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. All right, how's it going, Pursuers?
So if you've been following me on Instagram or
Facebook recently, you'll notice that I've, or
even in the past, you'll notice that I've been
changing what I've been posting on social media
a little bit. And mainly the change has been
that I've been posting at all. And I've been
posting, I'm trying to post every day. Just consistently
about the merch. Maybe you can see it in the
back if you're watching the video. It says you
were made for more in the back. It has some cool
hands reaching around it. I think it looks really
nice. You might want to try looking at it at
shop .pursuitofcalling .com. But anyway, I'm
working on creating the habit of posting every
single day. It's not... And we're going to get
into more of why that is as we get into the episode.
But I felt convicted that every time recently
I've been feeling convicted that every time I
seem to start something, a new venture, or try
to achieve a new goal, at certain times it seems
to fizzle out in some way, shape, or form. And
I'll get some momentum, then I'll get excited.
Now I'll lose momentum and then I'll get discouraged
and then I'll stop. You can't achieve anything
following that failure of a framework. And I
acknowledge that. And I think it's also, but
I may also say that it's a really normal thing.
And my goal is to not be normal. My goal is to
find the things that I meant to strive for and
then strive for those things so that I can do
those well. The whole point of me starting this
podcast, the coaching, and releasing merch is
because I believe that everybody has a calling
worthy of pursuing. And who am I to say any of
that? Who am I to say I've been called to serve
a particular set of people in this way and then
not follow through on it? So that's why I'm attempting
to do this now. I say attempting intentionally
because I... Maybe it's a caveat, but I'm saying
attempting because... I'm saying it because nobody's
perfect, and I have all intentions of pursuing
this well. Not worrying about perfection, but
about consistency in action. And then I believe
through that, growth will come. One thing, I
do this all the time, it's not in my notes, but
John Maxwell has a, I think a philosophy, I guess
you'd call it, that he said he could never do
a talk on goal setting and goal achievement because
he couldn't do it with integrity because he cares
more about growth than he does about goals. He
said, if you're consistently working on growing,
then the goals that you want to achieve will
be, you'll achieve those goals if you focus on
the growth it takes to get to the goals you want
to achieve versus actually achieving the goal.
So I'm trying to shift my mindset in that way
and trying to create new habits that will help
me grow and kind of get me out of my comfort
zone, things that make me uncomfortable like
posting on social media. And it took me one hour
to make it real the other day because I felt
like I kept messing up what I wanted to say.
And that annoyed me a lot, but I still posted
it. And that's what I'm going to keep doing every
single day. And I think it's been about a week
that I've been posting every day. And I don't
plan on stopping. I'm probably going to annoy
people. I don't know who. But I just have that
general assumption for some reason that some
people might be annoyed and other people are
going to cheer me on. I think that's normal.
And I'm also not just going to post about the
merch, like I said, which is what I've been talking
about. I've been talking about how everyone has
been made for more, how you listening right now
were made for more. You were created by the God
of the universe and he loves you so much that
he created a unique calling just for you. That's
designed to fit you perfectly. So even if you
don't know what your purpose is, you don't know
what your calling is, I think the first step
you take, honestly, is a relationship with Christ.
And then as you work into that, you figure out
what you've been called to do. There's a whole
other podcast where I talk about that piece.
But this is also for those who know what their
calling is already. want to continuously pursue
their calling well nobody does it perfectly but
you can do everything you can to do it consistently
if that makes sense and why am i doing this at
all why am i post why am i posting it's not just
for i think i've talked a lot about it but like
it's not just for consistency It's not just for
growth, but it's because I haven't been, I want
it because I haven't been. And I believe that
I, if I have my voice that I've been given and
the knowledge and the wisdom that I believe God
has given me over time, that I need to do it,
even if I do it wrong. I've been, I have a big
reason why I haven't posted. It's because I've
been worried about doing it wrong. I say a lot
of the time that I hate social media. And I hate
posting on it. And I know a big part of the reason
is because I'm afraid of doing it wrong. Or at
least, at the very least, I'm afraid that I don't
know how to do it well. And that's actually a
fact. I don't know how to do it well. So I decided
that I needed to stop stopping. And that's the
name of the episode. You've probably saw it already.
