Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive (3 page)

In order to do this, we must not live in the practical nor the pragmatic but must have the courage to move into the premier. That satisfaction of being able to meet the demands of our lives is in part reached when we have a keen sense of the inner instincts we have of being the right person in the right place at the right time to handle the task. Often the complexity of our lives spawns the creativity in our lives! Our instincts can cut through the clutter of chaos and forge a clear path for us to follow—that is, if we’re listening and courageous enough to follow.

But obviously, listening and following is easier said than done.

When I was a child there were not many gadgets to assist us. Even our toys had few features. Girls had to imagine their hard-bodied Mattel baby dolls were wet and needed changing; we boys had to turn apple trees into army tanks with only our imaginations to guide us. As we played in the backyard while our mothers peeked occasionally out the window, we became
quite proficient at turning sticks into baseball bats and rocks into softballs. Left to our own devices, ants transformed into armies and snowflakes evolved into snowmen.

We were forced to be instinctive enough to sense danger when a snake was near or to discern a buddy from a bully while walking home from school! We didn’t have to do character assessment from a laptop of who our friends were or search Facebook for common “likes.” We didn’t realize it then, but those simple circumstances were in fact the gymnasium that gave our instincts a workout. My backyard turned into a jungle. Our little playground toys had all the thrills of a Disneyland designed and created by a child who some would have said had an overactive imagination.

As I look back on those days, it was the necessity of not having enough that spawned the creativity to see the invisible, but I learned how to play in what I dreamed and not in what I had. Today I am most grateful for the clarity of thought and the nimbleness of mind to spark creativity, even though it originated in what sounds like adversity today. Imagination was a coping mechanism through which we were allowed—no, encouraged—to see an inanimate object not just for what it was but what it could be. This ability to see the invisible was a great stimulus for instinctive reasoning.

As poor children we were inspired through the absence of the obvious to tap into the presence of the imagined. I remain grateful to this day that I was given that backyard wilderness to teach me to dream of what could be without getting lost in what is. Little did I know that, standing in creek water surrounded by scampering rabbits and hawks gingerly perched on branches, I would playfully start a cycle of innovation that would one day be the mother of my own creative instinct!

This is not how we usually define the term
maternal instinct
, but I think it applies just the same. Later as a young pastor I used this same sheer instinct to step into a condemned building and look beyond the deplorable stench and dilapidated walls of its present condition and see what it could be if given some remodeling, care, and enhancement. My instinct became the impetus for a vision, for the power of imagining its filled potential, and for the tactical steps needed to create a plan of fulfillment.

As I got older, the same instinct that remodeled the building later became the impetus through which I could salvage a flailing company, or enhance a weak script into a blockbuster movie. Instinct and imagination become the parents of our creative visions. They allow us to see opportunities where others see only
limitations. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we concentrate on what we do have—and what can be created from those ingredients.
People with great instincts always transform what they are given to more than what it was when presented to them!

The best thinkers, builders, draftsmen, architects, designers, hairstylists, preachers, and chefs are those who walk amongst us with one foot in reality and the other planted firmly in the realm of the potential. If, like them, you’re blessed to recognize the gap between where you are and where you want to be, then you may also know that in order to cross over into a more successful, fully realized life, you must allow your instincts to become your bridge.

Our instincts teach us how to take less and do more. Like a gourmet chef with a limited pantry, we combine the various flavors to create something new and delicious. Our instincts up the ante and propel us to the next level. Our instincts illuminate our path amid the bleakness of realities, statistics, and studies and guide us from the mundane to the magical.

Innovators live by their instincts to break barriers and resist complacency. Consider someone like Oprah Winfrey, whose unprecedented business model changed daytime television, not only in terms of content but also even more important, in terms of an innovative business model. Or Cathy Hughes, who
changed the game of radio forever by developing models that not only built a communications empire but affected how R&B music would be marketed within our community. Instinctive pioneers such as the Bronner Brothers or the makers of Dudley products, who had the foresight to pioneer hair-care companies that revolutionized how black people purchased beauty products.

When we look at these individuals, it’s not enough to simply applaud their success. We must examine their creative propensity through which they created something unique then successfully marketed the fruits of their labors. In other words, it’s not enough to know what people did if you can’t learn why they did it like they did it. John Maxwell says that those who know how to do a thing will always have a job. But those who understand why they did it will always be their bosses!

The real catalyst of creative instincts is about peeking into the windows of your own heart and soul. Others can inspire you, but ultimately the only thing that empowers you is what lies within you and learning how to better utilize what you’ve been given.

Even if what you’ve been given seems wrapped in nothing but problems, these barriers can become breakthroughs. They are just blessings camouflaged as burdens, creek beds from which you will develop oceans, backyard trips that will eventually open your mind to safaris. Whether you are wrestling with a poor marriage, a pathetic career, or a plummeting business,
there isn’t any area of your life that will not be transformed by your instincts if you’re willing to look within and exercise them. If you go beyond the facts and failures, and explore the feelings and impulses you have to increase what you’ve been given, you will light a trailblazing torch that will illuminate your steps, spark your dreams, and nourish your aspirations.

