Claude Hamilton: Truth and Freedom II

Here is the second part of Claude Hamilton's superb message on truth and freedom. Claude represents the principles of the LIFE Business. Having started as a military man living paycheck to paycheck, he has thrived on leadership information and now leads thousands of people. The Mental Fitness Challenge is a great way to kickstart a person's leadership journey. Like Orrin Woodward says, "A person either hates losing enough to change, or he hates changing enough to lose." Which is it for you? As for Claude and Lana Hamilton, they hate losing!

Courage that stems from your constitution (temperament or makeup) is very weak. It will leave you stranded.

What is courage? It’s overcoming and taking action steps while you’re in fear.

Here’s the answer:

• It’s courage that comes from duty.
• It’s reliable and consistent.
• Add faith to your courage you become very powerful.

Faith is knowing the sun will come up tomorrow even when you’ve just seen it go down. You don’t doubt that it will rise again tomorrow. No one would ever bet on that.

So how do you find that type of constitution?

Know that the constitution of your human body is very good at coming up with excuses. We’re not looking for perfection here but hey… Let’s be dependable so that people can count on us.

While in the military, I’d run, do push ups, chin ups, all that – until I’d groan and say, “I can’t do this any longer!” This was the hardest I’d ever worked in my life and I’d think to myself, “I don’t need to do this; I’ll never be as good as the other guys.” I was so tired that even the thought of lifting a finger was unimaginable. Many excuses popped into my head.

Then, I’d hear, “Man Overboard!”  You never knew if it was a real emergency or just an exercise. I’d hear those words and as adrenaline shot up my body, all of a sudden my courage was no longer based on my constitution or temperament. Not even on my physical body’s feelings.  Duty was calling and my body jumped to attention. Just the thought that someone was dying gave me all the strength I needed to overcome.  No way was I going to just sit there and let things happen. A sense of duty overcame any excuse I could have come up with and I shot into action.

I’d never have to rely on my constitution or temperament to guilt me the rest of my life for inaction when I could have made a difference.

You see, our constitution will never run out of excuses.  “I’m a jerk.”  “My wife will do it.” Or “I worked late last night,” or “I’m lazy by nature.” Not even, “It’s just the way I am.”

Why are you overweight? “It’s just the way I am.”

Why are you a jerk to your wife? “It’s just the way I am – it’s the way I was raised.”

If courage is based on your makeup, your constitution or your temperament, it will forsake you. It’s totally unreliable and will let you down… again and again.

You need to build up your sense of duty.  The The 8 F’s of Leadership provide you with more than enough for you to find where your duty lies.  Your duty to your spouse; your family, friends, faith, and more. It will build character into you so strong that it will allow you to follow through on your decision long after the feeling in which you made the decision is gone. Character is STRONGER than any constitution you may have.  Never wait for the right mood to push you forward into your success. Do not trust your feelings and just do it.

You know this is true; that is why you can be doing this business for years and keep your sense of duty. Each time, at an event or a meeting, you are imparted with your sense of duty and you’ll do what you need to do. That is awesome and it will change your life.

The rewards are immeasurable. Can you change your life right now – within this community without impacting others around you? No.  It’s the qualification.  You change your life and the domino effect rolls out to those in your circle of influence. Don’t rely on courage from your constitution. Rely on something way more resilient and make quality decisions based out of your sense of duty. It will come from your character and from what you believe in your heart.

If your goal is to make $2000 next month, that is good but it’s considered the most shallow form of motivation. Love for your spouse, your children, love for your country – the 8 F’s are bigger. Duty to your family, your team, your Maker… look at whatever is important to you.

Then, the peace will come as you simply do what you know you should do.  As you act from duty, you allow God to take care of your results. Only doing it for the money makes it hard and the time will come (yes, it will) that money will no longer motivate you.  But sense of duty?  That will.

If you’re looking to your constitution for courage, you won’t do what you need to do.  You see, your constitution and your temperament needs to be trained.  Being in the military has helped train and build mine a bit stronger; it’s become more reliable.

This business is great. It helps you become the person you need to be as you continue to attract the circumstances you’re looking for.  Let me repeat that: If you want your circumstances to change, become the person you need to be so you can attract what you need.  Did you hear how powerful that was?  Most people stay the way they are, thus attracting the very circumstances they are running away from. To me this is very sad.

Believe the RIGHT truth. Running away from problems and going by your feelings on commitments is foolishness. It does not work!  Phillip Brooks says it well: “Do not pray for easier lives, pray to become stronger men.”

Begin to pray for more strength in your duties.  Pray that you might invest all of yourself UNTIL you make it. Do not despise humble beginnings or hard times.  It’s okay to cry every now and again.  I know that.  Even if your sense of duty is born out of shame, take hold of it.  Strong commitment doesn’t always come through joy but it certainly comes with plenty of humility.  Pray for strength to move mountains, for even more than you need.  We serve a God of more than enough.  Moses and Joshua were told time and again to stay strong and be of good courage.  Good courage?  Is there even such a thing as bad courage?

Yes.  I can see how our temperament and our constitution could err our courage.  This is what I believe:  I know I’m a sinner.  How far could I really go if I based my decisions on my sinning temperament? I need a higher compass. I need that sense of duty I’ve been sharing with all of you. Good courage is based on God’s promises, on his duty… or responsibilities.  Imagine taking the 8 F’s and growing a sense of duty through them.  Are you getting the idea of this sense of duty?

I so want you to get it.  To grab it with both hands. We are guarding your back all the way, we’ll help you. We’ll run with you if you run. We’ll serve you.

I leave you with this: Be strong. Be of good courage. Now go do it.

God Bless.

Claude Hamilton

Comments

[kevin]

Wow. That is some great info. Some good challenging words to live by.

[Matt Miller]

Great Subject Claude, i need to be reminded that we need to focus on something bigger than myself to rise above the current circumstances and challenge myself daily