0:07

Hey , leader , and welcome to another episode of the L3

0:09

Leadership Podcast , where we are obsessed with

0:11

helping you grow to your maximum potential and to

0:13

maximize the impact of your leadership . My

0:16

name is Doug Smith and I am your host , and today's episode

0:18

is brought to you by my friends at Beratung Advisors

0:20

. We also recorded this episode live from

0:22

the new reiturn . com studio . If

0:24

you're new to the podcast , welcome . I'm so glad

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that you're here and I hope that you enjoy our content and become

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a subscriber . Know that you can also watch

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all of our episodes over on our YouTube channel , so

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make sure you're subscribed there as well . And

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, as always , if you've been listening to the podcast for a while

0:37

and it's made an impact on your life , it would mean the world to

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me if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts

0:42

or Spotify or whatever app you listen to a podcast

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through . That really does help us to grow our audience and

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reach more leaders , so thank you in advance for

0:48

that . Well , leader , in today's episode you'll

0:50

hear a personal lesson that I recorded called how to

0:52

Develop the Courage and Tenacity you Need

0:55

to Pursue the Dreams in your Heart , and I recorded

0:57

this lesson in response to having a ton of

0:59

people come up to me over the years and just saying Doug

1:01

, I really want to start a company or a ministry

1:04

or a nonprofit , or I want to write a book , I want

1:06

to start a podcast , and then years go by

1:08

and they never actually pursue the dreams

1:10

that they had in their heart . And so my hope today is

1:12

that through this lesson , you'll be encouraged to

1:14

pursue the dreams in your heart and you'll at

1:16

least be equipped to develop the tenacity

1:19

you need to not give up on your dream , and

1:21

so I really hope that this will add value to you . But before we

1:23

dive into that , just a few announcements . This

1:26

episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast is sponsored

1:29

by Beratung Advisors . The financial

1:31

advisors at Beratung Advisors help educate

1:33

and empower clients to make informed financial

1:35

decisions . You can find out how Beratung

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Advisors can help you develop a customized financial

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plan for your financial future by visiting

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their website at beratungadv isors . com

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. That's B-E-R-A-T-U-N-G-Advisorscom

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. Securities and Investment Products

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and Services offered through LPL Financial

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member FINRA and SIPC . Beratung

1:55

Advisors , lpl Financial and L3 Leadership

1:57

are separate entities . I

1:59

also want to thank a they're a jeweler

2:01

owned by my friend and mentor , John Henne , and

2:04

my wife Laura and I got our engagement and wedding rings

2:06

through Henne Jewelers and had an incredible experience

2:08

. And not only do they have great jewelry

2:10

, but they also invest in people . In fact , for every

2:12

couple that comes in engaged , they give them a book to

2:14

help them prepare for marriage , and we just love that . So

2:17

if you're in need of a good jeweler , check out Hennejewelers . com

2:20

. And I also want to thank our new sponsor

2:22

, reiturn . com . And leader , let me just ask you

2:24

this have you ever had an interest in investing

2:27

in real estate ? Well , now , for as little as $500

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, you can become a commercial real estate investor

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. Just visit reiturn . com to

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learn more . That's

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R-E-I-T-U-R-N . com . Investing

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involves risk . Please consult the return offering

