Sideways Motion

Ever since the Leadership Summit, I have been thinking a lot about doing what matters most - about doing the things that I am uniquely gifted to do - as Buckingham calls them, my strengths. But the reality is that we only get to do our strengths - the stuff we are best at - occasionally because of having to do other junk: ie stuff that makes us move sideways to our mission, vision, and giftedness.

Ortberg has a great quote about this in his new book, When the game is over it all goes back in the box.

In life, as in canasta, the secret lies in knowing what to discard. If I am not yet living according to to what I believe matters most, it is no accident. There are forces or habits that have a deep hold on me that I will have to get rid of. The writer of Hebrews puts it like this: "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked before us." We must discard whatever will hold us down. We must discard the wrong priorities that keep us from what matters most. (pg. 55)