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. I watched a movie last night. And
I've been doing that a lot recently. I found
out that you can watch YouTube videos on YouTube
for free with ads. And unfortunately, that's
become kind of the habit of mine. I'm pretty
sure I've watched a movie every day this last
week at some point of the day. And last night,
I watched Robocop. It's about a two -hour movie.
And even when I was turning it on, I had this
little thought in the back of my head. I was
like, this doesn't feel right. That's two hours.
What time is it? And I just kept, I just let
myself watch the whole thing. And, you know,
honestly, it kind of felt like a warning. It
felt like a warning of what could happen if I
continue to let distractions get in the way of
my priorities. So I asked myself a question.
I, if I remove distractions, what would I actually
be doing? Because honestly, last night in all
the nights previous, my goal has been to read
at night. I have a book on, I forget what it's
called, but it's about neuroplasticity for people
with muscular dystonia, which is the condition
that I have. And my goal is to grow myself and
to research my condition, to learn more about
it so I'm more educated, so I can be the best
advocate for myself and my health as I can be.
And the reason I watched the movie was, one,
it was easy and accessible, and two, because
my arms hurt. I was like, well, my body needs
a rest. I would just lay on the couch for an
hour and let my body rest and relax. Hmm. Doesn't
reading allow me to do the same thing? Reading
doesn't take much physical activity. So it really
just got me thinking, what would happen if I
just remove distractions? What would my default
activity be if I prioritized properly? I thought
about it. I listed things out. I was like, I'd
be reading. Okay, that's one that was obvious
when I just said it. I'd be building my business
with more intentionality. Because let's be honest,
TV is not the only distraction. I'd be networking
more effectively and more often with others.
And I'd be structuring my day by prioritizing
my priorities properly by creating to -do lists
every single day for what I'm going to do for
the rest of the day. These are all things that
I already know to do. So that's not the problem.
The problem isn't that I don't know what to do.
The problem isn't clarity. It's execution. What
about you? If you remove distractions from your
life, if you... prioritize your priorities properly,
what would your life look like? What are you
avoiding doing by allowing yourself to live on
default, by defaulting to your comfort zone?
As I mentioned before, my goal is to, one of
my goals is to prioritize my health. Not just
like doing my exercises I've talked about in
the past, but becoming the best advocate for
myself that I can be by educating myself on my
condition in ways that I can potentially limit
my limits, if that makes sense. I want to limit
the limits that my condition puts on my body.
And for you, I know your pain is real. Your condition
is real. And I'm not trying to say don't take
breaks. I'm not trying to say that your condition
shouldn't be prioritized because obviously that's
your reality. That's our reality. But your condition
doesn't excuse you from not showing up for yourself.
It didn't excuse you from showing up for others.
Living with a condition, whether it's a physical
condition or a mental condition, It doesn't give
you an excuse to be lazy. It does give us an
outlook on life that others don't have. And in
my personal opinion, it makes it even more important
for us to grow ourselves and develop ourselves
personally because our lives are harder than
our neighbors, than the person. Our lives are
harder than a lot of people's lives next to us.
And you already know, like I said, like I was
talking about myself, I think the same thing
is true for you, that you already know what you
need to do. You already know what the next step
is to prioritize your priorities so that you
can pursue your purpose, pursue your calling
with excellence. You have goals on your mind.
You have things you want to achieve. And you're
like, maybe one day, and my question is, why
not today? Why not you actually take that first
step? You probably heard the saying before that
the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago,
but the second best time is today. The only reason
we don't plant the tree, the only time we don't
start pursuing our own goals is because we're
allowing distractions and other things that are
less important get in the way. Some of us are
waiting on God. Some of us are waiting on God
to provide us clarity, like, God, what is my
next step? What is the next thing I should do?
However, there's kind of a paradox in doing that.
Because you're waiting on God to provide you
what to do, but God is saying, a lot of the time
God says, I've already given you exactly what
you need to do. I've already told you, I've already
shown you, I've given you the abilities and I've
given you the resources. So clarity doesn't come
from waiting. It comes from obedience. Like what
is already in front of you? What are the goals
that you're looking to achieve? He's not going
to just drop the next step in your lap. He wants
you to pursue it with intentionality and excellence.
He wants you to pursue your goals, pursue your
calling, the things that he's put on your heart
with excellence. You already know what to do.
The question is, are you going to do it? So to
help you figure out what these things are, if
you're still a little confused, I have a little
bit of homework for you. I want you first, there's
three steps to this. Step number one is list
out the five top distractions that are in your
life. A lot of these maybe are going to be the
same for a lot of people. Like for me, it was
TV, watching YouTube, movies, scrolling on social
media. That's a big one for me. Like shorts and
reels, that gets me. That gets me. But next,
after you list out your distractions, list out
the five things that those are distracting you
from. The five top things that those distractions
are pulling you away from. The things that you
know you should be doing, that you already know.
The next steps is things that you've like, maybe
I should reach out to that person. Maybe I should
talk. Maybe I should ask that question. Maybe
I should research that topic. But you're letting
your condition be a crutch and letting those
other distractions get in the way. List out those
five things. Okay. Now, if you did that, schedule
those five things. We're being practical here.
And I don't want to just say, list out those
five things that you want to do without actually,
now you've acknowledged them, but now it's time
to take action. The goal of this podcast is to
help you take action to pursue your calling with
excellence. So schedule those five things, put
them on your calendar, give them a time, give
them a date. Knowing your condition. Knowing
your limits, prioritize getting them done with
excellence. Now, again, I want you to push yourself.
You should be pushing yourself, but don't push
yourself so far that your health takes a hit.
Don't push yourself so hard that you're going
to be in a worse spot tomorrow than you were
today. That's not the goal. The goal is to be
better tomorrow than you were today. You have
limits and you have limits. And like, so I want
you to prioritize your goals in a way that allow
you to live with excellence, to pursue your calling
with excellence, despite the condition that you're
in. Because the calling that you have in your
life, the calling that God's given you isn't
determined by your condition. It's determined
by God. Hey guys, thank you for listening to
this episode of the Pursuit of Calling podcast.
If you enjoyed it, if you got value from this,
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And guys, thank you again for listening to this
episode. I appreciate you guys. Love you guys.
Pursue your calling with excellence. Do it well.
I'll see you next time.