Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive (9 page)

I’ll never forget being on safari and sitting out under the night sky with thousands of diamondlike stars glistening brightly above us. Since there were no artificial lighting sources—no streetlights, skyscrapers, billboards, or shopping malls—the dark seemed
thicker and deeper, which only made the starlight seem brighter.

There were faint sounds occasionally from the bush surrounding us, but overall it felt peaceful and relatively quiet. That is, until our guide shone his flashlight in a 360-degree sweep around our campsite! As his beam penetrated the surrounding foliage of the African bush, dozens of luminescent eyes glared back at us. It’s one thing to know those creatures are out there, but I’m telling you it’s another to have them staring back at you! They were watching us, scrutinizing our every move, prepared to fight or flee depending on our actions.

Once you leave your cage, you, too, will be watched and scrutinized by dozens of people. As you become uncaged and integrated into your latest jungle, there will be plenty of naysayers, critics, and skeptics. But keep in mind, like the eyes shining back at us on my safari, most of them will not physically hurt you. They may frighten you and make a lot of noise and increase your anxiety, but ultimately, you must ignore their stares and remain focused on creating your own path.

Once you enter the jungle of your new endeavor, some people will be jealous while others will feel threatened or intimidated. Some will want to compete and compare, and others will try to cover and capture. In the midst of such adversity, you must sidestep the dangers they present and follow your own instincts.

When others offer advice, criticism, or instruction,
you should listen, consider it, and keep it in mind. But ultimately, you can only follow your own instincts and not someone else’s. Steve Jobs was right. You must never live anyone else’s life but your own. You must fly on your own two wings!

W
hen you follow your instincts, you invest in your future success. As I’ve shared, this instinct to increase is not about dollars but about dreams. Not that the two are mutually exclusive by any means—not at all. But most people would measure instinctive success by checking business ledgers, stock investments, annuities, and stock options. Some think that their instinct to increase is about profits and not losses. Many more assume that instinct-based success is about the houses we live in and the cars we drive. They mistake the trinkets of success for success itself.

Others define increase by the score: a home run on a baseball field, or a three-pointer outside the paint on a basketball court. Or it could be celebrities you’ve met or degrees you’ve earned or companies you’ve started. However, a few realize that instincts are more than
shrewd investments and buyouts, scoring points or touchdowns.

You see, it’s never the money;
it’s the confidence you gained while getting it
. It’s never the prize; it’s what it took to get the prize. It’s not the dividend; it’s the exhilarating feeling of having invested wisely. In short, my friend, it’s not the destination that matters—it’s what you see and learn while getting there! It’s the investment of your instincts in future growth and success, not just the dividends paid.

While I was reading through the Bible recently, I encountered a story that really drove this home to me. Now, I don’t profess to know all that Jesus intended for us to glean from this story I’m about to share. But some of the truths I extracted from the text may help you realize that we are indeed tenders of the soil.

Whether you are Adam in the Garden of Eden or an investor on Wall Street, there’s an expectation that you will be responsible enough to take what you’ve been given and continue to cultivate it and develop it to the best of your ability! Let’s consider the lessons in this multilayered masterpiece.

This story wields a powerful punch in showing us how we must seize the opportunities we have been given and have the courage to forge into the unknown. We must facilitate the untapped power of our possibilities and maximize every gift and grace we’re given. We must increase the allotment we’ve been given and leave every situation better than it was before we were entrusted with it.

Imagine how surprised Jesus’ disciples must have been to hear such an amazing idea: that a man rich enough to have servants would leave the servants in charge of the wealth! This is an astonishing notion in any society, but it becomes even more impactful when you consider that during Jesus’ lifetime people were born into a strict caste system. Most people then usually believed that the affluent were entitled to lead by virtue of their birthright while the less-than must likewise accept their lot in life. The notion of helping others reach a higher station was not popular, not to mention the notion that a master would entrust his goods to his slaves for safekeeping!

For example, consider when the prodigal son tells his father, “Make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15:19). He implies his willingness to be stripped of all rights to inheritance and to occupy a lesser station in life in exchange for the right to come home. Even Jesus himself once said, “The poor you will have with you always” (Mark 14:7). There seems little expectancy beyond benevolence given to the poor. Certainly, there is not a chance to change stations in life or manage investments.

Yet in this story, the wealth has been transferred—at least from a stewardship perspective—from the haves to the have-nots in a graphic and profound way. Not only does the master delegate his wealth, but then he takes his leave! Even with today’s much-needed emphasis on equality, I don’t know too many people
who go on vacation and leave their wealth in the hands of the maid or the gardener!

Why would Jesus suggest such a countercultural, counterintuitive possibility? The master’s slaves had no experience with handling business. They had no training with investments or wealth. Why risk it all with someone who has none?

To answer this question, I challenge you to consider how this parable emphasizes the power of instincts and their direct correlation on our status and standards of living.

