Extreme Ownership
“But those who wait on the Lord, Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
Let’s start off with what extreme ownership is.
How would you explain it?
My personal definition of extreme ownership is taking ownership of everything in your life, business, family, and especially your mind. Not allowing anyone else to take responsibility for anything that happens in your life.
Yes you read that last sentence right.
NOT LETTING ANYONE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN YOUR LIFE!
That means that you are ultimately responsibility for everything.
If someone quits, you are responsible for that.
If you gain or loose weight it is your fault.
If you can’t afford to pay your bills, you are responsible.
Get the point?
No matter what happens you are the reason it happened.
That also includes your thoughts!
This means that if you think that you are not attractive, then it your responsibility to change that thought.
The next aspect of extreme ownership is not making excuses.
WHAT!!!! I don’t ever make excuses.
YEAH RIGHT!
We all make excuses, yes that definitely includes me.
Excuses are a huge limiting factor when it comes to taking extreme ownership. Every time we make an excuse we are giving our mind the OK or a reason that we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to.
Why is that so important?
Because when we give our mind an out, it is going to take it. One quick excuse leads into another one then another one, and another one.
I think you get the point. Once you win it becomes easier to win, once you lose it becomes easier to lose.
Take a moment to think about the last excuse you made. Was it big or small? How did you feel after you did it?
The entire point of this is to get you aware of the fact that you made an excuse.
Mine was not launching a webinar, because someone quit and I had to pivot and have not make time to get the slides completed.
I am allowing outside forces to take ownership in parts of my life!
But I want you to notice 2 things about that last sentence.
The first is, I did not say I was busy. Avoid that word at all cost. BUSY!
The second is that I am taking ownership in the excuse by saying, I have not made time to get the slides completed.
I did not say that I have not had time, I said that I have not MADE time.
That my friends is taking extreme ownership, even in an excuse. And that is the first step of changing your thoughts and a great way to stop making excuses.
Now let’s switch gears.
One of the things that I struggled with forever was getting my team to take extreme ownership.
It seemed that even though I was pretty good taking extreme ownership. Some of my team was struggle to follow my lead.
So I took time and invested in their mindset. We get together one day a month and brainstorm about the business!
It is WAY more that though.
During this day it allows me to see how the team is doing and where they are struggling, mindset wise.
Then we do a few exercises to help them start taking control.
You are probably asking, what are they taking control of?
The answer is their mind. Because once they can conquer their minds, nothing is impossible.
We usually do about 5-6 exercises throughout our team day that helps to break limiting beliefs and next build back new beliefs that allows us to take extreme ownership.
What I found by doing these monthly get togethers is that our productivity skyrockets! I mean SKYROCKETS!!!!
Everyone is excited because they can feel the presence of something bigger than all of us. They can feel the excitement that we bring to the room. It renews their passion for our cause.
Then without even knowing it, everyone, including me, starts taking more ownership in everything.
We stop passing the buck and start saying, Hey I’m good at that, I can do it. Or, Hey I might have misspoken to a client about ______. Do you have way that I might be able to fix the situation?
IF you ever want me to come to your office for a TEAM DAY reach out to our team, because we would be happy to arrange for this happen.
But before we do that, we have to talk. Because if you don’t drink the cool-aid, neither will your team! You have to buy in 200% in order to make a real difference.
Take action
This is how you take action.
As you read this devotional, do what it says! Take time right now to do the exercises!
Then sit back and watch how taking extreme ownership is part of Gods Plan.
Prayer
Dear God, today we come to you with hearts full of remorse. We are sorry that we have not taken ownership of the tasks that you needed us to. We are sorry that we have not shared your word as regularly as we could have. We are sorry that when you spoke to us, we chose not to listen at times.
God, we are also grateful. Grateful that you want us to take extreme ownership in you. Extreme ownership in your ways, extreme ownership in every aspect of our lives. God help us to take extreme ownership in you! Help us to gain knowledge, power, and strength in your ways.
God, today we also want to say thank you. Thank you for opening our eyes to you so that we can see you alive in every aspect of our lives. Help us to take extreme ownership in that! Help us to always give you credit for your creation. And yes, that includes us!
God, thank you for a son who had extreme ownership, one who took up the cross, was crucified for our sins, laid to rest, then came back to sit at your right hand. Thank you for him!
Lord, we pray all these things in your precious son’s name.
Amen.
A Little More
A while ago we were at the Grand Canyon with our family and a friend. And as we looked over the edge, one of my wonderful kids when and read the sign that said how old this canyon is.
To my astonishment they asked, dad why is this sign sooooo wrong?
I asked what they were talking about.
Then they read it to me, and it said that this canyon was 100s of millions of years old.
I guess I did not think much about it. then they said, well if we go back in the bible, we know exactly how old this earth is. Why would they lie on this sign to the whole world?
Great question! And GREAT catch.
We talked about how some people even though they mean good intentions, don’t truly have God in their hearts, so it is harder for them to see the world as God created it.
Then we talked about how we can laugh at the signs from that point forward.
A little while later I was standing there watching the sunset with Nathen. I asked him what he was thinking about.
His answer shocked me and made my heart melt. He said, Dad I’m thinking about how God created this and how amazing it would have been to be there watching him play in the dirt like a little kid. Just designing this amazing place, we live in!
See what I mean by a shocking answer?
I stopped for a second, and said, Nathen you are 100% right. I never thought of how god created this amazing world. But it would have been a blast watching it happen.
I think I’ll make a pink rock, and over here I’m going to make some red rocks, then turn them into arches. Now here I’d like to make a volcano, and up here a mountain, and over there some water.
How amazing would that have been.
We can all thank Nathen for that amazing image of God sitting in a sandbox, designing this amazing, wonderful world that he chose to share with us.
Will you pray with us?
Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel
For all military personal serving our country and their families
Those in Leadership positions throughout the world