Tag

practical tips

February 3, 2021

Reversing Limiting Beliefs

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Posted in Mindset

Last week, we saw how the Gospel has dealt a fatal blow to the legitimacy of the limiting beliefs holding you back from serious personal growth.​ Then, you were prompted to pull out your planner and make a bullet-point list in response to this question:

What are the limiting beliefs holding you back from getting serious about your core calling?

​Today, we wanted to share with you the EXACT limiting beliefs journaling exercise that changed the Shelby and Kyle’s lives forever.

Limiting Beliefs Reversal Exercise

This exercise is incredibly simple. Grab your planner, and use some of the flex space to answer the following series of questions for each limiting belief you hold:

  • What is one limiting belief I hold?
  • Is it true?
  • How do I react when I believe the thought is true?
  • Who would I be without that thought?
  • What biblical principle backs this?​
  • What is my new choice?
Here is an example from Kyle’s actual worksheet back in 2015 (shared with his permission, of course!):
  • What is one limiting belief you hold? I’ll never be financially successful.​
  • Is it true? No
  • How do I react when I believe the thought is true? I get discouraged from working diligently to come up with viable solutions for income.
  • Who would I be without that thought? I would work confidently to build our income and savings.
  • What biblical principle backs this? Psalm 128:1-2, “Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.”
  • What is my new choice? To labor diligently and confidently steward the time, resources, and opportunities God has given me to increase our income and savings for the future, as well to help others and to leave an inheritance for our children.
Here’s an example of how he worked through a limiting belief that was true.​
  • What is one limiting belief you hold? ​I don’t trust God’s providence in uncertain times​
  • Is it true? Yes
  • Is it absolutely true? This is my usual reaction.​
  • How do I react when I believe the thought is true? I become despondent and fearful, and cannot think straight because of paralysis.​
  • Who would I be without that thought? I would confidently trust in God’s providence through troubling times.​
  • What biblical principle backs this? Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm 94:14, “For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.”
  • What is my new choice? To rejoice in the future, confident that God owns the future and is directing our steps. Our duty is to obey Him and work diligently with our hands, prudently.

 

What were the life-changing results of this journaling exercise for Kyle and Shelby? It honestly marked a turning point in their thought lives. Instead of allowing limiting beliefs to run amok and paralyze all attempts at progress, they became very intentional to reverse these thoughts and make healthier choices with their brain power. It laid the foundations for Kyle and Shelby to go from broke and barely making it, to steadily building real wealth (instead of debt) and diversifying their streams of income. It made space for the abundance mindset and personal growth they needed to provide real value in the marketplace, strategize solutions, and trust God with the rest.

If you feel stuck, this exercise is a powerful starting point for arresting a negative thoughts and emotional patterns and reversing it with intention. Out of the heart flow the springs of life. We love that our planner system gives us a very practical way to guard our hearts with all diligence.

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Are you ready to launch into an entirely new way of planning? We created the Evergreen Planner System because we felt continually limited by each planner we tried. The Getting Started Kit is the perfect way to try two of our core products – the Annual and the Monthly. Don’t wait until we launch our next subscription box – get the tools you need today!

January 6, 2021

How R.O.O.T.E.D. Goals Can Help You Thrive in 2021

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Posted in Goal Setting

I (Shelby) recently asked a very creative, capable, hard-working woman how traditional goal-setting methods had failed her in the past.

She answered and said that traditional goal setting methods failed to help her make a bridge between the accomplishment of her most important goals and the life she was actually living in the present.

I could completely relate to those feelings.

Last week we told the story of how I plowed through stacks of time-management books, articles, and podcasts a few years ago when I found myself absolutely overwhelmed with the demands of working full-time hours from home, first-time motherhood, and chronic illness.

I learned so much from the top gurus in the time-management, goal-setting and personal growth habits space. But one thing I started to notice was that many of the tips and strategies assumed something that I couldn’t relate to—they assumed that I’d be able get away to a kid-free office for eight hours per day and take twenty minutes before or after work to think, strategize, and walk through my goal-setting rituals. I began to realize something important. If I had any hope of truly taking action on anything I was learning, I would have to transpose all of these amazing CEO strategies into my real life context—toddler-crowded, macaroni-stained, cartoon-clanging kitchen “office” and all.​

I also learned something extremely important after doing one particularly invigorating goal-setting exercise that fell flat in about three weeks. As good as I was at dreaming big and reverse-engineering my goals from A-to-Z, I couldn’t set arbitrary goals and hope to have the stamina to meet them. Unless I found a way to integrate my long-term goals with my family’s daily good, my goals were shot. I just couldn’t stand to poke my head up from my goal-executing-scramble and see my little family starving for my time and attention.

