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Mark Eastman

Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life

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We Can Choose to Believe This or Not

Choice is a superpower that too often gets overlooked and under used. We’ve been given free will, but more often than not, we ignore it. Too much of the time we get sucked into the perspective that this is the life I have, and I just have to deal with it.

One of the things about being human is that God has given us the ability to choose. Some may refer to this as the power of choice, but no matter how you define it, we all have free will.

When you look at what the Bible says about free will, you discover that we have the right and the ability to choose the direction we will go and what we will do. This power to choose is not something that should be considered lightly.

The power to choose is the reality there are consequences for your choices.

While many love the freedom that comes with free will and the power of choice, sometimes people don’t always want to own the ramifications that come with it.

With this reality, we need to consider what the consequences might be when making decisions. Especially when these decisions are regarding eternal life.

We can choose to believe that there is no eternal life. This choice can remove some of the pressure in our daily decisions. But what if we are going to live forever? Is this worth taking the risk of spending eternity in hell?

Looking at things from a worldly perspective removes some of the pressure of the consequences.

Looking at things from a Christ-centered perspective changes that.

In John 14:1-6, Jesus is telling His followers to trust in God and in Him. He is going to prepare a place for us, and we know the way to that place. Then from a worldly view, Thomas asks, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Old Thomas sure needed a lot of proof. But don’t we all?

Then Jesus goes on to say,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

He didn’t say, “I am a way, a truth and a life. You can make it to God and eternity in Heaven in a whole bunch of different ways. Just pick one that works for you.”

There is no other way, no other truth, no other life.

One of the 7 Decisions in Andy Andrews book The Traveler’s Gift is the Certain Decision: I will have a decided heart.

“Truth is truth. If a thousand people believe something foolish, it is still foolish! Truth is never dependent upon consensus of opinion. I have found that is better to be alone and acting upon the truth in my heart than to follow a gaggle of silly geese doomed to mediocrity.”

I like how Andy makes this point in his book.

Things can be true and still not be “THE TRUTH”.

We encounter things every day that may be true, but not the TRUTH. When it comes to life we can choose what we believe and how we will live. These choices will have consequences.

For me … I’m going to believe that Jesus is THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY TRUTH AND THE ONLY LIFE.

The Key to Getting More Done 

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How to Know What to Do First 

It is easy to get consumed by all the things that need to be done. But we have more control over this than we think. It’s like BUILDing anything, it comes down to Being aware, Understanding, taking Intentional action and continued Learning.  

The past few weeks we have discussed how to take control of the big, overwhelming things. Last week we focused on breaking big things down into smaller, more manageable pieces.  

I used an example of a project that needs to be done by a deadline and the actions needed to make that happen. This gets more difficult when there are multiple projects with deadlines. Then, of course, there are things outside of business.  

How are we supposed to get everything done?  

It’s amazing how much can be accomplished when there’s a deadline.  

Have you ever noticed how productive you can be when getting ready to leave on a trip? You can get things done faster than normal. Or, how productivity ramps up when coming down to the deadline of a project. Why is that? 

High productivity results from a mix of factors: motivation, personality, natural talent, training or education, environment, support from others, and time management.

A finite amount of time helps us decide what’s most important. 

There are so many things on the “to do” list and each one is competing for the top position. Deciding which one gets that spot is tough. There are so many important things that need to be done or things that we want to do. It’s easy to say that we have limited time, but hard to actually schedule things that way.  

How do we decide what to say yes to?

Emergency situations often require triage. This is the process of prioritizing a patient’s treatments based on the severity of their condition and the resources available. In these situations, victims are divided into three categories. 

  • Those who are likely to live, regardless of what care they receive. 
  • Those who are unlikely to live, regardless of what care they receive. 
  • Those for whom immediate care might make a positive difference in outcome. 

These choices aren’t easy and often require a quick, “gut decision”. A pre-determined system, training, and experience aid in the process and provide for the greatest number of survivors.  

Another life and death choice is deciding who gets a transplant when there are a limited number of organ donations available. Take for example a set of twins who both need a liver transplant, and their father has only one liver to give. Which one gets it? The early thoughts of a father would be to give half to each. The problem with this, half wouldn’t help either. The final decision will be determined by which one needs it most or which one is most likely to survive. 

