Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Think win/win

That's habit #4 in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This win/win mentality is not our natural default. Life experiences point us toward win/lose thinking.

For example, there's only one champion for every Olympic race, one team holding the Stanley Cup, one winner crowned in each beauty pageant, one realtor claiming the top sales award, one movie receiving the Oscar for best picture, etc... In any contest or competition, each winner is trailed by numerous other 'losers'.

No wonder it is hard for us to be truly happy for others when they win. In the back of our mind their win usually means our loss. And so our scarcity mentality kicks in; instead of win/win, we think win/lose. How can we overcome this limiting and ungracious habit?

Christian theology has the key to free us from the scarcity mentality. Christians are children of the God of abundance and generosity (Psalm 50:10, Matthew 7:9-12; 2 Corinthians 9:8-10). By looking to God for our every need and desire, God's offspring can afford to be generous--making it easy for us to become win/win practitioners.

The challenge always is: do we have faith to live out this truth and make win/win thinking and living our natural habit?

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