Before I'm 40...

Yesterday I linked to an article in which John Maxwell identifies ten things young leaders should do before reaching age 40. As I face the prospect of reaching that milestone in 14 months time, I thought I’d jot down some thoughts of my own on each of Maxwell’s headings. This will serve as a helpful checklist for myself over the next year, and if its of benefit to anyone else, then great!

1. Know yourself
I have blogged extensively elsewhere about the significance of personality – how we mustn’t be straitjacketed by our Myers-Briggs profile, but how it is helpful to have an understanding of our personality.

If we are to work and serve most effectively we need to understand how we work and serve best. This doesn’t have to be rocket science. It can be as simple as understanding when your energy peaks and troughs occur in a typical day and scheduling your workload accordingly. It means working more on your strengths (the things you are good at and get energy from) than your weaknesses (the things you are not good at and which drain you). It means being the person the grace of God has enabled you to be [1 Corinthians 15:10].

There seems to be significance about working yourself out before you hit 40. I see lots of guys get past 40 and sink into a quiet despair with themselves. The truth is, most of us want to be a Mark Driscoll, Rick Warren, John Maxwell, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, David Beckham [insert your icon of choice here] but that most of us never will. By definition these men are exceptional, and most of us are somewhere nearer average. We get to 40 and the reality of our averageness can hit us hard – where we are is probably about where we are going to be. Do we have the maturity to handle this or will we slip into middle-aged apathy and cynicism. Do I have the maturity to handle it?!

Young leaders need to get to know themselves early on, so they can accomplish the tasks God has given them to do and not try and accomplish someone else’s. Try and be someone else and we’ll only collapse in a disappointed heap in our 40’s. The Apostle Paul’s instructions about contentment are helpful here [Philippians 4:11-13]. Know yourself, and be content.