5 Actions of Patient Leadership | The Non-Negotiable Price of Impact - Part 3

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If patience is the price of impact, then it’s also one of the most important traits for leaders to cultivate and maintain. In this episode, Alex continues our series on patience by exploring 5 things patience does for leaders. He also shares words of encouragement for any listener who’s finding it hard to endure their current season. Make sure to catch up on the other episodes of this series if you haven’t already, and leave us a review letting us know what you’ve learned! 

Episode Recap:

• Healthy, meaningful, and sustainable impact will always come at a cost
• Patient leaders clarify source, banks, and destination
• Don’t stay in the same place, but do stay on the same path
• Patient leaders catch a vision worth suffering for
• Patient leaders establish a rhythm for daily renewal
• Patient leaders connect to others who are committed to a path
• Patient leaders place a high value on coachability
• May you find the power and the character to endure this season

Resources:

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Connect with our Founder Alex Judd on LinkedIn and Instagram

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Creators & Guests

Host

Alex Judd

Founder/CEO of Path For Growth

Editor

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What is Path for Growth with Alex Judd?

Path for Growth exists to help impact-driven leaders step into who they were created to be SO THAT others benefit and God is glorified.

https://www.pathforgrowth.com/

Alex Judd: 00:00

Okay. So this podcast and this business exists for the impact driven leader. And to be impact driven means that you are motivated by this audacious belief that you can make a difference. But remember, we're not talking about an impact driven person. We're talking about an impact driven leader.

Alex Judd: 00:17

And to be an impact driven leader means that you are committed to making a difference within, through, and for other people. And it's in that context that in this series, we're talking about what is the price of impact. And this is a helpful and, I believe, realistic question to have to answer because if you're listening to this, you have deemed impact as valuable. And anything with great value has a cost, so that obviously begs the question, well, what's the cost? And there are many ways that you can answer that question.

Alex Judd: 00:50

But the one that has stood out to me as an absolute non negotiable in terms of the price of what it takes to create impact that's healthy, meaningful, and sustainable? Well, it's patience. Patience is the nonnegotiable price of impact. And we've kind of been operating with this definition of patience that patience is the capacity to tolerate challenges or delays without getting upset. We said that patience is the willingness to wait.

Alex Judd: 01:21

So we've talked about what does patience know. And in this episode, we're going to talk about what does patients do. I spent some time thinking about studying, observing, extracting patterns from the patient and therefore, wise impact driven leaders that I know. And there's commonalities there. Where there's patterns, you can find principles.

Alex Judd: 01:43

And so that's really what we're going to do is we're going to take a principle based approach to the virtue of patience and say, what are some practical things you can do as a leader to be someone that becomes more patient? I'm going to give them to you at high level, and then we're going to dive into each one practically. What do patient leaders do? Clarify source banks and destination. Catch a vision that is deemed worth suffering for.

Alex Judd: 02:09

Establish a rhythm for daily renewal. Patience connects to others committed to a path, and patience places a high value on coachability. So let's go ahead and jump into number one, clarify source, banks, and destination. The language here is really rooted in the language associated with a river, and here's the reason why that's the case. It was actually an illustration that I was kind of making a bet on at one of our previous in person experiences.

Alex Judd: 02:37

I kind of started the talk that I was going to give by just saying, okay, go ahead. Just don't even raise your hand. Just say it. When you think of a natural example of impact, what is something in the natural world that you think illustrates impact? And in my mind, as I say this, I'm crossing my fingers internally, saying a prayer internally, that someone's going to say the answer that aligns with my illustration.

Alex Judd: 03:05

Because if no one says it, then this illustration isn't going to work out that well. And so I kind of throw out this question, and I say, I'm not asking hypothetically. When you think of a natural example in the world of impact, what do you think of? And I'll never forget it. It was Herb Sargent, who's a dear friend, and he's just been such an integral part of this community for so many years now.

Alex Judd: 03:26

He was the first person to speak up. And he just said it without any hesitation. He said, the Grand Canyon, which was exactly the natural illustration that I had in my mind that I was planning to speak on. And so still very thankful to Herb for that moment. But he said the Grand Canyon.

