Several years ago, we were living in another community, and I was talking with a head football coach at a large private school. He had just finished another solid season, but one that fell short of the administration and parents/boosters’ expectations.
I was close enough to the situation to recognize that he was a solid coach and was in a tough spot. The expectations were extremely high, but the willingness to do the hard stuff was lacking.
The parents/boosters wanted championships but also wanted to take fall break off for their trips to the beach (thus missing a full week of practice in the middle of season). They invested in an expensive indoor training facility but didn’t want morning summer workouts to be too early. They wanted offseason programs to have flexibility to accommodate several vacations rather than scheduling those trips within the mandatory “dead period.”
They wanted the result without the lifestyle necessary to achieve it.
How many of us battle that same challenge?
We want to be in better physical condition, but we would rather sit in the recliner. We would love to drop a few pounds, but we don’t really change our eating habits. We would like to know more about the Bible, but we choose to scroll social media.
We want many things. We desire many achievements. However, we are often unwilling to do the necessary things to actually experience those items. In the end, we choose comfort, safe, and known over hard, risky, and uncertain.
The book of John in the New Testament provides and account in chapter six where Jesus teaches some hard things to a large multitude of people and many turn and walk away because the teaching was hard. Evidently the difficulty of the teaching outweighed the appeal of the outcome.
While the examples go back over 2000 years, they are all around us today.
We talk about the Federal Government getting a handle on spending, but we don’t want it to negatively impact us. We would like relationships to be restored, but we aren’t willing to have hard conversations. We would love to be better with finances, but we won’t consider living on a budget.
Let’s face it; we want a lot, but the thought of a disciplined lifestyle to experience just doesn’t sound appealing at all. If that’s you, consider the following to help you get started:
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Make it easy: Do everything you can to make it easy to do the things to create a lifestyle supporting the person you desire to become. I wear a watch that tracks workout results. I place my Bible next to my reading place. I keep a list of prayer requests. I have a log of coaching focus initiatives.
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Make it hard: Do everything you can to make the comfortable alternative harder. Put the remote out of reach. Don’t purchase stuff you don’t want to eat. Don’t sit down first!
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Margin: Simplify and eliminate obvious conflicts to the lifestyle you seek. You are less likely to make compromises if you are rested, have time, and have fewer choices.
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Accountability: Tell someone that you admire who you are seeking to become and ask them to ask you about it regularly. Tell people in your life what you are seeking in a lifestyle.
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Small deposits daily: Just get started making small deposits into that lifestyle. Consistency has a compounding impact.
Regardless of what you are seeking, if you want to turn that dream into reality, you are going to need a lifestyle that supports it.
Don’t let the recliner, that remote control, or that comfortable life keep you from experiencing life, reaching your potential, or realizing a dream!
Doug provides professional speaking and coaching services to organizations and individuals. Whether you are looking for a speaker for your next event or a leadership coach to develop people and build a team culture, feel free to reach out to Doug at doug.strickel@gmail.com and learn more about PLUS.
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