2:40

circular if you're interested in investing . And

2:43

with all that being said , let's dive right in . Here's my lesson

2:45

on how to develop the courage and tenacity you

2:47

need to pursue the dreams in your heart . Hey

2:52

, leader , today I'd like to talk to you on the subject how

2:54

to develop the courage and tenacity needed

2:56

to pursue the dreams in your heart . And

2:59

the reason I'm doing this lesson is for years now , I've

3:01

had people come up to me and say I

3:03

love that you do this podcast , I love that you started

3:05

L3 and now I love that you wrote a book

3:07

, and I wish I could do something like that . I've

3:09

always wanted to start a podcast , I've always wanted

3:11

to start a ministry , I've always wanted to start

3:13

my own business . And I hear them say it over and over again

3:16

I've always , I've always , I've always , and

3:18

I've heard some of those people say that for years and

3:20

they have nothing to show for it , and

3:22

I know that's discouraging and frustrating for them , and

3:25

I get frustrated too . It's like , hey , come on , let's go . And

3:28

so what I want to do in today's lesson is simply encourage

3:30

you and hopefully equip you to one develop

3:32

the courage necessary to actually launch

3:34

and follow the dreams in your heart , but also

3:37

to develop the tenacity that you're going to

3:39

need to actually follow your dream through

3:41

until it becomes whatever God wants

3:43

it to become . And so I hope this lesson will be helpful

3:45

for you , and I just want to start by just saying

3:47

I hope you realize that this is the one and only

3:49

life that you get . You know

3:51

I share this quote often on the podcast , but it

3:53

impacts me every time I say it or hear it . May

3:55

West said this . She said you only live once , but

3:58

if you do it right , once is enough If

4:00

you do it right . Once is enough . And

4:02

here's what I know life is way too short for you

4:05

not to dream big and go for it . Life

4:07

is way too short for you not to pursue the

4:10

dreams that God has put in your heart . You're

4:12

only here for a few years . We only get a few breaths , so

4:14

let's make the most of it . So how do

4:16

we do that ? Let's dive in Number one . How

4:18

do you develop the courage and tenacity needed to

4:20

pursue your dream ? Number one when

4:22

God puts something on your heart , do it

4:24

. Or , in the words of Nike , just

4:26

do it Right . And

4:28

so I believe that God has a purpose and

4:30

a plan for your life . I believe he has dreams that

4:33

help put in your heart , but that's going to require

4:35

a relationship with him . You're going to need

4:37

to spend time with him , and

4:39

so you know I say this all the time , but I

4:41

truly do believe that you could live a thousand

4:44

lives living out your own

4:46

plans that you have for your life , and it would never compare

4:48

to the one life and the one adventure

4:50

that God has for you , and that's why it's so important

4:52

to seek him . Following God and following his

4:54

plan for your life is the most exciting life

4:56

adventure you could ever possibly live , and

4:59

so you have to have a relationship with him , which is that look like

5:01

number one . You need to spend time with him in prayer . You

5:03

need to spend time with him in worship and

5:06

in the word . You need to be led by the spirit

5:08

. I really encourage you to journal go to church

5:10

. But as you grow in your relationship with

5:12

God , he'll start to reveal to you one

5:15

gift , giftings and talents that are in you

5:17

that you never knew were there . That's one thing I love

5:19

about God . There's so much in you that God wants to

5:21

draw out , and that can only be drawn

5:24

out as you walk with him . And

5:26

as those giftings and talents start to come out , all

5:28

of a sudden you start to develop dreams in

5:30

your heart , and I believe a lot of times those

5:32

dreams are God given , and

5:34

so when God starts to give you a dream , I

5:37

want to encourage you do it right

5:39

. The ultimate what the dream may look like

5:41

in the end 50 years from now . Yeah

5:43

, it's not going to look like that in the beginning , but the

5:45

important part is , if you feel like God has prompted

5:47

you and put a dream in your heart to actually start

5:50

taking steps for that . Well , how do you do that ? Number

5:53

two you need to look for opportunities and be

5:55

willing to do it afraid . You

5:58

need to be willing to look for opportunities and

6:00

be willing to do it afraid

6:02

. So , again , if you feel

6:04

like God has started , you know , put something

6:06

on your heart to do . Look for opportunities

6:09

. A few examples I'll use in my life for

6:11

me , starting the podcast , right when

6:14

I was young , I always , when I was 18 years old and