Alex Judd: 03:43

If you've never been to the Grand Canyon, it is without a shadow of a doubt probably one of our world's greatest illustrations of what impact actually looks like. The Grand Canyon is two seventy seven miles long. It's 18 miles wide at its widest point. The North Rim has an average depth of one mile. And you kind of say, man, that's unbelievable, until you go and actually stand on the North Rim.

Alex Judd: 04:10

And then you say, oh my gosh, it's actually totally believable. And that kind of begs the question, okay, well, how was the Grand Canyon created? Well, it's obviously created by the Colorado River. And the Colorado River, if you look into it, it's really interesting. It doesn't start at the Grand Canyon.

Alex Judd: 04:27

The Grand Canyon is something that it created, but rather it starts way, way, way up north at La Poudre Pass. It travels through the Neversummer Mountains and then through the Rockies. It's fourteen fifty miles long. It covers seven states. It empties into the Gulf Of California.

Alex Judd: 04:45

A couple other facts about the Colorado River. It averages being 300 feet wide, 100 feet deep, and here's what's really, really interesting. It travels at an average of four miles per hour. Now think about this. That river traveling for 1,400 miles at four miles an hour is what creates the Grand Canyon.

Alex Judd: 05:08

It's what creates this massive picture of impact. And how did that occur? Well, it occurred with one other ingredient that is absolutely in controvertibly essential, and that ingredient is time. Whenever we're talking about the creation of something like the Grand Canyon that is the picture of impact, we're always talking about something that takes time. And what's interesting is when you think about the process for the Colorado River to create the Grand Canyon, what are we talking about here?

Alex Judd: 05:40

Well, we're talking about something that never stayed still. It was always just moving in the same direction. It had flow. It wasn't a pond. It wasn't a reservoir.

Alex Judd: 05:51

It was a river because you need a river to create the Grand Canyon. And that brings us to the principle as it applies to leaders who are exercising patience. Impact driven leaders do not stay in the same place, but they do stay on the same path. And I say it again because it's so important. Impact driven leaders do not stay in the same place, but they do stay on the same path.

Alex Judd: 06:20

This is how we distinguish between patience and complacency. Because sometimes, don't exercise patience because they're like, oh, I don't want to get stagnant. I don't want to be complacent. Well, that would be the equivalent of saying the Colorado River is useless because it's just grinding in the same canyon over and over again. Is that stagnancy?

Alex Judd: 06:41

Is that complacency? No, that's actually impact. Why? Because it's staying in the same flow. It's staying in the same path.

Alex Judd: 06:47

And so while we can never stay still, there's actually great value, tremendous value to being so focused, to being so within flow that we stay on the same path. And so often, I see that one of the greatest threats and blockers to leaders making an impact is that they don't have the patience to stay on the same path. Well, now let's stick with the metaphor a little bit. What has to be true about the Colorado River for it to create the Grand Canyon? Well, we know that a river only runs if it stays connected to its source.

Alex Judd: 07:24

And what we said is that, man, at the very top, 1,400 miles up at La Poude Pass, that's the source of the Colorado River. And if that source ever runs dry, well, then eventually, the river itself stops running. What else do we know is true about rivers like the Colorado River? A river's power comes from its flow and comes from its banks. And then number three, what is true?

Alex Judd: 07:51

A river operates with gravity to pull towards a desired destination. And so I think this is actually such a powerful metaphor that applies directly to leaders who exercise patience, because if you want to exercise patience, what do you need? You need a personal mission being your source. You need personal values being your banks, and you need a personal vision being your destination. So your mission.

Alex Judd: 08:21

Do you have a source that gives vibrancy to your life and leadership? Because if you don't have a deep seated why, an internal purpose of this is why, not just why I go to work, but why I do what I do and why I do it the way that I do it. So many leaders that I know, it's like, man, you do things above and beyond. What is the why behind that? Because if you can tap a language into the why behind what you're doing every single day, well, man, that mission is gonna be what gives you the patience to keep going.

Alex Judd: 08:55

And it's so crucial that we clarify what it is. So I've shared this on this podcast before. My mission statement, and it's one that Aspen and I share, is we're going to faithfully follow, grow, and love so that God is glorified and his blessings are multiplied. That's the deeply embedded purpose that is in our heart of all of the what? All of Path for Growth, all of Raising Lily, all of our involvement at church, all of the friend things that we go to, all of the service projects that we do, all of that should drop and be nested under this overarching mission, this overarching purpose of, man, why do we do what we do is to faithfully follow, grow, and love so that God is glorified and his blessings are multiplied.

