The #1 Tip To Stop Meandering

GOALS

Are you WRITING DOWN your goals?

I watched Stephen Larsens youtube video yesterday on productivity and he talked about how he plans his next 3 months out on a google sheet and asks himself what can I do for this 3 months, and what will I do.

When he boils down his list to the things he’s going to focus on, he then breaks those big tasks into smaller tasks.  What will it take for me to launch this?

I’ve never used google sheets much, but I’m really enjoying it.  It feels like a digital white board because you can easily move things around.

I started using a google sheet for my podcast planning and it’s a great tool to visually brainstorm and see where progress is being made and what else still needs to be done.  You then highlight the cells that are completed in green and that’s a great feeling.

Last night I recorded my intro for the podcast and got to make that green!

I’m realizing how time really is my most limited resource.  And that I want to make sure I’m not wasting any of it anymore.  Which means I need to prioritize what I truly want to get done in life, otherwise there are plenty of other distractions that could steal my time.

Next on my limited resource list is emotional energy.  I have a very limited supply of things I can care well about.  So how do I guard that?  And how do I make sure my family gets the best of that emotional energy?

How I FEEL is very valuable to me.  I don’t function well and can’t make progress on my goals if I don’t feel well.  I want to feel amazing, which means I need to keep momentum going and guard my emotional energy.

Momentum gets interrupted when we don’t know what we need to do next.  We waste our brain power searching instead of making progress.  Usually in that searching for what is next we get sucked into some distraction and get derailed.  Sitting down and creating a plan ahead of time will keep the momentum going.  That way we can easily move from task to task.

So that’s what I did this morning.  I mapped out the BIG things I want to do for May, June and July.

I’ll take some time before May starts to break those down into smaller chunks with actionable steps.  A lot of those items are one touch items that I could take action on right now.

What do you WANT to be doing?  What do you NOT WANT to be doing?  Set up your life in that trajectory.

If you’re unhappy and living without intention in your life, fix it.  Intention yourself and make moves on walking towards the things you want in life.  I bet you’ll feel better.

Systems For Reducing Stress

CREATE SYSTEMS (1)

What is a constant stressor in your life?

Jess and I are SUPER busy right now with her running the Bible Core Course and me working a few jobs.

For us in the Baker household the recurring stress is this:

“What do you want to eat?”

We’re shifting gears with Jess in her third week of the school, and me doing my second week of OMAD (one meal a day intermittent fasting) we haven’t quite found a groove for meals.

Most mornings I cook Jess breakfast while she’s feeding our son. But we don’t have a plan in place for our lunch times and evenings are a toss up with our work schedules.

So instead of allowing this problem and stressor to persist we have to create a SYSTEM.

James Clear talks about “habit stacking” adding any new activity to a pre-existing one with a simple statement of “after I do x, I will do y.”

So the new system is after I cook Jess breakfast, I will prepare her lunch and put it in the fridge so it will be ready for her when she comes home for lunch.

This is a seemingly simple stress, but it adds up when you face it daily. If something is a problem more than once take the time to think about a system to battle it.

What systems do you have in place to reduce stress in your life?

Comment and let us know.

Thanks to Adam Booher who gave me #5D9DDA #FFBA00 as colors.

How To Win At Life

winningThe people who learn to work hard AND enjoy it are winning over the complainers every single time.

If we sit around and complain about what we have to do, what we need to do and even what we want to do, we’re not making things easier on ourselves.

The people that are winning at life are the ones who get necessary things done immediately.

They don’t hesitate or procrastinate, they take massive action (to borrow Grant Cardones phrase) and intentionally choose to enjoy the process.

After they finish what they have to do, they immerse themselves in what they’ve already figured out actually refreshes them, instead of continuing to complain about and rehash the hard things.

Jim Rohn said something like “When you’re at work, work. When you’re at play. Play. Don’t think about vacation when you’re at work, if you do you’ll certainly be thinking about work when you’re on vacation.”

Jim Rohn also talks about the huge difference between resting because you’ve done all you know you can and are capable of doing and “resting” that is really withdrawing and hiding. Oof. That’s a hard word.

There is so much out there we can’t control. But we get to control our mindset. Our personal philosophy. We get to control our responses to things. Life isn’t safe, or peachy, or comfortable, or easy all the time. So choose to develop a mindset that maximizes the good.

Put into action plans and systems to tame the chaos. Don’t be victim to recurring events that you know are gonna return.

Rory Vaden talks about working double time part time for full time free time.

Let’s smash the season we are in right now to set up a better future. That way we aren’t complaining about the same things 10 years from now. 😉

“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” – Proverbs 22:3

Are You Working Hard With No Results?

Are We Working Hard At The Wrong Things

Are you expending massive amounts of effort and not getting the results you want?

How does that make you feel?

When that happens to me it makes me want to quit.

If I’m working this hard I should be getting results.

But quitting won’t help you move forward.

So we have to readjust our efforts.

We have to go back to the drawing board.

What can I learn from the results I’m getting?

Where can I more strategically put my efforts?

What is working against me?

Replan, reprioritize. Shake off the disappointment. Remind yourself of the why. Make the necessary adjustments and get back after it.

Take Immediate Action

action

The longer you sit in inaction the worse it gets.

Tempted to be lazy and not do something you know you need to do?  I’ve noticed the longer I sit and debate about whether I should do something or not, and fester in the feelings of not wanting to do it, the more likely I am to throw in the towel and not do what I know I need to do.

Tempted to do something you know you shouldn’t?  If you sit there and keep debating about it the more likely you are to give in.

Take immediate action.  Be swift about it.  Choose to DO what’s right.  Do it quickly.

Poor choices seem to multiply.  Open the door for that one thing then you’re throwing caution to the wind and making a lot of poor choices.