6:16

first started listening to John Maxwell's content I

6:18

had a dream that one day I wanted to be like

6:20

John , I wanted to be an author , I wanted to be

6:22

a leadership speaker . I didn't

6:24

know what that would look like , though , but that was the dream

6:26

that I had in my heart . And so , all

6:28

of a sudden , my youth pastor , who is my mentor

6:30

, larry Bettencourt . He would start bringing in business

6:33

leaders to speak to us when we were interning

6:35

at his church , and he would say hey

6:37

, if you heard John speak today and

6:39

you really connected with John , you should

6:41

ask him , ask John to

6:43

coffee and ask him to mentor you , and

6:46

he would do that every month . And so , as an intern , as

6:48

an 18 year old kid , I started asking these

6:50

leaders out on a monthly basis and

6:52

I would ask them to mentor me . I would come prepared

6:54

with questions and it was amazing

6:57

, I was getting mentored by masters

6:59

on a monthly basis . Well , after about 10

7:01

years of doing that , I realized that all of my

7:03

peers started coming to me and saying wow

7:05

, doug , I can't believe you could spend time with all these awesome

7:07

leaders I wish I could to which I would always

7:10

respond Well , have you ever asked ? And

7:12

99% of the time they had never asked . They never

7:14

took advantage of potential opportunities . But

7:17

I saw that as an opportunity and I thought Hmm , what

7:19

if I actually started recording my conversations

7:22

with leaders and started putting that

7:24

on a podcast , so that not only will my

7:26

conversations benefit me , but they'll benefit anyone

7:28

who would listen to it ? It was an opportunity

7:30

. I didn't know that it would lead to the podcast

7:32

being what it is today or all these other opportunities

7:35

and doors that it's opened up . I just saw an

7:37

opportunity that was in line with the dream that God

7:39

put in my heart and I just said I'm going to do this and

7:42

let me encourage you . In the beginning it wasn't very good , like

7:44

I bought a 50 , laura actually bought me

7:46

a $50 recorder on Amazon

7:48

and I literally I

7:51

didn't know who I would interview . The first person I asked was

7:53

my father-in-law . He said yes , and we

7:55

sat down on a couch . I put the recorder in the middle of the

7:57

table and just started recording my conversation

7:59

with him . Like it was as easy as that

8:01

, but it was an opportunity that I saw and

8:03

I had to take action . Again , the

8:05

steps that you're required to actually start

8:08

making steps towards your dream are seemingly

8:10

small in the beginning , but they're not

8:12

small in the large scheme of things . Take

8:14

those small steps , look for opportunities

8:16

and be willing to do it afraid . You know , it's a courage

8:19

for me to put the podcast out there . Well

8:22

, what if nobody listens ? What

8:24

if people think I'm dumb ? What if people think it's stupid

8:26

that I have a leadership podcast ? I'm only you

8:28

know however old I was when I started maybe

8:30

25 . No one . I

8:32

have no credibility . But I just said , hey , I

8:34

feel like this is something I'm supposed to do in my heart . I'm

8:36

going to do it , afraid , and I put it out there

8:38

. The same thing happened with starting L3 leadership

8:41

. I felt , you know , after a

8:43

few years I was doing the podcast

8:45

and I started getting around this

8:47

organization of Pittsburgh called the Pittsburgh

8:49

Leadership Foundation and they have

8:51

this whole vision . Then I don't have time

8:53

to tell the story from a man named Reed Carpenter

8:56

, and the vision is to make Pittsburgh

8:58

as famous for God as it was for

9:00

steel , or in today's world you could say

9:02

the Steelers . But it was to make Pittsburgh

9:04

famous for God . And I felt drawn

9:06

to that vision . So did Lara , and

9:09

so I spent an hour and a half on the phone with

9:11

the leader of that movement . His name is Reed

9:13

Carpenter . I'm going to be having him on the podcast shortly

9:15

. I'm really excited for you to hear that . But I

9:17

spent an hour and a half on the phone with Reed and

9:20

I said , reed , I essentially want to do

9:22

for my generation what you did for your generation

9:24

by building leaders . What do I need

9:26

to do ? And he said , doug , just

9:28

simply start gathering leaders and

9:30

see what the Holy Spirit does . It

9:32

was as simple as that Just gather leaders and see what the

9:35

Holy Spirit does . And I was scared

9:37

. I was like , okay , I feel like I'm supposed to do this . I feel

9:39

like I'm supposed to start gathering leaders , but

9:42

I'm scared . Or , if nobody shows up , et cetera . Well , lara

9:44

, thank God I have an awesome wife . Lara

9:46

actually created a Facebook event and said it

