Our church is hosting the global leadership summit. This is, by far, one of my favorite events to attend every year: the learning, the relationships, and how God moves through leaders in our region.

Here are a few takeaways from the session with Jon Acuff on “Building a winning mindset”:

• A goal is the fastest path from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow.
• Starting is fun, but the future belongs to finishers.
• Overthinking wrecks more leaders than anything else.
• Overthinking is the most expensive things business invest in every year without even knowing it.
• Overthinking is when what you think gets in the way of what you want.
• The soundtrack changes everything, and we have a soundtrack for every part of our lives.
• The longer we listen to repetitive thoughts, the more it becomes part of the playlist of our lives.
• Soundtracks are the culture of a company.
• Great thoughts lead to great actions. Great action leads to great results.
• Great leaders:
  • Retire broken soundtracks
  • Replace them with new soundtracks
  • Repeat until automatic.
• Ask the loudest soundtracks these questions:
  • Is it still true? Don’t assume all your thoughts are true.
  • Is it helpful? Does the soundtrack push us forward or pull us back?
  • Is it kind?
• Google wondered, “What do the most successful teams have in common?”
  • Psychological safety: a shared belief held by the team that members are safe for interpersonal risk-taking.
  • You can ask questions, suggest new ideas, and admit you’re wrong without being treated poorly by the team.
• You only get to fix mistakes that you admit.
• Leaders who can’t be questioned end up doing questionable things.
• We struggle to know how to replace soundtracks because we think we can’t choose our thoughts.
• Thoughts come by choice or chance.
• Great leaders always pick ahead of time, and they pick thoughts that are actionable.
• You have a soundtrack for every person in your life.
• Empathy: Understanding what someone needs and acting on it.
• What do the people you care about, care about?
• It is much better to meet a need instead of inventing a need.
• You’ll get out of touch if you don’t listen to people’s needs.
• Everyone wants to know: Do you see me? Do I matter?