Are You Attacking Goliath or Running Around Him In Circles?

I’m sure everyone has heard the story of David and Goliath.  I Samuel 17 tells the story of a small shepherd boy who defied a giant and TOOK HIM DOWN.  The Philistine army and the Israelites were facing each other ready for battle.  They were positioned in a valley and had their backs to the steep slopes behind them.  The Philistine army had the advantage because they had a big whopper of a guy named Goliath who was over 9 feet tall.  The giant would come out everyday and taunt the Israeli army to come and fight.  This went on for 40 days.  Neither side would attack because it would put them at a disadvantage based on where the armies were positioned.  One day David comes to the battle field to check on his brothers.  He sees what this giant is doing and is outraged.  David  decides to go out and kill the giant with a slingshot and a bag of rocks.  David was not qualified to fight anyone, let alone a giant.  He was a teenager and not trained as a soldier but he had the most powerful weapon on his side,  FAITH.  He took his stones and slingshot, ran to the battle field and slew the giant Goliath.

The point I want to make is this.   Are you attacking the goliath’s in your life or are you cowering on the sidelines.  I am experienced on both sides.  It is not easy to face the goliath’s that we have in our lives but it is necessary for growth.  In leadership and life you are getting ripe or you are going rotten.  The second you stop facing goliath’s and growing from the experience you are beginning to rot.  It is even more of a tragedy if you have a mentor that can help you defeat goliath but you still choose to run circles.  My mentors Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady have helped me immensely with conquering and with calling me out when I am running circles.  Do you give your mentor that freedom?

 

Lets look at a couple of key teaching points about this process.  The first one is, David killed the giant with a stone.  Not a bazooka, M-1 tank, or a cannon.  A simple little stone that was lying on the ground.  I have found that conquering personnel goliath’s is very similar.  It may seem like you need a bunch a fancy things and be trained in special ops techniques but it doesn’t.  It is a bunch of small process and thought changes that lead to the big victory over your goliath.  So don’t be afraid that you have to make some radical changes that you wont be able to maintain or implement.

 

The second point is did you notice that the story said David immediately questioned what was going on and then he ran into battle.  Does this sound like someone who was worried about what others thought about him.  NO, I am assuming that it didn’t even cross his mind. One of the biggest factors in people not attacking their goliath’s is, they don’t want to look bad.  Well let me help you clear something up.  If you are using a mentor by definition they are going to be helping you identify weak ares and come up with a plan to fix them.  They are not there to judge you they are there to help you see the areas you can’t see.  They are also going to give you a different way of thinking about your situation.

 

The last one is simply that David had total faith that he would destroy Goliath.  When you start the mentoring process you need to have total faith that you will overcome your goliaths.  Once you conquer one goliath you start to feel like you can take down any of them.  This process is not fun or easy but it is necessary.  I wish you the best of luck in attacking your goliaths and becoming one of the rare people in this world.  The person who won’t run from Goliath but will face it head on.

God Bless

27 thoughts on “Are You Attacking Goliath or Running Around Him In Circles?”

  1. Thank you for the reminder. Goliaths will always be in our businesses, marriages and journeys but the sooner we take one down the sooner we advance. It is better to destroy them before they create a army of fear incapacitating us. Thanks Bill!

  2. Bill thank you for another great insight. You have a gift for presenting information in such a relateable form than anyone can leverage. Thank you for the reminder to start with a basic solution”a stone” rather than over-complicating it and trying to use a “tank” to resolve everyday opportunities.

    Scott

  3. I really appreciate the mentorship that the LIFE business has to offer. The men that the system creates, and the challenges that it brings have helped me become a more humble and earnest student. Challenging my goliaths rather than circling around them is undeniably the most important thing that I have learned about habits and taking a look at my life. Thank you for your continued guidance.

  4. Love the point you make that taking down your Goliaths doesn’t require anything complicated, just steady simple improvements in your processes and thoughts! And what a lesson from David too that he did rush in to take care of business, with his heart and mind on God, not on what others thought or how he would look!

