7- Day Devotional, Developing The Leader Within You 2.0 Mfano

“For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

“Like a city whose walls are broken through is the person who lacks self-control.” – Proverbs 25:28

As leaders, our greatest challenge in leadership is leading ourselves first. We can’t expect to take others farther than we have gone ourselves. We must travel within before we can travel without. Many highly gifted leaders have stopped far short of their potential because they were not willing to pay this price. They tried to take the fast track to leadership only to find that shortcuts never pay off in the long run.

There is a truth you need to recognize, not just for leadership, but for everything in life. For the last year or so I have been teaching it extensively to people wherever I go.

Ready? 

Here it is: everything worthwhile is uphill.

You may be saying, “Now that you’ve pointed it out, I can see that. Good. Okay. Let’s move on. What’s next?” 

But I want you to stop for a minute and think about this. Everything worthwhile is uphill. The word everything is inclusive. It’s all-encompassing. Pair that with worthwhile—the things that are desirable, appropriate, good for you, attractive, beneficial. So when you think about that, it’s very significant. Anything and everything you desire in life, everything you would like to strive for, is uphill, meaning the pursuit of it is challenging, grueling, exhausting, strenuous, and difficult.

The implications are simple: there are no such things as accidental achievements. No person who has climbed the mountain of success ever said, “I have no idea how I got to the top of this mountain. I just woke up one day, and here I was.” No leader who ever led people to do something significant did it without great effort. Any climb uphill must be deliberate, consistent, and willful. It is very intentional.

The statement “Everything worthwhile is uphill” not only describes life, but explains the reason self-discipline is so essential for a successful life.