PLANNING

I read the other day that if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your future plans. I can just see him laughing at me and saying, “Sure you are…..no Cam, I know the plans I have for you.”

It is funny how some of my most productive days happen when I just clear my desk and plan. I spend time re-prioritizing and outlining the next day or the next week or the next month. That kind of organization is cleansing in some respect.

For the Y, we have had almost 17 years of what I would say has been successful. Not always have we been successful because of a carefully calculated plan. In fact I would say mostly we have been successful just because we have been good. In a sense we have often had good people, working hard and serving a mission that the community has embraced. Some may call that lucky or timely, but I just call it being good. In Jim Collins book, Good to Great, he discusses the fly wheel approach and how the momentum of success creates more success. I think that exemplifies the Y.

In saying all of that, I am sure that when we have been most organized, most efficient and most impactful, it has been the direct result of a carefully orchestrated plan. Not just creating a plan, but efficiently executing the plan. I am sure Louisville’s women’s basketball team had a great game plan to beat the Connecticut team, but executing is an entirely different deal.

This has taught me that if we are to become all that we are capable of being organizationally, it is important that we be good and work hard; but we also must realize that we be intentional about how we plan and execute the plan. Planning places effort where effort is most needed. Organizations that put hard work, planning and execution together have a firm foundation to execute their mission.

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. – Proverbs 21:5

Great organizations, great teams, and great employees stay committed to establishing and maintaining times for reflection. We must listen to God so that we can discern HIS plans. Our mission has to be at the forefront. The synergy of combing our hard work, our god given talents with careful planning not only furthers our mission but HIS Mission.

Hard Work

One funny thing that came out in the staff satisfaction survey is that staff watches each other work. Staff looks at when they come to work, when they leave and what they do while they are here. It is a constant measurement about “are they working as hard as I am?”

Hard work is a funny thing. You always hear the good salesman talk about how he doesn’t work hard but he works smart. Just recently we witnessed Tyler Hansbrough being honored for working so hard. Half the people loved what he stood for and others detested him for being overrated. Are the detractors just jealous and lazy? I think it is funny that the hard worker is the unusual and not the norm.

There is no substitute for hard work. Most people have a tendency to look for shortcuts or at least for the easiest way to complete a task. If we only put out a minimum effort we might get by in some situations, but in the long run we won’t fully develop the talents that lie within us.

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. – Proverbs 21:5

I love those days when at the end of the day I am tired. But I can reflect back and see that I not only worked smart, but I worked hard. And all that I accomplished led me to be thankful. I am thankful that I used myself to the BEST of my abilities as God intended.

Our jobs and our lives are not about working just harder than the people beside us. Or measuring them and working only as hard as our peers. I hope that our daily work is about honoring God by committing ourselves to hard work so that we can become all that God created us to be.

Try and view the effort you give as a God’s gift to you. Learn that you are working to honor God and not measure up to the people around us. Honor God’s plans for us by working to the BEST of your abilities.