by Dr. Cecil Clements (8th January 2013)
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Welcome to the New Year 2013! It’s 8 days into the New Year and as I looked at the days that have gone by, I thought how on the 1st and 2nd, we were so excited about the New Year. 4 or 5 days later, it’s almost business as usual; back to the usual things that happen in our lives. A lot of things haven’t changed – we’re still in the same place, in the same company, we’re still doing the same job, still have the same profile. All that has really changed is that 2012 has given way to 2013.
I wondered what I could share with each one of you who have taken the trouble to be on this call. There is a huge difference between what we would like to do and what we end up doing – sometimes it’s almost a gulf. I remember in my early days when I was just coming out of school, doing well as I passed out of the 11th grade. I thought that it would carry me through my pre-University. I fooled around at that time, didn’t attend classes, was all over the place. I paid for it because I failed my pre-University. I had ambitions to join the NDA, get into the Air Force. All of that went down the drain with that failure.
I remember going through those days and picking up whatever I could do. So got involved in the family business, did something in printing technology for 3 years. I kept on doing stuff that I really was not interested in doing, but which I had to do because of some of the decisions that I had made and some of the ways that I had faced life. But I soon began to realize that I was doing stuff that I really wasn’t interested in. yet I had this failure in my life, which was a deterrent to going forward.
I remember many years later, my wife Sheila telling me that I had to get beyond that. We were in the US at that time and expecting our second child. She really pushed me into doing what was a general equivalency diploma, which would level out the 12th grade and give you a certificate enabling one to go to undergrad college. So I started going for those classes, prepared for it and the day of the exam was the day that my daughter was born. I remember spending the night in the hospital and told my wife in the morning that I didn’t think I could go for the exam. She pushed me out, telling me to go. So very reluctantly I sat for the exam and got through it. That became the foundation on which I was then able to study more and then change some of the things that I was doing. I finally got to the point where I was enjoying the things that I am now doing.
What I’ve realized is that over the years, we get opportunities to do course corrections. We look at our lives and say, “I am doing this but that’s not really where my heart is. I would really like to do something else.” Sometimes we need to take a U-turn, sometimes a 45° left or right or maybe even just a little course correction. But we always have that opportunity and we must always believe that we can have those opportunities and we must take them.
A one-liner by Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time, more intelligently.”
I thought that even though the New Year is 8 days in, maybe there’s just that little pang within us that says, “I would really like to do something more with my life. Maybe I can’t make a major course correction or a huge U-turn, but there is some veering to the left or right that I can do.” You need to start thinking like that today. Maybe today is an opportunity for you to indulge in thinking that way.
Self-efficacy is a word that came out quite a few years ago by a psychologist Albert Bandura in his social cognitive theory. He says, “Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.” In other words, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Do you believe that you have what it takes to accomplish the things that you want to do?
He goes on to say, “All people can identify the goals that they want to accomplish, things they would like to change, and things they would like to achieve. However most people also realize that putting these plans into action is not quite so simple. An individual’s self-efficacy plays a major role in how goals, tasks and challenges are approached.”
People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:
Tom Kelly and David Kelly (the founder of Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) say that there are 4 fears that prevent us from getting there.
Eleanor Roosevelt says, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Larry Elder echoes that when he says, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
I wonder today whether you are thinking, “If I could just make a little course correction, I think I would have more joy. I would have a greater sense of investment into my life.” I wonder whether it would be a good time for you today to just begin to think – Is there something that I need to change? Do I have self-efficacy? Do I believe in my capabilities to organize and execute the action that needs to be done?
Somebody once said, “God never made any junk yet.” And all of us are products of what He has made. Even if we look around and say, “What about so-and-so who was born blind or lame or disabled?” Even then, when we look at them we see that God invests in them far more things than we can even imagine they could do. I think of Joni Eareckson Tada. She is a quadriplegic for the last 31 years. She has traveled the world, being a spokesman for the disabled. I think of Fanny Crosby who wrote some of the most beautiful lyrics – and she was blind. I think of Beethoven who composed some of the most wonderful music we have heard – and he was hard of hearing towards the end of his life when he composed the Pastoral Symphony. God comes alongside us even if we have some drawbacks.
Even more than any of this, God says to us, “I would really like you to be what you were meant to be, who you were meant to be.” And for that we need to look at our lives and say, “Am I doing what I am meant to be doing? Am I where I ought to be? Am I who I was meant to be?”
Those are good things for us to think about as we start this New Year. Benjamin Franklin said, “Be at war to your vices, at peace with your neighbors and let every New Year find you a better person.” My prayer is that each one of us would do what we need to do to be at peace with ourselves, at who we are and who we were meant to be.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God. On each one of these precious ones on this call, even as we start a New Year, I pray that You would show them what needs to be done to be who You created them to be. I pray that You would give wisdom for course corrections, that You would give the will to take first steps, overcome fears so that we can say that we are doing what we should be doing and we are who You created us to be. I pray a blessing on each one, in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You All.
Resources
Click Here if Audio Player does not load
Welcome to the New Year 2013! It’s 8 days into the New Year and as I looked at the days that have gone by, I thought how on the 1st and 2nd, we were so excited about the New Year. 4 or 5 days later, it’s almost business as usual; back to the usual things that happen in our lives. A lot of things haven’t changed – we’re still in the same place, in the same company, we’re still doing the same job, still have the same profile. All that has really changed is that 2012 has given way to 2013.
