What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. What's going on, guys? Welcome to
this episode of the Pursuit of Calling podcast.
Welcome, pursuers. So you already know from looking
at the title of this episode that this is a revisit
of living with pain and accomplishing goals.
That was recorded last March, which is crazy
to think. March of 2024, which is over a year
ago. And I had to re -listen to that episode.
Because recently, because I decided I wanted
to go back over what I talked about. And man,
the fire that was in my voice, that fire that
was there, to want to share the things that I've
learned on this journey of pain and suffering.
I think back to that, and part of me is like,
man, where'd that go? I'm thinking about the
last couple episodes I put out. I'm wondering
if maybe I lost focus in some sort of way of
why I'm doing this podcast. So I wanted to revisit
an episode where I was the happiest. I remember
being the happiest. I could hear it in my voice.
I'm sure you could too if you went back and listened
to the episode, which I highly encourage you
to do. You hear it in my voice. How happy and
how... excited and comfortable I was to share
my journey of pain and growth. So I'm going to
go back over these lessons today because they're
still true today. The lessons are understanding
your own limits, your physical and mental health
are strongly linked. Impatience isn't only a
virtue, it's a necessity. That one's huge. I
remember in the last episode, the last time I
recorded this, When I was writing the notes,
how excited and how it just clicked. That was
one of the biggest lessons. And even as I was
listening to this and reading the notes from
this episode, I was teaching myself again. March
of 2024, Thomas was teaching this Thomas, this
current President Thomas, about being present.
That patience is the only virtue, that it's a
necessity. So I can't wait to go over that with
you guys as well. So let's dive into the first
lesson, the first thing I learned. Understanding
your own limits. And I don't know if I said it
already, so I'm going to say it now. There's
no shame in asking for help. The most worthwhile
things are done with others. You might be wondering,
maybe you're wondering how this has to do with
calling. I think maybe it's obvious, but your
calling is, I've said it before, your calling
isn't just for you, it's for everybody around
you. And also, that whenever you're pursuing
something, your calling, your calling isn't small.
And in order to accomplish something large, in
order to accomplish something big, you can't
do it by yourself. The most worthwhile things
are done with others. So there's multiple areas
in life where your limits might be. It could
be your time. You have knowledge and wisdom gaps.
It could be physical and maybe even financial.
Say with your time, we all have the same 24 hours
in a day. But somehow there are people out there
that seem to get so much more done than us. And
some of that can be tied into really good time
management skills. And they're able to do that
and somehow not get overwhelmed. Somehow not
get overwhelmed. And they're also able to then,
like I said earlier, they also have other people
in their corner. But you'll see that these people,
they understand that they themselves have the
limb of 24 hours, but then they can also bring
other people in, whether they hire these people
or they have volunteers with them that are helping
them out, like how I have Ian. Hi, Ian. Helping
me edit these podcasts. I'm not just utilizing
my 24 hours. I'm also able to ask for the help
of others who can then utilize their time to
help me get other things done. I have limits.
Everybody has limits. And everybody has the same
24 hours. So then maybe you have knowledge and
wisdom gaps. You don't know what you don't know,
but a lot of the time you know who does. You
probably have mentors in your life, some men
or women, friends who you look up to, people
that you've learned some things from before.
I know I've learned a lot by just seeking out
mentors and asking them questions. There's been
many times when during our conversations, they
teach me something that I wasn't expecting. One
thing, I don't know if you remember, last time
I recorded this, I listed off all my mentors
that I had at the time. Mike Wallace, Ed Newell,
Patrick Williams, Jesse Leachy, Jim Fink, Terry
Bochner, and there are others. However, I remember
this one time with Ed Newell, when he was on
the episode of The Pursuit of Calling, and we
were talking about finances. We got into the
topic of what can you do right now to maybe increase
your income. And one of the easiest things he
told me was, and this is a great example of something
that I highly encourage you to do. One of the
things that he told me and told you guys, the
audience, was get a high -yield savings account.
