The following is a snippet from an upcoming book on the 13 Resolutions.  Engaging the mind, heart, and will is essential for long-term success.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

But if success were as simple as writing out a few resolutions and studying them daily, wouldn’t more people apply this method to become successful? Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains why few achieve lasting success, teaching, “Man is a wonderful creature, he is mind, he is heart, and he is will. Those are the three main constituents of man. God has given him a mind, He has given him a heart, He has given him a will whereby he can act.” Transforming a life then, requires the whole person to be involved – his mind, his heart, and his will must be engaged in the process. In other words, true change isn’t just a mental (mind) assent, it isn’t just an emotional (heart) experience, and it’s more than just routinized (will) learning.  Many will read the resolutions, make a mental nod of approval but won’t involve the heart or will.  Even though they claim a knowledge of how to succeed in life, they never seem to achieve anything.  To know and not to do is not to really know, since if one knew how good holistic success would be, one would not delay in striving for it. The resolutions must engage the mind, but must go beyond it, tapping into the heart and will to produce real change.  There’s another group, very common today, who will attend motivational seminars, having their hearts touched by a message, but not comprehending mentally (mind) or following through (will) on what it takes to succeed.  These people seem to jump from one achievement fad to another, gaining emotional (heart) releases, but accomplishing little of real substance.  Life has been hard on them, so they attend another fad seminar, seeking, not real change, but a cathartic release of tension.

A third group will review the resolutions, attempting to transform themselves through sheer will-power, but it won’t last without the mind and heart engaged.  They are those who decide to take up the resolutions, rather than being taken up by them.  The will, by itself, can go through the motions, but without the heart and mind, the passion and understanding involved, the process lacks zeal.  It’s like the old saying, “A man or woman convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”  A methodical, passionless, robotic like study of the resolutions will not get the job done.  It’s only with a mind that understands, a heart that generates passion, and a disciplined will to follow them, that creates real change inside of a person, making world changing achievement possible.  Sadly, all of the partial groupings (these three plus any two of three) will end in disappointment, having made the common mistake of compartmentalizing the mind, heart and will.  But, the good news is that anyone can develop the ability to work on the mind, heart, and will simultaneously.  The process is simple, but certainly not easy, requiring immense discipline to marry the mind, heart, and will together in the pursuit of excellence in any area that a person has resolved to change. By thinking seriously about which areas to focus upon, writing them down clearly, and then resolving to read, ingest, and apply them on a consistent basis, these three men (George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Jonathan Edwards) transformed themselves.  By changing themselves, they ultimately, transformed the world around them.

