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Part 1: The Key to Success Very Few Talk About – Consistency

Author Adam Sicinski, IQ Matrix
Adam is a qualified life coach residing in Melbourne, Australia. His life coaching work is however somewhat unorthodox. It’s unique and a little different in the way that Adam uses mind maps and visual thinking principles. Over a period of 8 years, Adam has developed over 300 self-growth mind maps that he calls IQ Matrices.
Have you ever wondered how some people are able to achieve massive amounts of success in their field of endeavor, while others work just as hard but achieve very little?
It could be said that those who achieve high levels of success are simply more intelligent, or maybe more ambitious, or maybe more persistent, or possibly just luckier than the people in the second group. These are of course all key factors that certainly can help people achieve their goals. However, there is just one ingredient that goes into success that is more important than anything else. And that ingredient comes in the form of consistency.
To be consistent means to fully dedicate yourself completely to a task, activity or goal. It means to fully stay engaged without distraction.
To be consistent requires a commetment on your part. It requires that you commit yourself to a sustained effort of action over the long-term. What this essentially means is that you keep your word to yourself and others that you will follow through with what you set out to do consistently over a period of time up until the moment your objectives are achieved. As such, consistency is all about your ability to be dependable, reliable and responsible for all your choices, decisions and actions.
Consistency is about building small empowering habits and rituals that you partake in every single day that keep you focused on your highest priorities and goals. It therefore essentially comes down to your ability to hold yourself accountable for the daily choices you make with no excuses and no complaints. You and you alone are accountable for what you do and what you fail to do. All responsibility lies solely in your hands.
To be consistent means to focus on the present moment while maintaining a long-term view that helps you measure your results and the impact of your daily actions. With this regular feedback in your hands you are better able to learn from your failures and mistakes to help you effectively alter your course of action where required.
Consistency is therefore all about repetition. It’s about repeating the same actions (habits and rituals) over and over again; gaining feedback from these actions, and adjusting them accordingly to help you stay on track as you work towards your goal. And that in essence is the difference between success and failure in any field of endeavor, and the key to high levels of achievement.
IQ Matrix strives to help you improve and maximize your potential through the use of a potent combination of mind mapping and life coaching principles that provide you with the guidance you need to overcome life’s toughest challenges.  Visit IQ Matrix at www.iqmatrix.com
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Developing Student Leaders

Last week while conducting a youth leader training session, we spent considerable time on the topic of the challenges they were having with their student leaders and the training necessary for the students to effectively lead.    

The conversation reminded me of a post I saw from Doug Franklin, a long time student ministry leader who addresses this issue of preparing students to be leaders. Enjoy this thoughtful piece.

WHY YOUR STUDENT LEADERS AREN’T ACTUALLY LEADING

By Doug Franklin

March 22, 2017

Recently, I was visiting a youth ministry with a large student leadership team. The student leadership program looked awesome: there were over 20 student leaders managing several different teams (service teams, ministry teams, and others) with two students overseeing them all. It was impressive, almost like watching an assembly line on the show “How It’s Made.” Students were busy in meetings and planning sessions, making charts and casting vision.

But it was all for show. The students’ busyness looked exciting, but ultimately, nothing came from it. Balls were dropped, projects were never completed, and adult leaders swooped in to take over when the student leaders came up short.

I asked the youth worker how this student leadership team got started. What was its purpose? He explained that student leadership was important to him. So he identified all the ministry areas where students could lead and plopped talented students in charge of each area. I asked what kind of leadership training the students had received. His answer was exactly what I’d feared: none. This youth worker believed that a student leadership program meant putting the right students in charge. He was half right. He gave students the experience, but he didn’t balance it with training.

You can fill your student leadership with the best and the brightest—school newspaper editors, quarterbacks, class presidents, first chair violins—but if you don’t equip them, all of that potential will lead to nothing. A balanced student leadership program has both training and experience.

Placing students in leadership roles without training them is like giving kids a soccer ball but never teaching them the rules of the game. Sure, they’ll look active playing with the ball, but are they really playing soccer? Without expectations, rules, or goals, there’s nothing to measure their progress. Your student leadership team may look busy, but you have to ask yourself one simple question: are they really leading?

Student leadership training allows us to evaluate the experience based on the leadership principles learned in training. You’ll be able to see the growth in your students, and they’ll have tangible tools to get things done. Imagine the teachable moments you’ll have from this kind of evaluation.

It all comes back to the question I asked that youth worker: What is the purpose of your student leadership team? If you set up your leadership team just because it seems like a good idea, or because that’s just part of healthy youth ministries, then you’ll probably get the same results as my friend—all show and no substance. But if your vision is to see real growth and deep leadership development, take the time to equip your students for their leadership roles. Train them now so they can get the most of their leadership experience later.

Thank you Doug for your sound analysis. Visit Doug at LeaderTreks www.leadertrek.org

LeaderTreks offers a wide range of student leadership training resources to help your students reach their leadership potential.

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Out of Purpose Comes A Servant

Every day God gives to us should be seen as “An Opportunity for Service.” Often the adversary will cause us to put emphasis on “the woes of this life” or “what we don’t have.” His desire is for us to concentrate on the negative that then leads us to be bound in a state of depression & helplessness. But when God allows us life, with our hearts to keep pumping and our lungs to inhale & exhale precious oxygen…. We owe God praise! “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:6)

And with each new day comes an occasion (or opportunity) to minister (or serve others). True ministry is not what others do for you, it’s what you can do for someone else. Remember Jesus declared, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister…” (Mark 10:45) What have you done for someone today? What kind words of encouragement have you given? What good deed have you administered? Consider the words of an old Christian song:

“If I can help somebody, as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody, with a word or song,

If I can show somebody, how they’re traveling wrong,

Then my living shall not be in vain.”

Study the lesson of ‘the good Samaritan’ in the 10th chapter of Luke. When a man was in distress and needed assistance, both a priest and a Levite (the religious ‘church folk’) passed him by and didn’t want to get involved! But when the Samaritan saw the man, the scriptures declared, “…he had compassion on him.” That compassion moved him to make the effort to get involved! The Samaritan saw the opportunity for service and made that his priority, even at his personal cost! At the conclusion of lesson, Jesus tells us, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37 NIV)

Today, understand you’ve been blessed to help someone else!

Thank you to Pastor A. Glenn Brady of The New Bethel Church for your inspiration.