DAY 54: "Celebration"

Today we begin the second-to-last phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge: Celebrate.  
 
ENGAGING THOUGHT

I have a friend who for his birthday one year took himself out for a fabulous steak-dinner to celebrate.  Just himself.  No one else was invited.  It wasn't one of those milestone birthdays that mark a decade or anything else significant - so he didn't feel the need to make big deal of it.  When he told me about it (after the fact) I started to give him a significant ribbing - but I couldn't really come up with a valid reason why he shouldn't have celebrated by himself, if that's what he wanted to do.  Instead I gave him a hard time for denying me the opportunity of a great steak-dinner.

How are you when it comes to celebrating?  Are you ready to throw a party at the drop-of-a-hat?  Are you more the type to reserve celebrations for bigger causes?  I don't think we need to be shy at all when it comes to celebrating our accomplishments.  If we've worked hard and persevered, why not celebrate it?

In our culture we have no problem celebrating significant accomplishments or achievements - but why not celebrate the smaller accomplishments which make up the larger pursuit?  I believe it does our hearts and morale a great deal of good to step back from a milestone (even if it's somewhat minor) and pat ourselves on the back - maybe even applaud our efforts thus far.  Would it kill you to reward yourself for your hard work? 

Point of fact, I'd contend that if you don't take time to celebrate your "wins" along the way you run the risk of burning-out of the pursuit altogether.  Remember our goal: to discover, pursue, and live God's DREAM for our lives - not to struggle and suffer without reward.  Celebrations along the way give us something to look forward to and to remember while in the midst of our next tough season of the DREAM-pursuit.  And besides, any excuse for a great steak is legitimate, right?

ACTION STEP

Today's ACTION STEP is entirely self-serving - but you deserve it, right?

Throw yourself a party to celebrate how far you've come in the pursuit of God's DREAM for your life.  Make it as elaborate as you wish.  It can be anything from a Facebook post (go ahead, USE ALL CAPS!), to a special lunch, to an elaborate 3-week long celebration complete with fireworks and circus-clowns.  It's your party, make it as big or as small as you want.

Tomorrow we'll raise an "Ebenezer."  Don't know what that means?  You'll find out.  

DAY 53: "Straight-On 'Til Morning?"

ENGAGING THOUGHT

I'm a big fan of cruise-control while I drive.  I like the ability to "set-it-and-forget-it" when the open road beckons in front me.  I can't wait for the day when our steering will have a similar capability.  Can you imagine how nice it will be to simply punch in your destination and let the car drive itself?  Maybe not always, but when you're on a routine trip or a boring stretch of road...

While you're deep into the task of evaluating your progress on the DREAM-pursuit, one of the valid conclusions you might come to is that you are, in fact, heading nicely in the right direction.  You've got your hands on the wheel, so you can make minor corrections as needed; you know where the brake and gas pedals are - so, what's wrong with heading straight on?  Not a thing.

Sometimes we need to have the ability (and self-permission?) to put our heads down (nose to the grindstone, if you prefer) and just crank along the path laid out before us - only looking up to see how much ground we've covered.  Don't feel guilty about it if you think you can cover a large amount of "distance" on your DREAM that way.  There is no such thing as Auto-pilot when we're pursuing God's DREAM for our life - but there may be long stretches that don't demand a lot of focused concentration.

If you feel comfortable with the pace and the direction you're headed, and you aren't in danger of deviating off-course, then go ahead, set the cruise-control and head straight-on 'til morning!

ACTION STEP

Today you'll want to have your journal close at hand and get away to a quiet or secluded place.

It's time to again give God a chance to weigh-in very significantly on our DREAM-pursuit.  Spend some time asking for the Lord to highlight in your heart and mind the facets of your DREAM-pursuit that are keeping in line with His will and design; ask Him also to show you areas that need adjusting (or dropping altogether).

I have found that when we give Him the chance to speak to our heart and mind that He does so, even if it takes several minutes for us to clear out the "noise" in our minds before we can sense and hear Him clearly.

Tomorrow we'll begin the next-to-last phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge - and we'll get ready to celebrate! 

DAY 52: "Checking in with the Coach"

ENGAGING THOUGHT

Whenever we set out to attempt something new (or at least beyond our norm) we have a tendency to want to hide our attempt - just in case we don't succeed as well as we'd hoped - that way we can limit potential embarrassment.  That is, of course, ridiculous!  There really is no such thing as "getting it right on the first try."  Especially when it comes to pursuing God's DREAM for our lives.  If it were that simple and fool-proof we'd have jumped on this train long ago, right?

