July 2024

It is easy to get caught up in the day to day to do list. You have your routine that you don’t even have to think about it. You could be sleep walking and no one would know the difference…. Ouch….did that hurt a little bit?

We wake up, do our morning routine, we do our jobs and have surface level conversations, maybe run your kids around in the evening, and then back to bed. You felt busy the entire day, but you can’t remember the conversations you had, the things you experienced, and the beauty you saw? If this sounds like your life today, this message is for you. You are sleepwalking through your life.

Did you Know?

According to Bob, “there are thirty-seven recorded miracles in the New Testament.

Instead of looking at just the miracles, but what was happening around the miracles. At the wedding, Mary leaned over to the host after he spoke to Jesus and whispered, “Do whatever he tells you.” This is my hope for you as you pursue your ambitions. Whether faith is important to you or not, whether you talk to Jesus all the time or almost never, I hope you will take the ideas in these pages about pursuing your ambitions and then do whatever God tells you to do with them.”

Your Challenge

Here is your challenge – “enter each day assuming there’s a thirty-eighth miracle waiting for you if you fully engage life and the people around you with love, honesty, and an unreasonable, almost annoying heap of expectation. What would happen in your life if you started doing the same?”

Dream Big & Progress Those Dreams

This next section is excerpts from the book:

If you want to make progress toward your ambitions, live in constant anticipation of what might happen next. Look constantly for opportunities to give your ambitions some lift, and when an opening comes along, be ready to do something about it. People who actively anticipate opportunities don’t just sit on the edge of the chair hoping. They stack books on the chair and stand on top of them looking for an opportunity. Try it. The view will be great.

If you want to press through the resistance you’re facing, you need to identify your own “tells” like a good poker player. To do this, you’ll need to do a little excavation and take some action to figure out what is keeping you stuck. You may have to break with some routines, identify some of the stress in your life, and get the tools you need to clarify your ambitions. I’m not suggesting you blow up your whole life. But doing something startling to shake yourself awake should definitely be on the table.

One lesson I’ve learned, though, is that sometimes the best way to make progress is by sitting still. It feels counterintuitive, but it’s true.

Any person I’ve ever known who’s chased and accomplished an ambition knew that some days were about gathering strength instead of exerting it. Make no mistake—it’s easy to confuse a lot of activity with a bunch of progress. Rest is wise; preparation is wisdom. Don’t think that taking care of yourself—lying down for the nap, lounging in the hammock, or sitting on the park bench—means you’re slacking. Stop reading the junk mail telling you this. You’re not a startup and you don’t sleep under your desk. You’re on a mission, but you’re not lazy when you rest. You’re plotting your next moves and giving yourself the strength and perspective needed to finish the course. The path to your ambitions is not one long race; it’s a series of wind sprints that eventually covers the distance of a marathon. There’s a reason sprinters don’t break world records in five-thousand-meter races. They stay focused and run their short race then rest before their next one.

The final big question, “What do you want?”

Hopefully you took the time to answer “Who are You?” & “Where Are You.” If not, go back to the last 2 blog posts and do those exercises.

You figured out what your core values are and did some self reflection to start and continue living out those values. The big dream that you have aligns with your values. What could wrong? (Insert laugh here)

Living out our dreams is not easy. You will be discouraged when it doesn’t go exactly as you hoped or someone made you feel like your dream was silly or didn’t matter. That’s why you have to understand “your why.” Why do you want to achieve that dream? Why does it matter so much to you? If it doesn’t matter, guess what? You probably should figure out something else.

Life is too short to keep going with dreams that don’t make sense anymore. Dreams are hard! It’s takes hard work, courage, discipline, and a deep down “why” that pushing you forward. Dreams can be different based on the season of your life. What mattered to you 10 years ago may not matter as much today. Assessing your goals is another good way to know that you are doing what God has in mind for you.

“Don’t pretend to be noble. Be real and it will be the most noble thing you’ll do all year. Trust me, heaven will be doing cartwheels if you will finally get real about what you really want.”

“Some of your ambitions are going to take time or a little creativity to figure out. Don’t quit on them. Wake up to new ways to get there, then do what it takes so you’re ready when your time comes.”

“If you’re in it for the long haul and want to live a life steeped in purpose, a better long-term approach is to figure out who you want to be and let that inform what you do. Don’t settle for what you’re simply able to do; figure out what you were made to do, then do lots of that.”

“Remember the passage in the Bible where the blind man called out to Jesus so he could be healed? Jesus’ friends tried to help out by telling the man to stop yelling, but the blind man just yelled even louder. Maybe you should do the same if people have been trying to get you to quiet down about your ambitions. Quit whispering them to yourself and, instead, start shouting them into the world. Jesus asked the blind guy the same question He asks all of us every day. “What do you want me to do for you?” The answer must have seemed pretty obvious to the blind guy. But just like God in the garden with Adam and Eve, I don’t think Jesus needed to hear the answer. He wanted to make sure the blind guy was clear on his ambitions and knew what he wanted more than anything else. He wants the same thing from you too.”

Now that you figured out the who you are, now it’s time to figure out where you are going. According to Bob Goff, “Instead of thinking geography, I want you to think biography. Figuring out where you really are is a big part of discovering who you really are right now.”

You know what your values are. What ambitions do you have that follow those values? When ambitions and values align your world seems to click into place.

What is your ambition in life? Get real about where you are vs where you want to be. You are setting your starting line. It takes brutal honesty with yourself to know what that starting line is. Big ambitions take time. Give yourself grace just as God gives you undeserved grace.

