I was walking behind a young man in a sports complex and on
the back of his shirt were the big letters: ASK. So of course I did.
I asked him what ASK stood for or was I just supposed to ask
him a question and he would answer? He
smiled and then kindly explained that it stood for Audacity, Service and
Kaizen.
You see, he was a basketball coach at a college, and I knew
that whatever those letters were, it would be some sort of motivation tool or
leadership tip and I would not regret asking him for an explanation. I also knew that whatever those letters stood
for, it would let me capture a glimpse into his leadership style.
Audacity.
Do I have the audacity to continue to improve? Do I have the desire to be the best? To
conquer fear? To take the next logical step in my career path, even though it
means a commitment to more work, but a really great reward?
Audacity is a challenging word that inspires me daily. When I think about audacity it makes me think
of daring to be better. Daring to put in
the extra work. Daring to write about a subject that may not be well
received. Audacity also means to take
that step of faith, even if I can’t be sure of the outcome. Trusting that God
will take my effort and courage to move forward, and work all things together
for good.
Service was the next word. For anyone to succeed in life,
they need to learn how to serve. For
some of us, this is as natural as pushing open the screen door on your way out
of the house. But for others, they have to be reminded to push instead of pull
or they have to be told when to push and when to pull. But if you’re not willing to serve anyone or
at anything, don’t be surprised when you find yourself isolated and devoid of
influence. Those who are not willing to
serve will look behind them and see few willing to follow.
And that last word is one I had to look up, Kaizen. It sounds like some middle eastern religious
doctrine or maybe even a yoga pose. But
really, it’s the definition of slow, incremental improvement. It seems this is something I need to be
reminded of lately. My all or nothing
mentality takes over when I only have twenty minutes for a workout instead of
an hour. If I can’t get my whole workout in then I might as well sit down and
have another cup of coffee…..and maybe another muffin. But if I took the Kaizen approach, I would
seize the moment and take a twenty minute walk and while it would be a small
step forward, it would still be incremental improvement. Strength doesn’t come from exercising once a
month, but a consistent practice of training and it may be slow, but it’s much
more beneficial than a sporadic regime.
What do you need the audacity to do? Are you facing an attractive challenge, but
you just can’t muster up the audacity to take a step of faith? Or maybe you need to exercise your service
muscle? Or like me, you need to get out
of the all or nothing mindset? Now you
have one word to remind yourself of what you need to do. Just ASK.
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