  5. Bill that was very great to be reminded of using the mentor. Being blessed with one that you an Jackie personally trained is an honor. Goliath has called and we stand before him on the ground.

    Thanks Bill

  6. I agree with what everyone has posted above. But, I want to personally thank you and Jackie for being there for us. You guys are the real deal. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

    Thanks
    Dee and Kari

  7. So true….not only do we not want to look bad, but our lack of faith can really get in our way! Then worry kicks in….and “what if”…..Worry is ‘temporary atheism’. We will never get ahead with worry on our back! Phil 4:13…I can do ALL things through Him who gives me strength! He doesn’t say “some” things but “all” things! Including our Giants! Thanks for guiding us thru some of our temporary giants….they are excellent ‘teachable moments’ and with faith are just temporary!

  8. Fantastic lesson with biblical prespective and to him goes the Glory. GOD is where the courage comes from to slay your goliath’s. You are rapidly becoming one of our nations best leadership thinkers Bill. You and Jackie truly represent the leadreship America needs by doing what you say. Your children are so blessed to have parents that walk the walk and are a true testiment to serving others. You know what they say, “the hardest thing a person will ever do is investtiem and money into others and expect nothing in return”.
    Merry Christmas and
    May GOD Bless You
    bp n Sherry

  9. Bill,

    Thanks for the great article on an issue most people want to avoid. I appreciate you helping us work through some or our Goliath’s, and I’m sure when we sit down again to mentor, we’ll work on the next one in front of us (that we probably can’t see without your help). I urge everyone to mentor with someone that is further down the path of success. If you are not mentoring, that may be the first goliath you need to stop running around.

    John Mossner

  10. Awesome!!! Thank you for sharing this truth, encouragement, and reminder. It is vital we get this down! God Bless!

  11. Sometimes I feel like I’m running around Goliath throwing rocks and screaming when I get behind it and dashing behind a tree or boulder when it turns around. More accurately, some challenges are easy to conquer, once they’re identified, but others that have been obvious for a long time with very little progress or victory. I guess I’d better get my chopstick and start pokin’…

  12. Bill,

    You are such a great teacher!

    I love the simplicity of this lesson.
    Use a stone, attack the Goliath’s one at a time.
    Don’t worry about what others might think, win your battle.
    Have faith

    Thanks Bill, I know this helped me with my Goliath’s

  13. Bill,

    Thanks for your insights and taking the time to remind us of the basics. These blogs have been so great at narrowing our focus on the incremental steps – the slight edge principles. They’ve incouraged us to acknowledge our current weaknesses and put plans in place to turn them into strengths.
    Thanks for staying strong and not getting weary, you have made a difference in this life.

    Dan Pinkelman

  14. Bill… Loved the article. You are one of the best in the world at sizing up and attacking goliaths! Especially when it comes to stinking thinking!! Thanks for being a great example of a ‘King-sized’ goliath slayer!!

    God bless, KB

  15. This is a good reminder that we have people around us to help us through our Golaths. Rather it’s a mentor, pastor or someone whom has the fruit on the tree, to whom we trust, we should not be afraid to share our issues with. Life’s Ob Stok Leez, they are always there, it how we learn to over come them thats the issue!

    God Bless….Dave Mitchell

  16. Great insight Bill! So many of us wait for the big solution and don’t take the little steps that make the most differnce. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

  17. Great post Bill. We all need the reminder that we need to push through the Goliaths we face in our lives. Almost ever time, I have found they are made of tissue paper. None the less, they are big and scary. Thanks for helping us identify and push through the Goliaths we face.

  18. Bill,
    Congratulations on your marriage! The info on Goliath based on the book “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell states that David was a “thrower”. Similar to the precision marksman or sniper of our day. This doesn’t detract from the story. It just clarifies some of the details. Its a great book. So glad to have you back in speaking mode. You are certainly my fav!

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