Simple. High yield savings account. It was at
5 % at the time with Wealthfront. And I honestly
did it either the next day or that week. And
I've had it since. And I've made almost $800
just by letting my money sit. And that was something
I wasn't expecting to learn from that. Honestly,
I wasn't expecting to learn that. But that's
why I love having these people that are also
in my life that are filled with growth. that
are looking to improve, have these hobbies that,
like Ed with financial hobbies, like being able
to then learn new things and give that knowledge
to others and have that heart to be able to do
that. Like, that was great. I want you to find
people like that. Each person has taught me something
different. Like I said, whether that be faith
or financial. It could be financial discipline,
maybe some mental fortitude. Like I talked to
you about when I almost lost $4 ,000. I needed
some mental fortitude. And at the time, Patrick
Williams helped me figure that out. Or anything
else in between. Maybe, let's keep moving. Maybe
there's some physical limits. Now this is where
I shine. I have some physical limits. You know,
I have a condition called muscular dystonia.
You know, I have that it limits and gives me
pain every single day. If you're new here. Well,
there you go. I have a condition called muscular
dystonia. It's a neurological condition. My muscles
kind of contract. I get pain in my arms, which
is why I have these gloves on, if you're watching
the video, and pain in my arms, up into my neck,
and sometimes my jaw, my face. And that sucks.
I think if I didn't have the faith that I have,
and the people that God has surrounded me with,
I would be like, man, I've been dealt a crap
hand. But really, what this has allowed me to
do through my own physical limits, it's caused
me to rely on others and realize how much I can
rely on others and trust others in my life more
than I ever had to do before. One great example
of that, I've said it before, I'm going to bring
it up again because I love David. And I asked
David, for those who don't know, I have a friend
named David, and there was a time when I asked
him whether, I talked to him about production
before. I talked to him about production, I talked
to him about how I, I talked to him about joining
the team at our church. And I know I'm talking
fast. I'm going to slow down a little bit. And
he showed some interest, right? So there was
a day when my pain was getting high, and I didn't
know what my limits were, if I should be doing
computer work, if I shouldn't be doing it on
the weekend. So I reached out to him, like, Saturday.
And church was on Sunday morning, as it be. And
I asked him, hey, man, I got this. I have this
condition. This is what's going on. Can you help
me out tomorrow? He said yes, because he has
a determined heart, and he's been serving on
production ever since. And we're good friends.
So it's like, as a result, God used what the
enemy meant for evil and turned it for good.
Man, I say so many times that this isn't a Christian
podcast, but I can't help it sometimes. i've
also been thinking about this random tangent
but thinking about putting god back into the
title back into the uh intro because that's kind
of you know the he's kind of the foundation of
my life but anyway um but also though like at
physical the physical limits limit my driving
Almost right after I'm done recording this, I'm
going to a cookout that I can't get to by myself.
But I have a great friend named Zach Thomas,
who wasn't around whenever I recorded this last
time. So I give a shout out to Zach. And I hope
you're listening to the episode, Zach. But he's
giving me a ride. I think within the last couple
of weeks, he's given me at least three rides
at three different places. And I couldn't ask
for better friends. guys like i wouldn't be if
i didn't have me i'm getting emotional if i didn't
have the thought if i thought i had to do everything
myself still in the condition that i have i'd
be miserable i'd never see anybody i just have
to invite people here and to my home and i would
have to like um I will only be able to go grocery
shopping and I will never push my limits. Like
I don't – God, you need people. And even if you
don't have a physical condition like I do, right?
Like there are going to be times when your limits
– when you hit your ceiling, you hit your limit
and you can either lie down and take it or you
can – Or you can stand up and reach out, pick
up the phone, and reach out to those who are
already in your corner. Man, think about that.
Who's already in your corner? Who's already fighting
for you? I'm going off. And this is what I was
hoping was going to happen this episode. I didn't
want to just do word for word from the last recording.
But guys, who's already in your corner? Who can
help you, especially with everything I've mentioned
so far, and especially when you're pursuing your
calling? Who are your advocates? Who are the
people that are going to tell you when you're
messing up, but also push you and help you network
and point you in the direction of people that
you can know on this pursuit of calling? Who
do you know? Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let's move into the next section of financial
limits. So asking for help financially is probably
the hardest one. I don't know. It is for me anyway.
Now this can be to ask for work to help others
to get pay in return. Okay, sorry. I messed that
up. You might have to cut that a little bit.
