This far into the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge you will likely have discovered that several of the steps along the way (especially these in the Implement phase) are difficult to do in a single day. Some of them take a few, or even several, days to accomplish - putting you "behind" in the 60 days progression. That's not a problem at all. Your goal is to make daily steps forward in the pursuit of God's DREAM - not stay in step with a silly blog schedule! Complete each day's ACTION STEP in order, then move on to the next at your own pace.
ENGAGING THOUGHT
Have you or someone you know had surgery and found that afterwards they've hooked you up to one of those self-dosing painkiller machines? You know the ones I'm talking about - with the little red button that you push to give yourself your next round of drugs. Do you know why they do that? It isn't because the nurses are lazy and uncaring. Believe it or not, it's because you are uncaring and cruel to yourself. Well, maybe that's stretching it, but the fact is that when patients have the control over the dosing they tend to use far less painkillers than when there is a prescribed regimen. The truth is, we can be downright mean to ourselves sometimes.
Pushing ourselves to perform at our highest level is obviously not a bad thing - but we do need to know when to back off a bit and give ourselves a chance to recuperate or recover. It isn't really a question of how much we can endure - because we humans can endure quite a bit - it's more a question of at what level we perform with consistent quality. If you're serious about pursuing God's DREAM for your life then you should be more interested in quality forward momentum than just forward-motion-at-any-cost.
Knowing when to back off and give ourselves some breathing-room or when to even set things aside for a moment (or a season, even) could be the difference between burning out in the pursuit of the DREAM or successfully fulfilling it. Make no mistake: God's DREAM will require toughness, sacrifice, and stick-to-it-iveness. We will have to bring diligence and perseverance to the table if we truly desire to live everything He has for us. We are still human, though. We do have limits. Those on the journey with us have limits.
We need to be smart about this pursuit and that means sometimes we need to give ourselves a break or, at the very least, allow for the unexpected (or expected) events of life. Work may have deadlines, kids have events, families have vacations or yardwork - many of these things are non-negotiables and just are not subject to being set aside for our pursuit.
Careful here: you must recognize the difference between needing to set a task aside for a while in order to tend to your family or health versus setting a task aside because you dread it. No matter how good the excuse may sound in your head those are probably not the times you need a break - they are probably the times you need to push through even harder. Even the painkiller machines have a timer so you can't pump yourself full of drugs to make the pain go away!
Pushing ourselves to perform at our highest level is obviously not a bad thing - but we do need to know when to back off a bit and give ourselves a chance to recuperate or recover. It isn't really a question of how much we can endure - because we humans can endure quite a bit - it's more a question of at what level we perform with consistent quality. If you're serious about pursuing God's DREAM for your life then you should be more interested in quality forward momentum than just forward-motion-at-any-cost.
Knowing when to back off and give ourselves some breathing-room or when to even set things aside for a moment (or a season, even) could be the difference between burning out in the pursuit of the DREAM or successfully fulfilling it. Make no mistake: God's DREAM will require toughness, sacrifice, and stick-to-it-iveness. We will have to bring diligence and perseverance to the table if we truly desire to live everything He has for us. We are still human, though. We do have limits. Those on the journey with us have limits.
We need to be smart about this pursuit and that means sometimes we need to give ourselves a break or, at the very least, allow for the unexpected (or expected) events of life. Work may have deadlines, kids have events, families have vacations or yardwork - many of these things are non-negotiables and just are not subject to being set aside for our pursuit.
Careful here: you must recognize the difference between needing to set a task aside for a while in order to tend to your family or health versus setting a task aside because you dread it. No matter how good the excuse may sound in your head those are probably not the times you need a break - they are probably the times you need to push through even harder. Even the painkiller machines have a timer so you can't pump yourself full of drugs to make the pain go away!
ACTION STEP
Today's ACTION STEP is another one of those seemingly simple steps that can have a great impact upon us emotionally.
Write out two or three statements that give you "permission" to momentarily back off on your DREAM pursuit when the pressure becomes overwhelming.
EXAMPLE "I am giving myself permission to set my DREAM-pursuit tasks aside for one week during a season of extreme pressure."
You might find it helpful to write out a different version for a few different occasions, i.e. a week when work/school deadlines are looming, or a day when celebrating a Holiday or someones birthday, a month to ward off a zombie apocalypse, etc.
Write out two or three statements that give you "permission" to momentarily back off on your DREAM pursuit when the pressure becomes overwhelming.
EXAMPLE "I am giving myself permission to set my DREAM-pursuit tasks aside for one week during a season of extreme pressure."
You might find it helpful to write out a different version for a few different occasions, i.e. a week when work/school deadlines are looming, or a day when celebrating a Holiday or someones birthday, a month to ward off a zombie apocalypse, etc.
Tomorrow we'll look at giving an extra push towards excellence that can make all the difference in the world!
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