Alex Judd: 09:41

That's our purpose. That's our source, right? That's our equivalent of the La Poude Pass, which is where the Colorado River starts, right? That's what makes sure, man, this is the lifeblood of how we are going to make an impact in this world. And if we ever get disconnected from that purpose, we shouldn't anticipate that we're going to make an impact.

Alex Judd: 10:00

So then what else do we need? Well, need banks. What are the banks that we operate within? What are the values that help give the raw ingredients of our life flow and continuity. And so for Aspen and I, the values are character, adventure, relationship, contribution, and stewardship.

Alex Judd: 10:22

And what's so cool is that for the two of us, these values operate as the banks within which we can be outrageously patient. And so as long as we're connected to the source, and as long as we're staying within our values, our goal is to have incredible patience for the things that we're working on. And what's so cool is what these values do for us is they give us the framework within which we are able to exercise patience. Because if something doesn't fall within those values, it's not worth being patient in. If something is in those values and we can stay connected to the source, well, not only can we be patient in it, it's actually our responsibility, and we feel a reason to be patient towards it.

Alex Judd: 11:04

So we've got to have our source, we've got to have our banks, and then we've got to have our destination. Think about this. If someone asked you the question, Okay, well, where does the Colorado River end? You would say, Okay, well, the Gulf Of California, right, 1,400 miles downstream is where it ends. And then if someone asks you, okay, and when does it get there?

Alex Judd: 11:27

You would look at that person and just be like, you don't understand how rivers work, right, do you? Right? Because that person clearly doesn't get it. And wow, what a perfect metaphor for the vision that you should have for your life, right? If someone ever asks you, so like when do you get there?

Alex Judd: 11:45

You should look at them and be like, you don't understand how rivers work. You don't understand how life works. Because what is true, the Colorado River is getting to its destination right now. It is in the destination right now. It is actively emptying into the Gulf Of California, but then there are also portions of the Colorado River that are well in motion.

Alex Judd: 12:05

They're only halfway there, and then there's portions of the Colorado River that haven't even gotten started yet. And so to ask the question, well, when do you get there isn't really the right question whenever you're approaching something that's working to create an impact because it really kind of applies to that John Maxwell idea of when are you going to stop asking how long will it take, and when are you going to start asking the question, how far and how deep can we go? And so it's so powerful in terms of cultivating patience to clarify your source personally, clarify your banks personally, and clarify your destination personally. And and just to recognize there is no there. There is no arrived, and praise god for that.

Alex Judd: 12:54

Right? This is a never ending growth journey. And within that, what we get to exercise is patience. And that actually directly connects to point number two. So number one, we're going to clarify source banks and destination.

Alex Judd: 14:54

Number two, we're going to catch a vision deemed worth suffering for. So this is the destination. This is the Gulf Of California that we just talked about. For me, I've got a vision charter, and within that vision charter, I've got a handful of pillars that I'm focused on as a man, a leader, and a Christ follower. And this is really the answer to the question, where are you going and who are you becoming?

Alex Judd: 15:16

And so the way that I think about my answer to that question is a spiritual stalwart, a faithful husband, a strong dad, a centered business owner, a wise leader and communicator, a pillar of my community, and a faithful adventurer. And this is my focus. This is my aim. And what's so helpful for me is I've got a whole document that lays out what do these things actually look like and what do these things actually mean. And every year, I kind of work on establishing some habits and rhythms and actions associated with all of these.

Alex Judd: 15:46

And what am I expecting? I'm not expecting that I'm ever going to be there in these areas, but these are the things that I do want to attribute my focus, my time, and my attention on over the course of a year. And what this really does for me is it gives me a clear yes. And when I get clear on what I'm saying yes to, it gives me the backbone for when I need to say no. Because what I know to be true is that as my life has progressed, the number of potential distractions has increased.

Alex Judd: 16:18

I'm sure you can relate to me in this. As your life progresses, as you continue to grow and as you continue to expand, your opportunities to get distracted, to get deviated from what you actually want to be focused on and what you actually feel called to be focused on increase. And that isn't something to lament. That's actually probably a sign that you're being affected and should be something that we're grateful for. But we say, man, we've got to treat this with a high degree of responsibility.

