Yesterday I wrote on the importance of agreeing on a direction. Today, let’s explore the importance of just following directions. The amount of time, energy and emotion that goes into discussing, debating and fighting against just taking and following simple directions is astounding. If you are a manager of others you have at some point sat and scratched your head wondering why someone who works for you just can’t follow the simple directions given to them and worry about being fancy or something else different later. And if you work, you know the feeling of being told to do something you really don’t want to do and you want to fight it. There are many cases where we should push back and try and take things in a different direction but there are just as many times when we should just follow the directions given to us and do the job well. To build confidence from our bosses it is important that they not see us as always wanting to go cross-stream. They need to know that we can follow their current and go with them and then get the job done well and beyond their expectations. If we are constantly fighting them and pushing against their directions then it becomes much harder to exceed those expectations and when the time comes for something critical to be accomplished in a short time frame, the task won’t be given to someone who has to be convinced and talked to about why they should do the job. The assignment will go to the one who the manager knows will pick up the ball and run with it to their full ability. If we doubt that following directions can be a good thing see what Jesus prayed in John 17:4, “I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do.” If Jesus could humble himself to follow directions and do what He was told to do, then certainly with the work we have in front of us, we can do the same.

Reference: John 17:4 (New Living Testament)