5 key phrases for remarkable living (3 of 5)

“Pursue collaboration” (Part 3 of a 5-part series on living a remarkable life. Click here to read part 1 or part 2)

I don’t know what’s so glamorous about the one man show, but, especially in western culture, we pride ourselves on being able to accomplish great things alone. Unfortunately, it’s an attitude that is often more to our detriment than to our good.

In 1980, one of the greatest moments in sports history took place in Lake Placid, NY, during the winter olympics. A group of exceptionally average hockey players came together in one precise moment, and David slew Goliath on ice. The U.S. hockey team was a compilation of good (not great) college hockey players who finally figured out how to unite as a team, and how to overcome great adversity.

The game known as “The Miracle on Ice” wasn’t even for the gold medal -- it was for a chance to play for the gold. But it is a game that few will ever forget as Coach Herb Brooks led his boys to one of the most unlikely victories, ever.

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There is so much written about this great event, and several excellent movies and documentaries have been made. As I’ve watched and read many of them, one profound truth emerges in all of them, and it’s this: no single player won the game for this team -- it was the whole unit coming together that led them to greatness.

Pursuing collaboration is a significant key in the process of living remarkably. While moments in life emerge when individual talent or determination are central components of our story, it’s in collaboration that we find the key to long-term success. During the great hockey game between the U.S. and Russia, individual players stepped up at key moments: Mark Johnson’s timely goal at the end of the first period led the soviet’s to bench their legendary goaltender; Mike Eruzione’s goal put the U.S. up 4-3; U.S. goaltender Jimmy Craig stopped everything hit at him in the final ten minutes.

Not one of those plays or players was more significant than the other, yet none of them would be remembered today, without the collective impact of all of them. The collaboration of the team led to team greatness, and to what Al Michael’s would remember as the greatest sports moment he ever had: “Eleven seconds. You got ten seconds...the countdown going on right now. Five seconds left in the game! Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

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Living remarkably demands that you and I pursue collaboration. The Bible is full of ordinary men and women who lived remarkable lives when they collaborated with others in chasing after God’s story. Peter the fisherman walked on water, healed the sick and preached before great leaders in collaboration with his brother, best friend and other followers of Christ. Esther was chosen only for her beauty, and soon became queen and saved a nation in collaboration with her uncle. David was a shepherd, whose friendship with Jonathan propelled him to be a man of incredible character (just as his collaboration with Joab influenced his demise...a topic for another blog). Paul, Sarah, Mary, John, Gideon, Deborah and the list goes on and on, of people who lived remarkably as they learned to collaborate with others.

Rarely in Scripture do we see instances where just one man, or one woman, is set apart for God’s work without them being put in direct connection with others. In fact, I can’t think of any such instances! Even Jesus, God’s own Son, walked this earth in collaboration with others as He fulfilled the Father’s plan for His life.

The point is this: collaboration makes us better. Collaboration allows us to improve our thinking, better our products, increase our influence and expand our reach as we strive to live remarkably according to our divinely created designs! Collaboration, not isolation, allows us to more efficiently and effectively complete the race God has given to each of us.

Remember, remarkable living happens when:

1. Mediocrity is unacceptable
2. [We] Always deliver excellence
3. [We] Pursue collaboration

How are you pursuing collaboration? Who is one person you could contact, right now, in order to collaborate on your dreams and their dreams as you both try to live the Overboard Life?

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

5 key phrases for remarkable living (2 of 5)

“Always deliver excellence.” (Part 2 of a 5-part series on living a remarkable life. Click here to read part 1)

In my last post, we discussed the importance of the phrase, “Mediocrity is unacceptable” to those wanting to live remarkable lives. And once mediocrity is set aside, excellence must become the standard.

The problem in trying to deliver excellence, is that excellence has a relative quality to it. Something that may be excellent to you, may or may not be excellent to someone else. You may look at one painting and call it excellent while I may scoff. On the other hand, I might call a ninth inning at-bat in the playoffs, excellent, while you may deem it overgrown boys playing a game (and in this case, we might both be right!).