Alex Judd: 16:48

And so it's helpful for me to have a document that articulates what is the thing that I'm going to say yes to that, man, I'm willing to endure the pain of patients for. And that's really what this document does for me is it answers the question, what am I willing to endure the pain of being patient for? Well, being a spiritual stalwart, being someone that doesn't just have like, has like a check the box prayer life, but has a vibrant prayer life that engages in communal worship, that loves people exceptionally well, and that has like an ever expanding and maturing and growing relationship with God. Believe that I'm willing to endure patiently to be a faithful husband. That it's like this thing that I'm doing with Aspen is not like something that I'm seasonally excited about, but rather I'm gonna engage in a faithful and passionate and energetic and excitable and ever expanding vision of what our marriage could be.

Alex Judd: 17:44

The idea of being a strong dad, right, that, man, this little girl that's in our house right now represents my absolute, without a shadow of a doubt, irrefutable, single greatest opportunity to make an impact in this world. Being a centered business owner, man, having that as my aim, having that as my vision, man, that's so helpful for me to have as an aim because what it means is that I don't need this external marker of we're going to be a $10,000,000 business by the end of this year, and I'm going to break myself in order to do it. No, I don't need those external indicators of success. What is success? It's like, man, I want to own this business.

Alex Judd: 18:18

I want to be a steward of this business, and I want to do it in a way that's glorifying God, and I want to stay centered in the process. I want to be a wise leader and communicator. I don't just want to communicate for some calculated short term aim. I want to think about the long game in the way that I lead and communicate. I want to be a pillar of my community, someone that's invested in where I live and the people that I live around.

Alex Judd: 18:41

I want to be a faithful adventurer, someone that's expanding and growing my ability to do things physically and my ability to see and try and do new things. So those are the things that I'm saying I am willing to put in the hard work of patience. I am willing to endure seasons of discomfort because here's what's true. The suffering is going to occur. Suffering is a part of the reality of life, and anyone that disagrees with that, I would actually say is living in denial.

Alex Judd: 19:12

So if that's what's true, then what we have to think of is like, what we need is an understanding that it's like this suffering is nested in something. And what I would say primarily you need is a theology, right, a set of beliefs. And for me, it's found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that it's like, oh, that's what actually the suffering is all about. That this is actually what I'm called to model after is like, man, the way he patiently endured the cross for me, I'm actually supposed to follow in that in sacrificial love of other people. So number one, I would say you need a theology that makes sense of suffering.

Alex Judd: 19:54

But then beyond that, it's like, are the things in this world that you're saying, this is what it's all nested in, this is what it's aiming towards? Otherwise, you just become Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill, and you just feel like the hill never actually ends, or it's not actually going anywhere. It's not actually contributing to anything. And what you have to do to catch a vision that you deem more suffering for is you have to spend some time seeing it, right? If you don't spend time seeing it, you will settle for ice cream every single time.

Alex Judd: 20:26

And what I mean by that is what is saying no to ice cream? It's delaying gratification. Well, how do you delay gratification? You get a clear image of yourself whenever you deny ice cream or whenever you deny the temporal comfort or when you deny the instant gratification. You've got to have a clear image of like, Man, this is a healthier, more active, more sustainable, more patient, more character fueled version of me whenever I say no to the immediate gratification.

Alex Judd: 20:59

But if you don't have a vision for what that person is, what that leader looks like, what that type of business that that person could lead could be, well, then the instant gratification is going to get you every single time. Here's the reality. The allure of immediate gratification is visceral. It is right in front of you, and we live in a world where it's constantly putting immediate gratification in front of us all the time, and it's trying to convince us that it's the thing that's right. You do not have to work hard to see immediate gratification.

Alex Judd: 21:30

And if the voice of what you could be of the person, the leader, the man, the woman, the spouse, the Christ follower, the parent that you could be, if that voice is not as loud as the voice of immediate gratification, you're gonna be persuaded or seduced every single time. You will settle. And so what do great leaders do? They catch a vision and they make it crystal clear. What's the man, what's the woman, what's the leader, what's the Christ follower, what's the neighbor, what's the friend, what's the type of person that I'm called to be?

Alex Judd: 22:02

And they literally close their eyes and they get a picture of that because when they can see that, what does it give them the ability to do? It gives them backbone to be able to say no to immediate gratification. And therefore, they're going to endure the challenge, the temptation of saying no, but they're going to experience the fruit and the rewards of being patient. Okay. Let's go to number three, which is establish a rhythm for daily renewal.

