A Pyramid of Growth

A Pyramid of Growth

 5 Observations…

“Is this one of those pyramids?”  That question is one of the most frustrating and often heard responses that any network marketer has to deal with.  It is born out of misconception and misunderstanding, due also to many issues, and the prevalent mindset found in 98% of the population that find it easier to make excuses than to make a successful life.  

In business it often has negative connotations, but is actually prevalent in all industries.  From insurance and real estate to corporate structures, the pyramid not only exists, but is essential for capitalism and the success or growth of any business or organization.  It is found in the military with the lowest rank of enlisted to the highest ranking officer, throughout history and most governments of the world with the peasants serving Kings, and citizens serving local, state and federal leaders.  One can even find examples of the pyramid structure throughout scripture and the history of the church.

So, as this tractor trailer passed me on the highway the other day, it reminded me of a pyramid and brought up some ideas that I wanted to convey to hopefully dispel some myths or false beliefs in the whole concept of a pyramid.  As I looked at it, I immediately noticed several things…

First, those individuals who sit at the top of any organization or “pyramid” are there because of the value they bring to their business, organization, or people under them.  They are leaders because they have invested in themselves and grown or developed skills that enable them to lead others.

Second, the reverse of the previous statement is also true.  Those who serve and are not in positions of leadership are in supporting roles because they do not possess the qualities and skills of a leader.  They have not invested in themselves and made the effort to grow.

Now, on to my observations on the pyramid… 

1.      The massive size of the cylinder on the top, especially in relation to the smaller and more numerous cylinders on the bottom row…  Those at the top are almost always larger than life and contribute the most to society.  Great leaders invest heavily in themselves and so have much to offer their followers.  Just as that large cylinder can handle massive amounts of volume, whether it be filled with liquid, air, gas, etc., individuals who have expanded their abilities through personal growth, perseverance, hard work, education, and so on, grow into large contributors to the environment that surrounds them.  That not only includes their work place, but also their families, churches, and the communities in which they live and work.  They are all about feeding those under them and not drawing from, but rather giving to, or pouring  value into the lives of others.  In short, they are on top because they have earned the position.

2.      The “gold capped” cylinder in the middle… stands out from the entire group.  As I glanced at the truck as it passed, this one cylinder grabbed my attention and actually started this entire thought process.   The pyramid that exists in so many aspects of our lives really has no regard for anything other than results.  Like the old saying goes… “The cream rises to the top.”  Those who stand out above the crowd rise to positions of affluence, power, and leadership.   They possess those ‘special’ qualities that get them noticed.  They are prepared, unafraid to be unique, or different, and most always possess a great deal of courage and a renegade spirit that propels them to think outside the box and get things done when others can’t.   Rarely will any individual stay hidden long if she is making an impact, while anyone who is not contributing to his environment will be paid more than he is worth for very long.  The law of reciprocity is universal and will catch up to all who try to get more than they give.   The more you grow, the more you will “stand out”.  And the more you “stand out”, the farther you will move up. 

  

3.      The bottom rows full of small cylinders are the crowd, the masses...  They have not grown personally and cannot handle much nor do they have much to contribute.  These are the ones content to receive assistance and blame everything and everyone else for their position in the pyramid (life).  The two larger on the side and on the  second row, are those individuals who are striving somewhat to live a better life, perhaps the professionals, entrepreneurs in training, or those working through beginning levels of personal development.  They are growing, but have yet to break free from the 98% who are stuck in their comfort zone and unwilling to change or get better.  Sadly, most have stopped dreaming and often ridicule the 2% who try to break free.

4.       Look at the boards in between the cylinders… Here you will discover one vitally important key to making a pyramid work.  There is always a need for something or someone to protect the team members from each other.  This is accomplished with some very essential connections, among team members.  These actions, undergirdings, prayers, meetings, trainings, etc… are the fundamental elements that support any successful enterprise, and without these connections, or insulators - the relationships, and businesses or organizations will eventually fail. 

