Adeolu Morawo
Key points
Often, less obvious but critical battles attempt to block you from reaching the one defining battle of your life.
In these ‘pre-battles’, it is important to distinguish between opponents with influence and authority (gatekeepers) from those with influence without authority (distractors).
Never mistake a distractor for a gatekeeper, and do not let anyone confuse their influence on you with authority over you.
Ahead of time, you need to target your preparation to quickly bypass distractors and skillfully negotiate with gatekeepers.
The Fate of Western Europe
As the Nazi war machine began to grind inexorably through Europe in 1940, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain, lost the confidence of the House of Commons and had to resign. Heavily favored to replace him was a powerful politician, Lord Halifax (also known as the ‘Holy Fox’). Coming a distant second on the preference list was Winston Churchill. Churchill was viewed with skepticism partly because of his prior failures in World War 1. Ultimately, however, Lord Halifax declined the call to become Prime Minister and Winston Churchill was called upon.
To build a broad coalition, Churchill appointed Halifax and Chamberlain into his war cabinet. That decision would prove near fatal for the fate of Western Europe.
Inside the Map Room in the Churchill War Rooms Museum. cc licensed photo by John Antoni Griffiths
Lord Halifax, holding tremendous political clout, believed Britain did not stand a chance against Hitler and should instead negotiate terms of peace. Churchill took the opposite stance, believing that fighting it out to the end is the only hope for Britain’s survival. Churchill knew what to do; he needed to confront and resist Hitler. He would however need to clear his path to that battle.
Using his influence within and outside the war cabinet, Halifax actively undermined Churchill and was almost successful. They even reminded Churchill of his World War 1 failures to sow self-doubt in him. Yet, for all his influence, Halifax had a problem. He lacked authority. The authority and the responsibility for the direction of the war lay at the feet of Churchill. Churchill understood that.
As the internal battle to bog Churchill down and force him to negotiate with Hitler intensified within the war cabinet, Churchill adeptly pivoted away and took his case directly to the people of Great Britain represented by the Outer Cabinet and House of Commons. After all, it was the people that he was mobilizing for war. Any authority he had was derived from the people, who had the final authority and influence to unseat him through their representatives.
Rather than dissipate his energy on the distractor, he argued his case before the gatekeepers. Halifax was a distractor; the people were the gatekeepers.
Darkest Hour Darkest Hour Gifs GIF by tenor.com
Distractors and Gatekeepers
To successfully make it to the defining battle of your life, you will often need to first clear your path to it. In these ‘battles before the battle’, we must recognize the difference between distractors and gatekeepers, and how to navigate the barriers that these two place before us.
Distractors are oppositions with influence but without authority over us, while gatekeepers have influence on us and the authority to grant or deny us the access we seek.
Before David could fight Goliath, he had to fight his way to Goliath. The following is how David identified and responded adeptly to those 2 categories of opposition.
In today’s blog post, we will focus on responding to distractors and reserve the discussion on gatekeepers for the next post.
David versus his Eldest Brother (Eliab)
David, a teenager at the time, was the last of Jesse’s 8 sons. His primary duty as was customary for the last born in Jewish culture was to tend sheep. Eliab was Jesse’s first son, David’s eldest brother. He was in King Saul’s army and perpetually followed Saul.
The Israelites were about to face off with the Philistines when Goliath came out to challenge anyone in their camp to a single combat. Coincidentally, David was in the camp on orders from his father to bring food for Eliab. David heard Goliath’s challenge and began to ask around what would be the reward for confronting and defeating the giant. Eliab heard him and began to spit fire.
But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!” “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!” He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer.
1 Samuel 17:28-30 (New Living Translation)
Here, Eliab was deploying his tremendous influence (as the eldest brother and the model for manhood) to intimidate and shame David away from what would arguably be his most consequential battle.
You probably know one or two ‘Eliabs’. They do not hold the go/no-go key, but they wield a treacherous power dynamic that can be misconstrued for authority. They are distractors to what God has called you to do.
Responding to Eliabs: The art of bypassing distractors
The primary objective of a distractor is not to win over you, but to entangle you in a sideshow. Distractors seek to dissipate your energy on emotionally charged but ultimately pointless battles. They seek to slow down your momentum.
2016 Rio Olympics - Handball - Preliminary - Men's Preliminary Group B Poland v Brazil - Future Arena - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 07/08/2016. Brazilian fans cheers. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
The key to dismantling the blockade by people with influence without authority (a.k.a distractors) is to bypass them- as quickly as possible. They do not hold the key you seek, therefore you need to spend the barest minimum time and energy on and around them.
Bypassing such a person requires perspective and mental strength. It requires being clear-eyed about the place of people in our lives. We should never allow anyone to confuse their influence on us with authority over us.
There is no amount of argument, negotiation, or point-proving that would change the mind of an Eliab. They have to be treated as speed bumps and not as ports of entry.
Paying guarded attention to a distractor with the aim of extracting useful feedback sometimes has its place, but engaging extensively with the objective to convince or defeat a distractor is usually a mistake. Their mission is to sidetrack you and knock you off course using your response as their bait. Don’t get sucked into the vortex that swirls round and round and leads to nowhere but the dumps.
Don't be your Worst Distractor
No distractor is more potent than the one that lives inside us. Indeed, external distractors derive their power from establishing a connection with and speaking through internal distracting thoughts.
Your greatest distractor from signing up for the defining battle of your life may be the lingering voice from a past defeat. You must face it, acknowledge its influence, recognize its lack of authority, bypass it quickly, and keep inquiring how you can get within striking distance of your Goliath!
Don’t miss the next blog post about gatekeepers and how to respond to them!
Some distractors actually believe in their minds that they hold both influence and authority, and they even act as such. Those are the ones we should be extra-careful about. This is a great read. Thank you!
Fighting the giants of doubt and the thick veil that sometimes overlay the NEXT LEVEL is a skill that must be learnt early. Thanks for sharing another impactful insight.