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Seven voices we need in our lives

blog priorities video Sep 14, 2021

There are seven voices you need— particularly to drown out the voices of haters. In fact, there are seven.

Now, this might not be seven different people— some of the voices may come from the same person. 

 

#1 = Voices that have been where we want to go

You need upstream AND downstream voices. That is, you need to learn from people who have been where you want to go, people who are ahead of you….

And this should include each area of life: 

  • Your physical life (fitness / health)
  • Your relational life
  • Your professional life
  • Your mental and emotional health 

(In video 2 of module 5 of the Killer Teams Framework, The Best Gift You Can Give Your Team,” we discuss this in more depth.)

It’s helpful to have multiple mentors who speak into your life from multiple directions here, especially. 

 

#2 = Voices that give us permission 

In truth, we often sense what the issues are which we face— as well as the opportunities ahead of us. It’s helpful, though, to have an outside voice of confirmation. 

Think about it this way: you can’t grow any faster than your ability to make decisions. 

Furthermore, in order to grow, those decisions must be— for the most part— good decisions. 

Healthy outside voices help in this area.

 

#3 = Voices that point out our blind spots

By definition, you can’t see your blind posts— even though they’re often obvious to others.,

Furthermore, blind spots might be: 

  • Hidden dangers which we cannot see, or
  • Hidden opportunities, things which sit super-close to us that we can’t quite see, either

Coaching— an outside voice that’s objective— helps.

 

#4 = Voices who keep us in the game

Let’s be honest with the following question.

How often do you want to quit?

The reality is that “quitting” is an ongoing temptation for many leaders.

Outside voices help us continue— and pull us forward. 

Note these two common leadership mistakes: 

  • The #1 mistake leaders make INSIDE their organization is a lack of clarity. We assume everyone knows what we’re about— that is, WHAT we’re doing, HOW we’re doing it, and WHY we’re doing it.
  • The #1 mistake leaders make OUTSIDE is we live in isolation. We don’t invite other people into our sphere of influence, allowing them to speak into our situation.

Conferences, books, and podcasts are helpful… 

… but connecting with people is FAR better.

 

#5 = Voices that inspire us

Truett Cathy said, “No one has ever died from too much encouragement.”

Outside voices transform our perspective. We always leave them feeling better and dreaming bigger— regardless of how discouraged we entered the conversation. 

 

#6 = Voices that hold us accountable 

There’s power in having other people hold us responsible for living our calling, that is, for implementing the daily grind of action steps required to reach the “big vision,” that dream ahead of us. 

Leaders are great at creating executable plans. What we’re not as great at… is implementing those plans.

We need outside voices to remind us of our decisions— and to challenge us to continue pressing forward. 

 

#7 = Voices that push us to think bigger 

We often don’t see the full scope of what God has placed in us— or what He wants to achieve through us. Many times, though, outside voices do.

Furthermore, we often underestimate what we can achieve in a day while overestimating what we can do each day. 

Outside voices consistently remind us to flip that script; they show us the bigger picture while encoring us to continue walking through the step-by-step process required each day.

 

 

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