But yeah. Okay, maybe you have financial limits,
right? Maybe you have financial limits. And most
of us do. Most people have financial limits.
Maybe you're like me, I'm going on a missions
trip in January, and I'm going to ask for donations
because I have some financial limits because
I have financial goals. I want to buy a house
in a year, and so I'm going to figure out how
I can raise the money to be able to go to Uganda
for free. Minus the down payment, but it's fine.
But the thing... I want to say about that is
since I've been doing FPU recently, a lot of
people have financial limits. And I know that.
And FPU, Financial Peace University, have been
co -coordinating one of those courses with Amplified
Church. And the one thing I've noticed is sometimes
people have limits and they don't even realize
they do. I think that's a great thing to call
out in people. For me, as a coordinator of these
courses, and as somebody who has studied this
side of finances and how to manage them, how
to pay them off, how to pay off debt, how to
build wealth at a maintainable rate of return,
there's... You have limits. I'm going to say
that directly to you. You have limits that are
financial, whether you know it or not. If you're
in credit card debt, if you're in any sort of
debt really, that strongly limits your financial
potential. So just think about that. And also,
if there's somewhere that you... Also though,
how can you raise that limit? Think about your
financial limitations. That's also one of the
other ones that you have power to change. Maybe
you can get more work and get paid for that.
Maybe you ask for a promotion or you continuously
do better at your job so that you get a promotion.
Maybe you've got to get a new job that will pay
you more. That limit, that ceiling can get higher.
But it can also get lower. But you've got to
do what you've got to do whenever you're in certain
stages of life. Okay. That was one lesson. So
I need to move on. I'm going to say your physical
and mental health are strongly linked is the
next lesson. You know, and I wrote in my notes,
there's a lot of people out there that, you know,
they say, like, especially at the gym, there's
guys that are like, my body is a temple. And
like, you get those guys kind of, you know, annoy
some people. But the funny thing is that it's
true. As a Christian, I believe that my body
and I believe that every Christian's body is
a temple for the Holy Spirit. So I want to treat
it the best way that I can. I am constantly learning
about what my body does and doesn't like. And
like recently I've been using, I have it on right
now. It's called a whoop armband and it's a health
tracker. It shows me when, like how much strain,
like how much activity I've had in the day. And
it tells me how much strain I should have in
the day based on where, like based on the metrics
that it. tells me and then like you can keep
a journal and keep a journal of of every pretty
much all these different things that you do in
your day like have you like what activities you've
done when you woke up when you went to bed when
did you do did you intermittent do intermittent
fasting do you go to like when did you eat did
you snack and all the all these different things
and it tells you like and eventually it gives
you these metrics it tells you whether you're
doing like what is good for your recovery and
what isn't what's good for your health and what's
not And that's really kind of helped me understand
that a little bit better. And the reason I'm
bringing this up is because I noticed that whenever
my recovery, that's what they call it in Woop,
when my recovery is low, my mental fortitude
is lacking. As a developer, I'm... My job is
to use my brain and to problem solve. And I've
noticed for a while that whenever I'm tired,
whenever I haven't treated my body well the day
before, it's a lot harder for me to problem solve.
Whenever my body doesn't feel well, my brain
doesn't work as well. Does that make sense? You'll
be able to function better mentally and physically
if you eat the right foods, if you work out.
If you work out in the right ways, that's right
for you. If you just treat this gift that you've
been given of this body well. I think I made
the example last time with food about putting...
You want to eat the right foods. You want your
fuel that you put in your body to be good. You're
not going to eat... If you're truly... If you
truly care about your own health, you don't go
out and eat fast food, right? If you truly care
about your health, you don't go out to eat all
the time because that's also financial health,
but physical health because there aren't great
ingredients all the time in food that you eat
out whenever you eat out. And I think I made
the example of you want to put chocolate syrup
in your gas tank because your car won't run.
You want the right fuel that will fuel your body
to run at its optimal capacity. Because then
your mind will work well as well. Your brain
uses that same fuel. All right. Last lesson.
Patience isn't only a virtue, it's a necessity.
