I spoke twice this morning and I am exhausted. My wife has a baby shower this afternoon and I have been banished to Denny’s. Sounds like the perfect time to write. I like Starbucks but Denny’s was closer and we have another event tonight. It’s Christmas and the schedule gets brutal.
We laugh as I tell Kim, my server, that coffee, water, and Wi-Fi is all I need. The coffee came in this cool cup that said “It’s always sunny-side up in a diner.” I like that. Christmas music is playing, people are laughing, yea, this has that sunny feel.
When I was a boy I can remember adults ordering their eggs sunny-side up. I’ve always had mine over easy. Seems like life is like that. There is always a temptation to roll over and take the easy way. But that’s just not the sunny side of life.
If we want to live in the sun we have to have the courage to make right choices. Choices that present us with our desired outcomes. Here are a few choices that mark our courage.
We demonstrate courage when…
1. We take a position of leadership. Personal leadership involving delayed gratification precedes public moments of greatness.
2. We determine how we want to be remembered and live our lives with the end in mind.
3. We develop and stay true to our life map. Staying with the basics.
4. We focus on generosity and gratitude. Realizing the being “prosperous and successful” is measured by our commitment to invest in others.
5. We keep pressing even when we have a sense that it’s all going our way feeding the engine of momentum that took so much energy to get fired.
6. We avoid discouragement. No time on the sunny-side, every day is a fresh start.
7. We realize that courageous leaders have followers. Start with the courage to lead yourself, others will follow.