How You Can Influence the Outcome
That’s me. I learned that I was an INFJ, one of the 16 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality types. What is most important about this chart is at the bottom right corner.
Great rewards come from serving others. People on the receiving end will go so far as to say you changed their lives. I’d say that about the guy who signed my INFJ printout. We will refer to him by his initials, JA.
JA is a sports psychologist. In October 2014, he facilitated a week-long Leadership Assessment Program Level II class in Shepherdstown, WVA.
Before taking this class, I had to fill out some questionnaires and take some personality assessments. The Federal Government brought in executive coaches to provide feedback on the evaluations at the end of the week of training.
I couldn’t believe it. JA was not only the primary instructor but my coach. The evening before the coaching sessions, we students were told we had three hours to discuss whatever we wanted with the coaches.
In 2012, I had an idea to start a digital prayer network at my church, but most people could not grasp the concept. They had the look of, “what is this guy talking about?” As such, the first two years were tough.
To my surprise, the Lord began speaking to me about this digital prayer network the evening before I departed for Shepherdstown. Here I was struggling to get the concept going in my church, and now the Lord spoke to me about global expansion??!!
I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching out the concept as it came to me.
The Lord then prompted me to talk to JA about this global network during my coaching session. What? Talk to a sports psychologist about a prayer network during a government-funded training event?
The next day I showed JA the diagram above and explained the concept. He grasped the idea immediately. He marveled at the detail in my chart and said this is how some great organizations get started. He encouraged me to move forward and affirmed the concept.
Dream Prayer Network (DPN) has reached thousands of people around the world. JA has little idea how significant a role he played, but let’s talk about what he depicted at the bottom of my INFJ printout.
You will never guess what that underlined W represents. He actually passed out decals of the diagram after the final class session.
JA asked us, students, to identify our top three goals and give ourselves a score of 1-10 on our level of commitment to achieve them.
Facing the truth was a painful moment for me. I put down a seven for intensity level in pursuit of DPN. JA’s point was clear. Significant outcomes require significant effort, and extraordinary results require extraordinary effort.
JA said you need to be at level 10 to be extraordinary, and you must be willing to put your “butt on the line!” (The W referred to a body part.) I hope you are not offended by the raw reference because it helped me.
Allow me to capture the spirit of the underlined W within a Biblical framework:
Joshua said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. David said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Isaiah said, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” Paul said, “I press toward the mark of the prize.”
I wrote this article to encourage you and me to apply a 10-level effort to those things that matter most to us. Resident within all of us is 10-level capacity and potential. I believe we are going to achieve great things. God Bless! Press On!! Kevin
PS: After seven years, I just reconnected with JA over Linked In.
- Joshua’s house: Jos 24:15
- David’s declaration: 1 Sam: 17:26
- Isaiah’s response: Isa 6:8
- Paul’s press: Phil 3:14
