You Better Work

Remember back in middle school when just about every guy wanted to be a pro athlete? I'm sure there were a lot of girls who did, too, but the memory sticks out more vividly for the boys for me (middle school is also a much more distant memory for some of us).

How many pro athletes do you know now? Maybe one person you sorta kinda remember from school because you had that class together once? Why is that? If just about every boy wanted to be one, why aren't there more.

I'm sure there are countless reasons, but I'm confident many realized this: it's gonna take too much work.

The amount of drive and determination it takes to get to the professional level of any sport is commendable, but rare.

This week, a couple friends and I are headed to Minnesota for the Ezer Collective, a leadership intensive for Christian women led by speaker and author Jo Saxton. She and her business partner, Pastor Steph O'Brien, also have a podcast called Lead Stories. Today, they posted an interview with literary agent and writing coach Rachelle Gardner regarding the intricacies of becoming an author.

This is my calling! I was STOKED!

However, about 3 minutes into the podcast, I felt a familiar anxiety start to rise in my gut, and it usually precedes a powerful bout of insecurity, doubt, and fear. I'm starting to learn my lesson though, because before those nasty voices could even open their mouths, I called out to God to let me hear only what He would have me hear and to help me process it in a way that only furthers His purposes. 

And OH, did He ever deliver.

As I listened to the almost hour-long podcast, one overall theme really struck me: this "calling" of mine is gonna take a whole lot of flipping work. It will require every bit of the focus, drive, and determination of an aspiring pro athlete.

It's not like this is news to me exactly. I'm completely aware that I'll have to do a significant amount of work, but somehow, it always seems like the bulk of the work consists of some vague tasks in the distant future. That, my friends, is how aspiring authors and athletes remain "aspiring" instead of "professional." No one is paying you for work you might do in the future. 

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,

while the soul of the diligent is richly supplies.

Proverbs 13:4

Have you ever asked your kids to do something, and, instead of obeying, they continue whatever mindless thing they're doing? When that happens, I might wait a little bit, but at some point, I look at them and say, "Dude. Get it together. I asked you to do something."

Today, when I listened to that podcast, God gently whispered into my heart, "Alissa, it's time to act. It's time to work. Rise up, child. I asked you to do something." (Please note that God is ever so much gentler and kinder to me than I am to my kids...because He's God. We're working on it).

So, as the time for this training draws near, I go into it knowing full well I have a lot of hard work ahead of me, not sometime in the distant future, but in the here and now. It should sound scary, but one thought gives me a lot of comfort: the Law of Marginal Gains.

My friend John-Erik Moseler often talks about this in his coaching. Basically, it's a concept that touts the profitability of very small changes CONSISTENTLY over time and was used by Sir David Brailsford in his training of the British Olympic Cycling team. With it, he was able to transform a program that had only won one gold medal in over 75 years to one that won seven out of ten medals in Beijing in 2008...and he did it in only six years, and all with 1% changes over time.

My point is that no one becomes Michael Jordan overnight. Michael Jordan certainly didn't. He practiced and practiced and practiced for YEARS to become the legend He is today, improving ever so gradually with each failed shot, each brick to the basket, each layup that landed just a bit too shy.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if God has a future mapped out for me, then He will give me everything I need to achieve it...including the will to WORK. 

Commit your work to the Lord,

and your plans will be established.

Proverbs 16:3

And let us not grow weary of doing good

for in due season we will reap,

if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

*Source: https://hbr.org/2015/10/how-1-performance-improvements-led-to-olympic-gold

Corinthians 3 Thursday: Scoring Goals

Today's Corinthians 3 Thursday post is going to cut straight to the point. Aren't you excited?

So far in the series, we've talked about who and where we are and where we want to go...but today we talk about HOW to get there.

Goals.

I feel like, for a lot of us, goals are these unattainable things that we all talk about and want to accomplish, but rarely ever actually achieve. 

Then there are some people - those high-minded individuals who are somehow able to take these abstract plans and make them into something MORE. They achieve.

Blech - those people.

I'm just teasing. There have been goals I have achieved, and many I haven't, but there a couple ways to move goal achievement from possibility to probability.

First, ya gotta get it in writing. According to The Leadership Training Workshop, studies show that you're 95% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Are you kidding me?! 95%?! I always heard that writing your goals down helped you achieve them, but I think this little statistic escaped me.

Think of it like this: you would never enter into a contract with someone without getting it in writing because, without it, there's no promise of delivery, right? Same concept.

Next, you have to construct your goals in ways that make them more achievable. They need to be specific, have time constraints, and you have to have a plan.

It's not enough to say that you want to lose weight, or even that you want to lose 50 lbs. It's not even good enough to say that you want to lose 50 lbs in the next year. There's gotta be a plan. HOW are you going to achieve this goal? What are you going to do or change that will take this goal from an abstract thought to a reality? That's a game-changer.

Finally, you need to be held accountable by someone other than you. This is really hard for some of us (namely, me). We don't really like someone else keeping tabs on us. It's not their business right? If I want seconds at dinner or another piece of cake, why is that anyone's business? Because, just like I wrote in yesterday's post, I'm not the Lone Ranger. 

I need help. We all do sometimes, and an accountability partner who is both firm and encouraging can do wonders in helping you achieve your goals.

One real word of encouragement here: don't let perfect be the enemy of good. My awesome sister-in-love, Jamie, taught me that. I have no idea where she got it, but it's an awesome phrase.

So often I drop the ball on a goal in a small way, and because I haven't performed perfectly, I just, plain give up.

It looks something like this:

I did SO well with my eating all day, and then I had to go and blow it by eating those french fries. Well, I've already blown it, I might as well just eat a bowl of ice cream while I'm at it. 

 Here's the dangerous part though: that second statement, the one in bold print, is often not a conscious thought. It happens somewhere back in the recesses of our minds, and before we know it, feelings of guilt, shame, and internal ridicule push us over the edge into defeat. 

This is when renewing your mind becomes important. Take every thought captive and make sure you're thinking is right and grounded in truth. Don't let perfect become the enemy of good.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--

his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

So, with all that having said. What are my plans? What are my goals? There are many. However, today, I'll go over the ones for this blog.

1. I have to start writing more regularly, and I have to start networking. It's a big deal, and I've keep talking about it, but I definitely haven't followed all the steps above.
2. I will start blogging at least three times per week. I will accomplish this by getting up early, doing my quiet time, and then writing before everyone gets up. I will also keep a journal of blogging ideas so I don't just "come up dry" when it's time to write.
3. I will faithfully share all posts on the blogs over to the left. I will also dedicate myself to reading and commenting on at least two of the other posts that are linked-up to those blogs.
4. By the end of the summer (August 31st), I will ask some of the other bloggers I know if they will allow me to "guest post" for them. This is the hardest for me because it makes me leave my comfort zone, swallow my pride, and subject myself to possible rejection. Nevertheless, it has to be done.
5. Finally, I will ask...um...someone to make me accountable to these things. Who? Crud. I could ask Josiah, but he's so busy working, I'm not sure he's going to have the time to really be responsible for holding me accountable. Um...Jamie? Esther? One or both of you want the job?  Either way, by next week I will have an accountability partner and I'll let you know who that is. 

That's all for me!  What are YOU going to do? What big, huge goals has God put on your heart to accomplish? I can't wait to hear about them...and HOW you're going to get 'em done!

Now it's time to link up!!

An InLinkz Link-up