What do you know about the Law of Obedience?
What does success mean to you?
There was a time in my life when I thought success was the ultimate goal. I was striving to be “the best” in all aspects of life.
I pursued a career in American football, and fame and financial reward tempted me. I was living the dream.
But then a catastrophic injury threw all my dreams out of the window. It affected my sense of self-worth and left me questioning my future.
What was my purpose in life without professional football? How would I achieve greatness without a career in professional sports?
I learned my first lesson through the pain and agony of a fourteen-month paralysis – both physical and mental.
It was time to start living a life of significance rather than greatness.
I Learned About the Law of Obedience
I learned the universe was organized by the Twelve Highest Laws, the first and highest of which is Obedience. All other laws and principles are governed by it.
When I obey a specific law, I reap a specific reward, and when I disobey a law, I suffer a specific consequence.
It was through this journey that I began to learn more about the Twelve Laws of Significance. I learned that my purpose was to be a servant in life to my community, colleagues, friends, and family.
What Does it Mean to be Obedient?
Following the law of obedience empowers you to achieve your greatest potential.
Many religious traditions and stories teach us about the power of obedience. The biblical Adam, the first human creation, was held accountable for his obedience.
Every soul has a choice between exercising free will – or agency – and obedience to natural laws. And we were all born with a conscience to help us navigate this choice.
The Five Faces of Character in the Law of Obedience
The Five Faces of Character are the core qualities that leaders embody and take with them daily. Learn more about them below.
1. Humility
Humility is the state of being humble.
Humble people do not think they are better than others—they are not proud or arrogant.
Humility is often mistaken for weakness in the business world. Many people in business believe that humble people are meek, unassuming, self-deprecating, or downtrodden.
But humble people have the strength to learn from others. They submit to a higher authority and have a willingness for leaders to teach and guide them.
Humble people do not seek personal gain. They genuinely dedicate themselves to the welfare of others, even if it means yielding control to achieve it.
2. Integrity
Integrity is adherence to morals and values.
People who have integrity do the right thing when people are watching, but more importantly, they do the right thing when people aren’t watching.
Throughout your personal and professional life, you will face opportunities that may require you to make a sacrifice. A person with integrity will make that sacrifice, even if no one is there to see it.
People with integrity often have to make hard decisions, including making a decision even when it is not in their best interest.
By living a life with integrity, the acts of charity, goodness, or generosity are their own reward.
3. Self-discipline
With integrity comes self-discipline. The two are intertwined.
Consider the American pilots who were shot down in Vietnam. They were tortured, starved, and interrogated.
When the enemy dragged captives out of their cell for interrogation, they would shout, “RWH!”
Return with Honor.
When all those soldiers left the base on that fateful day, they believed they possessed everything they needed to survive when fighting the enemy: a helmet, gloves, steel-toed boots, a survival vest, a compass, a knife, a small-caliber handgun, flares, and more.
When the enemy caught the soldiers, they stripped the soldiers of these resources.
All they had left was their honor.
They had to use self-discipline to endure the torture and abuse.
4. Sacrifice
To sacrifice is to relinquish something valuable or precious to accomplish a greater purpose. To determine something’s value, we must decide what we are willing to sacrifice to obtain it.
In baseball, a sacrifice bunt occurs when a player advances a runner—it involves lightly bunting the ball so that a base runner or runners can advance.
The batter sacrifices their base to bring home a runner who is in a better scoring position. He sacrifices his personal game for the whole team.
The player’s statistics might reflect a lack of base hits, but they’ll also reveal an impressive RBI—Runners Batted In.
Like an assist in hockey, they’re as valuable to a team as an individual accolade.
5. Order
You create order in your life when you practice humility, integrity, self-discipline, and self-sacrifice.
Order is all about acknowledging natural patterns in life that create stability. These patterns allow you to remain humble, act with integrity, exercise self-discipline and make sacrifices for the better good.
Many people think that you must establish rules and routines that bring you the consistency to have order in life.
These rules already exist.
The Law of Obedience is a universal law. Once you’ve identified it, the principles can be your guide.
(Learn more about obedience by attending my leadership training found here.)
The Law of Obedience is Liberating
The Law of Obedience isn’t a constraint—it’s a beacon.
If you’re seeking “success,” as though it is an end that justifies the means, you’ll likely find yourself living an unhappy life.
When you follow the Law of Obedience and emulate the above five character traits, you can build a life of significance—one that will bring you fulfillment and joy.
If you’d like to learn more about living a life of significance, you’ll find a more in-depth conversation in my book, The Art of Significance, attending one of my virtual keynote speaker events, or hiring me as a Life Coach.
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