I recently finished a fantastic book on Steve Jobs by Jay Elliot called, The Steve Jobs Way.  If you are looking for a book that will open up the mind, passion, and character of Jobs, then look no further.  Elliot worked with Jobs during his early years of Apple and witnessed first hand many of Jobs critical lessons on his way to leadership greatness.  Here is a snippet of a chapter on purpose using some of the lessons that I learned from this book and Jim Collin’s HedgeHog Concept in Good to Great.  Anyone can move from good to great if they can discover their purpose by intersecting their passions, potentials, and profits. Elliot’s book reveals how Jobs did this. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Steve Jobs, Founder and CEO of Apple, portrays the genius of the HedgeHog Concept  in both his personal and professional life.  Jobs may have the firmest grasp of consumer preferences of any current CEO, intuitively understanding the customers love of simplicity, elegance of design, and the “cool” factor. Moreover, his obsession, according Elliot, “is a passion for the product . . . a passion for product perfection.”  With his passion aligning beautifully with his potential, Jobs’ aforementioned intuitive understanding of customer desires, the last piece of the puzzle for him was to determine how to make money by following his passion and potential.  Apple, although not the top seller of computers, is the most profitable, offering a unique product in a marketplace of Window’s software clones, not too mention innovative product offerings like the Ipod, Ipad, and Iphone, all of which are revolutionizing the high tech field. Chris Brady, best selling co-author of Launching a Leadership Revolution and Apple connoisseur, defined Apple’s Hedgehog Concepts in this way, “To deliver incredibly creative and “cool” technology that is intuitively useful and reliable for any class of user – particularly the user who doesn’t care to know about the intricacies of a hammer in order to make productive use of one.  (In other words, to make the technology invisible and the usability and dependability dominant).”  Jobs wanted, not only an intuitive product, but also one that created such an experience of satisfaction, the customer would feel emotionally attached to the product, sharing his experience with others.
Not surprisingly, Job’s individual Hedgehog Purpose and Apple’s Hedgehog Concept, closely resemble on another, since both emerge out of the intersection of Job’s passion, potential, and profits, with Apple exemplifying Emerson’s shadow of a great man.  Although many talented people work with Jobs, it’s his purpose, his vision, and his principles that move the Apple ship forward.  Mac engineer Trip Hawkins concurs, describing Jobs as having, “a power of vision that is almost frightening. When Steve believes in something, the power of that vision can literally sweep aside any objections, problems or whatever. They just cease to exist.”  Elliot concurred, writing, “The Mac and every product since then are more than ‘just products.‘  They are a representation of Steve Jobs’ intense commitment. Visionaries are able to create great art or great products because their work isn’t nine-to-five. What Steve was doing represented him; it was intuitive but inspired.”  Purposeful people like Jobs infect their entire community with purpose, bringing a communities passion, potential, and profits to the forefront.  Needless to say, purpose, in an organization’s culture, positively affects the company’s culture, thus its bottom line. Elliot elaborates, “When you believe in your product and people as totally as Steve does, your people stick with you. Apple had one of the highest retention rates in Silicon Valley,” mainly because Job’s purpose, vision, and principles united the Apple community into highly effective culture.  Jobs, speaking at the Stanford commencement ceremonies, described his belief in a life’s purpose, “Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Leaders address issues head on, but refuse to complain about them, seeking to resolve, not inflate the matter. Has complaining about something ever produced real change?  Any change that is browbeaten out of another isn’t a true heart change. One can watch husbands and wives complain to, and about, each other endlessly, but it won’t elicit the desired changes.  A character based response, is to address the issue with the person responsible, asking how one can help with the challenge.  But no matter what happens, a leader won’t complain to others. Good company avoids critical spirits.  Life will deal bad cards to all of us, instead of complaining, play the cards and learn the lessons needed.  Bitter or better, that is the two choices that people have in life. Complaining leads to bitterness and resentment, two characteristics that are lethal to a positive attitudes, creating a cultural cesspool that destroys organizations.   Everyone plays a part that in resolving challenges, even if it’s just encouraging others rather than complaining at or about them. Because seeds are scattered everyday, it takes a disciplined thought process to maintain a positive attitude, refusing to wallow in negativity. Left to itself, a mind will quickly fill with weeds, just as a garden will.  Until the weeds are eradicated,  positive reading and association will not prosper, because most of the success seeds are blocked out by the weeds.  Kill the weeds first, then replace with positive books, audios, and associations. Henry Ford II, said, “Never complain, never explain,” emphasizing the worthlessness of complaining about the circumstances or explaining it away through excuses.   

Mentally complaining may release people feeling responsible, but by passing the buck, one has also passed on leadership, since leaders, by definition, accept responsibility.  People, filled with weeds, instead of accepting responsibility for fixing their problems, attempt to escape responsibility by blaming others.  This would be laughable, if it wasn’t so prevalent. When a limiting belief (weed) is adopted, people will fight to defend that weed.  In fact, many times people will argue with others, denying that they have what it takes to win, becoming upset at them for daring to suggest that they could win. Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull concurs, writing, “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they are yours.” People, fearing the pain of change, or more specifically, the pain of pulling their own weeds, run to self deception instead, in an effort to defend their fragile egos, because they know that if they admit they have what it takes to win, the weed is exposed as lie wrapped in an excuse. The author recently read an anonymous story about a 92 year old lady, exemplifying attitude is a choice, “She is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed, and her makeup perfectly applied, in spite of the fact she is legally blind. Today she has moved to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making this move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, where I am employed, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet curtains that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year old having just been presented with a new puppy. “Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room….just wait,” I said. Then she spoke these words that I will never forget: “That does not have anything to do with it,” she gently replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like the room or not, does not depend on how the furniture is arranged. It is how I arrange my mind. I have already decided to love it. It is a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice. I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do work. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will focus on the new day and all of the happy memories I have stored away….just for this time in my life.” God Bless, Orrin Woodward

