I am a big John Maxwell fan and I spit out some of his quotes like I came up with them, things like: “Leaders are Learners, Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership, When You Quit Learning You Quit Leading, Teamwork Makes The Dream Work”. I feel like he is one of the best if not the best Leadership principle guys out there. I also feel like when you think that you have it all figured out and you are done learning then you are in trouble.
But, I have been wrestling with this thought lately; Can constant input negatively affect you? Or for most of the readers of this blog, your church?
I have all the best business books, all the best leadership books, the best audio’s from conferences over the last 5 years. I subscribe to the best blogs and I am constantly keeping up with the latest things that are working.
I have some phenomenal resources at my fingertips and to be honest two thoughts that I am wrestling with right now are:
- Information Overload
- What about my unique footprint
Hear me out before you write me off. I think that networking is extremely important. I think you have to be teachable. I think you have to look at what’s working and don’t reinvent the wheel, but I think there has to be seasons where you take what you have learned, combine that with the dreams and gifts that God has given you and blaze a trail. In other words, constant input and no output or the wrong output can leave you pretty backed up and off track.
This is probably the most important part of this that I have been wrestling with. Sometimes we spend so much time reading, listening and watching that we miss what God wants us to do. Or we do something that he told someone else to do because we are taking our cues from them not Him.
Please don’t misunderstand or misuse what I am saying. Learning is important but if you don’t wrestle to the ground how do I use this, then you didn’t learn anything. And if you stay so busy consuming resources that you don’t know what direction your heading or how to lead the troops, then you are in trouble.
Daryl Strickland 
It all comes down to you. You can take it all in, but if you don’t make it yours, it pass right through you. How does it make you unique? If it doesn’t, you’re wasting your time and will go into overload. If it does, you become better, more ‘you.’
It is so true what you just wrote. Then Joe made what you said really “come alive” even more. You guys facinate me!
Daryl,
Good write here! I wrestle with this too.
Thanks for putting words to this…
I met you at the Unleashed Conference in the hallway with my buddy Jeff.
It’s awesome to see what God is doing in your life and through the church!
Peace!
Paul
There is so much knowledge out there. I think there is a lot of truth in the saying “If you don’t use it you lose it” If knowledge just stays in your head and it is not applied into real life situations, it loses it’s value, and can easiliy be forgotten.