ENGAGING THOUGHT
After yesterday's cat-cliche, let me throw an animal joke at you: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: You don't, they're a protected species. Got you, didn't I? Yes, the real answer to that tired-old joke is, "one bite at a time." It's the same when you ask the question, "How do I pursue something as huge and life-transforming as God's DREAM for my life?" The DREAM seems like an overwhelming prospect - so overwhelming that most will never even ask the question - they'd prefer the comfort of knowing they are successfully fulfilling their low expectations of life. If you're this far along in the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge then it's pretty safe to assume that you cannot (or simply choose not to) relate to that type of life-limiting thinking - even if you can very much relate to the feelings of being overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task in front of you.
When I was five years old a neighborhood friend of mine and I decided to go to Disneyland. We knew it was in California and that we were in Washington State. He was six, so he'd seen on a map that California was below (down from) Washington...so we began to dig in his side yard. You see where our logic had taken us? We were undaunted by our monumental task. We were also very dedicated (Disneyland!!!) and continued our digging faithfully for most of an entire Summer. By the time his parents discovered our epic quest we were almost there (we assumed) and had dug a hole at least six feet deep and large enough to hold a car (same hole, different story, many years later). Every time I tell this story someone is bound to remark, "I can't believe a couple little kids could dig a hole that big!" They don't get it, do they?
If you're serious about pursuing God's DREAM for your life then you had better get comfortable with a new way of thinking about tasks that appear to be too big for you to accomplish. Why can't two snot-nosed little vandals dig a monster hole? I'll tell you our secret: we dug it one shovelful at a time. That's the secret to accomplishing monumental tasks, as well; the same for pursuing God's DREAM, too. No one - not even God - expects you to fulfill the DREAM in one shot or in one day. As far as I've been able to discover, there is no magic switch that you flip and, "TaaDaa! The DREAM is fulfilled!" It takes time and it takes steps - bite-size steps.
Breaking our huge goals down into smaller goals also has the benefit of giving us "wins" along the way. Anytime we complete a step or a goal we feel the appropriate pride of accomplishment and the satisfaction of knowing that we are, in fact, taking steps forward in pursuit of the DREAM. I don't care who you are or how disciplined you like to think you are - we all need to know that we're accomplishing something along the way. Breaking the DREAM down into bite-size pieces lets you do that, and, who knows, you may look up after a hard day of accomplishing that one small goal and see Mickey Mouse reaching in welcome you to Disneyland!
When I was five years old a neighborhood friend of mine and I decided to go to Disneyland. We knew it was in California and that we were in Washington State. He was six, so he'd seen on a map that California was below (down from) Washington...so we began to dig in his side yard. You see where our logic had taken us? We were undaunted by our monumental task. We were also very dedicated (Disneyland!!!) and continued our digging faithfully for most of an entire Summer. By the time his parents discovered our epic quest we were almost there (we assumed) and had dug a hole at least six feet deep and large enough to hold a car (same hole, different story, many years later). Every time I tell this story someone is bound to remark, "I can't believe a couple little kids could dig a hole that big!" They don't get it, do they?
If you're serious about pursuing God's DREAM for your life then you had better get comfortable with a new way of thinking about tasks that appear to be too big for you to accomplish. Why can't two snot-nosed little vandals dig a monster hole? I'll tell you our secret: we dug it one shovelful at a time. That's the secret to accomplishing monumental tasks, as well; the same for pursuing God's DREAM, too. No one - not even God - expects you to fulfill the DREAM in one shot or in one day. As far as I've been able to discover, there is no magic switch that you flip and, "TaaDaa! The DREAM is fulfilled!" It takes time and it takes steps - bite-size steps.
Breaking our huge goals down into smaller goals also has the benefit of giving us "wins" along the way. Anytime we complete a step or a goal we feel the appropriate pride of accomplishment and the satisfaction of knowing that we are, in fact, taking steps forward in pursuit of the DREAM. I don't care who you are or how disciplined you like to think you are - we all need to know that we're accomplishing something along the way. Breaking the DREAM down into bite-size pieces lets you do that, and, who knows, you may look up after a hard day of accomplishing that one small goal and see Mickey Mouse reaching in welcome you to Disneyland!
ACTION STEP
Today's ACTION STEP will alleviate some of the feelings of being overwhelmed by the size and scope of pursuing the DREAM.
1) Go back to your ACTION STEP from Day 17 and, combined with some of your research from yesterday's ACTION STEP, pick one or two of the strategy ideas that seem the most plausible. If one strategy idea is the clear "winner" you can ignore the others and just start with that one.
2) Break the idea down into its obvious "chunks." EXAMPLE: If your DREAM is to do cosmetic-surgery on the International Space Station, then the obvious chunks will be: get education for becoming cosmetic surgeon; become an astronaut; fill out the proper paper-work to join the International Space Station.
3) Next take each chunk and break it down into bite-size pieces.
4) Continue this process until you feel like the breaking-down process is becoming a bit silly (i.e. too small of pieces).
NOTE: Don't get hung-up on the fact that this may or may not be the right idea or strategy for pursuing God's DREAM for you. You will continue to adjust as you go along. The point is that you are taking daily steps forward in pursuit - tweaking the strategy will become part of the process later.
1) Go back to your ACTION STEP from Day 17 and, combined with some of your research from yesterday's ACTION STEP, pick one or two of the strategy ideas that seem the most plausible. If one strategy idea is the clear "winner" you can ignore the others and just start with that one.
2) Break the idea down into its obvious "chunks." EXAMPLE: If your DREAM is to do cosmetic-surgery on the International Space Station, then the obvious chunks will be: get education for becoming cosmetic surgeon; become an astronaut; fill out the proper paper-work to join the International Space Station.
3) Next take each chunk and break it down into bite-size pieces.
4) Continue this process until you feel like the breaking-down process is becoming a bit silly (i.e. too small of pieces).
NOTE: Don't get hung-up on the fact that this may or may not be the right idea or strategy for pursuing God's DREAM for you. You will continue to adjust as you go along. The point is that you are taking daily steps forward in pursuit - tweaking the strategy will become part of the process later.
Tomorrow we'll force a little order into the chaos and start setting some deadlines.
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