Transformation – The Yellow Footprints
The yellow foot prints!
At 4 a.m. I stood over my infant son’s crib, a wrenching ache in my gut. My face was burning, clean shaven for the first time in 7 years. My beautiful, precious 2-year-old daughter slept soundly nearby, oblivious to the major change that was beginning. The recruiter patiently waited as I hugged and kissed my wife, the last time for several months.
The transformation had begun.
At the age of 24, I took a leave of absence from my job at an aerospace factory to enlist in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. I left a very comfortable job, family, existence. Something inside me called me away from that comfort for a purpose that no one could see at the time. My family did not understand and I did a poor job of explaining.
Now some twenty-five years later, hindsight has clarified the call to enlist. The experience was the ultimate transformation, physically, mentally, complete. My family and I now view this experience as one of the best decisions of my life.
The benefits of this particular transformation last a lifetime. Once a Marine, Always a Marine. Along with the esprit de corps, the larger lesson learned was to never settle into a comfort zone.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the twenty-sixth President of the United States, in delivering a speech concerning citizenship in a republic:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
The transformation that began as I stood on the yellow footprints that led to Marine Corps bootcamp eventually led to a worldview that I now possess. I will not settle into a comfort zone. Powers at work in this world seek to anesthetize us. The most powerful and dangerous tool is comfort.
I understand that this is all easy to proclaim and doing something uncomfortable just for the sake of being different will be chaotic and unproductive. For these reasons, I rely upon an insatiable hunger to learn and grow, requiring a commitment to pursue knowledge and input from others. Understandably, the task can be overwhelming leading to frustration, loss of focus, dead ends.
In my pursuits of personal and professional growth, I found John Maxwell. My experiences have been reinforced and expanded by John’s teachings, especially The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In particular, The Law of the Lid strengthens my resolve to self-assess and move forward to continuously raise that lid as I lead my family and company.
It all started with a set of yellow foot prints.
About the Author
Gary Sirkel is a Featured Writer for the John Maxwell Team Blog. He leads Metis Performance Solutions and is a member of The John Maxwell Team. He is a leader of transformation, turning managers into leaders, groups into teams and individuals into influencers. Contact Gary at www.JohnMaxwellGroup.com/GarySirkel