Alex Judd: 22:29

Romans twelve two. You've heard this verse before, I'm sure. Do not conform to the ways of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's not exaggerating to say that every single day, your mind is being influenced or perhaps even assaulted by messages that represent the world's point of view. And what do these messages do?

Alex Judd: 22:57

They encourage and promote comfort, selfishness, vanity, and, as we already said, immediate gratification. We've got to recognize that that is in the cultural air that we breathe. And so therefore, if we are not daily renewing our mind with what is good, right, beautiful, true, and eternal, I just believe we will be swept up into this cultural tide. And really, what this is pointing to is that patience doesn't occur on accident. And in my mind, if I'm daily being influenced by these messages that promote all these things that are opposed to patience, well, then it would probably be good for me to have, at minimum, a daily rhythm where I'm exposing myself to something that influences my mind towards patients.

Alex Judd: 23:48

And so what does that actually look like? Well, I think this is what Romans twelve two is talking about. What do we wanna renew our mind with? Truth, number one. We always say exposure to truth guards against insanity.

Alex Judd: 24:00

I believe that the Bible is the true story of the entire universe. I I, like, actually believe that. And the more time that I spend with it, like, I'm going through the Bible any year right now, and I'm smack dab in the middle of Deuteronomy as we're recording this podcast, and it's like, oh my gosh. This is actually the true story of the whole world. You can just see the principles, the truth, the practicality, I mean, just the origin narrative, and the way that it helps make sense of literally all of life, and the way it all actually points to the person and power of Jesus Christ, it's like holy cow.

Alex Judd: 24:39

And it's so good if that is the true story to be re enmeshed in the true narrative, the actual story of what the world is actually about, where the world has been and where the world is going. It's so, so, so good, and it changes everything about the way that you view your day. And so exposure to truth, that's the first way to renew your mind. Number two is wisdom. Right?

Alex Judd: 25:05

What does wisdom do? Well, man, I think we can get wisdom in prayer. And this is where prayer becomes asking and seeking, right? It says, ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find.

Alex Judd: 25:17

Knock and the door shall be opened to you. Sometimes prayer can look like, God, what would be wise in this situation? God, give me a vision. Give me a picture. Give me an understanding of what would be wise in this conversation with my spouse.

Alex Judd: 25:34

What would be wise in terms of the direction that we're taking this business? Not what would win people's approval, not what would be popular, not what would be convenient, not what would feel good in the immediate, but rather, god, give me a vision of what would be wise, and then give me conviction to be able to carry that vision out. And so scripture is where we find truth. Prayer can be where we find wisdom. But then also, we need to renew our mind regularly with hope.

Alex Judd: 26:06

We live in a world that, man, there's so many voices out there that are just reinforcing this idea of meaninglessness, aimlessness, pessimism, and nihilistic shrug that just discounts the value of effort and attitude and integrity. And you may have the strongest work ethic on the planet, and still, if you jump into a pool that is filled with meaninglessness, aimlessness, and pessimism, well, eventually, if you jump into a pool that's green, you're going to come out looking a little bit green. And so what I would tell you is part of having a daily rhythm of renewal that helps you be a patient leader is having a daily rhythm of renewal that keeps your hope up, that keeps you looking towards, number one, the eternal future of to where this is all going, that he's gonna restore all of it in goodness, beauty, and truth. And ultimately, it's all coming back to God. And one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.

Alex Judd: 27:05

Praise God for that. So we need that eternal perspective, but also we need the the temporal perspective of, man, we've been called to be the light of the world, and we should have hope for that. We should have hope that, man, today I've got this outrageously incredible task to glorify God and serve and love people. And I need to have a sense of urgency with how I do that. And so we have a daily rhythm of renewal in order to become a person that can just keep making deposits, that can keep in the same flow, that says, man, I don't care what the results, what the outcomes, what approval looks like, what people's opinions are, what the marketplace is saying.

Alex Judd: 27:45

I'm going to keep doing what I'm called to, and the way that I stay patient is I make sure I continue getting exposed to truth, I make sure that I seek wisdom, and I make sure that I maintain hope. Okay, let's go on to the final two. What does patience do? It connects to others committed to a path. Here's the clear action item.

