Many of the ideas and thoughts you are about to read come from a collection of other writings, primarily The Accelerating Man, Freed to Lead, and the QSource, but there are other references as well. If you plan to follow along with the QSource this year, you will likely hear some of these same themes repeated.
The three main themes of this post are Accountability, The Shield Lock, and The Yoke. Accountability is an integral part of an effective Shield Lock. The Yoke is another way of looking at the benefits of a Shield Lock type relationship.
Accountability
Accountability is defined as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions. In order to have true accountability, there must be standards (objective, measurable standards), enforcement (from an external source), and consequences. Obligatory accountability is something imposed on you by an organization, such as a government or employer. It is a set of rules or laws to live by, monitored and enforced by said organization, with known consequences when the standards are not met. Willing accountability is accountability that one enters into of their own volition. Who would willingly subject themselves to upholding certain objective standards? Those who desire to see positive change in their own life and protect themselves and those around them from harm.
For more on accountabilitiy, see this previous QSource post, which is eerily similar to Dredd's write up on Accountability in The Accelerating Man: QSource: Accountability
The Shield Lock
If we are honest with ourselves there are certain areas in each of our lives where we are weak, areas in which, on our own, we continually struggle to meet the standard. This is where the Shield Lock comes in. A Shield Lock is a give and take relationship between men who desire to hold one another accountable to a certain set of standards in order to support and protect one another. Iron sharpens iron.
The Shield Lock is an intentional relationship of Accountability with other men. The Shield Lock is a relationship built on mutual trust in and love for one another (the love your neighbor as yourself kind of love). The Shield Lock is entered into willingly. It is born out of a desire to accelerate yourself and your brother in the proper direction and defend one another's weaknesses from both internal and external attacks.
The Yoke
A different way to look at the benefit of this Shield Lock relationship is The Yoke. Yes, as in the two or more oxen working together type of Yoke, not the Ronnie from the Jersey Shore type of Yoke. That was a bad Yoke.
Read the below notes on Yoking:
- A yoke is a wooden frame by which multiple animals, such as oxen, are coupled at the neck for the purpose of pulling a heavy load.
- The animals work side by side in order to carry a load that one can’t do alone. If the load is not heavy, a yoke is not needed.
- A yoke makes independence impossible. You can’t go your own way.
- Typically a young, untrained ox is yoked with an older, trained ox. The younger learns from the older.
- If a trained ox can pull 5,000 pounds and an untrained ox can pull 2,000 pounds, together they can pull 10,000 pounds—much more than the sum of the two.
- Over time, the untrained ox becomes trained and they begin to walk in-step with each other. Then they can pull 15,000 pounds.
I refer you to this Lancaster PA farming website for more info on the concept of oxen pulling and how it expedited the US growth and expansion westward, one "acre" at a time. On Oxen Pulling Weight
If that got you really excited, you can learn how to train your own oxen here: How to train your oxen
(I didn't intend for this post to be just directed toward Jolly, despite the numerous farming and oxen references.)
I challenge the Pax of F3 Lake Norman to engage in a Shield Lock or Yoke with other men in our community. The name of this challenge is #GetYoked. Start right now. Find some battle buddies. Find another group of guys you respect, guys that you want to hold you accountable and that you are in turn willing to hold accountable. It will not always be fun or easy. At times it will be downright painful. But it will be good. Some of you already have accountability in place to achieve certain health or fitness goals. This is great, but I hope each one of us cares about more than just about personal fitness. Take that concept and apply it to other important areas of your life. Do it because you genuinely care about who you are, who your friends are, and the positive impact you desire to make in the Concentrica of your family, your friends, and your community.
One important thing to note as you get started is that you'll want to be yoked with others who are going the same direction as you, or at least in the same direction that you desire to go in. Otherwise it will be an extremely frustrating experience for those involved and no one will get very far.
A group of 3-5 guys is recommended, the reason being that it is small enough to allow everyone to speak and share intimately, but not one on one, which changes the dynamic and typically becomes more of a student/teacher or mentor/mentee relationship. Also, along the way if something turns personal between two people it is helpful to have others around to help resolve it. All that said, this is F3, so starfish it, freed to lead however you see best and if it works well let us know. No one is going to hold you accountable unless you take the initiative to put that into place yourself. The Yokes on You.
Matthew 11:29-30
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."