9:48

was called Learning to Lead . At the time she said Learning to Lead

9:51

Vision Night . Doug is launching this organization

9:54

. Come join us on Mount Washington for a night

9:56

of vision and prayer . And

9:58

I was scared to death and I was sweating the

10:00

whole time , even going to this meeting , I didn't want

10:02

to go . I didn't . Anyway , I get

10:04

there and I think we had 15 people come out

10:06

, total , and I cast vision and I basically

10:09

just said hey , all I know is I'm

10:11

supposed to start gathering and connecting and developing

10:13

leaders and if we do that on a consistent

10:15

basis , I believe we can help change Pittsburgh

10:17

and ultimately , I think we can help change the

10:19

world . And again , that was just

10:21

one opportunity that I had to take

10:23

a step in the right direction toward pursuing the

10:26

dreams of my heart . Literally did I know that that

10:28

would turn into all the things that I'll talk about in a

10:30

bit and all that L3 leadership is today

10:32

. But here's what I want you to know If you don't

10:34

start today , you'll never get

10:37

started . And so look for opportunities

10:39

to take steps and do it afraid and

10:42

here's what I also want you to know it doesn't

10:45

have to be your full time job . You don't

10:47

have to leave everything to start that Now . There may be

10:49

cases where you do , but for me , I'm

10:51

still doing L3 leadership part time on

10:53

the side and , as of this season in my

10:55

life , I don't feel released to do that full time

10:57

. It's something I've always done on the side , but

10:59

again , I've been doing it since 2012 . So for almost

11:02

11 years , I've been pursuing one

11:04

of the dreams in my heart through a side

11:06

gig or a side hustle . So

11:08

again , I just encourage you it doesn't have to be full

11:10

time . Be willing to start . And let me just also

11:12

say this timing matters , but

11:15

it also doesn't . Timing matters

11:17

, but it also doesn't . Now I shared it . If

11:20

you listened to the last episode of the podcast , I shared that when I wrote

11:22

my book , timing mattered and it actually took me

11:24

20 years , and I think there was , I

11:26

think it was important that it took me 20 years to write

11:28

my first book . But in a lot of cases

11:30

, I would tell you , when it comes to pursuing your dream

11:32

, timing doesn't matter nearly as much as

11:34

you think it does . What do I mean by that . Well

11:37

, I've talked to so many people who said , well , one

11:39

day I'm going to do this , one day I'm going to start a podcast

11:41

, one day I'm going to start a company One day

11:43

. One day . One day , and all of a

11:45

sudden , 10 to 20 years are gone and they've

11:47

done nothing to pursue the dreams in their heart . Timing

11:50

matters , yes , but

11:52

more often than not , I found that God just wants you to act

11:54

on the small steps , the small opportunities

11:56

that he places right in front of you , and

11:59

that's what he'll use to start doing great

12:01

things and through your life . So look for

12:03

opportunities and be willing to do it afraid

12:05

. The third thing I would tell you to develop

12:08

courage is don't despise small beginnings

12:10

. Don't despise small

12:12

beginnings . Zig Ziglar said this

12:14

great quote . He said you don't have to be great to

12:16

start , but you do have to

12:18

start to be great . And

12:21

something that encouraged me very , very greatly was

12:23

I remember John Maxwell just talking about

12:25

his leadership journey and he said let me encourage

12:27

you . He said in the beginning you

12:30

won't be very good . In fact , you'll

12:32

be terrible , and you'll want to say to people listen , I know I'm bad

12:34

, but I'm not that bad . But

12:36

he said , if you do things right in life and you take

12:38

the steps you're supposed to take and you don't despise small

12:40

beginnings , in the end you're not

12:42

as good as people think , and

12:44

somewhere in between those two is where you should live , is what he said

12:47

, and so I just want to encourage you . In the beginning you won't

12:49

be very good , but that doesn't matter . All that matters

12:51

is that the work begins , that you actually start

12:53

it . So whatever it takes for you to start

12:55

it , just start it . Again , we had 15 people on top of

12:57

Mount Washington . That's what we started with

13:00

, and L3 has done amazing things since then

13:02

. But if I would have just spied small beginnings

13:04

and thrown the talent say it was only 15 people

13:06

, I don't know if this will ever catch on so

13:08

many things wouldn't have taken place . And

13:11

one more thing that may encourage you in this I remember

13:13

you know I had a lot of fears when I we

13:16