Each servant is given a portion—not equal portions, but all three receive something. One man receives five bags of gold, the second receives two bags of gold, and the third receives one bag. When the master returns, he asks them to account for what they did with what they had. The man with five reports an increase to ten, a 100 percent increase. The next one, who received two, reports that he, too, has doubled his money and now has four.

But the last servant neither increased nor decreased the one bag with which he had been entrusted. The story concludes by making it clear that the master was quite angry at the way this last servant handled what he’d been given! All the others had an increase of 100 percent. I mention this contrast for several reasons.

First, we must realize that whenever we have been given an opportunity, no matter what the arena, we are expected to produce some level of increase. Whether that opportunity is monetary, as it was in the story mentioned above, or whether it is an intangible opportunity, there’s an accountability that cannot be ignored.

What are you going to do with what you have been given?

The second item you must consider is that in spite of the fact that no one received the same amount, each was evaluated based on his level of increase. So the excuse that I didn’t have what the other guy had is not acceptable. If God holds us to a divine standard, then we’re accountable only to the degree we have been gifted.

The third issue lies with the motivation of the servant who had one. His fear of failure compelled him to hide what he’d been given rather than risk it for increase. The thing that leaps at me in his issue is that he hid his talent and exposed his fear. How many of us are doing that in some area of our lives? When, in fact, we should be hiding our fear and exposing our talents!

Finally, the most profound point for me emerges from the fact that the master never asked any of them to increase what they’d been given. While there’s no command, it seems apparent that there’s a clear expectation to do so. It’s inherently understood that it’s the servants’ responsibility. This unspoken expectation forms the very basis of my main point here. If you’re
waiting on someone to command you to perform your best and increase your abilities, then you’re not in touch with your instincts. If someone has to demand great thinking and intuitive creation from you, it may be that you are not ready to be so honored. Exceeding the requested duties is a sign of instincts well applied!

This kind of instinctive production isn’t elicited by the demand of others around us but rather exudes from the creativity within us. New opportunities call us to birth greatness rather than seek shelter in the womb of mediocrity, which offers temporary comfort but cannot sustain our maturation into the fullness of what we were made to be.

The expectation of the master in the story is the same one given to us by God with every new opportunity. It is the chance to harness your ability with your creativity and risk opening the door for promotion to the next level. The next time you are honored with an opportunity, remember that this is your gateway to the next level of living, thinking, and thriving. You are being given more than a chance to succeed—you are given a chance to advance!

I have seen so many people who wasted their lives, their gifts, their money, and all types of opportunities because fear blocked the path to abundance. Like a roadblock on a highway, they seemed unable to get beyond the debris of past accidents in order to find a new route to their success.

We can overcome our fears if we remember that life
does not demand more than what it gives. We can’t waste time comparing what we’ve been given, because we must reserve that energy for unloading to our God-given potential. The gifts may not be in the same dimension or even to the same degree, but that’s okay! It may not be on the same level as everyone else’s, and that’s okay because we’re not called to compete with everyone else. We’re not called to use others as the barometer of our breakouts. We’re called to maximize the fullness of what God has uniquely entrusted to us!

No, we can’t afford to allow our neighbor to dictate how we define success. It may not be in the same area, so we are taught not to covet what we’ve not been allotted. You can hire people to do what you cannot do. There is no time to spend years imitating what we’ve not been given.

Instead we are asked to measure ourselves by ourselves and to fulfill the unspoken responsibility that comes with the gifts we’ve been given. Based on this parable, I’m convinced God asks no more and no less from us. There is no expectation or requirement to function on some other guy’s level!

However, this unique standard to which God holds us also means that we must accept responsibility for its fulfillment. We don’t have to imitate anyone else’s
success, but we do have to invest our talents in the dreams we’ve been given.

Unfortunately, there’s no instruction manual in the box when you uncrate the gift inside of you. I can’t tell you how many times I wished there were some type of specific directions given as to exactly how we should increase the tangible and intangible gifts we have been given in life. The singer has the gift of song but no sheet music revealing whether to teach, perform, or record. The artist has the gift of drawing, but there is no clear blueprint as to whether he should pursue graphic design or fine art landscapes.

In fact, if instructions were included with our gifts, then our instincts would not have to be activated. God doesn’t give details when he gives gifts. He just gives us the instinct and the opportunity. He allows us to meet the right people at the right time and challenge us with how they perceive our capacity to perform. When life gives us gifts and an opportunity to use those gifts, this in itself is a compliment and, more important, our permission to advance.

So don’t wait on someone else to tell you how, when, and where to do what only you can know inside you. No one will tell you this is the moment. No announcer will declare this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. No parent, spouse, business partner, mentor, lover, coach, teacher, or pastor can tell you the time of your appointment with destiny.

Instead there is only an instinct of urgency. There is
an instinct of necessity. There is a still, small voice that says, “To him whom much is given much is required.” There is this moment
right now
!

I’ve often had people write me on Facebook or Twitter and ask, “How do I know what I’m created to do?” When these pop up, I have a habit of looking at the profile of the people who question. More times than not, I am expecting a college student or a high school sophomore to be the one asking such questions. But that’s not always the case—or even usually the case.