I’ve been thinking much about young ministers lately. About their dreams, the abilities, their disabilities, the skills they have and lack. I can do this—I believe fairly—because I once was one.

One of the things that occurs to me is that (here come the rotten tomatoes) most ministers I know spin their wheels and don’t accomplish much. They generally have good intent, but feeble execution. Nothing in their training or their apprenticeship teaches them “how” to work effectively, and how to “accomplish” with all their doing. So they spend energy and create heat and friction, but, at the end of the day, the answer to the critical question of “Has the ball been moved forward for God” is often “No.”

I believe one of the reasons for this is ineffective use of their time. Again, nothing in ministerial training or apprenticeship teaches them how to maximize the output results from their efforts. In fact, the theological life cultivates a “have another cup of coffee and ponder and reflect some more, oops, wait, I’ve got lunch scheduled down at the coffee shop” kind of mentality. The effort is physically exhausting. Expending energy and not accomplishing much usually is. And it is mentally and emotionally draining as well. Therein lies a susceptibility to moral failure (sexual impropriety) that affects not only ministers, but rising professionals and executives of every stripe.

In the absence of a full, and meaningful schedule that is effectively accomplishing much, there can be too much idle time and too much discouragement. It’s in that idle time and feeling of ineffectiveness (impotence?) that the seeds of immorality germinate and sprout.

We all know the story of David—the chosen one of God; “a man after God’s own heart” the scripture says—and his dalliance with the likely alluring Bathsheba. What may be overlooked in the story where David was and what he wasn’t doing when this whole affair began. History records that David was strolling on the rooftop of his palace and his gaze innocently enough fell onto the naked bathing beauty during “the Springtime, when all the Kings had gone off to war.”

Wait! David was a King. Why wasn’t he at war?

We don’t know the answer. But the implication is that David was in a place if idleness and un-achievement during this most notable incident of moral failure. We can speculate that not being where he was supposed to be (with the other kings at war) was demoralizing to him, emotionally discouraging, and that he wasn’t experiencing fulfillment. That left him emotionally vulnerable.

Work is highly over-rated. Nobody much talks about achievement. But its the achievement and accomplishment that are satisfying and progressive for everyone who is depending on you, and achievement is the purpose of the work. The “forty vs. sixty” hour work week is irrelevant when compared to the larger issue of achievement. But I think most of us sacrifice our achievement by whoring around with the “validation” that comes from saying we worked long hours. Those long hours create an emptiness that haunts us when we consider our lack of achievement. We fill that emptiness with things that aren’t necessarily good for us, and are sometimes immoral.

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A Note to Ministers: I know you ministry types are reading this and likely feel like I’ve been “reading your mail.” If “achievement” matters and you want tools and teaching to help you “engage your transmission” so that all the energy your spending results in forward progress, respond to the blog using the link below. I’ll share some ideas privately. And, if enough respond, we’ll even gather a group of you and learn together. I care about you. You are good men and women tasked with important work. May God bless your efforts with the great satisfaction of progress.

My buddy Jim Labaito is a sales performance enhancement consultant. He says these are the most powerful closing questions for a consultant:

#1. Do you believe I understand your situation?

#2. Do you believe I know what I am talking about?

#3. Do you want my help.

And in those days, behold there came through the gates of the city, a salesman, from afar off. And it cam to pass, as the day went by he sold plenty.

And in that city were they that were order takers, and they that spent their days in adding to the alibi sheets. Mightily were they astonished. They said to one another, “What the, how doth he getteth away with it?” And it came to pass that many were gathered in the back office, and a soothsayer came along to see them. And he was one wise guy. And they spoke and questioned him saying: “How is it that this stranger accomplished the impossible?”

Whereupon the soothsayer made an answer: “He of whom you speak is one hustler. He ariseth very early in the morning and goeth forth full of pep, he complaineth not, neither doth he know dispair. He is arrayed in purple and fine linen, while ye go forth with pants unpressed. WHy ye gather here and say to the other ‘Verily, this is a terrible day to work,’ he is already abroad. And when the eleventh hour cometh, he needeth no alibis. He knoweth his line and they that would stave him off, they give him orders. Men say unto him “Nay” when he cometh in: yet when he goeth forth he hath their names on the line that is dotted. He taketh with him the two angels, Inspiration and Perspirations and worketh to beat hell. Verily, I say unto thee, ‘Go, and do likewise.'”

—Author Unknown

The medicine for mediocrity is meaning.

If you haven’t seen the movie Invictus. Don’t walk, run, and get it, or Netflix it, or whatever. Watch it now. When it came out, I watched it on Saturday and the next week shut down the office and took our entire team to see it. The South African soccer team was average until they were inspired to play for a greater purpose, leading me to surmise that the medicine for mediocrity is meaning.

We who are leaders must infuse the work we lead with meaning—the Greater WHY—in order to motivate our teams. When the WHY is evident, the HOW becomes more obvious.

We’re all going to screw up from time to time and not be able to deliver on commitments we’ve made. It’s inevitable. But our failure doesn’t have to be fatal. Here are some tips on how to screw up with integrity.

#1. Be the first to deliver the news. Don’t hide and hope that the people who are depending on you won’t notice and that you’ll slip by under the radar. Trust me, they’ll notice. So, when you’ve made a commitment on which you can’t deliver, don’t let them make a surprising discovery. You tell them first, face-to-face if possible.

#2. Own it. I received a call yesterday from a corporate executive—the leader of the largest corporation of its type in America. She had failed to deliver. She was calling ostensibly to apologize after word had gotten back to her that I was displeased with her unresponsiveness. However the “if” embodied in her “if I failed” statement coupled with the slight disowning of the problem, all after she’d told me “I will get on this” sort of bent the credibility of the apology and didn’t garner her any trust from me. When you’ve screwed up, just own it. Say “I have made a mistake. I am very sorry. And I am asking for your forgiveness as I do the best I can to make the situation right.”

#3. Overtly apologize. Say “I am genuinely sorry. This is my fault (I like to say “my bad”).” Also ask their forgiveness “Will you please forgive me?” (And wait for their response.)

#4. Do everything possible to fix the problem you have created. In some cases, late delivery accompanied by humble ownership of your tardiness is all it takes. In other cases, you’ve created a big—maybe enormous—problem for the other person. You may not even know the extent. If that’s possible you need to say “I think my failure has caused……but is there anything else that is messed up because I <insert what you didn’t do> that I need to get fixed for you?” Then proceed to resolve every matter that they were depending on you to resolve and the new issue that have cropped up because you failed to deliver.

#5. Ask for their help. Sometimes we’ve messed something up and we can’t fix it unless someone else will help us. So, put your hat in your hand, bow your head, humbly confess your problem, and ask them to help you fix it. You’ll be amazed at how generous and charitable people can be. They’ll usually run to your aid.

#6. Ask if you can move forward together, AFTER you’ve done the above steps. Once everything is fixed, I’d offer a final “apologize again” and say something like “I want to assure you I’m going to do my dead level best to never let you down again. Can we move forward and let me prove to you that I’ll deliver next time?”

#7. Deliver. Many people blubber and jabber and shuck and jive about what they are gonna do. Just shut up and do it. Less talk. More action. Deliver.