. The one of the first things we did , I should say , with L3

13:18

is we started doing live events and

13:20

we had a live leadership breakfast every month , and

13:22

I remember I was scared to death . I was

13:24

meeting with my friend , paul , and I

13:27

said I was talking to him about the dream of L3

13:29

and I said , well , what if I have these events and nobody

13:31

shows up ? What if nobody cares ? What if it doesn't

13:33

make a difference ? And he just said something so simple

13:35

to me , it was so helpful . He said , doug , some

13:38

will , some won't , so what

13:40

? Some will , some

13:42

won't , so what ? And

13:44

he said , hey , some people will come and

13:46

it'll be great . Some people won't come , that's okay . So

13:49

what ? Just do what you're supposed

13:51

to do . So I don't know if that encouraged you

13:53

. It was that quote from my friend Paul that actually

13:55

was a catalyst for me , just saying All right , I'm all in , let's

13:57

go . I'm going to summarize the day of small

14:00

beginnings . Also

14:02

, I would tell you , when you begin number four , always

14:04

try to get better , always

14:07

try to get better . I say

14:09

this all the time , but growth equals happiness . If

14:11

you want to be happy for the rest of your life , in any area

14:13

of your life , commit to growth in that area

14:15

. If you , if you show me a growing person

14:18

, I'll show you a happy person . If you show me a

14:20

happy marriage , I'll show you a growing marriage

14:22

. If you show me a happy organization , I'll

14:24

show you a growing organization . Growth

14:26

equals happiness . And

14:28

so just always try to get better . And one thing I love about

14:31

the podcast when you start . You know I've been doing the podcast

14:33

now for 12 years and some of my favorite

14:35

compliments from people on the podcast are

14:38

hey , I loved when I started listening to

14:40

your , your podcast . I was in the 300

14:42

episodes , but I went back and I listened

14:44

to the first 50 episodes and

14:46

to see how far you've come as far

14:49

as quality of audio , how

14:51

I was as an interview or how I've grown

14:53

they just say it blows me away and

14:55

it's inspiring . And for me

14:57

to know that all the growth that I put in day

14:59

in and day out , day in and day

15:01

out , trying to get better with a podcast , trying

15:03

to get better with live events , trying to get better

15:06

at speaking All that hard

15:08

work pays off . So when you start

15:10

something , just focus on getting better every day

15:12

, get better every day , and

15:15

so that's my advice to you when it comes to developing

15:17

the courage to pursue the dreams in your heart . You

15:19

also will need to develop tenacity

15:22

to not give up on the dreams in your heart , and

15:24

so here's a few thoughts on that that have been helpful

15:26

for me over the years , and I hope you'll find

15:28

value in them too . Number

15:30

number one is you have to find value in your

15:32

obedience , not in your numbers . Find

15:36

your value in your obedience , not

15:38

in your numbers . And if this

15:40

hits home with you , I did an entire podcast episode

15:42

not too long ago on how you should measure

15:44

success in your life and I really want to

15:46

encourage you to go back and listen to that , because there's

15:49

a lot of hard work that needs done in this area if

15:51

you're going to develop the tenacity to continue

15:53

. But don't find your . Find your value and

15:55

obedience , not numbers . What do I mean by that ? Well

15:57

, all you should find value in is am I

15:59

obeying what I believe God put in my heart or

16:01

am I pursuing the dreams in my heart ? Don't

16:03

worry about everything else and don't worry about what

16:05

it looks like . You know when I started the podcast , do you know

16:07

? It took me four years before I

16:09

had 1000 downloads within a one month

16:11

period , four years where I had barely

16:14

any traction at all . And

16:16

now we're reaching thousands and thousands and thousands

16:18

of leaders every month , which is amazing . But

16:20

had I given up and found my value in only having

16:22

a few hundred downloads a month , I would have

16:24

thrown in the towel and never seen the growth that

16:27

has taken place since that time . There's

16:31

a video I watch all the time . I really

16:33

encourage you all put it in the show notes as well . It's a

16:35

video by Gary Vanier truck and it's called one

16:37

is greater than zero and

16:39

the whole premise of the video is basically hey

16:42

, one view , one download

16:44

, one person showing up to event is better

16:46

than zero . And so many times we

16:48

get so focused on the numbers , but do you realize that

16:50

he all ? He said it in the video . He said if

16:52

you create a YouTube video or a podcast and it only