Most of the choices that we make in business aren’t this critical … or are they? 

The decisions we make every day can mean life or death for our business. 

In medical life or death situations, there is a system and plan in place beforehand. This same type of system should be implemented in our business. We should predetermine how we are going to choose the most important things for the life of our business. 

What makes one thing more important than another?  

What should be the highest priority? Should it be this job or that, production or proposals, record keeping or customer service, marketing or staff? We’re faced with tough decisions in business every day.  

This can come down to a decision like: is it better to install the board this way or that? Or use multiple pieces of new metal wrap or one piece of used? The time spent making these seemingly small decisions can become big when it causes the project to not be completed on time. 

Being Aware of deadlines and the limited time available can help us Understand how important these decisions are to the life of our business. But this won’t matter if we don’t take Intentional Action and do something. Then we can continue Learning going forward on the way to having the business we Dreamed of. 

Having a “business triage” system will give your business the highest chance for survival. 

Our 5-step BUILD process helps us prioritize and manage all the hundreds of decisions we’re faced with every day in our business. If you would like to learn more about making good decisions, schedule a free 30-minute consultation.  

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

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We Would Smell Better if We Were Focused on the Right Thing

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been discussing who Jesus is. He is the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Gate and Good Shepherd. This week Jesus tells us that He is the Resurrection and the Life. (John 11:25)

Jesus makes this statement to Martha as they are talking about her brother, Lazarus, who died four days earlier. Jesus asks her if she believes her brother will rise from the dead. She says she knows that he will, in the resurrection on the last day.  (John 11:23-24) The Jews believed there would be a resurrection on the last day, but most did not realize that Jesus was the key to this.

Martha was upset that Jesus hadn’t been there sooner to prevent her brother from dying. She wanted Lazarus back now. She didn’t want to wait.

They went to Lazarus’s tomb and Jesus told them to remove the stone. Martha protested. She said,

“Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”

Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.” Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:39-43)

When Jesus was resurrected He was in His heavenly body. This was not so for the other people that Jesus raised from the dead. They all had to die again. Having to go through the struggles and pain of life a second time doesn’t sound like much fun.

However, there’s another side to this.

I think getting a second chance would make them appreciate life more.

I’m basing this on my own personal experience when I got a second chance. Back in 2012, I fell when a scaffold plank broke. I was unconscious in the hospital for three days with a severe concussion. This may not be the same thing that Lazarus experienced, but I remember nothing from those three days.

I can tell you that this second chance changed my outlook and gave me a new appreciation of life.

If we gave our spiritual lives as much attention as we do our physical lives, the world would be a different place. Just like Martha asked Jesus to raise Lazarus and He did. He will do the same for us.

God gives us free will to choose to be raised. It’s up to us what we do with that choice.

We all start out spiritually dead. We stink in our worldly sins.

The Process for Breaking Big Things Down

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You Can Only Lay One Brick at a Time

Nothing gets done without taking action. But when there are so many big, scary things ahead of us, it can be hard to get started. Overwhelm can slam the brakes on progress. We get stuck in neutral, and nothing moves forward.

Nothing will get done if you don’t do something.

Over the past several weeks, we talked about routines, planning, and the tool for breaking big things down. Now, let’s go through the process I use to get things done.

In business, we wear a lot of hats: company organization, marketing, sales, production, operations, administration, and finance. All of these hats include their own to-do lists. No wonder we get overwhelmed and put things off.  

In a previous post, I shared how to break big things down. I explained how things start with a dream. Then they need to be taken to the next step of vision. This brings us to setting goals.

Goals are never accomplished without ACTION.

This is where we are going to focus today. And to show you how this works, I’m going to use a real example of a current remodeling project I’m working on.

This project is finishing 1,200 square feet of attic space. The customer wants it completed this year due to the house turning 100 years old this year. She plans to have a celebration of this 100th year in early December. This means the project needs to be finished by early November to be finished before the holidays. That leaves a little less than six months to have the project done.

Sounds like plenty of time, right? But we all know how fast time goes by. It’s easy to think we have plenty of time, but creating a sense of urgency now will prevent disappointment later. This is why it’s important to work backwards from the deadline, breaking it down into smaller, bite-sized pieces.