But excellence must be defined if we are going to deliver in our quest to live remarkably. Despite its elusive nature, and somewhat relative context, there are some basic tenets to creating excellence in our lives. As I have reflected over products, projects and relationships in my life, I think excellence is a by-product of these five qualities:

1. Excellence is a by-product of effort: Excellence doesn’t happen on its own, and isn’t a product of being ‘natural’ at it. Excellence is achieved through hard work. But hard work, by itself, isn’t enough -- you can work hard to produce something of poor quality. Hard work, in the right way for the right reason, is an essential ingredient in excellence. If you’re not willing to work hard, you won’t, you can’t, achieve it. And keep in mind that effort must become a daily habit, not merely last minute frantic activity.
2. Excellence is a by-product of ruthlessly eliminating mediocrity: Mediocrity cannot be an acceptable result of your effort, or the work of your company or organization. Mediocrity and excellence are mutually exclusive: when you settle or pursue the one, you immediately eliminate the other. Check out part 1 of this series for more information on getting rid of mediocrity.
3. Excellence is a by-product of passion: Passion is the component of excellence that shows itself, even when no one else is looking. When you care, when you are consumed by what you are working on, the barriers become opportunities and obstacles become invigorating challenges to be conquered. When asked about how he created his famous angel sculpture, Michelangelo responded, "I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free." Passion is the fuel of excellence.
4. Excellence is a by-product of collaboration: While no one will care about your work, your creation or your family as much as you will, excellence can only be achieved when the efforts, passions and skills of others are harnessed in cooperation. Finding like-minded people to support, improve and increase your efforts is crucial in the pursuit of excellence.
5. Excellence is a by-product of finishing: Too many ventures, books, businesses, jobs, marriages and products fall by the wayside because people don’t finish. Excellence is hard, but worth the effort. Don’t give up when chasing your dreams and goals, finish them completely.

There you have it, my five thoughts about excellence. As you try to live the Overboard life, what would you add to this list?

So far we’ve talked about two key phrases to a remarkable life:

1. Mediocrity is unacceptable
2. Always deliver excellence

Stay tuned for the remaining three phrases.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

5 Key Phrases for Remarkable Living (1 of 5)

“Mediocrity is unacceptable” I’m reading, Platform, by Michael Hyatt, and came across this great quote:

“The truth is, mediocrity is natural. You don’t have to do anything to drift there. It just happens.”

That statement is true whether you’re talking about writing books, building houses, teaching children, preaching on Sundays, cleaning bathrooms or changing diapers. Mediocrity is easy and requires zero effort on our part.

Living the Overboard life means you and I must believe (and therefore act) that mediocre living is unacceptable.

That’s really the heart of the my latest book, Project Nehemiah: Making your life truly remarkable. Overboard living doesn’t happen by accident. It doesn’t happen because you’ve read a lot of books on how to make your life meaningful. Overboard living -- living the life of faith out on the water where Jesus is building His Kingdom, instead of in the comfort of the boat -- demands intentional excellence.

But I’m convinced that intentional excellence begins when we determine that mediocrity is unacceptable. We may not always know each step of the journey when we start out, and we may not always grasp the magnitude of the climb we embark on, but each of us knows, feels, the failure of mediocrity when we encounter it.

When I was in college, I worked on a project with two friends that involved the explanation and demonstration of how a fire extinguisher works. We did a lot of research, interviewed some experts and then developed a plan for our presentation. It was my job to actually pick up a working fire extinguisher and I had decided it would be cool to light something on fire, and then put it out using the device after our thorough presentation.

I checked out some options for my big fire, and realized there were some obstacles to making this happen. I didn’t even try to find a solution and in the end, after the wonderful presentation by my two classmates, I held up a fire extinguisher, demonstrated it’s fine features, and set it back down unused. Despite the humor I used to offset my mediocrity, I knew I didn’t earn my part of the “A” the professor gave our team.

To this day, I wish I had worked out a way to do a live demonstration of that fire extinguisher. Doing my mediocre part, however, was easy. I settled because I wasn’t committed to something better. I hadn’t determined that mediocrity was unacceptable, and so drifting there was simple.

Overboard living begins when, in faith, we step out in action and choose to reject mediocrity. No matter what other options you and I face, we must start be declaring that mediocrity is unacceptable. Once the mediocre choices are taken off the board, whatever else is left, regardless of the obstacles that may come with those choices, are the options we must pursue.

Think about your journey right now. Are you in the midst of some tough choices? Start here: take the mediocre decisions off the table. As you look at your options, determine that mediocrity is unacceptable, and as you do, the choices that demand intentional excellence will come into clarity. You may not know what the next move is, but you will know what it isn’t.

This five part series will give you five phrases that are key concepts in remarkable living. Are you ready to live Overboard? If so, mediocrity is unacceptable.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!