• Confessions of a Stuck Leader
After forty, plus, years in the ministry experience, I must confess I have been “stuck” many times. “Stuck” is a kind of quagmire experience that I can “wallow in” that basically renders me immobile to forward progress. It comes when I am over committed to big events and I try to recover by being too busy with missed maintenance of my routines. It is kind of like treading water, going through all the motions, but not making any real forward motion. I think “quicksand” is a good image, because it is easy to neglect moving, appropriately for a while, and then discover the danger and the guilt when I neglect my support systems, like my wife, children, staff, or supporters.
For years, I have unsuccessfully fought…
What I call the “All or Nothing” Syndrome, which means I pour all my energy into something (usually an event) so much so, that I neglect other really important relationships and routines. Then I play “catch up.” This is when I get stuck in an awkward place. One solution I have found is to work farther ahead, and break the project, event, or task down into more useful or manageable units of daily work. This helps me to not have so much to do at the last minute. This is the hard work of pre-thinking, anticipating, brainstorming, fact-finding, working with the calendar, and the paperwork of planning ahead.
Another solution I have found is to keep moving, but not aimlessly, but it needs to be “a deliberate step,” that recalculates my short-term goals and moves me towards my vision. If I have a grand “impossible” vision, knowing how to make “daily progress” is the “art” of accomplishment and the sure way to avoid the Stuck Syndrome. What are the steps, the tasks, the persons to call and the decisions to be made for this task to happen? It is not about just being busy. It is about doing “daily” intentional and specific tasks, which turns out to be my strategic plan. Can you relate?
One Response to “• Confessions of a Stuck Leader”
April 7th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Hi Barney:
Yes! I can relate! I have been stuck on getting ready for the next mission trip, because I have so many things to do go get ready for it. I made a list of things to do, and then today I took all the things on the list that I haven’t done yet and put dates on them, for when I can work on them. Now it is much more do-able. It is really exciting! I just sent an email to the pastor’s wife (she does the bulletin) asking her to put in a notice to see if anyone is interested in going with me on this trip. I also have set up a time for a work session in which I want people to come and help me get things ready for the trip. They can label and package all the medications. What do you think?
Guess who called me yesterday? It was Pastor Paul. He was in Seattle, and he called to tell me about everything that is happening and what we can pray for. He also emailed me a whole bunch of pictures. I am going to do a program at my church on April 27, so pray for me.
More later,
Tu compadre
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