The verdict was in. If it was going to be a contest between my paper goals, and my real, living, breathing heart goals (which were represented by my closest relationships, the atmosphere in my home, and the unexpected needs of others in my local community)—the paper goals were going to lose every time.

But I knew that I was called to more than just reacting and responding to the urgent expectations, requests, and whims of the people in my life. I was called to be proactive, to initiate, to solve big problems, and to make space for the important things. I could envision ways to cultivate abundance in the gaps of life where no one else could. I was put here for a purpose, and I wanted to keep growing into that God-given potential.

I knew that goal-setting could help me level-up from the realm of wishful thinking and begin to make the changes (big and small) that would empower me and my family to truly thrive. But I also knew from experience that S.M.A.R.T. goals weren’t going to cut it.

The deepest currents of our lives that needed my proactive and steady nurture in order to be routed into something that gave us life (instead of drowning us in the overwhelm of it all) propelled me far past the bare mechanics of goal execution. I needed to cut back the layers of excuses and get to the heart of my “why” for living intentionally and setting significant goals for personal and familial progress. The bridge I built between my future goals and my current life context needed to be suspended by the things that were actually essential to a life well-lived.

This deep dive into my core values resulted in the development of a completely new approach to goal-setting. Instead of inadvertently introducing a contest between my goals and the “obstacles” of my life, I crafted the lifestyle that I and my family craved THROUGH the goals I set and accomplished. In turn, our new lifestyle made so much space for personal growth and productivity that it’s actually begun to fuel some of the most challenging and life-giving goals that I’ve ever dared to imagine. 

​And here’s the key: Sustainable, Game-Changing, Life-Giving Goals are…​

December 23, 2020

How to Lean Into a Cozy Christmas

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Posted in Holiday Tips

Can you believe Christmas is the day after tomorrow? And goodness, it feels like there’s still so much to do!

How about you grab a quick cup of coffee and cozy up for some words of encouragement before you launch into action? Let’s take a deep breath, settle down, and get reoriented on what matters most.

Now, I could never outdo Isaiah 9:6-7 or Luke 1:46-55 in an attempt to explain how incredible the Incarnation has been to world history. It is fitting that a celebration of Christ’s birth is a day with so much focus every year. God with us. It’s a profound thought. A revolution. The Light entering the darkness of history and chasing away sin and death “far as the curse is found.” It’s phenomenal.

I know you want to stay focused on what matters most. But with a hundred things on the todo list, it’s kind of difficult to transpose the message of “peace on earth” to “peace within.” Here are some last minute tips to help you make that step out of your frazzled hurry and into stillness of spirit.​

Practical Tips to Cultivate Peace This Week

  • Declutter your brain. You cannot expect to have the space to relax if your brain has a hundred tabs open and trying to load all at once. Get every single task and detail that’s weighing on your mind down on paper. Clari has a great walk-through series on Instagram that shows you how she decluttered her mind and gained a ton of clarity and confidence for Christmas week.
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  • Envision what you really want this Christmas. Be specific. It helps to journal this out in the flex space of your planner, incorporating and highlighting core value words in your description. Here are some ideas: reverent, calm, cozy, mindful, communion, delight, deep, warm, centered, focused, together, anticipation, hope.
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  • Apply the 80/20 rule to the rest of your todo list. 20% of everything you’re planning to do this week will actually yield 80% of the results you’re looking for this Christmas. If your vision is a festive and delicious Christmas dinner—stressing yourself out to add variety to your cookie selection will minimally add to the warmth of togetherness. In fact, it could actually be counterproductive as you will struggle to have the presence of mind to relax and infuse peace into your family’s dinner with your own still spirit. The idea that the host has to be stressed out of her mind every Christmas as she slaves to make everything flawless is a LIE. Your family needs your joy more than they need a Pinterest-perfect wrapping job. Ruthlessly edit your todo list so that you can show up for what’s truly essential this week.
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  • Take stillness moments. When you feel your stress levels rising, don’t just push through. Take a deep breath and remember Who this week is all about! Jesus welcomed Mary to sit at His feet, even while Martha was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. It’s so tempting to say, “I’ll find my center in Christ after _____.” That doesn’t have to be your story this Christmas season. Christ came for you to lay down your burdens, too. Jesus is only zealous about details regarding justice, ethics, and mercy. He’s not worried if you forgot to order your Advent calendar in time, or if your kids have their matching pajamas clean on Christmas morning. So every time you feel your Martha coming on, choose a Mary moment. Take a long drink of water, settle the kids, and then take a moment by yourself to just Abide. Don’t get on Instagram, but instead set a timer for 5 minutes. Put on a playlist that ministers to you. Breathe deeply, keep your eyes closed, and lean into a conversation with God until the timer goes off. It doesn’t take much to recenter on what matters—but it does take intention.

We wish you and your family the Merriest Christmas!