If You Want Success, Learn to Execute a Proven Plan
Successfully executing a plan is far more important to your success than your personality. All personality types can experience success if they learn to execute properly. And while execution isn’t always an exciting principle to talk about, it is in fact a biblical principle.
“How is it a biblical principle?” you might ask. When we talk about biblical characteristics of a successful person, you rarely hear that “a Godly man executes a plan.” When was the last time you had a Bible study on this principle? Probably never.
But it is indeed very biblical. The reason you may not think of it as biblical is because we usually think of another word instead. That word is faithful. Executing a plan is simply staying true to the plan. You work it out as it was intended to be done.
When we think of God fulfilling all of his purposes, we don’t usually think in terms of execution. But God executes everything perfectly, right down to the very last detail. He is always successful. You can count on Him to do exactly as He says He will do. And in that, He is faithful.
I spoke with John Hewitt recently, and he brought this point home very clearly. John is the founder of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and Liberty Tax Service. Both of these companies sell franchises. When I asked John what the number one reason is that franchisees fail, he said, “People don’t listen. The hardest thing to do is to put aside your beliefs of what you think is going to work and listen to a proven system.” In fact, John says, “A franchise should take the error out of trial and error.”
In other words, the main reason new franchise owners fail is because they aren’t faithful to the proven system. They don’t execute properly. They think they can wander off and do things a different way. But they almost never work.
This is true in so many areas of life, but Christians should be intimately aware of it. After all, Jesus boiled it all down for us: “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). You might say that Christianity is the ultimate franchise. God has developed the system. If we follow through with it (execute) and remain faithful, we’re going to find success. But when you wander away from the life Christ has designed, you fail.
Steve Kroening writes for Success magazine and also publishes Wisdom’s Edge. You can get Biblical tips on health, finance, relationships, parenting, and success, delivered to your email inbox every week. Simply visit http://www.wisdomsedge.com and sign up for this free e-zine.