7 days showcasing the top 7 posts from 2011. #7 is about Hustle hope you enjoy.

“Focused. I’m a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.” – Mos Def

Every day I believe more and more in one simple fact: //NOTHING BEATS HUSTLE//

Regardless of organization, resources, or position, hustle is the equalizer. It starts inside each one of us and is only regulated by how much we care.

Some people call hustle passion, but passion does not tell the story. Hustle is more than “a passion”.

• Hustle humbles us.
• Hustle is the fuel that drives your purpose.
• Hustle manages itself more than needs to be managed.
• Hustle is chasing dreams and refusing to stop chasing, ever.
• Hustle does not get comfortable.
• Hustle never settles.
• Hustle understands the magnitude of the opportunity and is humbled by the chance to be “in that moment”.
• Hustle is caring so much that you are obsessed with what you do.
• Hustle would allow you to do what you do for free.
• Hustle keeps you up at night.
• Hustle fills your tank.
• Hustle is loving what you do so much that you wish you could transfer that feeling to others.
• Hustle is answering every email.
• Hustle is delivering.
• Hustle is the best we got, but always striving for more.
• Hustle is failing and knowing that failing is part of the process so that we get better.
• Hustle is “I get to do this,” not “I have to do this”.
• Hustle makes Mondays exciting, not dreadful.
• Hustle requires us to own, not rent.

Are you a hustler? If you are not, you need to ask yourself some hard questions. Creative people invest a little piece of themselves into every project. If you can’t hustle for where you are and what you currently are doing, it’s time to move. Life is too short to not be in love with what you do and shift into a hustler’s mentality.

How would you define your hustle? What makes you a hustler where you are today?

Photo Props:

Often our creativity is confined and limited by fear. Fear is one of the largest motivating factors in why or how we respond to things in our lives. Fear prevents us from achieving all God has created us for.

Everyone faces fear, a few people confront fear, but the best creative people use fear to be their fuel.

WE FEAR:
failing
succeeding
what others think about us
we’re not good enough
we’re not talented enough
our ideas will not be embraced
our ideas are not good enough
rejection
whether or not we have what it takes
if people will know we don’t have it all together
letting people down

and the list goes on and on…

I am so thankful that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of a sound mind. We have the ability to turn to Him, to give it all to Him, and to let Him guide our steps and – thus – free ourselves to be creative. Fear forces us towards faith which can be inspiration for some of our best creative concepts.

If we are not experiencing fear, we are not taking chances. When that is the case we move away from being creators.

What do you fear? How do you beat it? How do you keep fear from limiting your creatively?

Looking back over this year, I’m very proud of our team. They have worked hard and have done things that no one thought we could accomplish. However, if I am honest, we are just getting started. The creative community at Cross Point has potential that is out of this world. Between staff and volunteers, I really think that God is going to do some amazing things with our crew of creative people. It’s so humbling to get the opportunity to work with these people. As I was reading and dreaming about some of the things that I think we need to accomplish in 2012, I realized that the same traits required to be a Samurai are the same traits we are going to need to make creative strides over the next 12 months:

I never knew this, but there is a Samurai code:

1. Rectitude
2. Courage
3. Benevolence
4. Respect
5. Honesty
6. Honor
7. Loyalty

So, going into 2012, I’m encouraging our team – and your team – to attempt the following:

1. Rectitude – Follow your moral virtue. Create with integrity, purpose and principle.

2. Courage – Avoid the trap of being safe. Take chances. Stretch ourselves, our departments, and our organizations. We should be told NO often. If we are not, we are not pushing hard enough. Take some chances and be willing to fail. Without the courage to fall on our face, we will never fly.

3. Benevolence – This one can be hard sometimes because, when the work piles up, it’s not easy to do good to others. It is, however, essential. If we are not serving and giving ourselves away, we will never create room to be refilled with new, better, and more creativity.

4. Respect – For other departments, for art, and for the opportunity to do something that will impact others lives. We have to model respect or no one will ever respect us. We are creative, but with just the word, people will think we are weird, arrogant, and not interested. Respect changes all of that. You will never get respect if you don’t give it first.

5. Honesty – Avoid the temptation to hide or cover. When we win, be honest about it and when we lose, be even more honest about it. Honesty builds trust and trust creates opportunity. Be honest with ourselves, with others, and most importantly be honest in setting expectations.

6. Honor – Honor the work and the art that has gone before us. Honor those doing ministry that helps us share the art. Honor the fact we get to do creative ministry and never take that for granted. Also, honor the systems. They may feel like constraints but they are really opportunities waiting to be uncovered. Finally, honor our pastors and leaders. They are doing their absolute best to lead us and honoring them is a commandment.

7. Loyalty – Be loyal to each other and to the vision. We are a family. Protect each other and protect the vision of our organization.

What are some things you feel you and your team need to do to be ready to dominate in 2012?

Photo Props

This weekend is a trap weekend.

The trap that is tempting us right now is to look past this Sunday. We have much to accomplish to be ready for the big Christmas responsibilities we’re all facing this coming week. This trap is dangerous. We can lose a lot of momentum if we fall prey to it and it can cost us more than just this one weekend!

For instance, this weekend someone is going to be at our church for the first time. This is the first time that we get to make an impression and show them what we’re all about. This might be the only time they ever enter a church. This could be the weekend that their life changes forever. If we fall into the trap, we lose that opportunity.

So this weekend, avoid the trap. Create the intensity to keep things happening. Cast vision. Be intentional. Fight for focus.

Who knows, this might be the most important weekend we ever have.

How do you avoid the trap?