But the big part of this, the title is Stop Stopping.
And I need to actually intentionally continue
to pursue my calling. So what does social media
have to do with that? It's because I know there's
people out there that social media can reach
that I can't reach within the limited circle
that I have around me. I can reach these people
that aren't going to be reached by my podcast,
a lot of people that aren't going to be maybe
reached by my coaching and my merch. However,
there's tons of people that can be reached by
social media. It's an avenue that reaches a lot
of people. So that's a skill I would like to
develop. I would like to learn how to post on
social media well in a way that would influence
others to live the life that they've been called
to live and serve those they've been called to
serve. I was using ChatDBT to help me with my
notes for this episode. And it presented me with...
the parable of the talents that's in Matthew
25, verses 14 to 30. And if you're not familiar
with that, please don't tune out. It's okay if
you don't know what the book of Matthew even
is, what the parable of the talents is. Essentially,
Jesus is talking about how people are given gifts,
like maybe the things that you're inherently
good at. But out of fear, some don't go out and
multiply their gifts and use them to the benefit
of the kingdom of heaven. The person in the parable
took the talents, which talents in that time
isn't actually a talent. That's not how we think
about it today. It's a form of currency. And
a talent was a measurement of that currency.
And what he did, he was given this talent by
his superior, and he buried it because he was
afraid of losing it because the point was to
give it back later. And he was just keeping an
eye on it. So the idea around that is that God
has given us gifts, and it's our job to go out
and multiply the gifts that he's been giving
us and grow in them and grow them. learn how
to use them to the highest of our abilities so
that we can serve for the benefit of the kingdom
of heaven. And I think partially that's what
I've been doing. I've been hiding, by not using
social media, in a way I've been hiding my calling.
I've been hiding my skills. I've been hiding
the message that I believe God has put on my
heart by not allowing myself to become uncomfortable
with posting on social media. So consistency
is a great way to steward your calling well.
So for this week, I actually want to give you
a challenge for the next seven days. Identify
one area in your life where you need to stop
stopping and commit to showing up consistently
for the next seven days. Maybe this is kind of
like mine. Maybe you're trying to start a business.
Maybe you're starting a business and... Maybe
you're like me, you started multiple different
businesses and they haven't gone as far as you
wish they would have. Figure out an area of that
where you need to stop stopping and pursue that
piece of it. Just before the next seven days
and see if you can do it. Then even within the
next seven days, it takes 14 days to make a habit.
It takes about two weeks to really change our
brain chemistry. create a habit in our habit
our brains are used to doing consistently as
a bonus uh share it on instagram tag me and use
the hashtag stop stopping so we can cheer each
other on i want to cheer you on like let me know
what your stop stop what you're not what your
stop stopping to stop and uh whatever it is maybe
you used to love to read And you stopped reading.
And reading, whether that be reading books for
pleasure, maybe that reading books for growth.
I hope you're reading books for growth. But there's
nothing wrong with reading books for pleasure.
But what are you not doing that you wish you
were? Maybe especially something that you were
doing before that you've stopped doing out of
the lack of discipline that you've had. So if
you need encouragement and tools to pursue your
calling, you already said I've got merch designed
to inspire you and the people around you and
coaching sessions to guide you. I'm going to
have links for both of those in the show notes.
The coaching can sign up for a free intro session.
I'm doing three free Discover Your Calling sessions.
And it's completely free. There's no obligation
to even sign up and pay afterwards. I just want
to serve. So if you or somebody you know would
be interested, go ahead and sign up for your
first free session now. All it asks is for your
email, your phone number. And then if you need
any. Oh, sorry. I was going to say the same thing
again in my notes. But as just. as the outro,
I guess, your calling is worth pursuing. Don't
let fear, discomfort, or perfectionism hold you
back. Stop stopping and keep going. Keep pursuing
your calling well, pursuers, and I'll see you
next time.