FirePoint Leadership Podcast

Find your FirePoint

I am extremely excited and humbled that Joel Anderson, founder of the FirePoint leadership development system, invited me to share my story and some principles of leadership with his audience. Joel is a master firefighter and has his whole system set up based on his knowledge and experience leading on the fire ground.

Joel is a great example of what it means to be a real, authentic leader.  Joel’s podcast is one of the best formats I have seen to allow someone to share their entire story in a structured, point driven direction. This podcast is pretty much a summary of everything I have written intertwined in my life story. I share the major lessons, setbacks and my philosophy of how I try to live my life. By listening you will be able to take away some very important practical applications that you can use to find your unique calling or FirePoint.

I really appreciate Joel for going against the status-quo and making a difference through leadership development. I also want to say that none of my story would be even worth sharing without the support and example of my family, friends  and the LIFE Leadership community.

 

 MFP 028: Adam Wallis

 

All at once?

 

When it rains….. 

Have you ever felt like when it rains it pours sometimes during different periods of your life? It has been a little while since I have been active on my blog or writing in general. My family and I just recently moved from Phoenix to the Twin Cities area and are in that awkward phase of waiting for a loan to be processed on a property so we can move in. We wanted to move to be closer to family and to give our children the same roots that we were blessed to have been raised with living in the Midwest.

With all that said, I want to share some perspectives from the challenges we have been going through recently. Most of the time I try my best to have a positive attitude towards setbacks so they can be used as opportunities to grow, but have you ever felt like they aren’t going to end? Over the past month, I have moved our family across the country and in with relatives (not recommended), we got hit by a truck that did $2,600 worth of damage to my car, found out my dad has cancer, got taken for $1000 on a security deposit, had my character assaulted and currently have sick children. It has been an emotional roller coaster to say the least. While I know that many of you can look at this list and make me ashamed that I am even sharing this because you are going through much worse, I also do understand that struggles are real to the individuals that are going through them personally. I have much more to be thankful for, but for the purposes of this post, I will focus on sharing whats on my heart.

 

 Lessons learned….and they don’t come cheap….

I have an awesome wife, brother and a few trusted friends that I always call to talk to when I need perspective and I am so grateful for them. One of my best friends, we will call him Kevin to hide his identity, has always been there for me to help provide a proper, Christ-centered outlook on things when I need it. I am going to share a few principles that I have learned that will help if you apply them when it come to facing life’s obstacles so you can learn the lessons needed. Remember, lessons usually continue until the lesson is learned.

1. God’s in control

One thing my buddy Kevin always reminds me of is that God is in control. Of everything, at all times! No matter what happens, if we keep our minds focused on the fact that nothing happens outside of God’s divine providence, then it will give us peace during difficult times. Every time I think that I am going through struggles alone, I try to pull myself back to remember that everything happens for a purpose and a specific reason. The thing that makes it hard is that we aren’t always told why things happen or for what reason. This is where trust and faith have to be engaged and strengthened. Just understand that God has a plan for our good if we just trust him and seek him through struggles. (Romans 8:28) (Jeremiah 29:11)

2. Look for the lesson

I know this is going to be a hard pill to swallow, but one of the most frequently used methods God employs for character development in us, is through struggles (James 1:2-4). I always preach that we should focus on our blessings to get a proper perspective on our challenges. This, for sure, is not easy. Some people tell me that it is very hard to see the “blessings” when they are walking through such hard struggles. I understand this thinking, but in my experience, the lessons that I have learned through dealing with adversity have actually proven to be the biggest blessings in my life, even though they come hard and usually through pain. Every experience we go through is meant to teach us something and to build our character. Think about all the points in your life when you made it through a hard time and realized, afterwards, that you are now more equipped to handle the next Goliath. God sends us all through the refining fire, at different levels, to grow us into the people He needs us to be in order to accomplish His purpose for our lives. It is a continual and never ending process called sanctification. If you are going through multiple challenges all at once, be encouraged that God is most likely preparing you for the next BIG phase of your mission. I don’t like obstacles as much as the next person, but I do understand now that everything is a process to help me move to the next step of the journey.

