During my recent trip to Ireland to speak to a sales conference, my host shared with me one of the concepts that his father shared with him during his lifetime. I won't mention his name in the event he would want to remain anonymous but he will know I am not taking credit for this idea. John shared with me that there were over 3000 people at his father's funeral. He truly positively touched many lives while he was here.
He said, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." I gotta tell you, I just love this line, may even make the title of my next book.
Now I never knew John's father so I can't possible know what he meant by that line so the best I can do is give you my interpretation.
Coincidently I have been reading a great book by Brenda Ireland (she's not Irish) called What is God Waiting For? In the book she discusses the simple idea of Divine Delays. What's a Divine Delay? Well it's when we set goals, make plans and work towards objectives and nothing happens, rather it doesn't happen when we think it should or the way we think it should.
As I look back over my life I can tell you that God must be laughing a lot. For years I have asked, told him, begged, groveled - you name it I did it and why? Cause It was what I thought I wanted. Well, I really did want it but maybe getting it either when or how I asked for it wasn't in my long-term best interests or His ultimate plan for my life.
All I can say is, "God, I am glad I was able to bring a little laughter into your daily listening to my pleas and ravings."
I believe in planning. I believe in setting goals and I believe in having objectives but in the end there are many things that can have an impact on what the final picture will look like.
Health issues.
Economic issues.
Divine Delays.
Uncontrollables.
Career issues.
Business issues.
Family issues.
Etc.
One of my favorite people in the world is Dan Millman. Dan is the author of several books but his most famous is the book, The Way of The Peaceful Warrior. There were many tidbits that struck me as invaluable but the one line that I took from this that has stayed with me all these years is, Release the expected and embrace the unexpected. Put another way by another of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers is, The only thing that is certain in life is it's uncertainty.
I'll leave the rest up to you.
Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; Soft Sell, That’s Life, Peace Of Mind, 91 Challenges Managers Face Today and Your First Year In Sales. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at http://www.timconnor.com
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