cyn-i-cism: an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others
I just ran across this short but profound blog entry by one of my favorite authors, Donald Miller. In it he talks about how cynicism can hold you back in your leadership. But i would add that cynicism doesn't just hold back your leadership capabilities -- it has the potential to hold back your entire life.
If you are a cynical person (and i have struggled with this myself) i challenge you to kick the habit. Your life will be better because of it. Your story will be better because of it.
(See how a Donald Miller book literally changed my life...and my story)
Three Paradigm Shifts That Will Improve Your Marketing
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Our June StoryBrand workshop was a smashing success. Our attendees ranged
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ReplyDeleteHonestly, the motives of some do need to be questioned. An absolute cynical attitude toward all interactions of course leads to nothing good. It removes the ability to put any hope in people.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would argue that there is a healthy amount of cynicism, if you can separate that from the bitterness. We're never called to trust absolutely, and questioning motives, ideas, beliefs and actions can be done in a productive way. We must do that with ourselves and do that with others. But if we test it, it should be against scripture and without condemnation, but with a desire of understanding.
I would say that it was your ability to be honest about being a bit cynical that made me actually trust you the first night I talked to you when I came to Southland, that's a bit ironic isn't it?
I deleted the last post because it only had "R" as my name. :)