Photo Props

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them…
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

We have a choice every day: to manage problems or seek opportunities. We have been taught to be afraid of problems. We hide them, get embarrassed by them, choose to be intimidated by them, or hope someone else will solve them for us. It makes sense, as leaders are faced with problems every single day. But, what if we changed the way we approached our problems?

A recent survey of employers said that growing organizations are desperate to hire people who seek out problems. Problem sourcing helps us be more creative and more prepared for growth, opportunity, and adjustments. It takes an innovative and creative person to see problems before they arise. When we actively pursue problems, we take the power away from the problem and engage imagination and possibility. Imagining future problems allows us to imagine future solutions. Finding problems opens the door for being our creative best.

Do you fear problems or are you ready to go hunting for them?

Magic.
Wonder.
Story.
Nostalgia.
Gratitude.
Possibility.
Imagination.

These are elements that I believe create the true spirit of Christmas – and also, the true spirit of creativity.

Right now, in this season, most of us are consumed with the frantic pace and hectic schedules in preparation for Christmas. We know what must be done and we’re desperate to capture these same elements and translate them for everyone who will come and experience Christmas services this holiday season.

So, what happens when those elements can’t be fabricated?

This holiday season, children all over the world won’t get to experience the creativity of Christmas without you and I intervening. World Vision wants to make that easy.

During my 4th grade year, I learned about the true spirit of Christmas. My brother and a friend of mine all decided we had to do more for Christmas that year than just consume. So, during the summer when we came home to the states, we traveled with my dad. With each service he would speak at, we would tag on at the end to cast the vision for M.K.H.H.K. (Missionary Kids Helping Haitian Kids). While this may not have been my best creative moment, that summer we raised enough money to adopt a local orphanage. We gave each kid a coloring book, crayons, a toy, and a “traditional Haitian Christmas dinner.” I can’t tell you one single gift I received that year, but I can remember the look on those kids faces, the joy in the air, and the spread that those kids experienced that day. All because a few people around the U.S. decided to donate to a 4th grader with some poster board and a desire to help kids.

This holiday season, would you consider investing in the magic, the wonder, the story, the future nostalgia, the gratitude, the possibility, and the imagination necessary for a child to start to comprehend the true spirit of Christmas? If so, click HERE.

If you are still on the fence, check out this video.

How do you identify the true spirit of Christmas?

In an article about creative problem solving, author J.Baumgartner said: “The secret to creative thinking is to start with good problems. Then you need to turn those problems into thought provoking challenges.”

We are our best when we allow problems to help craft our creativity. In order for this theory to become practice, we have to understand the necessity we have as leaders to respond to issues and not react to them. Often we rush to resolve symptoms and don’t understand that our best creativity is birthed when we are looking to cure diseases.

Problems are not only important…they are necessary. We have to embrace our problems and leverage them for the future of our creative process. Creativity, new ideas, and execution that allows us to cure the diseases of our organizations will help everything we do get more healthy.

1. Diagnose our Issue. As we face problems, if we want to creatively solve theme, we can start with a few questions that will help us collect data:

Why do we have this problem?
Is this problem the core issue or a symptom of a bigger issue?
Why do we have this problem?
If we solve this problem, what new problems could develop?
What is the motivation of this problem? What causes the problem to exist?
What chain reactions will occur when this problem gets stolid?

2. Find Solutions. Once we have the problem identified, we have to move into solution mode. In solution mode we find the “new”, new ideas, new angles, new opportunities that our problems have uncovered. Solution mode requires all the tools of a brainstorming meeting. (No “no’s”, no boundaries, no bad ideas)

How can we solve this?
What if we tried this?
Could we experiment with this?
What could possibly be created to correct this?
If we do this…THIS could happen.

3. Start to Execute. The final step is identifying the viability of these new ideas.

Does this fit into our mission?
Do we have the resource?
What speed do we need to execute these solutions?
Is possible to execute this successfully?
Will this new solution position us in a better place than our previous problem?

Approaching our problems creatively helps us not be as intimidated or resistant to embracing the opportunity that lives inside of our problems.

What other ways have you found to use creativity to address your problems?

Photo Props:

At some point we’re all going to fail. We may not like it, but it’s a necessary step in the process of succeeding.

In his book Adapt, Tim Hartford talks about the process of adapting to failure. Hartford contends that it’s not only okay to fail, but that it’s necessary; that “success comes through rapidly fixing our mistakes rather than getting things right the first time.”

The creative mind fears failure. So much of our identity is tied to – and found in – our art. In this, we fear failure will take away our influence, voice, equity, or stature. Basically, we get full of pride and think it’s all about us and we don’t want to look bad. It’s okay – that’s natural. But real success is found when we’re comfortable knowing that failure is part of the process and when we realize tho we respond to failure is more important than how we hide it.

Being creative gives us a different lens. We see things in a way not everyone can. But because of our uncanny connection to our art, we often have blind spots that hinder our own self critique – or worse, we are so hard on ourselves and we never allow our art the space to
win.

Hartford continues, “When you’re fixing your own mistake, you’re challenging a status quo that you yourself made. That’s a terribly difficult thing to do, but it’s a brilliant skill if you can acquire it.”

• So breathe.
• It is okay.
• We’re all going to fail.
• When we do, we’re going to get back up.
• We will adjust.
• We will adapt.
• We will move quickly.
• We will choose responding and avoid reacting.
• We will challenge the status quos that exits around us – especially our own.
• Then, we will fail again.
• And again.
• And again.
• Right up until we succeed.

Have you embraced the fact we are all going to fail our way to success? How have you gotten comfortable with this concept? Are you building a culture where failure is permitted?