I wondered what I could share with each one of you who have taken the trouble to be on this call. There is a huge difference between what we would like to do and what we end up doing – sometimes it’s almost a gulf. I remember in my early days when I was just coming out of school, doing well as I passed out of the 11th grade. I thought that it would carry me through my pre-University. I fooled around at that time, didn’t attend classes, was all over the place. I paid for it because I failed my pre-University. I had ambitions to join the NDA, get into the Air Force. All of that went down the drain with that failure.
I remember going through those days and picking up whatever I could do. So got involved in the family business, did something in printing technology for 3 years. I kept on doing stuff that I really was not interested in doing, but which I had to do because of some of the decisions that I had made and some of the ways that I had faced life. But I soon began to realize that I was doing stuff that I really wasn’t interested in. yet I had this failure in my life, which was a deterrent to going forward.
I remember many years later, my wife Sheila telling me that I had to get beyond that. We were in the US at that time and expecting our second child. She really pushed me into doing what was a general equivalency diploma, which would level out the 12th grade and give you a certificate enabling one to go to undergrad college. So I started going for those classes, prepared for it and the day of the exam was the day that my daughter was born. I remember spending the night in the hospital and told my wife in the morning that I didn’t think I could go for the exam. She pushed me out, telling me to go. So very reluctantly I sat for the exam and got through it. That became the foundation on which I was then able to study more and then change some of the things that I was doing. I finally got to the point where I was enjoying the things that I am now doing.
What I’ve realized is that over the years, we get opportunities to do course corrections. We look at our lives and say, “I am doing this but that’s not really where my heart is. I would really like to do something else.” Sometimes we need to take a U-turn, sometimes a 45° left or right or maybe even just a little course correction. But we always have that opportunity and we must always believe that we can have those opportunities and we must take them.
A one-liner by Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time, more intelligently.”
I thought that even though the New Year is 8 days in, maybe there’s just that little pang within us that says, “I would really like to do something more with my life. Maybe I can’t make a major course correction or a huge U-turn, but there is some veering to the left or right that I can do.” You need to start thinking like that today. Maybe today is an opportunity for you to indulge in thinking that way.
Self-efficacy is a word that came out quite a few years ago by a psychologist Albert Bandura in his social cognitive theory. He says, “Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.” In other words, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Do you believe that you have what it takes to accomplish the things that you want to do?
He goes on to say, “All people can identify the goals that they want to accomplish, things they would like to change, and things they would like to achieve. However most people also realize that putting these plans into action is not quite so simple. An individual’s self-efficacy plays a major role in how goals, tasks and challenges are approached.”
People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:
- View challenging problems as tasks to be mastered
- Develop deeper interest in the activities in which they participate
- Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities
- Recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments
Tom Kelly and David Kelly (the founder of Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) say that there are 4 fears that prevent us from getting there.
- The fear of the unknown. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to venture into the unknown. It’s easier for us to just sit at our desk and expect all the information to come to us and then make decisions, rather than going out into the market place or the streets or where the product is, and really getting into the messy part of it. We just like the comfortable.
- The fear of being judged. So often we base what we do on the way people think about us. So instead of taking risks, we would rather keep quiet about things.
- The fear of the first step. Just getting started! It’s the first things we need to do to begin a process and we never get there.
- The fear of letting go. We want to control and the problem with controlling is that you can only control to the extent of the abilities that you have. If you really want to see the things that can happen, you need to let go. You need to trust people; you need to have a greater vision than just what you can do.
Eleanor Roosevelt says, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Larry Elder echoes that when he says, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
I wonder today whether you are thinking, “If I could just make a little course correction, I think I would have more joy. I would have a greater sense of investment into my life.” I wonder whether it would be a good time for you today to just begin to think – Is there something that I need to change? Do I have self-efficacy? Do I believe in my capabilities to organize and execute the action that needs to be done?
Somebody once said, “God never made any junk yet.” And all of us are products of what He has made. Even if we look around and say, “What about so-and-so who was born blind or lame or disabled?” Even then, when we look at them we see that God invests in them far more things than we can even imagine they could do. I think of Joni Eareckson Tada. She is a quadriplegic for the last 31 years. She has traveled the world, being a spokesman for the disabled. I think of Fanny Crosby who wrote some of the most beautiful lyrics – and she was blind. I think of Beethoven who composed some of the most wonderful music we have heard – and he was hard of hearing towards the end of his life when he composed the Pastoral Symphony. God comes alongside us even if we have some drawbacks.
Even more than any of this, God says to us, “I would really like you to be what you were meant to be, who you were meant to be.” And for that we need to look at our lives and say, “Am I doing what I am meant to be doing? Am I where I ought to be? Am I who I was meant to be?”
Those are good things for us to think about as we start this New Year. Benjamin Franklin said, “Be at war to your vices, at peace with your neighbors and let every New Year find you a better person.” My prayer is that each one of us would do what we need to do to be at peace with ourselves, at who we are and who we were meant to be.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God. On each one of these precious ones on this call, even as we start a New Year, I pray that You would show them what needs to be done to be who You created them to be. I pray that You would give wisdom for course corrections, that You would give the will to take first steps, overcome fears so that we can say that we are doing what we should be doing and we are who You created us to be. I pray a blessing on each one, in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You All.
Resources
- Kendra Cherry, "What is Self-Efficacy," http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/self_efficacy.htm?p=1
- "The Four Fears Blocking You from Great Ideas," Interview with Tom & David Kelley http://blogs.hbr.org/ideacast/2012/11/the-four-fears-blocking-you-fr.html
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