Using our Proposal System worksheet, I can see that the project will take about 14 – 15 weeks once the construction is started. That means we need to have construction started by July 1st.

Okay, that’s 6 weeks away. But wait … we still have some design issues to finalize. What kinds of doors, light fixtures, accent walls, cabinets, etc.?

So, what’s the first next thing?

The customer is concerned about price increases on the light fixtures, switch plates, and receptacle covers and wants to get them ordered as soon as possible. This makes this more important than the other questions.

Getting electrical fixtures and covers ordered is the focus.

This means we need to determine: what style of fixtures she wants and in what rooms? Are the sizes going to work? Will they work with the wiring and switching that’s there? How many different cover configurations are needed? I want to have these things done this week.

She picked the fixtures. Next step, sharing these choices with the electrician.

I did a walkthrough and list review with him, and he confirmed the customer’s choices will work. Now onto determining cover configuration and quantity.

Since the week is almost over, I need to get the electrical covers counted today. It’s now added to today’s action list, ranked in order of importance, but there are a couple of other things on today’s list that are higher priority tasks—like getting this weekly solution written. That makes this the first next thing.

It’s easy to feel stuck and overwhelmed when you don’t know what to do next.

Constructing a new building is a big project, so is running a business, or living life. Too many times, this is where we get hung up. The size of the task can paralyze us. There’s so much to do, we don’t know what to do next and then nothing gets done.

When that happens, break the big things down into smaller pieces and do the first next thing.

(Weekly solution: written ✔️ ) On to the first next thing … counting the electrical covers.

Need help breaking your own big things down into manageable steps? You can schedule a free 30-minute consultation. Let’s figure out your first next thing, together.

Jesus is the Gate and the Good Shepherd

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And Don’t Sheep (We) Need These

We’re continuing with the “I Am” statements of Jesus this week. Today is a combination of two of these. “I am the gate and the good shepherd,” John 10:1-15.

In the Bible, sheep are used to represent people quite often and there’s a good reason for this. Having been around sheep in my childhood and then raising them as an adult … I get it.

Sheep aren’t terribly smart.

David is one of those who wrote about sheep in the Bible. After all, he had some experience with sheep having been a shepherd. He knew that the sheep needed to be penned up at night and protected from wild animals and thieves.

The only way in or out of the pen was through the gate. The shepherd had to open and close it because the sheep couldn’t. The shepherd also kept watch at the gate so thieves wouldn’t open it.

In Psalm 23, David uses this experience to give us an example of how God is our Shepherd. How He leads us down the right paths to good places. When we are in dark valleys, He will protect us.

God has our back like a shepherd.

Jesus is using these same examples when He’s talking with the Pharisees in John 10:1-15. He has just given a blind man sight on the Sabbath and the church leaders are mad at Him, because it was the Sabbath (John 9).

Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are blind and missing what’s most important. He tells them their sight is worse than the blind man’s. They aren’t seeing what’s right in front of them.

He goes on to tell them, “I assure you that whoever doesn’t enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs over the wall is a thief and an outlaw. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The guard at the gate opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Whenever he has gathered all of his sheep, he goes before them and they follow him, because they know his voice.” (John 10:1-5)

Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”

Shepherds were devoted to protecting their sheep. They would risk their lives. In 1 Samuel 17:33-37 when David offers to go face the giant, Saul tells him he is just a boy. David responds, “Your servant has kept his father’s sheep, and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock, I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it. Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God. The Lord, who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.”

Jesus is our Gate and Shepherd.

Sheep do stupid things and so do we. So, follow the Good Shepherd.

How Do I Get From Here to There?

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Understanding Your Life’s GPS and Finding Direction

A friend and I were recently discussing the sense of overwhelm and out-of-control feeling that we were both experiencing. There are so many worthwhile, valuable  things pulling at our attention. How will I ever get them all done?

My to-do list is so long there’s not enough time to read it…let alone do it.

I’m tired of being stuck in this rut. I want a way out.

Some of the things on our lists, like classes and training, should be helpful. But too often, they just end up feeling like more things to check off.

Most of us want a clearer direction, but we’re not sure what that even looks like.

Since our discussion, I’ve been thinking and studying about how we can achieve our goals. It became clear that almost every approach to goal setting is essentially the same. Sure, there are small, nuanced differences, but they’re really all the same at their core.