Getting to the finish line is not a sprint….it’s a marathon. Pace yourself with small steps. Reward yourself along the way. Allow the people around you to pick you up when you fall. Allow other people to help you. God puts those people in your life for a reason.

“We can’t get on the path toward our ambitions without figuring out where we are. What has felt like your resting place is now a starting line. If you have the honesty and guts for it, what you’ve been stuck in is what you’ll be freed from. Where you are today is simply the harbor from which your ship is about to sail. Cut loose the lines. The horizon is where you’re heading because it’s where your ambitions reside.” Bob Goff

The first of the big 3 questions we will dig deeper on is “Who are You?” This is the first important question because you have to figure out who you are before you can decide where you are going. Discovering who you are will help sort out what is worth your time and sacrifice to go get it. (aka the where question)

Having self awareness gives you massive power. Don’t overlook it or think that it isn’t for you. Spending time reflecting on your life keeps you focused on your values. Do you know what your core values are? If not, that’s the first step. What words do you want to be remembered by? How do you want someone to describe you? That’s your values.

Another reflection point is learning what core motivations are behind the actions you take. Reflecting on your motivations helps you understand if you are following your values. Based on your reflection you can know what actions do you need to change or keep doing. This requires asking yourself “Why did I do that?” Make a weekly routine or even daily routine of doing this. You will be amazed at the progress you can make with being intentional.

This time IS important. It needs to be uninterrupted with your phone put away and distractions gone. It doesn’t have to be long. Start with 5 minutes. Write down your thoughts. Do whatever it takes to make sure you are following your values.

“We can’t fix what we won’t take the time to understand. If you’re willing to make the trip under the surface, you’ll find some pretty great stuff there. Why settle for the surface-level version of yourself when you can go a little deeper and discover the core of who you really are?” Bob Goff

Take the time…right now… don’t wait….

Identifying and pursuing your ambitions is tough. There will be self doubt and wondering if you should really be doing this. It takes courage to keep going and clarity with self reflection to make sure you are on the right path.

Three Questions

• Who Are You?
• Where Are You?
• What Do You Want?

“Organizing your thoughts around these three questions will help you accomplish in the future what you haven’t been able to make happen in the past. They can be a cocktail of identity, desire, purpose, rejection, life experience, struggle, fear, hope, and longing rolled into one.”

“Start with acknowledging that deeper longing within you. If I had to take a guess, that’s why you’re here. You can feel it. I don’t even have to define what it is—you know exactly what I’m talking about. It is that “something more to life” rumbling around in your gut, that tug drawing you toward a scary, audacious dream.”

“Once we get real with where we actually are and our desperate need for God’s help, He’s got a person He can do something with, and He’ll drop the people you’ll need in your path to help. Your job is to find them.”

Finding that person usually comes when we least expect it. God’s plan was in motion before you even started to think about that dream. What is your job is to ask for help. This can be difficult especially if you are one of those independent people or maybe just have no idea where to even start. It starts with telling people about your dream. In order to that you have to be vulnerable and put yourself out there.

Yesterday was all about failure. “This is something that happens to our best ideas all the time. We’re so close to them, or we’ve ignored them for so long, that we can’t even see them for what they are anymore. Then just when we think we have corralled them, they change. When this happens, don’t get bummed out; get current with your new ambitions. I know it feels like a hassle, but it’s a good thing. We’re supposed to be new creations, and there will be nothing new about us if everything remains the same.”

“No more doing what merely occupies, entertains, and numbs us? It’s time to go after your dreams, your faith, and your ambitions with gusto.”

It’s Just Simply Time…..

Note: The excerpts all came out of Dream Big Chapter 3. I honestly couldn’t write it better than Bob so you got a mix of Bob & Stacy today 🙂

I absolutely totally completely hate failure. Yep…you read that right. I don’t like to fail, BUT I know failure is part of the journey of life. If you don’t fail then it means you are not trying anything new. Although I don’t like to fail (who does…) I know it means growth.

Fail Forward

Getting out of your comfort zone means that you are going into your unknown. It means that something will not go according to your plan no matter how perfect the plan was. When this happens you fail forward. It means learning what went wrong and what could you do differently in the future. Learning is what makes us grow and move on to the next “out of our comfort zone” experience.

Acknowledge the Failure

This is where you have to be self aware and retrospective. If you think you are perfect, you are not….you are human. Being able to admit your mistake is what helps you learn and reach your dream.

What was your last mistake? What did you learn? What will you do different now?

In the movie Gremlins, there are these cute little animals with the warning not to feed them…. Why? Because they turn into…

This is exactly what we do in our minds with our thoughts. Our mind is a POWERFUL place. Your internal world of thoughts becomes your external world. If you CHOOSE to feed the negative and self doubt, your cute little gremlin will become the scary monster. Those thoughts do not serve you. Yes the world around us can be bad, but you get to decide how you think and feel.

Think of every negative thought or doubt as a drop of water. Those drops of water add up pretty quickly until you are drowning in your own ocean. I know that sounds harsh, but it is reality.

Who do you hang around with? Do they give you energy or drain you of your energy? Do they help fill you up or tear you down? I’m not saying you can’t support your friends going through some tough time, but don’t let their tough time become your tough time.

Don’t let their tough time become your tough time.

Your world is how you make it. Choose to show up every day excited about something that day. If you focus on the positive, you will see more positive things. If you focus on the negative, you will see all the bad.

The direction you focus your life is the direction you will go. What will you choose?