5.       The straps or “Tie-downs” holding everything together…  These work in harmony with the insulators to preserve and enhance the relationships that are inherent in any organization.  The ‘tie-downs’ that anchor everything are those relationships and leadership roles critical to success.  If we allow those connectors to weaken and break, the pyramid collapses and everyone scatters.  No pyramid, no team, no success… for anyone.

So, don’t bash the concept of a pyramid.  If you’re at the bottom in life and things aren’t going well, look up.  Reach out to those at the top.  They have all the qualities and winning characteristics found in every level of growth, and have much to share.  Most are there because they have earned it through intense effort and great personal development, and desire to share and help others join them at the top.  So, from five observations come five steps to the top:

1.      Find a mentor – mentorship makes the difference.  Good books can serve as mentors as well as email and phone conversations.  There are many ways to learn from those more successful than you.

2.      Be coachable – admit you don’t know it all and be willing to learn.  Accept where you are in life as your fault.  Your lot in life is ultimately a result of your choices and responses to what life has given you thus far.   Yes, some have been thrown some curves, but many of life’s greatest champions have hit the toughest curveballs.

3.      Act like A champion - Do what your mentors are doing – Winners act like winners!  Copy those who win and you will win.

4.      Stand out – do what others won’t!  Don’t be afraid to be different!  Blaze your own trail!  Those who stand out are the next to move up!

5.      Take action - Look again at numbers 1 through 4 and go to work, now!

Four Life Lessons from a Teenage Driver

I came across this earlier entry while writing in my  journal this morning.  I had planned to post it in my blog a few months ago, but due to some crazy surprises and unplanned life events, my blogging plans had been put on hold, until now.  

Driving with a 16 year old… 

My baby daughter is 16 and without a driver’s license.  I know that this is extremely rare in today’s society, but such is the case in my house.  She has her learner’s permit, but circumstances prevented us from being able to get it for her on her 15^th birthday, so now we are late in converting it to the real deal.  

She is the last of four and one would think this would be no big deal for me at this point.  Hey, I’ve done this before.  No problem, piece of cake… two older brothers and one big sister.  Each of her siblings has had at least one significant fender-bender too, so the insurance company loves me and my checkbook!

Plus, I’ve given each child driving lessons, waited in the ridiculously long lines at the DMV enough to read several novels, and sweated through many failed tests and the resulting drama.  All part of a rite of passage and one sign of growing up... But this girl?  

The last of four, she is very outspoken and opinionated, quick to blame “our” current situation on me, the ladies who work at the DMV, her poor eyesight, (Nothing like waiting in line two hours and having your child FINALLY pass the written test only to discover that she needs glasses!) the “trick” questions on the test… you get the idea.  This ordeal has been going on awhile. 

But I can almost laugh about it now, because this brilliant little girl continues to teach her old dad things even through this.  She has always been amazing to me as have all my children, and I have learned far more from them as their dad, than I think I could ever teach them.  

So what is to be learned through this ongoing saga?  How about a list? 

             1.   Things don’t always go as planned.  I’ve always known this and life reminds me of it daily.  However, we can keep going, work around the detours, ride out the bumps and just keep pressing forward.

             2.  Anything worth having is worth pursuing. More often the not, the greater the value or importance of whatever we are striving for, the greater the effort required to acquire it. Great desire may cause us great pain, but will most certainly provide us the resources to overcome it and achieve that desire.

             3.  Perfect practice makes progress.  As a musician (and perfectionist) I know firsthand that practice DOES NOT make perfect.  Perfection is unattainable.  BUT… practice that is focused and intentional will yield results that will make us better.  And only by becoming better will we be able to help others become better.

  

             4.  Don’t be afraid to START.  This is the essence of success.  No amount of planning, preparing, or practicing will accomplish anything without taking that first step.  That is the pursuing.  One cannot pursue anything without first starting. 

    

As an entrepreneur I am always looking for life lessons, things that I can apply daily to help me build a better life for me and my family.  So all this from teenage driving?  Yes… and no.  This entire process has brought many events of years past in my life’s journey, into some poignant moments of extreme clarity of thought.