Isn’t it about time you activated what you’ve been given inside you?

M
y own life-changing encounter with the power of instinct in action occurred recently, on a safari in South Africa. Yes, the kid who grew up playing in creek beds behind his house now felt an even keener thrill as I found myself lurching over open terrain in a Jeep! In fact, there was no way I could ever have imagined what a truly life-transforming event this safari would become, catapulting me into the “aha! moment” that inspired this book. I wasn’t there to stalk big game but to hunt for insight into this new world of roaring lions, zealous zebras, and the creatures that have always, for some unknown reason, fascinated me—elephants!

I had been invited to Johannesburg by a group of black billionaires to discuss faith and finances and how one affects the other. These men and women were among the first to have risen to such heights economically after the Apartheid. It was a very powerful exchange of ideas. We had ended the sessions, and my wife and I had been awarded a complimentary couple of days to recuperate from jet lag and the completion of a grueling schedule marked by several teaching sessions. My host explained that we would have to take a small propeller plane from the city into a more rural location.

Our youngest son, Dexter, was also traveling with us, and he shared an excitement about our excursion that my wife did not. Hours later when I looked down at the narrow patch of pavement doubling as a runway, I understood her trepidation. I looked out the window and couldn’t help but notice that there was no control tower, nor anything resembling a terminal.

The place was void of a fixed-base operator or even a house for guests to rest or wait. The lonely little strip used for landing and taking off also had another occupant—a huge rhinoceros was parked in the middle of it and watched us with an implacable expression. Talk about air traffic control!

As we circled around him, hoping he would move and allow us room to land, my wife suggested that
we return to the city. However, there was no way the men of our house would be denied this extraordinary adventure of a safari. So we waited patiently until the rhino cleared us for landing and were then transported to a beautiful mansion surrounded by dense trees and small wildlife.

As we unpacked our carry-on bags and got settled, our host warned us not to wander outside the palatial fence surrounding the estate. He warned us that this was not like a visit to the zoo in Dallas, where the animals were caged and the people were free. Instead, we were contained in the house so that the elephants and rhinoceroses would have the liberty to browse the plains without restrictions. As I anticipated the thrilling journey that awaited us the next morning, I felt like Tarzan about to burst with one of his famous yells.

The next morning I was up before the sun and enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast on the lanai before donning my newly acquired khaki safari suit. We climbed into the Jeep, my son still sleepy but excited about our first day in the bush. Then I met our guide. He was a distinguished gentleman who was incredibly knowledgeable, and I listened intently as he unloaded priceless information about the habitat, the eating and mating habits, and so much more concerning the beasts that inhabited the wild.

Honestly, it all felt a little surreal. Considering my background, I marveled at this “if my mother could see me now” moment. Without a doubt, we were entering
a world that couldn’t be further from where I grew up. The African wilderness has unspoken rules and regimens that the zoologist guide shared with us as I oriented myself into this new environment so foreign to my background and previous points of reference. There were no street signs, traffic lights, or road manuals, just the voice of the zoologist guiding us along the way.

We saw gazelles leaping in the air like grease spattering in a cast-iron skillet at a fish fry. They skipped and lunged forward so fast that my camera palpitated in cardiac arrest while I snapped away as fast as I could. We spied on lions with their cubs, resting in the shade. Later we watched zebras move like painted horses loosed from a carousel. So much beauty, energy, and primal instinct came alive before us, more vivid and startling than any IMAX, HD, or 3D film could ever hope to capture.

As the sun hovered above the horizon like a scarlet ember, we looked for a place to make camp. It had been a good day, an unforgettable day. My only disappointment, which I kept to myself, was that we had not seen any elephants. The powerful pachyderm had eluded us all day, and as the sunset melted into twilight, I assumed that we had missed our chance. But then our zoologist guide casually mentioned that he looked forward to showing us the elephants tonight.

Had I heard him right? He planned to be out here at night! And for us to be with him? I swallowed hard and acted brave as we persevered deeper and deeper
into the entrails of a world completely new and now even more foreboding draped in shadows. Now, there were certainly a lot of animals I did not want to encounter in the dark of the African wilderness. And elephants remained high on that list. Nonetheless, as we continued bouncing along the dimly lit path that was our road, it was clear that our guide intended on saving the biggest, if not the baddest and best, for last.

Soon our driver stopped the Jeep, and a man draped in loose, native garb seemed to appear out of nowhere alongside us. Our guide told us that he was a Zulu, and he would be assisting us this evening. I couldn’t help but remember my history classes from junior high about Shaka Zulu the warrior, and I imagined that he might have looked like this stoic, dark-skinned man who proceeded to perch on the edge of our Jeep in a makeshift chair that looked as though it had been welded onto the hood to accommodate his small but muscular frame.

Apparently, he knew where to find the elephants. But based on his silent, impassive demeanor, I wasn’t so sure. We hadn’t seen one all day. If our zealous zoologist couldn’t locate them, how was our new addition going to find them?

