The Men of Iron Minute
by Chad Zueck | Director of Content Creation
Meetings & Medicine
Prepping for meetings is not usually the highlight of my week. I haven’t met a person that said, “I can’t wait for that meeting,” so it’s fair to say I feel pressure to have purposeful meetings. Meetings can be like that disgusting medicine your mom used to make you drink; necessary but not necessarily pleasant. And I set the meetings! Sheesh. My approach to meetings has two parts: get things done and help develop the people doing them. What better way to do that than mandatory reading? Exactly.
As I prepped for another riveting meeting, I read Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, and this idea welled up in my mind. How do other people’s expectations affect me? Other people’s expectations and Jesse James have something in common. They are both robbers; one takes wealth, and the other takes energy. Men and women face the tension of people pleasing, meeting other people’s expectations, and being true to themselves. This quote by Rabbi Zusya, a famous Hasidic, intrigues, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me, ‘Why were you not Zusya?”
In other words, why weren’t you being true to yourself? Further, where did you get lost?
Pete Scazzero, the author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, gives these four practical truths to find and stay true to yourself through differentiation.
- Pay Attention to Your Interior in Silence and Solitude
Jesus modeled this, and we must learn this discipline.
- Find Trusted Companions
Mentorships offer a great way to get new, unbiased perspectives.
- Move Out of Your Comfort Zones
Here’s a pivotal question, “Am I living into what God has for me?”
- Pray for Courage
Finding and staying true to yourself in a sea of expectations requires a tsunami-sized revolution within the masculine soul. The size of our God is always bigger than the size of the task. Trust Him. Gain courage. Act.
Be a mentor
Find a mentor.
Be a better man.