Alex Judd: 29:11

Find other people that are genuinely aiming at something with positive intent. Again, really simple. Find other people that are genuinely aiming at something with positive intent, and then spend time with those people. I would probably reframe that and say invest time with those people because that investment is going to create a return, right? It is so refreshing.

Alex Judd: 29:38

It's so inspiring. It's so good for you to be around people that are just aiming at something with positive intent. And I really wanna call attention to the fact that they don't even have to be aiming at the same thing. They just have to be aiming at something. Man, there's certain people in my life that I just know it's like, man, that person's going places.

Alex Judd: 30:01

And that's literally what we say, right? That person's going places. What we mean whenever we say that is like that person's aiming at something. That person is like growing towards something in some way. And it's like, that's the type of person that I need to make sure I'm around a little bit.

Alex Judd: 30:16

Because if I want to go places, I should be around people that are going places rather than just sitting still. And what is this going to do from you on the patient side of things? Number one, it's going to give you principles that you can draw from their perspective. This is why if you own a business, so good to be connected to other business owners that aren't in your industry because you're going to draw principles from them that you're not going to get from your perspective. You're going to get them from their perspective.

Alex Judd: 30:44

Oh my gosh, just so valuable. Number two, it's going to be profitable for mutual encouragement. I've alluded to this in previous episodes in this series, but at a previous job, there was a season where my patience was really being stretched, and I was struggling to hang on. It wasn't clear whether or not I should stay or not, but I was quite frankly just having trouble staying engaged. And what was interesting is this other guy that also worked there, he was also having trouble staying engaged.

Alex Judd: 31:14

But what was crazy is I think it was a God thing. The weeks where I was hyper into the work, passionate about what was going on, could see direction in what I was doing, those were the weeks where sometimes he was having a down week. And I'd encourage him and I'd say, just hold on dude, keep putting in the effort, keep making deposits, keep working really hard, this too shall pass. But then what would be crazy is literally like sometimes a week or two later, it's like he's doing really well, right? Like he's taking action, he's seeing return, he's getting recognized, right?

Alex Judd: 31:45

And he's starting to see momentum and see how what he's doing is nested in a kind of a higher vision of what could be. So he's got more encouragement. Then at the exact same time, that's the time where I'm really struggling being like, I don't know how this all fits in. I think I should maybe hit the eject button. And we would both say, I know this, we would both say, it was so valuable for us to have each other because we would go have Mexican food for lunch, and we would share with each other, and we would encourage each other, and just say stay in there.

Alex Judd: 32:14

Don't hit the eject button. This is within your mission. It's within your values. Keep your head up. Don't become depressive.

Alex Judd: 32:20

Don't become nihilistic. Don't start checking out in terms of your work after career engagement. Keep loving people. Keep glorifying God. Keep staying positive.

Alex Judd: 32:29

Stay grateful. Don't check out on me. And what's crazy is we would do that for each other, and we would both look back at that season, and I know, without a shadow of doubt, we would both say, thank God we didn't hit the eject button. We would both be so grateful for that. But what do we need?

Alex Judd: 32:46

We needed mutual encouragement. So when you connect to others that are committed to a path, it's profitable for mutual encouragement. There's gonna be times where their patience is running really thin, and you can encourage them. There's going to be times where your patience is running really thin, and your hand is on the red button, and you really need people that have context that you trust, that you value, that can look you in the eye and say, don't you dare do that. Not yet.

Alex Judd: 33:16

It's not time right now. Profitable for mutual encouragement. Okay. And then number three, quite frankly, being connected to other people who are on a path, it just helps you pass the time. So principles, it's profitable for mutual encouragement, and then it helps you pass the time.

Alex Judd: 33:32

Here's what we gotta remember. Patience involves suffering. It's painful, it's uncomfortable. Now there's degrees of discomfort for sure, but it's uncomfortable. Now, what I want you to not lose sight of is there is always something worse than suffering.

Alex Judd: 33:47

Always, without a shadow of doubt. There's always something worse than suffering. And what is that? Suffering alone. And the beautiful news is that you don't have to suffer alone.

Alex Judd: 33:56

So make sure that you are connected to other people that are committed to a path. And then finally, what does patience do? It places a high value on coachability. Now this is applicable for you and others. What does the coachable individual have?