It's totally natural to keep early attempts somewhat to yourself - but be careful, you might be missing out on opportunities for valuable input and feedback from others.  One person that you had better be completely forthright with is your coach - that person whom you have given permission to speak the sometimes harsh truth to you; that person whose task is to push you beyond yourself and draw your best (and beyond) efforts out of you.

The time has come for you to get their input and evaluation of your progress so far.  Be sure to ask them the tough questions and give them permission to give you the painful truth if need be.  What should you ask them?  That's up to you and what you would like to know, but for starters, you might think about asking them questions such as:

Do you see me pursuing this DREAM wholeheartedly?  
Have you noticed any glaring weaknesses or shortcomings in my pursuit so far?
What areas do you think I am slacking-off or cutting corners?
Where do you think I am excelling?  What are my strengths that you've seen?

Get the idea?  Now go check in with your coach - they might have a lot to say!      

ACTION STEP

Check in with your coach or mentor.  Fill them in on your progress; let them read your thoughts and observations from the last several days; ask for their input and evaluation on specific areas (if they are qualified to do so); ask if they see any glaring holes or weaknesses in your pursuit that you haven't noticed.

Remember that your coach isn't supposed to be your Cheerleader - they are there to push you beyond your best.  Remind them of this if you need to.

Be certain to write down their input.

Tomorrow we'll scan the horizon, check our heading, and set the sails. 

DAY 51: "Unexpected Results?"

ENGAGING THOUGHT

You've probably heard the old adage, "No man is an island."  It essentially means that none of us can be truly separate and unaffected by others - we're all connected in some way.  Perhaps you've heard of the Butterfly Effect - a portion of chaos theory which purports that even seemingly insignificant changes at the initial stage of a sequence of events can result in completely different outcomes.  The theory got its name from the mathematician and meterologist, Edward Lorenz, and refers to the possibility that the flap of a single butterfly in one location could theoretically alter conditions such that it results in a hurricane somewhere else.  Look it up if you're interested, fascinating stuff.

My point in bringing these two things to our attention at this stage of our evaluation of the DREAM-pursuit is that we may have inadvertently set off a series of unanticipated events because of our efforts thus far.  You may have intended to pursue God's DREAM for your life - and are in fact doing so - however, your efforts might also be creating change in other areas of your life.

Maybe your personal discipline in pursuing the tasks related to the DREAM has led to an increased discipline in other areas?  Maybe you've been forced to study and learn some new material - which has, in turn, reawakened a passion for learning or a dormant curiosity?  Perhaps a new rhythm in your daily schedule has led to positive (or even negative) changes in your routine?  Have any of your significant relationships changed because of your DREAM-pursuit?  Has the necessity of communicating with the stakeholders created a new channel of relational communication?

Evaluating the results of your DREAM-pursuit means evaluating all the results.  Some of which might have never been anticipated at all but might be useful additions to your strategy.

ACTION STEP

For today's ACTION STEP I want you to take a look around your "life" and see if there have been any other changes since you began the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge.

Changes in relationships?  Tough ones gotten healthier?  Unhealthy ones fallen away completely?

Changes in your persona health?  How are you sleeping?  How is your mental clarity?

Changes in personal performance in other areas of life?  Career?  Job performance?

Write down your observations.

Tomorrow we'll check in with the coach and see what they have to say about our progress.  

DAY 50: "Any Progress? Really?"

ENGAGING THOUGHT

By now we've firmly established that I'm far more Word-Nerd than I am Math-Geek.  In fact, at the risk of offending all you Math-Geeks out there, I have to tell you that I often find mathematics annoying.  What is it about math that drives me crazy?  It's the inflexibility of it all.  Math is what math is; the numbers may tell a "story" (I never got that one) but they tell the same story over and over: two plus two always equals four.  How boring is that?  I know, I know, if it weren't for the inflexibility of mathematics our airplanes wouldn't stay in the sky predictably and our bridges might or might not stay standing.

When it comes to evaluating our DREAM-pursuit it behooves us to take off our "flexibility" hat once in a while and do some cold, hard math.  No creative interpretation of our results allowed; no excuses; no stories; no extenuating circumstances - just raw data and emotionless assessment.  Where are we in terms of our strategy and plan?  Where should we be by this point?  Are we really and truly moving forward or are we stuck in a cycle of busy looking circles?

Are you ready for some more up-front reality?  I would contend that the characteristic which makes the most difference between the DREAM-livers and the DREAM-wishers can be found right here in this area of evaluation.  I don't believe the people whose DREAM-pursuit has turned into a DREAM-life have anything special that makes their DREAM more likely to come to fruition.  I believe it is simply because they have fostered the ability to look closely at their progress and give themselves an honest, accurate assessment - then make the tough changes necessary.  It isn't a question of how talented you are - it's more a question of how brutal you are. 