16:55

has 89 lessons , it may be only

16:57

89 lessons , 89 lessons but

16:59

all it takes is one person and it

17:01

has to be the right person . But one person to listen to that

17:04

and it could change everything for you . He

17:06

specifically uses an example of hey , it could

17:08

be an editor or a director

17:10

at CNN and all of a sudden they give you a break

17:12

because they were so impacted by that . So

17:15

I would tell you that you never know who you're

17:17

reaching . If you're reaching one person

17:19

, do you know how significant that is ? If

17:21

you're reaching 50 people a month , do you know how

17:23

significant it is that you're having an impact

17:25

in someone's life and potentially changing

17:27

their life forever . That's absolutely

17:30

huge . And you never do know . You

17:32

never know who's listening , you never know who's attending

17:34

, you never know who is going

17:36

to be a part of your organization you never know . So

17:39

stop worrying about all the numbers you know . I remember

17:41

at live events I used to sit

17:43

there in the front row and if it wasn't a well attended

17:45

event I would literally like I wouldn't even

17:47

be able to look up a lot of times and I would write

17:50

down in my journal and bold pen and

17:52

I just write my value is not

17:54

in how many people were at this event . My

17:56

value is not in how many people were at this event

17:58

and I've gotten much better

18:00

at this over the years , but for years I

18:02

found way too much value and

18:05

downloads , how many people were coming , etc . And

18:07

you have to get over that . Find your value

18:09

and just in the fact that you're doing what God

18:11

told you to do and you're following the dreams in your heart

18:13

. See , your only job is to obey

18:16

God's job , is to do with it what he

18:18

wants to do with it . And let me

18:20

just say this that pressure

18:22

to find your value in the numbers doesn't

18:24

go away once your numbers are good . Do

18:27

you know that ? I love what TD

18:29

Jake said ? He said success doesn't feel

18:31

like success . And

18:33

here's what I can tell you . You may think that , oh , once I

18:35

get to 10,000 downloads a month , then all , then

18:37

, all of a sudden , feel like I'm worth it and it's

18:39

a worthy pursuit and it's great . But

18:41

you won't . You won't . I'm telling

18:43

you . I've been there like you'll want more . You'll

18:46

say , well , I'm reaching 10s of thousands , I wish I could

18:48

reach hundreds of thousands . Or I'm reaching hundreds

18:50

of thousands , I wish I could reach millions . It's

18:53

never going to be enough . All you

18:55

have to find your value in is in the fact of

18:57

are you pursuing the dreams that God put in your

18:59

heart ? That's it . Number

19:02

two keep the vision in front of you . Keep

19:05

the vision in front of you . You have

19:07

no idea what the impact of your obedience

19:09

could be . And

19:12

again , when I started out three I

19:14

just think about keeping the vision in front of me the lives changed

19:16

. The thing that's kept me going

19:19

for so long is now that I've

19:21

been at this for a few years . I actually have stories

19:23

of lives that have been changed . And when I started

19:25

out . Three . That was the whole vision . We

19:27

just wanted to simply connect , grow

19:29

and develop leaders and help transform

19:31

their lives in order to make the world a better place , and

19:34

so that was the vision initially , and

19:37

now you know , eight years later

19:39

, I can just list off a few things that have happened . We've

19:41

seen countless lives changed . We've seen marriages

19:44

saved as a result of L3 leadership . We've

19:46

seen babies get adopted because

19:48

of L3 leadership . We've seen people come

19:50

to know Christ through L3 leadership . We've

19:53

seen people recommit their lives to Christ through L3 leadership

19:55

. I've met leaders that I never

19:58

dreamed possible that I'd spend time with . We're

20:00

influencing thousands of leaders each month

20:02

on the podcast and through other means . We

20:05

have a one day leadership conference that we're having

20:07

again in February , on February 29th

20:09

2024 . Would love to see

20:11

you there . Hor Shultz , the founder of the Ritz

20:14

Carlton , is going to be our keynote speaker , and

20:16

this is so funny . You just never know the impact that you're going

20:18

to have . Like , I had an opportunity

20:20

to reconnect with John Maxwell I

20:22

guess it was about a year ago now and we were

20:24

talking . He said , doug , I've listened to your podcast . And

20:27

I said what ? And he's like yeah , I've listened to . I forget

20:29

. He said 15 to 20 episodes and I

20:31

almost fall on the floor . I'm like you got to be kidding me

