Dear Why Team Member,
I hope this week’s message finds you well and excited about the proximity of Summer.
Growing up in Florida, it felt like Summer most of the year. Now, living in the Midwest, I look forward to the long, sunny days, to being outside hiking or hanging out at the lake house. And for outdoor enthusiasts like me, you know that outdoor activities can sometimes challenge you physically. Hence, this week we explore the importance of voluntarily putting forth effort that can be painful, emotionally, and/or physically.
Everyone has heard the phrase, “no pain, no gain.” As contemporary as it sounds, it was Ben Franklin who coined these famous words back in the eighteenth century when he wrote, “There are no gains without pains.” No pain, no gain, as the saying goes.
So here is the message: Feel the burn!
Why? To light the fuel within.
Rocket Fuel serves no purpose without fire to ignite it, to explode it into purposeful action.
Do you play it safe? Why? Are you storing up for a rainy day and creating the very rain in your life by doing so? Where is your faith? Do you see your value as measurable or immeasurable? When you serve others, the impact is immeasurable, it can go on and on as others pay it forward. Is that your true measure of wealth, your impact that goes beyond yourself? When we become overly fearful and anxious, we lose the eyes to see the possibilities, we forget the immense life we have already had the great privilege of living . A self-focus can limit our impact to arms’ length, providing us limited measures of wealth. An other-focus, however, is......limitless and can return dividends beyond measure.
There is a joy that only a good burn, for others, can access. Those who train regularly, no doubt, have experienced what I'm talking about. I can say with 100% certainty that I am physically where I am today because I hired a trainer. I already have enough to keep track of in my life. My trainer knows me, he knows how to push me, test me, he knows what I can physically accomplish better than I do. I show up, trust, and hit it as hard as I can, and certainly harder than I would were I alone. Oh sure, there are days I could go it alone, but it's on those days when I need him most, that I need him most. Where we enter into an accountability relationship, we find greater discipline.
Where we find discipline, we find success. And the greater the discipline, the greater the success. In my youth, I mostly worked out for me, with limited success. Today, after over fifteen years with a trainer, and because it's important to me, I train for others, to be physically and mentally strong for my loved ones and for all those audiences my colleagues have brought together for us to serve. We owe it to ourselves and others, to do our best, to bring our "A" game and nothing less.
If this is your experience, I hope this message affirms and encourages you. If not, I invite you to more fully experience a joy and abundance born from a life more committed to serving others, knowing an immeasurable wealth of purpose that can never be taken from you.
Choose the burn, light, and ignite the best within you, to help light and ignite the best in others.
Make it a great week,
Steve Luckenbach