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Lessons from Joseph the Dreamer

September 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

When you think about dreams in the Bible, there are probably two individuals that come to mind: Daniel and Joseph. Both of these men were used by God to have and interpret dreams several times. I spoke about Daniel in a previous post (“What’s Your Dream“). This post is a focus on what Joseph did with his dreams and how he reacted.

This is part 3 of this series: Part 1 - ”What’s Your Dream“; Part 2 – “You’re Living in a Dream World”

Photo by Jaime Duplass | PhotoXpress.com

Photo by Jaime Duplass | PhotoXpress.com

As a child, Joseph was having dreams. It wasn’t a “never-ending fall” dream or a “can’t run from the danger” dream. It wasn’t a “get embarrassed in front of a crowd” dream either. It was a dream with significance. There was  substance and meaning to his dream. His family – mom, dad, and brothers – hated his dreams and discouraged him.

Lesson: We need to learn to realize and accept our dreams. We also need to make sure that we are not squelching the dreams of others – especially of family members. Even if a dream seems far-fetching, who are we to say they can’t accomplish it? History is filled with examples of people that started as “nothing” and became “something”.

By the way: becoming “someone” is not the measure of success. Accomplishing God’s purpose for your life – even seemingly insignificant things.

2. Joseph shared his dreams

He was open with his dreams. He knew they weren’t something that he could just keep to himself. His dreams were meant to be shared. Even when there was opposition, he still shared the dreams.

We need to learn to share our dreams with others. It can be a source of encouragement – even if there is opposition or if it seems impossible. Studies have shown (and I’ve seen it in my own life) that the more senses and more associations you make with something, it is easier to remember. Sharing our dream can keep it alive in our lives.

In business, ministry, or other public situations, we need to learn to share our dreams there as well. Every organization needs a clear vision or dream. This vision needs to be shared – and shared often – for others to catch the vision for themselves.

3. Joseph helped others understand their dreams

As Joseph was following his dreams, he was not self-absorbed. He was also actively working to help others. While he was in prison, the Bible records two men that Joseph worked with and interpreted their dreams for. One was a bad situation, but honesty was the right and proper thing for him to do. This focus on others led him to the Pharaoh, which was the fulfilling on his own dream.

We need to take time to help others work through their own situations – figuring out their dreams. Even when we haven’t “arrived” yet. Most of the time, helping others is part of the process of “arriving”.

4. Joseph was patient and diligent

Knowing your dreams as a child would be difficult. A short attention span and a want-it-now attitude would have worked against Joseph. With God’s help, he was able to wait patiently for years before seeing his dream unfold. Throughout this time, he was also diligent to do everything that he could do, even if it didn’t seem to have a direct connection to his dream. I mean, who would have thought that listening to two convicts tell their dream would have led to him becoming the second highest person in the world?

Patience is “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.” Most of us are rarely patient if we take this definition. But all of us need to learn patience. How do we learn patience? By going through problems, and going through them without getting angry or upset.

5. Joseph was grateful for his opportunities

You don’t see a sense of hostility on Joseph’s part. Yes, he did have a little “fun” with his brothers when they first came to Egypt; but that’s what brothers are for, right? Genesis 50:20 says: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

Gratefulness is such a vital virtue that we need to cultivate. Not just saying “thank you,” but really being grateful from the heart. Attitude is the key that determines the outcome of our circumstances.

Question: How can you learn from Joseph’s example?

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You’re Living in a Dream World

September 11, 2012 by 3 Comments

Many times, it takes a big event to wake us up and motivate us to do something. In the movie, The Matrix, the main character Neo has the sense that something is wrong…or different (“What’s Your Dream?”). He’s just not sure what it is. When he meets Morpheus and is set free from the Matrix, he is given an explanation: “You’ve been living in a dream world, Neo.”

In our own lives, big events also thrust us into situations that demand a choice – a decision. Some choose to attack full force – holding nothing back. Others choose to do nothing – trying to remain hidden in the familiar.

On 9/11 (eleven years ago today), there was a huge event that took our nation, and the world, into a state of drastic change. A wide-spread attempt was made to increase security. If the attack that day never occurred, the breaches in security would not have been noticed. It was the trauma of the day that woke people up and drove them to action.

We all have dreams of what we would like to be or do. Sometimes we have to take some time to realize what our dream is, but we then have to take action to make the dream into a reality.

Using our Matrix illustration, Neo displays seven steps we go through in this process:

1. Denial

Neo went through a time of denial immediately. We will tend to do the same. Things can be shocking, and it takes time to absorb and adjust. We often try to deny the truth.

2. Acceptance

After some time, he came to grips with reality. He started accept the truth. If we are going to progress in life, we need to learn to accept the reality we find ourselves in. We need to realize that we can’t decide what our situation will be, just how we respond to it.

3. Gather information

Neo began to learn some more about the situation and the specifics of the problem. After realizing and accepting our reality, we need to start learning more. When it comes to our dreams, we need to find out more information about the specific needs, problems, and obstacles that could come.

4. Preparation

Neo began a host of training sessions to mentally prepare. After we gather some information, we can begin to prepare to meet the needs and overcome the problems. This will involve some reading, listening, studying, and/or taking a class (or several classes).

