On Becoming a Man: Success Defined – John Maxwell to the Rescue
29 Sunday Apr 2012
Written by Gbenga Awomodu in Opinion
“Success is choosing to enter the arena of action, determined to give yourself to the cause that will better humanity and last for eternity.” – John C. Maxwell
It’s been almost a month since my last OBM post. I have been very busy offline; nevertheless, we will still have two posts as usual before the month runs out.
Sometime last February, I stumbled upon the 30th anniversary edition of John C. Maxwell’s debut book, “Think on These Things – Meditations for Leaders”, and I’m grateful to God I did. In this collection of very short chapters, the leadership guru who is not shy to proclaim himself a Christian, even on Twitter, shares nuggets on effective leadership. He defines success in a concise way, I really cannot find something new to add yet but I have reflected on the key words and search further for their biblical basis. Let’s explore the keywords.
Success is a choice that we have to make. God is liberal in allowing us to choose between life and death, as in Deuteronomy 30:19. It all starts with you deciding what you want out of life. In the absence of this, the available easily becomes the desirable. I believe that a man in prison has not many options, hence he would value the gift of choice much more that the billions who do not exercise this power that can either make or mar a man. When you have chosen what you want to do, there comes the time to act. Maxwell says, “Success is finding a need and filling it.” Faith and action are like twin brothers. There are many doors that will not open until we take a step forward. There is the need to overcome that inertial force, perhaps of fear or doubt, that weakens one’s knees and delays action. There is also the need for persistence and diligence in following the action plan. He adds, “Success is having a plan and following it.” (Prov. 16:9).
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