Don't Criticize… Be Realized!
I have been reading Steven Pressfield’s book the War of Art which is a great little read with some great quotes. As I was reading back through some of my highlights; here is one of the many quotes that stuck out to me:
Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement.
Please re-read that quote again and allow it to marinate around in your head for just a bit. Some of the best leaders that I’ve worked for encouraged 10 times more than they criticized. If you’re confident and realized in your own life, there is no need to beat down others. I don’t read this quote to say that we can’t find faults or shouldn’t offer constructive criticism… I process it to say don’t be critical for critical sake.
I hope this is my life motto; to have enough confidence and be realized because of Christ in me, that I don’t have to be overly critical of others. As leaders, we are responsible to see the best in people, to encourage them, to develop them and to believe in them. You find me someone who is a great leader, athlete, educator, artist, pastor, musician… and I’ll you a great life coach along their journey, that was realized enough in their own lives to encourage that person to greatness.
Don’t Criticize… Be Realized!
Are You Realized or Do You Just Criticize? Share your thoughts on this post or Pressfield’s quote.

Neutrality is defined as: the state of being neutral; refusal to take part in a war between other powers; the policy or status of a nation that does not participate in a war between other nations. Often times “supposed leaders” will take the position of neutrality rather than taking the position of leadership. Leadership could care less about neutrality and even thrives on the ability to engage in war with other parties, policies, people, practices, direction, rules… if the engagement can result in moving their team closer to the goal.

I’m going to get straight to the point and ask this oh so important question; the question is “Does A Person’s Look Matter?” As I’m typing this post, I asked that question out loud and my 10 year old son decided to answer the question. His response was “What do you mean, is it like when I have a friend that kinda looks like a nerd, but he’s actually cool and doesn’t look like he acts?” EXACTLY!
There is something about the word potential that is intriguing; it’s one of those words that has the potential to have a neutral, negative or positive meaning. Let’s look at the definition of potential:
I spent a number of years in the prison system and the majority of those years were spent as serving as a warden. During my tenure working with inmates, families and correctional officers, I learned many great life lessons. One lesson that I learned was “Put Some Water On It.” This was a 











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