Welcome to the November 19th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
This was a week of moving emotions.
I was up and I was low.
But I didn't go too low.
Why?
Because I had a baseline that I could not go lower than.
The baseline comes from a foundation of what I have lived out my faith in.
It's a culmination to date of all I have become as a person.
My emotional ups and downs cannot go lower than who I am.
I am fighting to go higher.
The struggle to go higher has barriers that I need to break through.
How do I fight to win for what I know God wants for me in the face of huge obstacles?
I show up and stand.
Not backing down and not fading into the black.
Just showing up to stand.
And develop solutions that align with the vision God has painted for me.
Solutions that solve problems for others.
Things I Learnt
1-Be Led by More: All through the week, I was saying "No" to something that requires me to push back with people who have more authority than I do on the matter.
Later, I sat back and reviewed the whole situation.
I am so convinced I need to say "No" on this matter.
The conviction is not based on the events happening currently. It is based on the fact that my decisions are driven by something more.
It's not your typical "this does not align with my Christian faith" choice.
Naaa...this is more.
It's based on a vision that God had planted in my heart a while back.
And now I have to let that vision drive my decision.
This is what it means to be led by more.
More than what I see now, more than the events happening now and more than my expectations for the future.
Rather, I am choosing to be led by something only God understands better.
Yes, I don't know the full outcome of how things will play out.
I just know how current events should play out.
I guess I will understand better when I look back in the future.
Let me borrow a quote by Steve Jobs "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
2-When People Underperform: During the week, I assessed a few members of my team. I had put them on a higher level of expectation based on the new roles I carved out for them.
The only issue is that I was noticing a couple of gaps in what I expected from them and what they were delivering.
There are certain things that most of us as professionals from an English-speaking country assume other people from non-English speaking countries have.
For example, there is an aggressive edge that English speakers have which others don't.
It's that edge that causes us to strive and want to be "Number 1".
It's natural to us but far removed from the thinking of some of these other non-English speaking cultures.
You'd expect that after my years of living and working outside of an English-speaking country context, I should be aware of this.
Well, I guess I am not immune to assumptions.
Now I'm working on a plan to correct the assumptions - on two sides.
On my side, I am recalibrating my expectations.
On their side, I will be introducing training to bridge some of the gaps.
We will all come to a culturally agreeable common ground that works well for the business.
One of the joys of working in a cross-cultural environment.
Postscript
May you show up with the flexibility to adapt and be relevant to the people you serve in every situation you find yourself in. Amen.
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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