The natural tendency of every Christian is to divide their lives into multiple pieces.  We have our personal, family, career, church, friends and civic roles.

With this mindset comes the danger of segmentation between the secular and the sacred parts of our lives.  We go to church on Sunday and check off that faith box for the week and then we move on to the rest of our lives.

 I am convinced that the scriptures teach that in God’s mind this artificial division was never intended.  The Holy Spirit wants to give leadership to everything we do so that we live sacred lives in a secular world.  Our work becomes a part of our worship, our families a ministry, our neighbors a mission field and all of life a divine calling.

Our Heavenly Father is just as concerned about how you respond to your family at home and how you react to other people at work as He is about two hours on one day of the week.   The Christian life is intended to be a relationship and a partnership with God as He impacts other people through every aspect of our lives.

The calling that God has placed on all of us as believers is not primarily about going to church but being the church.  When we reach this point of spiritual integration it all becomes about Him and them and no longer about me.

I really don’t like average, maintainence, mediocere, or status quo.  I like over the top, excellence and the absolute best that can be done.  Simply reason for me I am a Christian what else can I do in response to all that He has done for me.

The last place you normally look for greatness is at a fast food business.  Most of the time the core values are price and speed without any serious thought for high end customer service.  The one major exception for me is Chic-Fil-A where I always see a culture that values people over pricing and not a common get you out the door mentality.

I have been a regular customer at one fast food place lately and about once a week I have interaction with this one person who is always very friendly and makes sure to call you by your name as you leave with big thank you.  Now that was all just nice because he was reading my name right off my debit card and that was more than usually get but still not really big deal.

That was until yesterday when I pulled up and he was in parking lot going home and I spoke to him about leaving so early.  Then he did it, a major nice response with my name right where it has always been and no debit card in his hand.  Wow, now I am impressed and big fan because he was going way beyond what is expected and taking it to max not at Ritz Carlton but at a hamburger stand.

In the impersonal high tech fast paced world we live in today you can really make a major impression by simply being nice to people and going the extra step to personally connect.  It always has been about giving that last 10% of effort that separates greatness from simply good.

Next time I go back I am going to get his name and remember it.  He has really inspired me and set the bar where it needs to be and I really hate just being one of the crowd.  I want to be like Him!!!!!!!!!!

I always receive the highest evaluation scores when I speek on the subject of how to set personal priorities for own life.  The major point of my presentation is that we are all overscheduled because of the wireless connected culture we live in today and we must find a way to say no to many of the things that are robbing us of the priorities we care about the most.

I use a time matrix diagram devleoped by Stephen Covey that divides all of our daily lives into four quadrants that are based on the two variables of urgency and importance.  Everything that is urgent demands some action immediately and the things that are important may not.

If something is urgent and important then it should be done.  It could be a doctor’s appointment personally or a major project at work that is due this week.  Hopefully for most of us at least the majority of our day should be spent in this category.

The next area is all the things that are urgent but not important.  The blackberry is screaming for attention, the inbox is full and there are meetings on the schedule.  The problem here is that we have assumed that because something is urgent it must be important.

Another very unproductive area includes the things that are not urgent but they are not important either.  The danger here is that when we get home in the evening we want to run away and hide with hours of meaningless T.V. or surfing the net.

The single most important category is the things that are not urgent but very important.  This is where family, friends, faith and all of our important relationships reside.  Most of the time our family and our friends will not demand our immediate attention but if we neglect them long enough they will move into the urgent category and we will all suffer the consequences.

The only way to find time for the things that really matter is to stop doing so many of the things that really don’t.

The battle for our personal character is won or lost based on our integrity.  This means that there can be no hypocrisy between what we say we believe is important and what we actually are doing on a daily basis.  It is more than simply walking your talk becasue your talk is based on truth and core values that add value to others.

It is the keeping of promises and commitments to ourselves and then to others.  When you have it people can trust you because they know you are genuine, real and authentic.

Integrity is demonstrated in personal relationships with other people in two critical ways.  One is that we maintain confidentiality when dealing with others in matters where discretion is important.  Instead of using other people’s failures to get what we want we help them to get what they need.  In essence we never use their acknowledged weakness to hold it over them to get them to act in a certain way and we would never betray their trust by talking to other people.

We also make sure that we never fall into the trap of saying negative things about other people publicly that we have not first talked with them about privately.  When people hear you saying bad things about people who are not in the room, they know one day they will not be in the room either.  Being critical of other people in public never helps them and it creates a culture of positioning people in conflict with each other.

If something is not important enough to say to another person privately then it is certainly not important enough to criticize them openly in front of other people.

All of us have them but the real question from a personal and professional leadership standpoint is what should we do about them?  In the old days of positional leadership everyone was encouraged to work on improvement in every area so they could be the best overall leader possible.

Of course if our weaknesses are in the character area we must do whatever it takes to eliminate the wrong attitudes and negative behavior.  Beyond that spending a major amount of time trying to gain some small advantage in any area where you have no skills or passion is basically a waste of time.

Regardless of the time invested and the seminars attended if you are not creatively wired then you probably never will be.  If you are not gifted at project management then just working at it harder and longer will not produce significant results.

For the maximum amount of return and to make the largest impact you must prioritize working in the areas of your strengths.  This is where you are naturally strong and your passion fuels what you do every day and not your job description.

There are many different types and styles of effective leaders.  What you must determine is what do I uniquely bring to the table for the leadership assignment I have been given that sets me apart for this specific role. 

