One degree can make a big difference – especially over time. Imagine your next flight. What if the navigator plotted a course that was off by one degree?
Aviators will tell you that for every one degree traveled off course for 60 miles, the plane will land 1 mile off the intended destination.
So, what does this mean for a trip from Vancouver to London? It means a 79 mile walk (multiplied by number of degrees off course) to gather your suitcases at Heathrow’s baggage claim!
Applying The “One Degree” Concept to Your Life
What happens when you apply the ‘one degree’ concept to your life? There are several applications:
- It’s very important to be as ‘on course’ as possible in stewarding your time, talent and treasure.
- Making a positive one degree change in your life can have a significant impact over time.
- The more strategic the change (more degrees), the more exponential the impact over time.
So, rather than getting overwhelmed and discouraged with all the changes you would like to make in your life, ask yourself these questions:
- If you could only make one ‘one degree’ change, what would it be?
- What personal change would give you the most strategic return on investment over time?
Identifying Your ‘One Degree’ Change
To bring clarity to identifying your ‘one degree’ change, consider these two steps:
- Ask the Lord and seek to listen to His response. Pray a question like: “God, in what one area of my life would you most like to see change in order to conform me more to Christ and bring you glory?”
- You can also ask others you trust—your spouse, friends, supervisor or colleagues. Ask them a question like this: ‘If I were to consider focusing on one area of personal/leadership growth, what would you suggest I consider?’
Future posts will provide some practical and tangible next steps for getting traction on your one degree change. To help guide these posts, could you give some feedback? What challenges do you experience in seeking personal change?