Funny thing is, sometimes we need to hear the same thing several times before it resonates with us. Who knows why? Maybe it’s the speaker, or the form of presentation, or maybe it’s just timing, who knows? But suddenly, it lands.

This happened to me recently when I was going through Mark Shinnerer’s, Vision Building course. He compares creating a life plan to using a GPS. There really are a lot of similarities between the two.

One thing that’s critical to achieving goals is prioritization.

This is one of the things I struggle with most. When I’m staring at that mountain of important, worthwhile tasks…where do I even start? This indecision is where momentum gets lost.

Think about it like this: when going from here to there, using a GPS (Global Positioning System) we start by entering a destination. From there, it gives us some optional routes. In life, we need something similar. We need to use a Goal Prioritization System. This system will help us determine the path we will take to reach our purpose destination.

Here are some GPS similarities:

  • Determine where you want to go before you start. – Knowing where you want to go will make the trip more productive. That doesn’t mean that you can’t change the destination later, but frequent detours will slow your progress.
  • Choose which of the routes you’re going to take. – There are options: fast and direct, scenic and slow? There’s no right or wrong answer, just choose a path and get started. As you are on your way you can change your mind, and the GPS will reroute you.
  • Unexpected things out of your control will happen. – You may encounter road work, traffic, or a flat tire. These things require some adjustment to your schedule and/or possibly your route. Remember, some things are out of your control, but how you respond to them isn’t.
  • Unplanned things that will be in your control. – When en route, you may encounter scenic stops. Or you might come across someone else who’s in trouble on their journey. Stopping or not is a choice you get to make, just be intentional.

Once you have a clear vision of your destination, it’s up to you to get in gear and step on the gas. Otherwise, you will just sit in neutral, stuck in place, thinking about what might have been.

Because one thing is for sure:

If you don’t move forward, you will never reach your destination.

Jesus is the Bread of Life

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Bread is Important to Sustaining Life

The Guinness World Record for the longest loaf of bread is 3,975 feet long and was baked for 59:30 hours. Starting on July 7th, 2005 at 8:00 PM and finishing on July 10th at 7:30 AM. It takes 9 minutes for a combine to harvest enough wheat to make 70 loaves of bread. France bakes around 6,000 baguettes per year. There are a lot of different kinds of bread. On average, each American consumes approximately 53 pounds of bread annually. Germany consumes the most bread per capita.

Bread is an important part of almost every culture. Breaking bread together and sharing a meal is one of the best ways for fellowship. We are all so busy, but we need to slow down periodically to eat. Sharing a meal is a great opportunity to connect with others.

In John 6:1-15, a large crowd of people was following Jesus because they had previously witnessed Him miraculously healing the sick. He then fed thousands of people with 5 loaves and 2 fish with 12 baskets left over. Another miracle.

This was at the time of the Passover, which involved unleavened bread to commemorate when the Jews left Egypt and didn’t have time to wait for bread to rise. This included removing all yeast from their homes.

Yeast is a microorganism used to make bread rise. A small amount will spread throughout the dough.

Like yeast, sin can spread through our lives.

While the Jews were in the wilderness they received manna daily. This was their daily allotment of bread. They were told to only collect what they needed for each day, but some gathered more than they needed. When they did this, it would spoil and go bad. This was to teach them to depend on God and not be greedy.

We need to trust God to provide and not be greedy.

After Jesus fed the thousands, He could tell that the people wanted Him to be their king and rescue them from their Roman oppression. So, he went away from the crowd, to be alone. (John 6:16-21)

While He was gone his disciples got in boats to cross the lake to Capernaum. He hadn’t shown up yet and the wind came up and blew the boats out into the lake. Then Jesus appeared, walking on the water as they reached the other shore. (John 6:16-21)

The next day the crowd realized that the disciples were gone, and Jesus hadn’t been in the boat when they left. When they couldn’t find Jesus or His disciples they went across to Capernaum looking for them. (John 6:22-24)

When they found Jesus on the other side they had some questions for Him.

“When did You get here?”

He answered them, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.” (John 6:25-27)

“What must we do to accomplish what God requires?”