Alex Judd: 34:15

They have the wisdom to look at harsh truths with their eyes wide open. So they can see reality as it is, and I love that Max Dupree quote where he says, the first responsibility of leadership is this, define reality. So they can look at things as they are, and they don't need to sugarcoat them. They don't need to cover them up with rose colored glasses. They can say, this is how things are, and and they've got their eyes wide open.

Alex Judd: 34:38

What else do they have? They have the humility to receive grace for their inadequacy, faults, and failures. So they can take an honest look in the mirror or even receive feedback and say, man, there's some growth that needs to occur. There's some things that I'm doing that are just not what they could be. And what's so good is we all have those areas, right?

Alex Judd: 35:01

And that's what humility knows, is if I don't know what my areas where I need to receive grace is, it's not that I don't have them, it's just I can't see them yet, and so I need the grace all the more. So we need the wisdom to look for the truth. We need the humility to receive grace, and then we need the courage to keep moving forward. That's what the coachable individual always has. And then it's just this attitude of like, I have not arrived.

Alex Judd: 35:30

I am a work in process. There is no groan. It's always growing. There is always, always, always an area where I am weak, and that means there's always, always, always opportunity for improvement. What do patient leaders have?

Alex Judd: 35:47

They have this attitude of coachability in themselves, and then even beyond that, when they see coachability in others, when they see wisdom, humility, and courage in others, that's the type of person, especially on their team, that they're gonna go to battle for and they're gonna be really patient with. And they're gonna say, we can develop them with the skills. We can train them, we can get them more resources, but if they're coachable, we're gonna keep working with this person. So let's review what does patients do, clarifies source, banks, and destination, catches a vision that is deemed worth suffering for, establishes a rhythm for daily renewal, connects to others committed to a path, places a high value on coachability. Here's my prayer for you as we close out this series on patience.

Alex Judd: 36:35

It's that if you are in a season of productive discomfort where it is uncomfortable and it's hard and there's times where you think about hitting the eject button, whether that's in a relationship, maybe it's in your business, maybe it's with a project you're pursuing, maybe it's within a job. If you're in that spot where you're like, man, this is within my values and it's within my mission, but it's incredibly uncomfortable right now. My first prayer for you is that you wouldn't do that alone because like we said, that is uncomfortable, and it is very equivalent to suffering, and it would suck for you to have to suffer alone. So my prayer is that you would have the courage to reach out and let other people into that season of your business, your leadership, or your life. My second prayer for you is that you would have the ability to endure and that you would find within yourself the spirit and I believe it's the Holy Spirit that would give you the power and the character that you will need to not even just survive this season that requires patience, but rather to turn this season of patience into a season that God uses to be one of the most fruitful of your life in service of other people.

Alex Judd: 37:55

That's what I've often seen, is that no time is wasted when it's dedicated in faithfulness to glorifying God and serving and loving people. So maybe things aren't as you wish they were right now. If you're in the right lane, stay in that right lane. Persevere. Endure.

Alex Judd: 38:12

Keep taking steps in the right direction, and make sure you never forget what's your job description. Glorify God. Love and serve other people. Well, there you have it. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode.

Alex Judd: 38:25

If you want any of the information or resources that we mentioned, that's all in the show notes. Hey. Before you go, could I ask you for one quick favor? Could you subscribe, rate, and review this podcast episode? Your feedback is what helps our team engage in a sequence of never ending improvement.

Alex Judd: 38:42

We wanna amplify what's valuable to you and obviously reduce or even remove the things that aren't. Also, you leaving a positive review is what helps us connect with, build trust with, and serve other leaders around the country. So thanks in advance for helping us out on that front. Are you a leader that wants to grow your business in a healthy way, serve people exceptionally well, and glorify God in the process? Go to pathforgrowth.com to get more information about our community of impact driven leaders and schedule a call with our team.

Alex Judd: 39:15

Hey, thank you so much to the Path for Growth team, Kyle Cummings and the crew at PodCircle, and the remarkable leaders that are actively engaged in the Path for Growth community. Y'all are the people that make this podcast possible. Y'all know this. We're rooting for you. We're praying for you.

Alex Judd: 39:31

We wanna see you win. Remember, my strength is not for me. Your strength is not for you. Our strength is for service. Let's go.

Alex Judd: 39:39

Let's go. Let's go.