Yes, this entire blog post started with a driving lesson…

The Only DIsability

What's Wrong with Us?   

So much has been going on in the world lately.  SO much trouble and despair, I see so many people hurting and losing hope as the American economy continues to shrink and our government and the nation as a whole seems more divided than ever before.

It seems that while there is talk all across the political spectrum of coming together, tolerance, and compromise, there is little if any action in that direction.  And those who seem to be screaming the loudest are the least willing to engage in any meaningful dialogue.

I've been tempted to buy into that line of thinking at times until I take time to reflect on my blessings and the opportunities afforded to all of us who will take advantage of them.  Everyone has challenges and problems they have to deal with, as do all nations.  We still live in the greatest country in the world with an unlimited amount of opportunity.

It really is up to us.  The key to restoring the glory of this wonderful nation rests as the feet of its citizens.  Free enterprise and the American spirit can resurrect and restore.  I found this great little article by Vic Johnson that is applicable here and worth a look.

Check it out...

The only disablilty is a bad attitude.

...and let's create the life we want for us and our loved ones.

God bless

Take Up Your Bed!

How to get up and get going again...

 

In these lay a multitude of invalids...

The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath -

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. John 5:3-9 (ESV)

"Sir I have no one to put me in the pool."

Our excuses are so numerous; "I'm not smart enough! I come from a very dysfunctional family! I was abused as a child! I have no talents or anything to offer." ...and the list goes on and on. We often value our excuses more than the hope of breaking free of them. Or is that the problem? We grip our excuses ever so tightly out of fear that we might fail if we try to break free. We hold them as if they are an anchor to keep us from falling... our "safety" rail to keep us from falling off the edge of the cliff. After all, they are all very valid excuses.

Are you hanging on to your excuses to protect you from the unknown? Is that a death-grip you have applied onto those hurts of the past, which you are allowing to murder your future? Are you still replaying the words of loved ones, perhaps even spoken to protect you, over and over in your mind, even though they are death to the dreams God gave you as a child?

Well, my friend, do you know what God says? Just as Jesus told the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, who had been there an unbelievable 38 years, He is saying to you right now, "Get up, take up your bed and walk!"

I have been at that location in Jerusalem, and as I looked around I could see vividly in my mind just how it was in Jesus' day. The various pools with all the steps leading down to them below the city gate. This area near the gate above is where all the local citizens would most likely have gathered, the religious, the affluent, and all the influential leaders of the community. What a sight it must have been as all those wanting to be seen and included in all the "important" events of the day, busily carried out their activities, ignoring the needy right below them. After so many years, they were now just part of the local landscape, only noticed occasionally via downward looks of pity and judgement, "those poor unfortunate souls", "sinners" who spent all their days hoping and praying, waiting, hours upon hours for the waters to tremble.

Surely they had to have overheard, more than once, the comments filled with judgement, and the looks of sheer disdain thrown their way by unsympathetic people filled with superiority and pride. How those comments and stares must have damaged their hearts, each careless incident removing from their very souls another sliver of hope. Why me God? What am I doing here? How did this happen? When, if ever, will this end, God?

But do you know what? Jesus, asked the paralytic a question first. Before this invalid could even ask the Healer for help, the only person who knew exactly how long the man had been lying there, and what he needed, Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" And how did the paralytic respond? Did he scream with joyful hope at the prospect of his lifelong dream being fulfilled? Did he beg for mercy and quick deliverance? Did the man even offer a simple yes?

No, he offered an excuse... When face to face with the very Son of God, and faced with the ultimate question by his Omniscient Creator, "What do you want?" He still clung to his excuse. His lifeline, the pattern of thinking he had imbedded into his mind over all those years, to shield him from the disappointment of missed opportunities, almost caused him to miss his certain deliverance. He, like many of us, had conditioned himself to accept failure and stay down.