“This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.” (John 6:29)

“What miracles are You going to perform? What will You do next? Our ancestors were given manna in the wilderness. It is written; He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

“I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32-33)

“How can we have this bread always?”

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

The people wanted Jesus to solve all their problems. They were impatient and didn’t like Jesus’ answers. They were looking for worldly fulfillment.

Belief is more than explanation. It requires faith.

Like yeast can permeate dough, sin can take over our lives.

Don’t let it.

We are given what we need every day if we just look up and pay attention. We need to be careful not to become overly expectant and greedy in our expectations.

Jesus is the bread of life every day.

The Tool for Breaking Big Things Down 

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Taking the First Next Step 

Building and running a successful business is a big undertaking. It can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Last week we talked about breaking big things down into small pieces. We discussed the process of accomplishing big dreams by starting with the first, next thing.  

Nothing gets done if you don’t do something.  

A construction project is a big thing made up of a lot of different smaller things. Things need to be done in the right order, or the project will fall apart, or won’t be what it was intended to be.  

Building a business is no different. The question is…  

How do you manage all the little things?  

It can be hard to know where to start or what to do first. Having a system helps. My process may not work for everyone, but how’s what you’re doing now working? 

I’m going to give you an example of how I prioritize and manage my day. 

Previously, I shared how I use my computer to remind me of things on the “To-Do” list and calendar that need to be done. This list can be rather long, and I can’t do it all at once. I can choose which thing I’m going to do and when. The question is determining what gets done first and why. 

Let’s use today as an example.  

When I opened the computer this morning there were twenty or thirty reminders that came up. Before I dug into the list I did the first thing first. I read my Bible and prayed. Next, I journaled and got ready to go. Then I remind myself of who I am and what my mission is. I checked these things off the list.  

Now it’s time to start planning the day. This is where things can get overwhelming, when there are so many things to do. There’s production, administration, finances, proposals, and marketing. These are just business things and don’t include church, family, community, hobbies, etc. In all these different areas, there are several hundred things.  

I can’t do them all today. 

What makes one thing more important than another? 

Sometimes it involves honoring other people’s time or meetings that have been scheduled. Maybe it is something that has a deadline. It could be that it is critical to reaching an important goal. 

Back to the reminder list. 

Looking through the list, there are some reminders that are things two weeks in the future. I don’t need to do anything about those today. I will cut the reminders in half and reset it to a week before. This reduces the list by four or five. 

Now there are reminders for a week. I cut those to four days and reduced the list by a couple more. Reminders for four days get cut to two days. Reminders for two days get cut to one. Now the list is half as long and things that need to be dealt with today. 

These ten or fifteen things can be things that are small and can be dealt with quickly or maybe bigger things that are going to require more time. The bigger things will get reminders accordingly, maybe two or four hours. The small things may have a reminder for five minutes. 

As the five-minute reminders come up, those things get checked off the list.  

Okay, as I’m trying to finish this post my list of reminders just came up with sixteen reminders. They include daily reviews that need to be checked to see if they got done, a reminder that it’s time to go home, a couple of reminders for an event tomorrow that needs to be followed up on.  

I better go deal with these reminders. 

If you would like to know more about how I use the reminders to get things done schedule a free 30-minute consultation. 

Jesus is the Light of the World

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And We Need All the Light We Can Get

The number seven is throughout the Bible. John used seven a lot of different times in his Gospel. One of those sevens, is the seven “I Am” statements. These seven statements from Jesus are:

  1. I am the bread of life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)
  2. I am the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5)
  3. I am the door (John 10:7, 9)
  4. I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14)
  5. I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
  6. I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)
  7. I am the vine (John 15:1, 5)

This week we’re going to focus on Jesus being the light of the world.

In John 7:1-2, it is time for the Festival of the Tabernacles. This is a Jewish holiday that lasts for seven days and is a time for giving thanks for the harvest and remembering the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness after leaving Egypt. During the holiday, many Jews build and dwell in temporary, outdoor structures called sukkot, which are meant to remind them of the Israelites’ temporary dwellings during their wilderness journey.

A part of the Festival of the Tabernacles was the celebration of light. So that people outside the temple could celebrate too. This was accomplished by lighting fires in bowls filled with oil on top of tall 30′-40′ poles. These poles would light the whole city.