3. Trials become testimonies

Have you ever been moved by another persons story of how they overcame a setback? One reason I know that God sends us through the fire is so that we can be a blessing to someone else that is going through the same trial. I don’t know how many times I have personally experienced this. Right when I was at my low, God used the story of another person to touch my soul and change my perspective on what I was going through. It is very powerful! Always be thinking of who we will be lead to help once we make it through our own personal struggles. You just never know how you will be used in touching another persons life through sharing your stories.

4. People and Legacy

The only real things that will last throughout eternity is the souls of people and the legacy they leave behind. What we do with our life does matter and the struggles we overcome to become the people who leave lasting legacies also matter. Our struggles are ultimately not for us to solely learn from. They are meant to grow us personally, be used to prepare us for a larger vision and to share with others along the way. Leaving a lasting legacy always involves making a positive impact in the lives of other people. The struggles that we overcome can serve to give us a bigger platform to share with others.

 

Every good movie….

Every great book or movie that is memorable in our minds and has made a lasting impression in our lives has followed this process: Dream…Struggle…Victory. We have a great story to tell and the pages are blank for us to write. If we are honest, we all have dreams and hopes for a better future that we currently haven’t attained yet. We start out on the journey with the end vision in mind and then, WHAM, struggles hit. Some people will quit when obstacles appear, hiding behind the excuse that “it wasn’t meant to be or it would have happened easy.” This is a lie that we are told that things are supposed to be easy. If I can leave this post with one final takeaway, I would say that struggles and hard times are necessary in order to get to where we want to go. If we push through the struggles, God has promised to develop us into the people we need to be in order to accomplish what we need to accomplish.  “What we receive to easily, we esteem too lightly.” -Thomas Paine

 

God Bless,

 

Adam

Book of the Week

“PAiLS” by Chris Brady

Overiew

“Your place in this world is an address only you can occupy.” Learn how to fulfill your unique purpose and live the life you’ve always wanted as bestselling author and successful entrepreneur Chris Brady helps you find meaning and direction in life. With his newest book PAiLS, New York Times bestselling author Chris Brady leads you through the adventure of your life like a veteran tour guide and provides a fresh approach to finding meaning along the way. His creative PAiLS illustration and ziggurat/layer-cake construct help you determine a clear direction toward living the life you’ve always wanted. He shows you how all that you have seen and done so far, even your mistakes, are just stepping stones for your next ascent in fulfilling your purposeful calling and contributing to the world what only you can. You will learn that: It’s not as important to succeed As it is to matter, And you’ll likely accomplish the former If you shoot for the latter.

This is the best book I have ever read for perspective on my life purpose and the process for success in finding my authentic self. It is a must read for anyone who is looking for direction and fulfillment in accomplishing their unique and authentic calling.

Great PAiLS Quotes   

“Remember that it’s your life. Only you can live the life that God alone has called you to live. Only you can fulfill your particular destiny and higher purpose. Sooner or later, you’ve got to get after what it is you were put here to do, or you’ll suffer miserably for knowing that you’re not doing it.”

“There most certainly is a “too late.” There always is. It’s just not yet. It’s not too late yet.” 

“We may hate opposition and struggle, but they are critical for our mental health. Without the struggle, we would feel no joy in victory at all.”

“Nothing of significance was ever achieved without negative input from other people.”

“So don’t worry if you get people who hate what you do. That’s okay. And be doubly sure not to change what you do in an effort to please them. You’ll never please that crowd! You are not here for them! If you focus any energy trying to please those you’re not for, you will change how you do things and simultaneously stop thrilling those you are for! In other words, don’t conform for critics; perform for fans.”

“A personal brand is whatever you do or bring to the world that is entirely and uniquely yours. Perhaps surprisingly, the more you stick to what is uniquely yours and the more authentic you are in what you do, the more interesting it is to others and the more marketable it is.”

“I promise there will be fans cheering for your authentic output. there will always be a market for your original best.”

