Ron and I love history. The Coke museum in Atlanta is one of our favorites. The museum contains all the vintage pictures, memorabilia and advertising history of the Coca Cola Company.
In one area of the museum there is a vintage cut out poster resembling ones they displayed at a fair. You can stick your head through the opening and voila! you are thin and transported back to earlier days.
Professionals are like the cut out poster when they attempt to lead the general public by misrepresenting truth. It is a devastating mistake to believe that “Truth” doesn’t matter and can be hidden. Professionals can lead you down a rocky path when they emphasize that the surface of what you see is all that matters. Perhaps they don’t realize that every action and every philosophy is connected. What we are and what we truly believe will have an effect on our lives and how we lead others.
A psychologist who can’t be trusted or can’t lead his own family will not be able to tell you how to lead yours. Some believe all they need to do is share what they have learned in class. It doesn’t matter if their own lives have been derailed. It doesn’t matter if their philosophies didn’t work on their own families. Yet, because humans are motivated by our sub-conscious – you can be sure that his advice will lean closer to how he’s lived his life than what he learned in a book.
I encourage you to seek out professionals that are successful in their own faith, family, morals, and personal relationships. I am committed to making sure the professionals I recommend or use are of the highest quality and strive to be their best in their personal life.
We all want to know that the person we confide in is compassionate and well versed in our personal problem. In some cases however, you may be negatively influenced by someone who has “experienced” your problem. For example, it is often comforting to talk over marital problems with a friend who has been divorced. Sharing the same pain can soothe your pain and/or guilt. Unfortunately, if you don’t seek out “successful” marriage counseling, you can develop a philosophy that will actually hurt you in future relationships.
In other words, don’t pattern your life after people who have failed – but rather seek out individuals who are successful. At first it may be hard to hear what they have to say, but over time it will guide you to make better decisions.
Too many times the media, Hollywood, magazines and other influential people try to influence us to believe that the personal life is of no consequence in leadership, celebrities or the business world.
I believe it is a huge consequence. Voting for a man/woman who can’t be successful in his home is like asking a man who lost his own small business to be the CEO of a large company. If you can’t be successful in your personal life, how can you possibly make good decisions for a larger group of people? I also don’t support celebrities that are self-destructing. I understand that the tender hearts and minds of our children are being influenced in a negative way by the unsuccessful personal lives of some celebrities. I don’t appreciate the damage they do.
A CEO of a large company was once asked, “How have you been so successful?” He replied, “I’m not that smart. I lead my company by one rule. I seek out highly successful people and I keep them close. I learn more from successful people than from failures. I encourage them to be honest. I may not like their advice, but it usually saves me from making huge mistakes.”
Be careful who you trust. Make sure they have earned your trust and that they have successful personal lives.
Debbie