It serves as a reminder of the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and hope over despair. By understanding the history and traditions associated with this festival, we can gain insight into how to navigate our own lives with faith, courage, and perseverance.

Like the number seven, light is also prevalent in the Bible. The Book of John starts out quoting Genesis:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man named John who was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him.” John 1:1-10

Think of how dark it would have been two thousand years ago before electricity. The world needed light. The fires on the poles gave light, but it was not THE LIGHT. The world today needs THE LIGHT.

A great example of light and how it works is the sun, moon, and earth. The earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth. The sun is the source of our natural light. Neither the earth nor the moon creates any light. The moon’s light is a reflection of the sun’s light. A full moon is really bright and lights things up.

Jesus is our “Son” and the source of our spiritual light. When we are full, we can share the light of the Son and brighten people’s dark lives.

Jesus is the LIGHT of the world, and we should reflect that light.

Breaking Big Things Down into Small Pieces

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What’s the First Next Step?

We’ve been talking a lot about routines over the past several weeks. Like most things, it sounds great, but where to start? There’s already too much to do and not enough time. There’s no room on the list to add anything else.

No one ever said building a successful business would be easy. If they did … they lied.

Operating a business requires a lot. With so much to do, it’s common to get overwhelmed. My intent with today’s post is to help you manage that stress.

You’ve probably heard the saying, eat the elephant one bite at a time. This is a common idiom for breaking a large, daunting project down into smaller, more manageable pieces. By focusing on one small step at a time, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed.

I have a couple of sayings that I use to represent the elephant idiom from more of a construction perspective. One is to build the wall one brick at a time. Another is to move the mountain one shovel full at a time. Construction projects require a lot of pieces and actions to complete. They need to be broken down into smaller pieces.

Breaking big things down sounds easy enough, but it takes intentional action.

The other thing that can be discouraging is when big dreams don’t happen. When they don’t become reality, we give up. This is what happened to me. After working for years to accomplish my dream and it didn’t happen … I gave up. I concluded that I must have been wrong about this dream.

Then God got my attention with a board upside the head. Since then, I have been reading and learning. Continuing to build my business and my life one piece at a time. Don’t be afraid to dream big (Mark 11:23-24) because nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37).

Last week in the list of my daily planning, one of the things was Breaking Big Things Down into Smaller Pieces. Building a business or a life is like constructing a building.

Building starts by DREAMING – Dreams are big, vague things. We can see them in our head. This is where great things start. It is important to align these dreams with God, the Architect of our lives.

VISION is the next step – This is where the big picture of the dream begins to take shape. It’s like a blueprint. It’s where things can be tested to see if the dream is possible and how the pieces will fit together.

Now we need to set some GOALS – It’s been determined that the dream can be built. Now we need to set some goals. When do we want to have it completed? Based on this, when do we need to start? What is the budget? What’s it going to cost?

Nothing gets done without ACTION – This is where the rubber meets the road. Dreams are not accomplished without taking action. If anything is going to get done … we have to DO SOMETHING.

RESULTS are the dream becoming reality – This is where the hard work and planning come together. This doesn’t mean that the result is exactly what the original dream was. What it does mean is that if we had nothing, nothing is what we would have.

Start with DREAMS, turn those dreams into VISIONS, turn those visions into GOALS. A goal is a bite-sized vision. And a vision that is ready to go to work is a goal.

Big dreams can be overwhelming. Daily operations of a business can be overwhelming.

It’s important to do something. Take action.

It helps me if I focus on the FIRST NEXT THING. What is the one thing that I need to do first? I have a list that I go through as part of my routine:

  1. Start with prayer
  2. Get off my “BUT”, stop making excuses
  3. Put it on the calendar
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help (delegation / accountability / education)
  5. Take goals seriously (create a sense of urgency early)
  6. Maintain positive forward momentum
  7. Celebrate wins
  8. Don’t overthink it
  9. Break the goals down into brick size pieces
  10. Make goals about giving and not about getting
  11. Review progress regularly, and be accountable

This list helps keep me motivated. It reminds me to prioritize things and to focus on the first next thing that needs done.

Your list can be different. The important thing is to have a process or system to help you to break big things down into smaller pieces.

Focusing on one brick at a time is the way a big wall gets built.