⏱ The Best Minute: Starting well > starting over, what’s better than inspiration, and the importance of getting started
💡 1 IDEA FROM ME
It is harder to start over than start the first time. When starting over, you know, and therefore think about, the challenges and discouragements you will face. You think about how you already gave up once. You think about how you are going to motivate yourself to start again.
Starting the first time you mostly think about what will happen if you hit your goal. Your excitement over what could be is all it takes to get going.
This is why creating small, sustainable habits are so important. If you are starting something new:
Exercise 2 minutes a day instead of 30
Reduce your sugar intake by just 20%, not 90%
Practice for 5 minutes a day, not 20
Wake up 3 minutes earlier, not 25
Start with something small and manageable; something that hardly feels like much of a change at all. If you do, your chances of sustainability skyrocket. Best of all, you won’t become discouraged and quit. This means you won’t stop and then have to will yourself start over in the future.
In the beginning, the goal is sustainability and habit formation over results. The results will come once you’ve developed the habit.
💬 2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS
I. Octavia Butler on what’s more important than inspiration:
First, forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.
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II. George Leonard on the importance of getting started:
“You can't do everything, but you can do one thing, and then another and another. In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all. You might begin by listing your priorities—for the day, for the week, for the month, for a lifetime. Start modestly. List everything you want to do today or tomorrow.
Set priorities by dividing the items into A, B, and C categories. At the least, accomplish the A items. Try the same thing with long-term goals. Priorities do shift, and you can change them at any time, but simply getting them down in black and white adds clarity to your life, and clarity creates energy.”
🎙 THIS WEEK ON THE CHURCH LEADERSHIP PODCAST
Justin Nava on how to reach new people, how to market your church with integrity and without gimmicks, how to engage people online, and more.
Click here to listen to the podcast on your favorite app and get the show notes for this episode.
💯 1 RESOURCE I RECOMMEND
One of my all-time favorite podcasts is the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast.
This is a weekly, interview-style podcast, where Carey interviews some of the best leaders in the world. Episodes are inspiring and often leave you with practical things you can try in your own life and leadership. There are only two podcasts that for multiple years now I make sure to listen to every episode; this is one of them.
🤯 1 INTERESTING FACT
Candyland was invented due to Polio.
In the early 1940s, when the dreaded disease polio struck thousands of Americans, Eleanor Abbott, a victim of the disease, sought to invent pastimes for children who were recuperating. Her most successful idea became Candy Land, a game many people remember fondly as the first board game they ever played.
Source: Museum of Play
🤔 1 QUESTION TO LEAVE YOU WITH
What would your closest friend tell you to do?
P.S. Who’s this clown?