You may be a nine or ten in only one particular aspect of leadership but if you know what that is and you primarily stay in your strength zone then your ultimate impact will be incredible.  Most people are not willing to pay the price to be a ten at anything they had rather spend their time working on their weaknesses.

I freely acknowledge that this post is not going to be for everyone.  However, if you are a growing Christian and working in the corporate world it may be exactly what you need to hear.

As we mature in our relationship with Christ we start to see things the way He does and not the way the world does.  Most people at work are motivated by power, pleasure, position and pride.

Even for us as Christians we get caught up in what kind of car we drive, the clothes we wear and the houses we live in.  Our success status can even be defined by where we are in the leadership ladder at church.

When we grow to the point of real spiritual brokenness we move beyond success to significance. This means that we realize that the only lasting thing that really matters at work are the people and not the profits or performance reviews.

 For the first time in our lives all the things that used to be important no longer motivate us in light of eternity.  We often ask ourselves a thousand years from now will this really matter.  Now we have moved from Success to Significance to Surrender.  The old juice is gone.

Now your career has become your calling.  No, you do not need to quit your job and go to seminary because you are headed for Africa.  You need to live your new Christian life right where you are with reckless abandon for the glory of God.

The real question is not will you leave a legacy but what kind will it be?  An even more important question is what do you want it to be?

It is amazing how proficient we have become in establishing clear and attainable goals in the business sector.  We can break down our plans into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and beyond to ensure that we accomplish what we have determined is important.

I am convinced the reason we do not give the same amount of passion and excellence to our private lives is that we have never taken the time to define what is really important.  This lack of prioritization leads to a hope it all works out mentality that would not last for one week in the hit your numbers or else corporate sector.

Most people I have talked with over the years will tell you that in the end the personal part of their life that includes family and friends is really more important to them than the public part.  If so, then why this huge disconnect?

It all goes back to understanding Covey’s time matrix in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  Almost everything in our public lives fits into the urgent category.  They demand that we respond even though many of the things we do every day are not really important at all.

The people we care about the most fit into an important category that is not urgent.  Ball games, piano recitals and dates with your spouse will not scream in your face but they are the things that make up your legacy.

Don’t wait for the heart attack or cancer, have the courage to take a major time out and define in very specific terms what really matters so that in the end you will leave this world a better place than you found it.

One of the most important character qualities of effective leaders is courage.  It is the ability to act in the midst of adversity and seemingly difficult circumstances.

Courage flows out of our core values as individuals because they give us clarity when we are in the midst of conflict and confusing situations.  When you believe you are doing the right thing for the right reason then you can make good decisions.

It takes courage to pay the price to change the culture of any organization because you know there will be resistance.  However, when you know it is the best interest of the people involved you can act with conviction because you know they will be benefited when the transition is complete.

It takes courage to admit you were wrong and did not make the right decision.  When people know you are keeping it real it will not cause them to respect you less but just the opposite they will trust you more as leader.

It takes courage to terminate an underperforming employee that is liked by everyone and who does not want to go.  You must believe that it will benefit your team and that it is ultimately for their good to get them to a place where they can be successful.

It takes courage to walk away from all the good things that you could be doing to concentrate only on the best things.  Leaders with courage can say no with emphasis although all the rest of the world is saying yes.

We hear a lot today about keeping our lives in balance and to some degree that is a helpful concept.  If we are concerned about family, career, emotional, physical, financial and spiritual needs we should make sure that one area does not dominate to the point that we are failing in most of the rest.

However, the concept of balance alone does not deal with the major issue in life and that is priorities.  In reality what good does it accomplish to have perfect balance only to find out later that we wasted our lives doing the wrong things that really don’t matter.

At the core of a character driven life is the conviction that when something makes it to the top of my priority list then I will do whatever it takes to make sure I have the time and resources to make sure it happens.  It’s all about determining on a daily basis what are key things that I can accomplish today that will support my core values and give me the greatest return.

For example, if I have neglected my health and have a heart attack then diet and exercise are probably going to move to the top of my priority list and hopefully will remain there for the rest of my life.  During the two to three month recovery period my health may consume half of my daily schedule and it makes no sense to try to maintain balance when crisis management is what’s necessary.

In my own life balance never leads to specific goals and measuring success.  In reality it’s a nice concept but it usually never produces lasting sustainable change.  On the other hand when I have set specific priorities with concrete objectives then my success rate goes dramatically higher.

Balance will not get me out of the bed in the morning to exercise, convince me to eat the right foods and take care of my body—Priorities will.

As Seth Godin points out we have all heard the expression winners never quit and quitters never win.  In real life that is simply not true because knowing when to quit something that is clearly not working is the secret to winning because it gets you one step closer to the one thing that you were meant to do with your life.

Many times we take jobs thinking that we have finally found the answer to what do I want to do with my career?  Many months later we realize that what we expected was wrong.  We should never quit just because the work is challenging and the people with whom we work are not the best.

However when you have done your best and the day to day responsibilities that you have been assigned are not bringing any challenge or lasting value then you need to find something that you can be passionate about doing.  Our work should be something we care about to the point that we look forward to going in every day because what we do really matters.

Sometimes we really like what we do but the team of people we are doing it with are merely takers and not givers.  They are out for number one and there is an atmosphere of backbiting , constant stress and negative criticism that drives the culture of the organization.  No matter how much you like what you do if you cannot enjoy the journey with the people you are doing it with it is simply not worth it.

Becoming a serial quitter for all the wrong reasons can be a fatal character flaw that will negatively impact your entire life.  Quitting for the right reason can be the best thing you have ever done because it can lead you to a brighter future.