Mathematics doesn't care in the least what your opinion of two plus two should be or how you feel about it.  In the same way you should periodically evaluate your progress with the same brutal honesty.  There is a time for understanding and accommodation, and there is a time for emotionless evaluation.  Mind you, I'm not recommending that you evaluate your progress only in this way - just that you get good at using this type of assessment once in a while.  There is more to life than cold, unfeeling math, after all.

ACTION STEP

Today's ACTION STEP is still in keeping with the Evaluate phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge - but it's different than yesterday's.  Yesterday you got to be the Cheerleader, today I want you to be the unimpressed, super-critical statistician. 

Flip through your DREAM-pursuit journal and remind yourself of some of the steps you've proposed and taken.  Go back to the beginning and see what you wrote in the first few days.  How much progress have you really made?

Go ahead and be a little bit cynical (a little bit - don't be a total jerk!).  See if you can discount the progress or shoot holes in it.  If you've made real progress you shouldn't be able to discount it very much.

Write down your conclusions about your progress.  You might find it helpful to imagine you're giving a written report to some agency somewhere that tracks DREAM-pursuits.  What would a report on your DREAM-pursuit look like?

Tomorrow we'll check the corners to see if any unexpected results from our DREAM-pursuit are hiding. 

DAY 49: "Having Fun Yet?"

Today we begin a phase that is deceptively easy: Evaluate.  In fact, it can be so easy that we are tempted to often do a half-hearted job at it - much to our peril as we continue on. 

ENGAGING THOUGHT

I have a confession to make: I'm an office-boy; a desk-jockey; a pencil-pusher; a keyboard-cruiser.  My vocation requires that I spend a great deal of time sitting, either in meetings or in study, or in preparation for meetings and studies.  Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love what I do and I know that I am smack-dab in the middle of God's will for my vocation and career - but I have to admit that there are days when I wish I could just be a dumb-strong-back and not think so much.  I love those rare times when I do have to do some difficult physical labor and blow the cobwebs out of my joints and muscles.  Even if it's really grueling physical stuff, it takes on a whole new satisfaction just because it's so different from my norm.

Pursuing your DREAM should be fun, I think.  Even if various elements of it are grueling and difficult it should be satisfying to know that you're in pursuit of the greatest thing God has for your life: His DREAM!  One of the simplest questions we should get in the habit of asking ourselves is just this: Am I having fun?  Not that every-single moment of our DREAM-pursuit must be entertaining and diverting; not that we cannot or should not have seasons that are rough to get through.  Overall, however, I believe God intends that when we are in full-pursuit of His DREAM for our lives we feel truly alive and enjoy a deep sense of satisfaction in our accomplishment.

It's important that we look back at all we've done so far and maybe relive a few of those great moments.  Maybe it was the moment that you were no longer wishing or fantasizing about a dream, but were now in pursuit of the DREAM.  Perhaps it was a moment that a newly acquired skill started becoming more fluid or automatic - you started owning that ability.  It could be that sense of pride in knowing that you are, in fact, taking charge of the trajectory of your life and pursuing all the God has for you.  Now that is fun!

ACTION STEP

For today's ACTION STEP I want you to be your own Cheerleader again.

Write out several statements of encouragement that highlight specific aspects of the pursuit that you are having fun with or seeing significant progress in.

EXAMPLES  
"Since starting the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge I have been having a blast taking the random ideas out of my head and putting them down on paper."

"As I pursue God's DREAM for my life I'm loving the sense that - finally! -  I am truly moving forward into His purpose for me."

Tomorrow we'll look backwards and see how far we've come. 

DAY 48: "Solid Changes"

ENGAGING THOUGHT

Here's a question for you now that you're this far along in the DREAM-pursuit: Are you finding yourself to be more intentional and/or decisive when you take forward action in pursuit of the DREAM?  Part of the intent of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge is to retrain our beliefs and behaviors surrounding God's DREAM for our lives.  It shouldn't be at all shocking that one of those behavioral changes you start noticing is that decisions start becoming easier to make.

Today marks the end of the Adjust phase and by now you'll have some changes that you've formulated and pondered, sought counsel and input regarding, and are now ready to declare them as official alterations to your strategy and Written Plan. 

So do it, already!  You're a master at making decisions, right?  Solidify those changes and put them into action. 

ACTION STEP

Today it's time to commit to the changes you've been formulating and pondering.

Write out a newly revised Written Plan (see Day 21) and a new statement of your resolve (see Day 16).

Tomorrow we start the next phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge and begin to make an honest assessment of our progress.