20:33

. You got to be kidding me , but like that

20:36

, that happened because I was willing to obey

20:38

God and follow part

20:40

of the dream that he put in my heart . I didn't

20:42

know that all of these things were happening , and

20:45

so when there's times that I am tempted

20:47

to give up and quit , I keep that in

20:49

front of me because that's the vision . Hey , we've

20:51

changed lives before we can continue to change lives

20:54

in the future . Who knows ? There may be more

20:56

people that get married as a result of L3 leadership

20:58

or adopt babies or come to Christ

21:00

. Keep the vision in front of you . The vision

21:02

for L3 has always been about people in transforming

21:05

leaders' lives . So keep the vision

21:07

in front of you . And lastly , don't

21:10

quit unless you know you're supposed to . Don't

21:13

quit unless you know you're supposed to . And

21:16

I've probably seriously wanted to quit

21:18

L3 leadership and throw in the towel at

21:20

least five to 10 times over the course of

21:22

the last eight years , and can I tell you

21:24

that almost every time it was because L3

21:27

wasn't where I wanted it to be or where

21:29

I thought it should be Again going

21:31

back to finding my value in the wrong places

21:33

of what we should just be reaching this

21:36

much or we should be bringing in this much revenue

21:38

, and I've really had to learn to

21:40

just measure again value and M ? O being

21:42

obedience . And one thing that's really helped me

21:44

as a principal that Dan Sullivan came up with

21:46

called the gap in the game and

21:48

he said all too often

21:50

we tend to look at what we haven't done . We look

21:52

at , we measure our progress and our

21:54

success based on our goals and

21:57

aspirations . So everything we want

21:59

to do with L3 leadership , he

22:01

said , anytime you measure against your aspirations , you're

22:03

gonna be disappointed because you're never gonna feel

22:05

like you're getting there making enough progress . The

22:08

only way , he said , we should ever measure progress

22:10

is if we is looking backward

22:12

and measuring the progress that we've already

22:14

made toward the goal . And when I do

22:16

that , I always have a piece in my heart

22:18

and I'm always overwhelmed by how

22:20

far we've come and how much progress that

22:23

we've actually made in L3 leadership

22:25

. And again I go back to some of those things

22:27

that I listed that have happened

22:30

as a result of chasing the vision of L3 leadership

22:32

. I just go back to some of those stories and just say

22:34

, well , I can't believe that happened . I can't believe that happened

22:36

and it enables me to keep going

22:38

. So learn how to measure that

22:40

successfully . And again , on the not quitting

22:43

side , you never know when something's

22:45

gonna take off . I was interviewing Scott

22:47

Harrison on the podcast , the founder of Charity Water

22:49

, I don't know , it was probably a hundred episodes ago

22:51

and he shared something with me about Amazon

22:53

. He said do you know that , amazon

22:56

, if you look at their stock value

22:58

over time , that 93%

23:00

of their value has come in

23:03

the last seven to 10 years and

23:06

so basically , you can't see this . But

23:08

if you were to look on a thing , it looks

23:10

like a hockey stick . So for 30 years their

23:12

value was here and then all of a sudden it's shot up

23:14

and 93% of the value that they're worth

23:16

today happened in the last 10 years

23:18

. And the reality is , when you're pursuing

23:20

the dreams that God put in your heart , you

23:22

have no idea God could do something tomorrow and

23:25

all of a sudden it changes everything for you and your business

23:27

looks completely different and you start

23:29

seeing all the results , all because you didn't give

23:31

up . Your job is just to be faithful , trust

23:34

God with the results . And again , yes , always get

23:36

better , always do your best . But , again

23:38

, trust God and just

23:40

be faithful with what he's put in his hand and let him

23:42

delightfully surprise you with

23:45

what he can do in one day , with

23:47

what you're putting your hand to . And

23:49

then , lastly , remember who you're doing it for . Again

23:53

, I shared this in the last episode , but

23:55

I believe we're most equipped to reach the person you

23:57

used to be . We're most

23:59

equipped to reach the person we used to

24:01

be . And whenever I'm

24:03

just tempted to quit , I just think about who

24:05

are the people I'm trying to reach and who are the people

24:07

that I hope that if they get a hold of this content

24:10

, like me , they can transform their lives

24:12

and never be the same . I just

24:14

keep that in front of me . And then , lastly , when do

24:16

