We’ve all played the “what if” game and it has left us paralyzed, put out and powerless. What if this all goes wrong. What if this doesn’t work out. What if I fail. What if I never reach my potential or get the results I want…STOP!
If this kind of what if describes your thinking, then before you get new results, you need to get a new attitude. What if can be a powerful question, but with a negative attitude it becomes an impotent question.
I used to hate the “what if” game, until I realized how powerful of a statement it could actually be. If I view what if under a positive lens, then it can be an incredibly propelling and powerful question. However, what if is most often a question that leads us to a set of negative conclusions. Let’s imagine you could change your thinking by asking this one simple question that would then lead you to a positive conclusion or a healthy diagnosis of your present reality.
What if could become the catalyst question for your personal development or your organizational development. Perhaps, your inability to ask questions that move your thinking forward has a become a barrier to your progress. If you try an simply go around the barrier, you will depart your course or chart a path that is difficult for you team to find and follow. The barrier will do one of three things: (1) cause you to quit, (2) cause you to change course (which may or may not be the right decision) or (3) make you ask better questions that drive you to better results.
Examining Your Presuppositions
“What if” is actually a statement of future belief based upon your existing presuppositions. The problem is most of us that have played the “what if” game with negative presuppositions. When you view life through a negative lens, you get a negative picture of the future. When you allow others to poison your well with their negativity, then you get a warped view of a possible future. When something is warped, it is distorted. Negativity hyper-distorts problems, solutions and outcomes. Today many of our leaders, followers, organizations and results demonstrate a bias towards negative thinking, which is evidence of a warped & distorted lens.
Most of our “what if’s” are born of fear, not of faith. Suppose you began to have a greater belief in your future. What might that lead you to? How might that inspire you, others and your organization. See, faith frees the mind to imagine previously impossible outcomes.
Breakups that Lead to Breakthroughs
How do I get there? How do I get my organization there?
You need a breakthrough. But, before you can get to a breakthrough, you need a breakup. Now, historically, we have considered breakups to have a negative connotation. However, if you are a boat stuck in ice, in order to move, you must break up the ice. If you are a farmer with a field that needs planting, then you must break up the soil. There are thoughts that fill your mind and attitudes that fill your heart that need to be broken up. These thoughts are barriers to your growth.
“…break up your unplowed ground…” Hosea 10:12
Your unplowed ground is the hardness that has set in because of your negative view of the future. Negativity limits your possibilities of the future. It doesn’t limit God’s possibilities, but it limits your ability to access these possibilities. Before you sew the new seeds of what if that come from a renewed since of understanding and purpose, you must plow up your soil. It must be tilled. Too many leaders and organizations are stuck with unfruitful fields, because they are working with dull plows, hard ground and negative attitudes.
The seed can’t break through the soil until it’s been planted. Change is the seed. We live in a generation that doesn’t want to plant, just reap. There will be no reaping without planting, germinating and waiting. The seed must be planted in good soil. The seed must germinate and be nurtured. And then you must wait. But, if you have done all you can do, then you have to allow God to do what only He can do—give the increase. Many of your dreams, ideas and what if’s don’t produce because you didn’t give them to God to supply the increase. If you believe in God, let me ask you a question: Who can make the seed grow better: You or God?
The answer is unequivocally God. Promotion is from God. Increase is from God. Never forget that you did not create your own success–you simply went to work adn God joined in. God has given you favor and granted you an opportunity to steward more. So, when a breakthrough happens, this is God allowing you an opportunity for more–don’t waste opportunities God gives you.
Breaking Through
Breakthrough is a sudden and dramatic change that leads to a more positive position in the future or path to a new future and changes the trajectory of growth.
When the seed breaks through the soil, something new is happening. Organizations get stuck, because they want instantaneous turn around. Let me make this clear, You don’t need to turn around, unless you are going the wrong direction! I can, actually, be going the right direction, but have my progress impeded. In this case, it’s not a new course you need, but a new change.
Organizations, teams and leaders need change, because without change there will never be transformation. Change is the process by which something undergoes specific and distinct steps that leads to transformation.
Tim Tassopolous, President 
of Chick-fil-A, says a breakthrough “is a critical change that creates dramatic improvement and sustains results.”
The reason we don’t see more breakthroughs is we have a callous attitude instead of a constructive & critical attitude. Now, I’m not reverting back to negativity, in critical I mean a “significant and constructive” attitude willing to acknowledge error and correct immediately as needed. Breaking through can be difficult. If you think you have experienced a breakthrough, but don’t see a dramatic improvement, then your change only created more callousness and confusion. The other idea Tim communicates is that this breakthrough creates a path that sustains results. Consistency is one of the keys to excellence and trust. If something is inconsistent, then ultimately it will become distrusted. But, when something or someone is consistent, then trust builds.
The Force before the Fruit
If you are looking for results before you experience a true and lasting breakthrough, then you will most likely be disappointed, which will lead you back to more entrenched negativity. But, if, like a patient farmer, you nurture the change, when it comes it will be sudden, dramatic and lasting. The reason why is because you let the energy that is growing within the change get to the point of no return. Too often, despite good intentions, leaders try to rush the growth process. This robs the process of its power. When the plant is ready to breakthrough the soil, then the force will be adequate and sustaining. If you try to pull the plant out of the seed, out of the soil, you will destroy the growth and life in the thing.
Let the force build in the change, and the fruit of sustainability and improvement will be lasting and impactful.
Conclusion
What if is a powerful question that if viewed with a positive attitude can be a catalyst for the breakthrough that has been eluding you or your organization. This question can lead you to dream and see beyond where you currently are. What if is really a question about more, not less. God has more for you, but in order to receive this, you must give more to God. Sadly, too often, we give God less and expect more from him. This demonstrates our desire to be in control and our lack of faith.
The rest of the verse in Hosea says, “…for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” Seeking the Lord is seeking a breakthrough. When you hear from God, everything changes. Your faith grows and then comes the rain. Rain in the Bible is a sign of God’s favor and blessing. What if you set your heart on seeking God and allowed him to refine your attitudes and thoughts — what change might you really see then?
Bottom Line: Breakthroughs Lead to Blessings.
(c) Alex Vann, 2017