So waiting is a huge part of life. I've had doctor's
appointments months in between. where and actually
have a couple coming up after like six months
because that's just what they do now um and it
sucks like like it sucks like like it doesn't
really feel like those give me anything anymore
but i still go to them because maybe they will
because like every now and then they give me
something but most of the time like i say that
it's like 50 50 and These doctor's appointments
are months and months and months apart. And it's
hard. But also realizing that it's not just patients
in the doctor's appointments. It's also patients
in things for you, like diet. You went on a diet
for a week and you're wondering why you haven't
lost as much weight as you wanted yet. It's going
to take time. Working out, same thing. It's going
to take you multiple times to go to the gym to
build the muscle that you want to build. Learning
something new, you're not going to understand
it the first time. You might not even understand
it the second time. Maybe you've got to read
that book three times to really understand what
the author is saying. And you've got to take
notes. It's going to take time for you to understand
something new. And now finally, pursuing your
calling takes time and it's a continuous season
of your life. Pursuing your calling, it takes
time, it takes effort, it takes patience. And
now this is the biggest thing that I remember
I said in the beginning of this recording that
I was going to need to talk about more because
it's something I need to hear. It's something
I need to say because I feel like I've forgotten
that patience. That patience is not a virtue,
but it's a necessity. That life is a waiting
game. You're always waiting for something. And
right now I'm waiting to learn and waiting for
clients to come in for my coaching business.
I'm waiting to find the people that I'm meant
to serve, that I'm called to serve. So maybe
if you're in the same boat as me, maybe that
you're waiting for people to serve. You don't
know who to serve and you don't know what you're
doing in your life. It takes time. If you don't
know what your calling is, pray. Ask God. Take
time with him. If you're not a Christian, I would
still encourage you to do that. I would still
encourage you to do that. also for both Christians
and non -Christians, go ahead and I have a Discover
Your Kong Planning Guide. It just asks some simple
questions about, like, what do you enjoy doing?
What are the things that you do that seem to
make time fly? Like things that you love so much
that you don't even notice that you've done it
for two, three hours. The last thing I have here
is when things are at their hardest is when you
need to buckle down, grit your teeth, and hold
on, even if there's nothing to do but wait. And
this waiting is when you can and should be readying
yourself for what comes next. Waiting doesn't
mean you're doing nothing. It means you're preparing.
And that's what I needed to hear. These are notes
from the last time I recorded this episode. Waiting
doesn't mean you're doing nothing. It means you're
preparing. You're preparing for whatever God
has for you next. You're preparing for that doctor's
appointment. You're preparing for that next big
break, for that raise, for that promotion. You're
preparing maybe for your future wife or your
future husband. You're preparing everything.
And that's why it takes time. Preparation doesn't
happen in an instant. There is no such thing
as overnight success. It's all about what we're
doing. behind closed doors by ourselves how are
we how are we buckling down gritting your teeth
and pushing forward and now i know that i just
said do it by yourself but you're like thomas
you just say there's yeah we like you just talked
about in the beginning like how like you need
people and all of you need people and all these
things you just talked about that so much why
did you say do things by yourself because like
why why would i say that Why would I say you're
doing, why would I say that? Why would I say,
do things by yourself? Sorry, I know I'm repeating
myself. Because what you do behind closed doors
reproduce the fruit of what happens outside of
them. Let me say that again. What you're doing
behind closed doors produces the fruit of what
happens outside of those doors. So what you do
when you're not around people is going to help
you produce even better fruit with the people
that you're living life with and pursuing your
calling alongside of. That's what I'm going to
leave you with today. I know this was a lot.
This was a longer episode. And maybe I'll do
a few more episodes to break each piece of this
down a little bit more and go into some different
detail. Let me know if that would be worth it.
And let me know if that would be worth it. Let
me know what you'd be interested in hearing on
an episode of the Pursuit of Calling podcast.
Maybe you want me to dive into something. Maybe
you want me to dive into something I talked about
in a little bit more detail specifically. That'd
be great to know because it helps me figure out
what my listeners want to hear. And I would love
to be able to serve you in that way. So go ahead
and post that in the comments on YouTube, on
Spotify, Apple Podcasts. We review a five -star
on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Maybe a thumbs up
on YouTube. Smash that like button. Oh, that
was cringy. And guys, don't forget to share on
social media. And go on. Keep pursuing your calling.
I'll see you next time.