a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul. Our founding fathers were inspired when they created America. There is much written on that subject. The sad thing today, based on my lifetime of changing and leading change in organizations, is that less than 20% of change is by inspiration.

The dictionary says desperation is the state of being desperate or of having the recklessness of despair. Have you ever felt despair or seen someone in a state of despair? Recklessness is a good word for how people act in the midst of desperation. Most personal change happens around events. Events like birth, death, divorce, weddings, new jobs and the list goes on. The event either wakes us up to the need for change, or forces us to change.

In America today, we are witnessing the implementation of someone else's vision that is very different from that of our founding fathers. Their vision has been permeating our society for many years. It has simply gained momentum in the past few years. It is also a vision that does not include God.

The reason someone else's vision is taking over is because you and I and millions of other Americans have been asleep at the wheel of freedom. Speaking personally, I've been off enjoying the American dream all the while it was being taken from me. How about you? Remember what I said in the last post. Look in the mirror and be honest. What can you do differently? If America turned its back on God, what role did you and I play? The answer for me is sobering.

If we're going to be ready for the New America coming or even hope to change it, we have to change. Before we can change we have to know why we are changing. I've heard it said, if the 'why' is big enough the 'how' is easy. Thats true. But I can tell you that the 'how' this time is not going to be easy, but we can be ready and make a difference, if our 'why' is big enough.

Right now someone else's vision of America has become our desperation. But in our desperation we'll find the seeds of change. We'll find those seeds in our commitment to this great Nation,  or perhaps our God, or even His Son, Jesus Christ, or all three. One of these three, or even better, all of these three, must be the fuel of your inspiration or you won't sustain your interest in becoming better.

In the bible, in Proverbs 29:18 it reads, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he". God made it clear we should be people of vision. People of vision lead their own lives, they don't follow others. They become the change they wish to see in the world. Our challenge right now is to decide how big of a problem we were in getting us to this state; then commit to be the change we wish to see and become part of the solution in getting ready.

For a better tomorrow ...