This is a powerful 20 minute short film that you need to watch. You could show this at church, youth, or to your family at home. I first saw this on Michael Hyatt’s Blog – it definitely grabbed my attention. To see it in full screen you can view it here. It’s starring Nick Vujicic from Life without Limbs, who has changed my life several times with his words. Take a few minutes and check it out:

My favorite part is about 11:30 into the story. It made me think – what things do we believe about ourselves that are holding us back from our God-given potential. I’ve rewound that part a ton of times, thinking about the beliefs that are in my heart that are a result of my past that simply aren’t true.

I hope this film encourages you, allows you to see yourself how God sees you, and encourages you to recognize that you can make a difference in the world just by being who you are.

My friend, Zack Blair, recommended I read this one. After reading it, this is another book that should be required reading for everyone who aspires to lead in any capacity.

This book doesn’t focus on principles on how to lead, but rather focuses on you. It’s more of a self-assessment book. It teaches that we all have a dark side to our leadership that’s developed in our lives through our upbringing and experiences that will cause us to seek and pursue success for the wrong motives.

If these motives go unchecked and aren’t dealt with, ultimately, if we reach what we thought would be success, we won’t be satisfied, and the outcome is usually a moral fall, misuse of people, or some other less than ideal outcomes.

This book will help you identify your dark side and provide the steps to overcoming it.

Must read for any leader.

Final Grade: 10/10    Buy it HereSome Highlights:

• Personal dysfunction, in one form or another, can often  serve as the driving force behind an individual’s desire  to achieve success as a leader.

• The problem arises from the fact that success is not something one  can have or possess. True success is a state of being not having.

• • The “dark side” refers to our inner urges, compulsions,  motivations, and dysfunctions that drive us toward success  or undermine our accomplishments.

• The 5 Dark Sides of Leaders are: The Compulsive Leader, The Narcissitic Leader, The Paranoid Leader, The Passive Aggressive Leader, and the Co-Dependent Leader

• The sooner we stop denying our dark  side’s existence the sooner we will stop blaming the devil, our  parents, bad breaks, and every other possible reason for our  struggles. Blaming others is one of the symptoms that denial  is taking place. It is always easier to deny we have any problem  if we can lay the blame for our shortcomings at somebody else’s feet.

• Any attempts to overcome the dark  side apart from the application of spiritual truth about our true  position and identity in Christ will end in failure.

With these posts I usually like to post the best quotes from what I read and listened to throughout the week. However, I had a lunch with a mentor, and he shared one quote with me that is going to challenge me for months to come. He said:

“Giving theory that doesn’t produce an outcome,  is never an accomplishment.”

For someone like me, who loves principles, I always have to purposefully check if I’m actually applying them. In this situation, he was telling me that about when I spend time developing others. If I just give people theory without a process that produces an outcome, then I didn’t accomplish anything.

I’ve typed this quote up and laminated and now I carry it with me everywhere I go and pull it out often, so I can always be asking myself – is my theory producing an outcome?

Are you a theory person or an application? Application will always trump theory.