John Wooden father, Joshua Wooden, taught his son a second set of three principles that pertain to attitudes:

1. Never Whine
2. Never Complain
3. Never Make Excuses

Never Whine

The first, never whine, ensures negativity is handled in the mind and heart before coming out of the mouth.  Bad things are going to happen to good people.  It’s simply a law of life, but responding in a “woe is me spirit” is lacking in character.  Whining is complaining repeatedly about a situation, looking for sympathy rather than resolution.  Sometimes solutions aren’t available, but even this situation is no reason to whine, only to strap on the helmet tighter and work harder. When milk is spilled on the ground, whining about who spilled it isn’t going to help, but cleaning it up will.  Remember this quote, when times get tough, “When the going get tough, the tough become winners, the rest become whiners.”  Leaders are gardeners of their own minds, identifying and pulling weeds quickly.  What are the weeds? Weeds are false beliefs, attaching themselves to a person’s brain, blocking the good ideas (seeds) from taking root. Since weeds create the ‘stinking thinking,’ that produce negative attitudes and selfish behaviors, they prohibit the growth of fruit in a person’s life. False beliefs come in many shapes and sizes.  A good example of a false belief that limit growth is someone believing that success is only for a talented few.  Since he doesn’t have extraordinary talent, he concludes that he isn’t part of that elite group of achievers, thus he doesn’t even enter the game, let alone produce top level results. This attitude effectively eliminates his opportunity to make a difference, by declining to enter the contest. True leaders refuse to stay down, pulling weeds promptly instead of nurturing them.  But if they do get knocked down, they certainly don’t spread the disease to their communities, since they know that pulling weeds is an inside job.  If a weed is extra difficult, then true leaders seek out mentors who can help them, refusing to have a pity party that contaminates others with their lethal weed seeds. Leadership is the ability to create confidence and trust in the people following the leader.  Therefore, if a person’s attitude is unpredictable, he disqualifies himself for leadership, until he learns to pull the weeds from his mental garden.  It’s not an option if he plans on leading others, since no one is inspired by a bitter attitude and sour disposition. Remember, it’s not what happens to people in life that matters as much as how they respond to what happens to them.  No one can plant weeds in a garden without the owner’s permission, but sadly, most people are not tending the garden; therefore, weeds grows as a matter of course through their family and friends. The typical person, before learning of his mental gardening responsibilities, allows seeds to be scattered around at will.  From the radio, television, friends, co-workers, and family, one is bombarded with seeds constantly, many of them destructive, without understanding the damaging effects that negative ideas have on positive attitudes.  Most people allow life to plant any seeds in their garden, producing whatever results the seeds create.  Sadly, this surrenders the results of life to ones surroundings, rather than to ones choices.  Attitudes in life determines the altitudes of life.  When one decides to move on, one must assume the responsibility to tend his garden, pulling weeds daily, while nurturing the proper fruit producing ideas.  Why is it easier to have ‘stinking thinking’ than it is to have positive thinking?  It’s a similar answer to why it’s easier to have weeds growing in a garden, than it is to have fruit.  Winners don’t make the rules in the game of life, but they must learn to apply the rules in their favor in order to win. Choose to respond like a winner, focusing on solving the challenge, not whining about the problem, since problems are a given, but solutions are a leadership choice.   Winners don’t whine and whiners don’t win. Pull your weeds, guard your mind, protect your heart, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward