Key Leadership | Hungry? Why Wait?

In the church youth group I was a part of in Junior High and High School we had a fantastic song that we learned. It was simply called "As the Deer". The song was written with the words from Psalm 42:1 "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."

Of course in context the song specifically describes the incredible desire that we should have to be close to God. Lets consider taking this song and learning to apply it to multiple areas of our lives.

Our desire for God should be paramount. It is important to our growth as humans to remain in extremely close connection with God.

Lets take a look at the mindset of the author of this verse. David was a king. Meaning, he clearly had some level of success in his life that only a few people at that time in history had ever had the opportunity to attain. I mean, not everyone can be king, correct?

David was a the top of the "corporate food chain" so to speak. His office staff came to work each day looking to him for leadership, whether he wanted it or not. If we look at the life of David in the Bible we can see that he clearly did not WANT to be the king. He often shared in his writings how that he felt unworthy and incapable of leading the people that he was required to lead.

I wonder how many decisions David had to make every day? My guess is, not many.

Leaders of his caliber don't tend to make many decisions every day, they just make a few big decisions that effect the lives of many.

David had a choice though. As the leader in his empire he had to decide his level of hunger. If David was going to achieve any level of success in his life as a leader, he had to remain in constant hunger for better results.

Of course, he wrote in the Book of Psalms that his hunger was for God Almighty, which is the absolute best place to insist that your hunger rests.

Do you think that David was hungry in other areas?

What do you think his morning routine was like? Do you think he was lazy? Do you think he woke up every morning wondering what he was going to do that day? I highly doubt it.

I believe that David lived in a constant state of hunger to be a better leader for his home, for his people and in the eyes of God.

Let me ask you this, What would you say your state of Hunger is? Napoleon Hill uses the term "Burning Desire" often in his book Think and Grow Rich. You can put any label on it, but the bottom line is, are you hungry? Can others see it in your eyes? Can you feel it in your heart? Does it consume your thought?

Here are a couple of statements on helping to define your hunger for better results in your life:

Number One: Hunger is not about being like the other guy. Hunger is found in you and you alone. You cannot be satisfied off of another persons hunger. Associating with people who are hungry will help your hunger increase and develop, but you cannot take someones hunger and make it your own. It must be something that happens in your head and your heart.

Number Two: Hunger is developed with the right information, compounded over time. We've all been there. We are sitting in a fantastic seminar listening to the speaker move the crowd to a standing ovation in the middle of his talk. He is highly inspiring us to make a decision. We make the decision to be hungry. Then the seminar ends and we meet a few people and then walk outside to our car and the person that is not truly hungry will, within merely 15 minutes of feeling hungry will now be more focused on what he is going to eat for dinner.

Dinner is definitely important, however, just as our stomach needs good food our brain needs better information to begin to make good decisions based on this newfound hunger that we have. Get started with feeding your hunger for better results by listening to good information. Find a good book, audio book, podcast, YouTube Channel, seminar, speaker whatever it may be but you must act immediately to satisfy that hunger for better results. I would highly recommend the Total Personal Development Platform*

Number Three: Satisfying Hunger in your life begins by identifying the results you want first. Covey says, "Begin with the end in mind."

In many cases in your life, a short term vision of what you want is what is keeping you from satisfying the hunger you have developed.

You can define your result by saying something unsatisfying like, "I want to close more deals" or you can say something better like, "Today I am closing four new deals with highly satisfied and qualified customers and everything I do brings about a perfect end result." This different defining process will help keep your mind and heart on pace with the right kind of hunger.

Staying hungry is not easy at first, but it is possible. I love what Orrin Woodward says, "In life we are either moving forward or backward, but we are never staying still." You will never remain in the same state you are currently in. Choose to keep moving forward and you will see the result you want.

Number Four: You must figure out how much it will cost you and immediately pay the price. Think of physical hunger. If you are in the desert and you see a lemonade stand in the distance. Because your hunger level is very high you run as fast as you can with the expectation that you will have a delicious glass of lemonade to satisfy your thirst. You arrive at the stand and you see that the cost of a cup of ice cold lemonade is priced at the ridiculously high price of $3. You can make a choice. You can either take $3 out of your pocket and enjoy a nice cold glass of lemonade or you can go on without anything to drink hoping that something cheaper comes along later. If you are hungry you will gladly pay the $3, won't you? Of course you would! The same principle applies to getting better results.

If you want better results, the question should never be, "How much does it cost?" it should always be "When can I pay?"

If you are more concerned about the cost then you are likely not hungry enough and you need to dream bigger. Kind David lived his life in a constant state of hunger for better results. I would argue that anyone who has achieved any level of success in their life lives their life in a constant state of hunger for better results.

Hungry? Why wait? Go for it now! Always take your hunger to the next level and you will start seeing the results you want.

* For information on the Total Personal Development Platform, please contact Dan Rodgers at [email protected]