5. Practice

Neo had been going through the training sessions one after another, but Morpheus came to turn that preparation into practice. We can only get so far on head knowledge. We must also start doing what we are learning. This is when the knowledge begins to make sense and the parts start coming together. This is when knowledge becomes wisdom.

6. Begin to believe

As Neo is taken into the Matrix, he speaks with the Oracle; who gives him some information and advice. He then has to confront the agents, which causes him to begin to believe that he can do what he has been preparing for.

We also need to come to this place. Getting practice will help to develop some courage and confidence, but getting additional advice and instruction really helps to give a boost at this point. Ultimately our strength comes from God (Phil. 4:13), but we also need to have a sense of growing our faith.

7. Gain confidence

Neo’s confidence begins to take tremendous steps after a victory over the agents. Eventually, the small victories we enjoy coupled with our growing faith will lead to greater victories. We will start to see definite progress as we work toward our dream and purpose.

Question: What things have helped you to realize your reality and begin to work toward your dream?

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What’s Your Dream?

September 10, 2012 by 7 Comments

Photo by chrisharvey | PhotoXpress.com

In Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzer woke up one morning knowing he had a dream. It was a troubling dream – maybe a nightmare. The problem was that he couldn’t remember what it was. Maybe you can identify with his situation.

He was determined to find out what the dream meant, so he called the various magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers to come. He demanded that they figure out what the dream was and then tell him what it meant. They, of course, felt that this is a setup – how could they possibly know what the dream was?

The prophet, Daniel, was able to go to the king and, with God’s help, deliver what the king required. He recounted the dream. Then he told him what the dream meant.

In life, we need to know what our dream is. As kids, we have great dreams of what we want to be or what we want to do with our lives. Somehow, as we grow up, we lose touch with those dreams. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The bad part is that it doesn’t get replaced by a new dream.

Jon Acuff’s book “Quitter” speaks about making the change from your day job to your dream job. I told my wife I got the book, and it scared her a little. She felt better after I told her that his first piece of advice was to not quit…yet. His book also helps to clarify and understand what you dream really is.

Dan Miller also speaks about this a lot. It seems that his life is centered around helping people find their dream and work to transition into it.

We need to look at our life and really see what our dream is. Only then can we take that dream and try to do something with it. Without it, we wake up feeling that something is going on, but we can’t quite figure it out.

Here are three simple tips I’ve gleaned about finding your dream:

1. What is it that gets you excited?

2. What is something in your past that you were good at and enjoyed doing?

3. What do you look forward to doing now that you have talent in?

 

Next post: “You’re Living in a Dream World“

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Training Yourself Out of Your Job

August 26, 2012 by 6 Comments

No matter what your position is, you should try to train yourself out of your job. I don’t mean that should make yourself useless. Train someone else to do your job so you can move on as well.

At my current job, I am helping to train a couple of people. One of those people is training in my position. The more that he is able to learn and do on his own, the more it frees me up to do other things. I work in a factory, and I have a good grasp on all the areas of my machine. As a result, I am able to help teach people to do their job better.

I have a goal of getting out of this line of work. It’s not my passion. When I do leave, I will probably not look back and worry about how they are progressing. I will, however, want to know that I left them the best that I possibly could. Part of that is training my replacement.

You don’t have to approach the person and say that you are training them to replace you. That may either scare them out of it, or they could try to work at getting you out faster!

I think of the movie “Men in Black.” Will Smith plays the part of a rookie agent under Tommy Lee Jones. At the end, Jones says that he hasn’t been training a partner, but a replacement. Even though he was a cocky, know-it-all, Smith hesitantly, but decidedly, took the new role.

Surely there’s something else, or something more, that you would like to do. Training someone to do what you can free you up to pursue that.

Filed Under: Education, Leadership

Learning the “Why” to Do the “What”

August 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been busy helping to train some people. One person is new and having to learn everything. Another person is just learning a new position. I have noticed that not everyone worries about why something needs to be done, or what the process is to arrive at a conclusion. Some just want the end result told to them so they can do it.

Photo by Andrey Kiselev/PhotoXpress.com

I have tried to explain why something needs to be done. Understanding why helps me to see the importance of something. If I don’t see the importance, I may still do it, but the urgency may not be there. I personally have a craving to understand something before doing it – sometimes to a fault.

Even those that don’t have a craving to understand are affected if they don’t know the “why.” They become robots, simply executing commands. They don’t make decisions, but rather turn to someone else to make the decision. These type of people don’t seem to advance.

I was training a guy in a factory that asked how many units to send down the conveyor at a time. He was looking for a straight simple answer that he could execute. I took a minute to explain how figure it out. When I finally got to the answer (1 minute later), he said that’s all I had to say (just to give him the answer, not the explanation). I tried to explain to him that I was showing him how to figure it out on his own. Teach him to fish instead of just giving him a fish.

This eventually causes them frustration. “I’ve been doing this for ___ years, and they still won’t promote me!” These are the workers that complain that management is unfair and pick favorites. This may be the case in some places, but management is looking for people that can make decisions.

Granted, there may be times that the explanation may have to be skipped temporarily to keep things going. But time must be taken shortly afterward to teach the principle behind the practice.

Making decisions requires an understand of why. Excellence requires understanding why. Achievement, advancement, and success require understanding why. A winning team is built when all the team members understand what is going on and why it is going on.

Question: How has understanding something made you better?

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