Comfort

It’s something the modern world, especially here in the west, affords you. 

The comfort of a hot meal, a warm bed, books to read, a TV to watch and so much more.

These things are so common you don’t even think about them day to day. 

You are fortunate.

Sadly, however, comfort lulls you to sleep. 

It takes your eyes off important things and limits your view. 

Comfort so often constructs the prison in which you gladly reside. See Huxley. 

If only you could grasp this one simple truth: comfort is not always your friend. 

He may seem polite and an easy companion, but that’s only while he fastens the noose around your neck. 

Discomfort on the on hand remains a faithful friend. 

He pushes you to think, to challenge, to grow. 

You don’t need to be protected from discomfort. You need to seek it out.

Seek out people, situations, conversations, and experiences that make you uncomfortable.

All the growth and change you seek is on the other side of those uncomfortable things. 

Legalism and Discipline

Discipline can elicit a harsh and immediate rebuke in many Christian circles because it is often equated with legalism. 

Legalism for the unaware is church speak for man-centered righteousness most noticeable in the Pharisees in the New Testament. 

There’s was an external righteousness of earning God’s love and approval. 

God’s Word forcefully and rightly condemns this way of living. 

Pharisaical legalism and discipline aren’t the same. 

One is based on the idea that your actions earn you God’s favor. 

The other is based on the idea that consistency and diligence are the pathways to spiritual growth. 

One concentrates on attaining salvation by works. 

The other concentrates on being transformed into the image of Christ.

Christians often hear the first message when the other is preached and it leads to frustration and heartache. 

The life God calls the Christian to isn’t a life devoid of work. It simply redefines its why. 

You are called to work hard, just not for your salvation. 

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Remember that the next time you’re tempted to become downcast at the triumphs of another.

So what if John can deadlift 600lbs. 

You’re not him. 

And if you are, remember that you’re not the guy who can deadlift 1000lbs. 

The pout is: there is always someone better. Always someone to whom you don’t quite measure up. Someone who makes you feel weak and insecure. 

Don’t let it bother you. 

In fact, you should cheer them on. 

Why? 

Because the only person you should compare yourself to is you from yesterday. 

Are you the smallest bit better than you were then? 

If not, keep working at it. 

With a little hard work and determination, you’ll get there. 

It might not be today, tomorrow or the next day, but someday down the road, you’ll wake up to find that you’ve reached your goals. 

At which point, you can set new ones.

What do you do with frustration?

No matter who you are or what your goals, you will at one point or another experience frustration. Things won’t be going according to plan and you’ll have a choice. 

The choice to find a new path forward, to reshape your approach, to adapt and overcome; or the choice to pack it in and go home. 

Which road will you choose?

The one road leads to change, growth, and victory. The other only to loss, disappointment and regret. 

The path you take when goals, and dreams meet frustration is everything. It determines more than if you reach them, but the type of person you become along the way. 

Systems

There is a difference between knowing what you want to do, and actually making yourself do it. 

What helps you move things from one category to the other?

The discipline to spend more time focusing on systems than thinking about goals. 

A system gives you a tangible method that requires regular—if not daily—activity. For example, writing a novel is a goal, but writing 500 words a day is a system. It’s the small daily habit and, not the grand idea, that wins the war. 

Goals are great in the short-term but systems win over the long haul by placing your focus where it should be—the process. 

The process doesn’t come with deadlines, and most days you won’t be able to immediately see your progress. But over-time they’ll get you where you always wanted to go.