Yet, what I find most amazing in this story, is the fact that Jesus took the time to ask him that question. Even the most ungodly pagans in that community knew this man and his condition. One didn't have to be God to know that he wanted to be healed. He did want to be healed, right?

You DO want to be healed, right? The God of all creation who knew you before you were born and knows all that you are and everything you need is asking you right now, "Do you want to be healed?" And he knows how to answer. But guess what? He wants you to verbalize it. He wants YOU to ask.

The very nature of God is within us, His very DNA. And the word of God that created the heavens is nigh to us, even in our mouths. We only need speak it. We have the very mind of Christ, so His word, spoken by us, cannot and will not, return void.

Have you been paralyzed by your past, failures too numerous to mention, regrets upon regrets? Do you want to be healed? Jesus is asking YOU this right now. Let your answer be yes, and in obedience to His command... gather up all that past, roll it up into God's grace, and "Take up your bed and walk!" 

How'd I get here? On the threshold of a new life...

Blogging 101... is there a course like that available?  Just started the twitter thing and am exploring all the new technology available to us today.  Pretty amazing I think. Perhaps I would have written more over the years had this all been around.  I have done a fair bit of journaling over the years only to lose much of my writings to lost papers and crashed hard drives.  Just recently, I lost a substantial amount of notes and subject matter I had planned to expound upon when my smart phone froze and required a factory reset.  You would think I would have learned by now, but I actually thought I had all that backed up to my SD card.   I suppose I will just have to put my thoughts on paper first... but at my age I have realized the need to write down the thought as soon as it enters my brain.

Build Your Life Now is a really just a result of where I find myself now at 52 years of age in transition to a new career path - totally unsure of how I arrived at where I am, and not entirely sure of where I'm going.  But I am deeply committed to redeeming the time and building the life I've always wanted... getting where I choose to go and helping others find the way too.  Now is the time for us to step up and live the life we are capable of, only limited my our own thoughts and actions... but unfortunately for many, we are seriously bound by our past failures and their attachment to us.  My past, especially the last several years void of progress and full of goals not reached, has begun to haunt me during recent months.

Currently I find myself almost totally disabled from surgery to repair a ruptured bicep, injured by some heavy falling metal debris during tornado clean-up.  Can anyone relate to being in the wrong place at the wrong time?  So, now I am forced to sit at home and read, (I cannot drive for awhile...) and really ponder my life at this point.   Actually, now that I'm past the pain meds and able to function mentally, the opportunity for heavy introspection is refreshing.  Divine providence has allowed me the chance for some serious self-evaluation and thought about the future.  This was not possible a short time ago, but due to the injury, which was preceded by the loss of a solid management job of many years, I find myself with more time than anything else, except possibly the questions...

The life we live is a result of choices we make and I have suddenly become very serious about those choices.  My talents and interests cover a wide spectrum; And as time speeds by, I desire to live a fuller life of my own design, a life that will cover that wider spectrum, and make a difference in the lives of as many other people as possible.  The older we get, the quicker the days fly by for all of us and we cannot afford to spend a single day fretting about our past at the expense of our future!  We live in the greatest country in the world, full of options, and choices that we can freely pursue to make a grand life for us and our families.  Life is too short to not be doing at least some of the things that bring us joy.

My greatest passion... I've been playing saxophone for over 40 years now, but discovered jazz as a teenager and have never been the same since.  The older I get the more I love to play my horn.  It is my connection to the spiritual realm.  Music, especially improvised jazz, expresses like nothing else, that which cannot be expressed.  It can soothe and heal, and prepares my heart for worship and a deep connection to God.

I am excited about technology and finally taking the time to explore these new mediums of expression.  I have always loved to write and have had so many thoughts and new ideas run through my head lately, that I have felt compelled to start writing it all down.  So hopefully this newly hatched blog will be the creative outlet that will allow me to ramble as I work out some of life's contradictions.

I hope and pray this forum will not only help me, but perhaps create some meaningful dialogue among us humans who have to share our lives with one another.  And as it says on the above photo, "It is never too late to become what you could have been."