A Little Help From Our Friends

How are you doing on the things you want to be  “doing”?

I myself haven’t been doing too well as of late.  My personality is as such that I am constantly trying to improve.  Whether it be in the manner in which I speak to others, at my job, losing 10 pounds, being in better physical shape, my marriage, parenting – you name it, I’m trying to get better at it.

I realized something though when I heard Henry Cloud speak at the recent Chick Fil a Leadercast. He said the following statement:

“If you’re telling yourself and telling yourself to do something and you aren’t doing it, you aren’t going to do it! You need to get help.”

It really hit me in the face when he said this.

I need to get help.

There are many things I have tried to get better at, but haven’t been able to show any improvement on.  After hearing this one statement, I really started to realize that I may need to get some help in certain areas if I am ever going to improve upon them.

Here are two quick reasons for this:

1 – “Help” keeps you accountable.

Have you ever tried working out regularly and seen how much easier it is when you are doing it with a friend or a personal trainer?  You have told them you would meet them at the gym at 4:00p – you are much more likely to show up than to let them down! Or what about when you actually PAY someone money to help you train?  You aren’t nearly as likely let those dollars go to waste.

2 – “Help” motivate you.

How much better results have you gotten when someone is motivating you and encouraging you to do better!?  Think about a speech coach helping you with speaking, telling you all the things you are doing right, things that you have gotten better at. This is one reason why Weight Watchers is the number one weight loss program.  Attending a meeting every week and discussing your improvements and challenges keeps you motivated and on course to reach your goal.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV).

Who can you get to “help” you accomplish what you want to accomplish?