WE ARE LIVING, PARENTING AND RAISING OUR BUSINESSES AND BABIES IN THIS FEEL-GOOD CULTURE. 

Do what feels good in the moment, self care, self focus, do what’s best for you, immediate gratification. These are the things that are being promoted and preached all day, every day on social media. But what if that was the actual recipe to degrade the possibility for the development of true leadership, which ultimately is the determining factor as to whether we tap into our potential and success, both in adults and kids. 

Today we’re talking about something critical – the idea of honoring sacrifice. Doing what feels best right now, guarantees only that: to feel good for a moment in time, but everything worth holding onto and working towards requires some level of sacrifice. So, how can we model sacrificing the right things to our children and teach them sacrifice comes with huge benefits? 

Let’s raise them up right!

IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:

[2:05] Start with the End in Mind 

Growing up in a big Italian-Arabic family, there was really no shortage of talk about sacrifice. We heard stories of the sacrifices of our grandparents and our great-grandparents, we witnessed the sacrifices of most of my adult family members, we had regular dinner table conversations around why sacrifice was the only way to get to where you want to be. But over the last few decades, I felt more and more like an island as my family leaned one way and the world seemed to lean the other way, the self care way.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in taking care of yourself, but there’s a culture that has come with self care that also promotes immediate gratification. This culture emerged and ultimately took over. The idea of sacrifice became almost taboo. But like with all things, we should start with the end in mind, both for ourselves in the pursuit of our own callings and goals and for our children and the life we hope they live based on what we instill in them.

[4:23] How to Make the Right Sacrifices

If we simply just embrace sacrifice without knowing what it’s for and the consequences that come with it, we may ultimately be sacrificing at the expense of our values, which isn’t good either. This is why it’s critical to know your True North; that star that guides you, the set of values that become the stepping stones to that star. There can be things that appear to be good, but if they’re not in alignment with your values, are they the right sacrifices for you and your future?

[6:25]  Having The Right Attitude  

The right attitude around sacrifice is this proactive, visionary attitude that can appreciate the need and goodness of making a sacrifice in pursuit of something greater than yourself. Only someone who has that vision, that can see into the future can align the path in getting to where they’re called to go with who they’re called to become. If you don’t have that vision, sacrifice just feels like punishment.

This will also help to eliminate the attitude that’s all too common today in kids and many adults, the attitude of entitlement. that things can and should be handed to them earned or not. And that creates a vicious cycle because people who are handed things don’t necessarily appreciate those things. But when someone works for something, fights for something and sacrifices for something, they appreciate it.

[9:45] Sacrificing for Others

The sacrifice doesn’t always have to be for the vision of our future or what will benefit me. This is another toxic nature of today’s society. Idea of sacrificing for others is becoming a lost art because it’s all about self care, looking out for yourself, doing what’s best for you. 

But what about embracing the unbelievable beauty of doing for others simply because it’s lifting them up? The idea of generosity is one of our core values as a family and oftentimes generosity, true generosity, can come at a sacrifice. I have to give up my time, give up my money, give up my prayers, give up the things that I could hold on to because it’s the right thing to do. That is a positive sacrifice that we can teach our children and embrace, embody and model ourselves for the sake of our own souls and the sake of the little souls that we’re raising up in leadership.

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Have you gone through the True North workbook yet? If not, what are you waiting for?  https://luminaryleadershipco.com/truenorth/
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