As our journey continued, the zoologist began spouting a fountain of scientific information about the area.
However, I noticed the Zulu seemed unimpressed by the intellectual prowess of the other man, who continued to lecture with impressive factual data about our surroundings. But the ancient-looking warrior remained silent as we careened deeper into the bush, jostled by bump after bump, until suddenly he opened his mouth and proclaimed, “The elephant is ova dere!”

Seated between a zoologist and a Zulu, between intellect and instinct, I saw something more startling than I had seen all day. I realized that intellect can explain an elephant, but only instinct can find one! The zoologist had used hundreds if not thousands of words to describe the environment where we might find elephants, along with their eating habits, mating patterns, and fighting skills. And yet, the Zulu waited quietly, listening to something even more powerful than his counterpart’s knowledge, and uttered five simple words: “The elephant is ova dere!”

Moments later, his instinctive exhortation proved true. Based on the direction the Zulu was pointing in, our driver careened over rocky roads into a clearing by a small lake. There, a herd of elephants lounged and frolicked like guests beside the pool at the Ritz. Throwing water over their heads with their long trunks, they ignored their new spectators and continued cavorting.

I was speechless. Such power and might. Such enormous grace and agility on such a gigantic scale. We took picture after picture and had an incredible time, but I couldn’t get out of my mind that God had brought
me all the way to South Africa to show me something. Through this simple encounter, he revealed a profound metaphor on how to position my life and career for the future.

You see, it was there that I realized that I must not only surround myself with talented, well-informed people in order to prepare for the future. I must also include those individuals gifted with what the Zulu had afforded us. He reminded me that most things are not captured or conveyed by intellect alone. In fact, intellect without instinct can only explain and explicate but not execute. Only instinct can successfully find what intellect explains.

This is the one thing that university degrees and on-the-job experience cannot instill in you. Your professors and bosses can invest countless hours exposing you to critical information and inspire you with historical empirical data that will be invaluable as you trek through life. But the gift they cannot give you is the instinct to know when to do what only you can do and where to do it!

In order to harness your intentions with your actions, you must rely on instincts. Every visionary learns that they must be well-informed and well-equipped to accomplish their targeted achievements. But they must also be in touch with their instincts in order to use their experience, education, and equipment to fulfill their expectations. Instincts can help connect the dots between where you’re trying to go and how you will get there.

Intellect can make a salesman knowledgeable about his product, but it cannot tell him how to read his client. The police academy can teach an officer about crime scenes, but it cannot teach him how to search his gut and go with his instincts. The dating service can bring the right age, IQ, and physical attributes of a possible spouse before you from its extensive database. But it can never accurately measure the actual chemistry that will exist between you and your prospective mate when you finally meet.

The lessons of South Africa stayed with me.

I realized that my father certainly knew this truth as he built his one-mop-one-bucket janitorial business into a fifty-two-employee company. Dad had instincts to increase. Great preachers experience this urge as they unload a biblical text. Gifted leaders recognize that knowledge and talent are not enough as they navigate through crucial decisions. Movie stars know the secret to being more than just an actor. Instincts separate the mighty from the mediocre!

How about you? Do you have the instincts to know when you are on to something or when you are just going for a ride? Do you trust your instincts when making a business deal or hiring a new employee? If not, you may attain a modicum of success, but you
will never fulfill your maximum potential until you advance from being a zoologist to a Zulu!

This insight changed my prayer life, altered my interview process, revised the way I evaluated effective friendships, and ultimately thrust my vision forward from the ordinary to the extraordinary. All of my life I had thought that some people had it and some people didn’t. But I didn’t really have a word to describe what my eyes had witnessed. Now I can tell you what “it” was, that crucial difference that makes magic out of the mundane.

Thanks to an encounter at the tip of a continent thousands of miles from my home, I now had a term for the nebulous criteria of successful living. It wasn’t just talent. It wasn’t just intellect.

I had found the secret of champions. As I went back through all the people I had met in my life like a reel-to-reel tape stuck on rewind, suddenly it all made sense. From concert stages to corporate lunches, from church revivals to courtroom closing statements, the one thing each encounter had in common—instincts!

So if you are going after the big game of an idea, remember elephant tracking requires instincts you may not have had to use chasing rabbit ideas! It isn’t just intellect or even understanding. It isn’t just giftedness and opportunity. It is the gift of activated instincts. Where do they come from? How can we sharpen them? How can we utilize what our creative Creator has invested in our deepest parts? Yes, I said
“in”-vested in all of us—to adapt, to transform, to create, and to sense moments of significance or danger. Moments to be wary and moments to be warring. When to cringe and when to capture. How to craft and not to crash.

It is the law of instincts that determines how we manage the moment, move into position and adapt, resourcefully create, and strategically forge ahead without fear. The common denominator of instincts wins presidential elections, makes comedians successful, causes architects to build timeless monuments, and elevates engineers to artists.

Living by instinct elevates your ability to know where you’re going and how to get there. It can help you know when to slow down and step back and when to accelerate and step up. And it can guide you to what you’re ultimately looking for—whether that’s the elephant in the room or the elephant ova dere!