Insanity, Sisyphus, John Maxwell, and The Leap of Faith!

What do you want?  What you do has a lot to do with what you want.  If what you do is not moving you toward what you want, then you need to change what you do.  If you want your Dream to manifest, ask,  “Is what I’m doing now ever going to get me there?”  Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Give yourself permission to Dream.  Open your mind and imagine what that Dream looks like.  Remember: Where there is no vision, the people perish.[i]  So, have a vision!

Most people coming out of high school or college, regardless of their interests, majors, and, dare I say, Dreams, are content to simply get a job in order to pay the bills.  And it is good to get a job and be responsible for yourself, paying your bills.  However, often, many don’t have a plan and don’t know or have forgotten about their Whys and Hows. But here’s the thing, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

Money is not the most important reason to get a job, though making enough to support yourself and your family if you are married is good and appropriate. Coming out of college, John Maxwell, leadership expert and pastor, had the choice of a big, well-established church with a good salary, or a small, country church in Indiana with very little salary.  Guess which job he took.  The small, country church in Indiana.  Why?  Because he knew it would get him closer to his Dream to influence others to live a life of significance through leadership.  He realized the small country church provided opportunities for growth in leadership that the well-established church would never stretch him to experience.  He realized that there were other things more important than money.

Money is a tool, just like ideas, resources, skills and time.  If you want to pay the bills, any job will do, but if you want to manifest your Dream, be selective how you spend your greatest capital: your mind, heart, strengths, and time. 

            With that said, we must start somewhere.  Often, our employment experiences teach us one of two things:

1.     The skill sets we do and don’t possess, helping us build on our strengths and manage our weaknesses

2.     New skills or strengths we didn’t know we possessed, serving us for the future.

These jobs train us to distinguish between what it means to work hard, smart, and strong versus soft, lazy, and weak.  Any experience teaches us to grow in our Dream and our Greatness if we choose to learn.

Good reasons exist to work in a job that will not monetarily advance you.  Here are some of those reasons:

·      it’s all you want in life professionally

·      to learn a specialized skill set

·      to climb the ladder in a specific organization which is a part of your Dream

·      to maintain a cost of living while you work in the nooks and crannies of your day on activities helping you accomplish your Dream.

 However, the best scenario is to research opportunities that:

·      will increase your monetary toolkit, giving you freedom to pursue your Dream.

·      will increase or improve your character and skill sets necessary for accomplishing your Dream.

·      will play to your strengths so you are happy, approaching your daily activity with eagerness and a positive attitude, knowing you are serving others and pursuing your Dream daily. 

           

Desire + Discipline + Determination = Your Dream

Desire fuels Dreams.   Desire ignites Discipline and Determination. This is focus.  Once you Dream, the real battle begins: the battle within.  If you truly surrender it all to your Dream, Desire wells up in you.  That Desire must be channeled into daily activity that unleashes your imagination. Let every moment speak an idea or opportunity, propelling you toward your Dream.

Most of us view life as a series of mountaintops and valleys.  Many relate more to the myth of Sisyphus[ii].  Do you remember him?

He’s the man who rolls the boulder up the hill, and, just as he’s about to crest the hill, his strength gives out and the boulder rolls back down into the valley.  He has to start all over again only to have the same thing happen for eternity. But listen: it’s a myth.  If you have a Dream and desire, you will face hills to climb, and it will be difficult.  But The Shift can change the story (See my earlier blog post entitled "The Shift: Transformed by Renewing Your Mind"  https://discoveringyourgreatness.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-shift-transformed-by-renewing-your.html).  Here’s an example:

For those of us who make The Shift, change our minds, Dream and write stories serving us, life is more like this:

Do we face hills?  Yes, but we know this series of hills is really heading downhill, creating momentum.  We gather momentum to finish the race and achieve our Dream.  Our momentum carries us up the hills to a point, the point of challenges we’ve not experienced and must go through.  Our Desire, Discipline and Determination help us stretch our faith into uncharted territory, that little bit of the current hill representing Obstacle-Opportunities we have never encountered before.  We grow in faith with new knowledge gained, an obstacle overcome, or a skill developed, bringing us closer to our Dream.

          
          Soren Kierkegaard called it the leap of faith.[iii]  We step into the darkness and hope the light rushes in.  Even the smallest step can feel like a leap.  This leap of faith powered by Desire, Discipline and Determination adds to our momentum.  The next time we confront a similar challenge or obstacle, it’s easier to overcome, until, after a few similar experiences, what was once a leap of faith is now an expression of faith because we grow comfortable with what was uncomfortable.  Whatever obstacles we face, we can confront, go through, grow and overcome because we’ve done it before.  We know we’re heading downhill, racing toward our Dream!

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[i] Proverbs 29:18

[ii] Though many interpretations exist, the myth of Sisyphus primarily conveys the idea that overwhelming pride, or hubris, will lead to one’s downfall, and it is pride that often gets in the way of accomplishing our dream. This pride in Sisyphus came from his belief he was cleverer than Zeus, or he was simply very clever.  Being too clever can lead to one’s demise.  In my book in Chapter 12: C.A.R. The Vehicle to Your Dream, I explore the Greek view of humanity.  One might say that one of Sisyphus’ biggest problems is he dwells in cleverness, in cerebral man, the mind, and he ignores the visceral aspects and the heart of man.  Sisyphus’ actions signify how most of us stay busy with what we believe are important activities, but they all come to nothing because they are only a partial use of one’s gifts or talents.  Sisyphus’ actions end up being useless and unendingly frustrating because he does not use all of himself, cerebral, visceral, and the heart of man, to be a whole being.  This is the story of many people.  They use only part of their gifts or all of their gifts but for the wrong purpose.  They do not give all of themselves to their Dream.  They try to control their life, living in fear, instead of taking “the leap of faith” with their hearts, using their heads to plan and problem-solve, and their gut (or actions) to accomplish their meaningful and significant Dream.

[iii] Kierkegaard, Soren.  Fear and Trembling.  Penguin Classics, 1986. Print