But the opposite is true.  Choose the right thing, the sometimes harder thing, and momentum is now on your side.

Don’t dabble.  Don’t entertain temptation to give into fleeting temptations.  Don’t dillydally.  Take Immediate Action.  Make it a habit to make choices you’re proud of and watch how you feel change.

Palms And Preferences

Beechtown Surfwear

Hosanna! This past Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday. Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Let’s imagine this scene.

Jesus is riding two donkeys down a road.

Yup, two donkeys. Check out Matthew 21.

People are LIT and shouting and exclaiming Hosanna. Waving palm branches, throwing them in his path.

What were the side conversations like? Were they something like this?

“What?! Here comes Jesus, I literally have never felt so alive
and loved as when he laid hands on me and prayed for me.”

“He touched my eyes and I could finally see, I was blind since birth.”

And I bet there were some of these people in the crowd too. People that weren’t focused on Jesus. People who were focused on what was going on in the crowd.

With their arms crossed they wonder when this is going to be over so they can go home and watch the gladiator game at the stadium. They wonder why Aunt Sally is so emphatically waving her palm branch and wishes she would tone it down. They complaining that we’ve said Hosanna over and over and over again, can’t we say something new and a bit more theological?

When we take our eyes off Jesus in worship we immediately move to our entitled preference.

I’m not sure why but in the church world it seems like our preferences are so much louder. We stand by how we want things with a lion like zeal.

I’ve had within a week two different people come up and tell me strongly that we should do things a certain way and guess what, they both wanted exact opposite things.

As we gather for one hour a week as a diverse body, I
encourage us to lay our preferences aside and focus on the main thing,
the adoration of our King. Even if it’s not our preferred style, let’s
bring a sacrifice of praise on Sunday and let’s see how the atmosphere
changes. And maybe even our own hearts too.

Jesus is worth our ardent worship, no matter what style of worship is presented. Remember, worship isn’t about us.

All that to say worship leaders I’m coming after us next.

CULTIVATE WONDER

WONDER

C U L T I V A T E

: to improve by labor, care, or study :

W O N D E R

: the quality of exciting amazed admiration :

How are we cultivating wonder in our lives?

How are we laboring, caring for, and studying to improve the quality of exciting amazed admiration in our lives?

Doesn’t that sound amazing?

==

Or have we lost our wonder?

I remember riding the bus home from elementary school.

It was a rainy day, and I watched the rain drops drizzle down my window.

I was blocking out the background chatter of a bus full of kids.

I was excited because my grandparents had arrived from New York.

As I approached our bus stop I looked out the window and decided that it wasn’t “cool” to feel excited, and I decided in that moment to suppress that feeling.

And to this day I rarely feel excitement.

What a weird vow to make as a 4th grader.

Cool?

What’s cool to an elementary school kid? Why at such a young age was I desiring to appear a certain so that I could impress OTHERS and in the process rob myself of joy?

>> What personal joy are you missing out on because you are more concerned about what other people think?

>> What quirky thing, that’s quintessentially YOU are you feeling ashamed of?

>> How many beautiful things are we missing out on because we’re afraid of what others might think?

Ugh, it’s so sad to me how many choices a day we make based on what we THINK other people will think of us. How inhibited we are because of fear of man.

>> Are we missing out on some of the gifts God created you to give to the world?

>> Is fear stealing your wonder?

>> Is bitterness and disappointment robbing your child likeness?

@drcarolineleaf says over and over again in her book.

::::: “We were created to be optimists.” :::::

If you’re not full of hope you’re living from the wrong Kingdom.

Figure out where your wonder went today, and all costs get it back.

May we never lose our wonder
Wide eyed and mystified
May we be just like a child
Staring at the beauty of our King
Wonder – Amanda Cook

Zoom Out

zoomout

The other day I was sitting with my friend Melanie and as she was telling me about her day, she casually said that she “zoomed out.”

I had never heard this term before but I really liked the concept and the visual it placed in my head.

The overhead crane shot that starts on the top of my head and whatever myopic thing I’m focusing on in the moment and pulling back and showing more context for what’s going on around me.

The many amazing things that are going on that I get to be a part of.

Zooming out actually helps me be more present. I think often we think not being present means our minds are wandering elsewhere, but often we can not be present by being so focused on the singular task at hand that we forget to be a part of what is going on around us.

Zooming out is an intentional act of being present and it causes immediate gratitude.

So if I were to zoom out right now from my couch writing this, I’d hear the birds beginning to chirp as the sun rises. And I’d take note of the fact that I have an amazing wife who is still sleeping and will soon wake up and feed our child. Then go and teach a 3 hour lecture on Genesis. And I’d take in the fact that I’m in our home on a YWAM base that is doing amazing work and transforming peoples lives all over the world, and that I’m living on an island in the middle of the Pacific that is absolutely beautiful. Come on, you can’t help but get thankful when you zoom out!

Comment and share with us your zoomed out view right now

DO IT I dare you.

Have an awesome day.

Mitigate Disappointment With Thankfulness

56917968_817467535286624_1086279829969436672_o

Does anyone else get crushed when they think something is about to be great and it’s lackluster at best?

This could be a huge thing, or it could be a tiny small thing. But every-time that searing sense of disappointment can really wreck my mood.

I’ve been trying to figure out some mood hacks lately. To be more conscious of what causes me to have low moods and figure out how to recover when I do.

I’m now realizing that we aren’t victim to our moods and mindsets. But it does require FIGHTING if we’re gonna get out of them. Just like physical exercise requires effort for growth, so does this mental and emotional exercise.

The problem is, it’s REALLY hard when you’re in a low emotional state to fight.

Thankfulness is the slayer of low moods. Get your thankful on.

Comment and let me know 5 things you’re thankful for!