Pieces of the Puzzle

The End Picture

How many of us would have a sure and quick answer to the question: what does your life stand for? It is a deep question and one that each of us should readily know. Your life’s  purpose and unique calling are very important, in fact, it is the reason you were created. There are specific things you are built for that only you can do and in order to accomplish those things, to make the world a little bit better, we have to know what the end picture is.

Life Sentence and Puzzle Pieces

Stephen Covey, in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” talks about the “tombstone test” in order to define your life purpose. Think about the one SENTENCE that people at your tombstone will define your entire life by. It is a great starting point to know what your life stands for. Once you know that, then you can start to work backwards from that end picture. Another great analogy I love to use is to think of a puzzle. We go to the store and choose a puzzle to buy, a beautiful picture of something that is meaningful to us. We bring the puzzle home, dump out the pieces on the table and get to work. We first put the frame together around the outside and then we start working our way inward filling in the pieces one by one. All the while, right beside us, is the box top with the end picture of what the completed puzzle will look like that serves as a constant reference point. Life is the same way. If we have a very clear and defined picture of what we want to have as an end result in our lives, then putting the pieces together will be a lot easier, more meaningful and will make sense as we go along. Just imagine how much harder it would be to put together a puzzle that you had no idea what the end picture was. What if you labored without a reference point or clear vision of the end picture and finally got the puzzle put together and hated the picture? Don’t live with the regret that you wish you would have chose a different picture for your puzzle instead of the one that someone else gave you. Your pieces are unique and there are other people out there waiting for you to do what only you can do. Know your own picture and get to work on putting your pieces together.

Human Impact

Your specific purpose in life matters! It’s the reason you were created. I want you to think of the human impact of not fulfilling that purpose. Think about the people’s lives that won’t be affected for good if you don’t do what you are supposed to do. Don’t have regrets. You might think that you can’t make a big difference, but this is exactly how big differences are made. Collectively, as one person at a time lives out their authentic purpose, there can be a ripple effect that will echo throughout time and generations. It all starts by individuals having a positive impact on their own personal sphere of influence. If everyone did this, the world would change for the good, guaranteed.

Practical Applications

In his awesome book: “PAiLS” Chris Brady asks the question right on the front cover: in 20 years from now, what will you have wished you had done today? Here are a few practical applications you can do to get your puzzle assembly started.

1.) Write down in detail what you want your life to represent (your desired puzzle picture).

2.) Start to work backwards by asking questions like: What are my specific gifts? strengths? passions? areas of fulfillment? affirmation from others I trust and love?

3.) Take action! Start to do things everyday that are in line with and will move you closer to that end picture.

There is a too late

I want to finish up with a quote from PAiLS: “Remember that it’s your life. Only you can live the life that God alone has called you to live. Only you can fulfill your particular destiny and higher purpose. Sooner or later, you’ve got to get after what it is you were put here to do, or you’ll suffer miserably for knowing that your not doing it.”

“There most certainly is a “too late.” There always is. It’s just not yet. It’s not too late yet.”

Book of the week

Overview

The Magic of Thinking Big gives you time tested principles, methods and experiences that anyone can apply. Dr. Schwartz presents a carefully designed program for getting the most out of your job, your marriage and family life, and your community. He proves that you don’t need to be an intellectual or have innate talent to attain great success and satisfaction—but you do need to learn and understand the habit of thinking and behaving in ways that will get you there. This book gives you those secrets! Page for page, it is the best book I have ever read to this day on gaining the proper perspectives about life, leadership and success.

Why you NEED to read this

Books are the most powerful tool for gaining experience through imagination and principle application. You can read in a few hours the sum total of what took, sometimes, decades for the author to learn and implement. They went through the success minefield and are telling you through the principles and experiences where to step so you can get to the other side (success) faster. Here are just a few things you will take away from this groundbreaking book!!

• Power of belief
• Cure yourself of the fear of failure
• Think and dream creatively
• You are what you think you are
• Make your attitudes your allies
• Learn how to think positively
• Turn defeat into victory
• Use goals to help you grow
• Think like a leader

Enjoy and comment on your main takeaways.

God Bless,

Adam