you quit ? Cause I do believe there's times for necessary

24:18

endings , and if you've never read the

24:20

book Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud

24:23

, I really encourage you to . That'll give you a

24:25

ton of insight onto

24:27

when necessary endings are

24:30

necessary . But I would just

24:32

say this the best advice I've ever received when

24:34

it comes to endings is if you're following God

24:36

, when you know , go

24:38

, and until you know

24:40

, stay . I'll say

24:42

that again , cause it's so good . When you know , go

24:45

, and until you

24:47

know , stay . And a lot of

24:49

times there may be seasons where we feel

24:51

like we're supposed to give up or throw in the towel or

24:54

resign , et cetera . But

24:56

until you know in your heart like this is definitely

24:58

time , stay . And

25:01

when you know in your heart it's definitely time to go , that's

25:04

when you should have a necessary ending and actually

25:06

throw in the towel . But in

25:08

light of the lesson that I'm sharing today , I would

25:10

just say there's not gonna be a lot of times where God's gonna ask

25:12

you to throw in the towel . Yes , there'll be some over

25:14

time , but more often than not he's gonna

25:17

encourage you to keep persevering , keep

25:19

going and to not quit , regardless of what

25:22

obstacles come your way . And

25:24

so there's my lesson . So , as we close , I just

25:26

have a few questions for you . Number one do

25:28

you have a dream in your heart that you've been wanting to pursue

25:31

but have lacked the courage

25:33

to start ? If

25:35

that's you , I just want to encourage you start . What are you waiting for

25:37

? Start tomorrow . If you want to start a podcast

25:39

, message me , I'll help you start a podcast . If

25:41

you want to start an organization , like , what are

25:43

you waiting for ? Just start

25:46

. Number two do you have a

25:48

dream that you've know you've wanted to throw the towel

25:50

in because you haven't seen the progress you want

25:52

yet ? Is that you Are

25:55

you measuring success incorrectly ? Maybe you need to go back and listen

25:57

to that podcast I did on how to measure success , and

26:00

maybe you just need to keep going and just say , hey

26:02

, no matter what , and thus God tells me

26:04

to throw in the towel . I'm not throwing in the towel

26:06

and I'm just going to trust him and be faithful

26:08

with what he put in my hand to do . Keep

26:11

going , leader . Here's what I know

26:13

about your dream . Your dream the world

26:15

is desperate for you to pursue

26:18

the dreams in your heart . The world will

26:20

be a better place because you pursue

26:22

the dreams in your heart and so Quit

26:25

waiting . Start pursuing those dreams and start making

26:27

the world a better place today by going

26:29

after them and never , never , never quit . Hey

26:32

, I hope this episode encouraged you . I can't wait to

26:34

hear all of the dreams that you start pursuing as a result

26:36

, and I will talk to you next episode . Well

26:39

, leader , thank you so much for listening to my lesson . I

26:41

hope that you enjoyed it and that it added value

26:43

to your life . You can find ways to

26:45

connect with me and links to everything

26:47

that I discussed in the lesson in the show notes at l3leadershiporg

26:51

. And

26:53

as always , leader , I want to challenge you that if you want to 10X

26:55

your growth in this next year , then you need to either launch

26:57

or join an L3 leadership mastermind group . Mastermind

27:00

groups are simply groups of 6 to 12 leaders that meet together

27:03

for at least one year in order to help each other

27:05

grow , hold each other accountable and to do life together

27:07

. For me personally , mastermind groups have

27:09

been the greatest source of growth in my life over the last

27:11

8 years . So if you're interested in learning

27:13

more about launching or joining a group , go to L3leadershiporg

27:16

or email

27:18

me at DougSmith at l3leadershiporg . And

27:22

, as always , leader , I like to end every episode with quote , and I'll

27:24

quote Craig Groschell today . I thought this was fitting

27:26

for today's lesson . He said the decisions

27:29

you make today will determine

27:31

the stories you tell tomorrow , and

27:34

I hope that through this lesson , that you'll have the courage

27:36

to launch your dreams and that you'll have some beautiful

27:38

stories to tell in the years to come as a

27:40

result of you having the courage to

27:42

go after your dream and the tenacity to not give

27:44

up on it . All of you who are a leader know that my wife Lauren

27:47

, I love you . We believe in you and I say it every episode

27:49

. But don't quit , keep leading . The

27:51

world desperately needs your leadership . We'll

27:53

talk to you next episode .