Up!

Up! We all want to be “UP”.  Whether it’s in our personal, our family or career life, we break through barriers with people & projects and the idea of “UP” carries the idea of success. As the Dad of two amazing teenage boys, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to teach them to succeed in life.  We’ve had a lot of conversations, and here’s some of the ideas I’m sharing with them.

Show Up One of the greatest keys to success is to just Show Up!  Too often we shirk responsibilities, don’t take risks, or give up too soon.  Show Up and you’ve already got a good start toward success.  My son’s basketball team doesn’t win many games (they are a group of 9th – 11th graders playing a Varsity schedule), but they Show Up and play hard at every practice and every game.  Because of this, as they play together for a year or two they will improve and get better and better.  I believe by the time my son is a Senior (he’s a freshman now) they will not be a team that other teams want to play.  Why?  Because they Show Up now in order to be a success later.

Stand Up Sometimes you have to Stand Up for what you believe to be true.  Recently my son’s basketball coach quit a tournament because they got hammered in the first 3 games.  He told the organizers we weren’t going to play the 4th game, in spite of the protests of the kids & parents.  We parents decided this wasn’t acceptable so we organized the boys and played the 4th game of the tournament – without the coaches!  Yes, we got hammered again, but sometimes you have to Stand Up for what’s right.

Speak Up When you Stand Up it usually means you need to Speak Up as well.  Of course, our coaches weren’t happy that we played the game without them, so  I took the initiative to meet with the coaches & school principal about the matter.  I respectfully shared my thoughts and, while we still disagree about what took place, I can walk away knowing that I’ve respectfully communicated what I believe was a very poor example to our kids.  It’s given opportunity for some great life-conversations with my son, too, for which I am grateful.

Shut Up After you Speak Up, it’s usually time to Shut Up.  Say your piece and move on.  Don’t dwell on another’s faults. Don’t dwell on your own mistakes.  Don’t dwell on problems that can’t be fixed.  Don’t whine when you don’t get your way or the solution isn’t what you want.  And don’t continually restate your point or your thoughts in different ways.  Make it count the first time, articulate well what you need to say…and Shut Up! (As a side note: I don’t usually use the term Shut Up, but it goes so well with my alliterated list here I just couldn’t resist!)

Slow Down Yes, this is not an “UP”, but in order to continue to go UP, we must regularly Slow Down.  We all work hard at being successful.  The first 4 items on this list require a great deal of energy.  So sometimes, in order to move UP, we need to Slow Down.  Rest is critical – even Jesus rested often! Renewal is necessary.  Rest & renewal go hand in hand, but they are not the same thing.  Make sure you identify how you best do each, and schedule it as you would any other commitment.  If you don’t Slow Down, you won’t long be going Up.

So how about you – how do you continue to move “UP”?