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The grind gets a bad wrap.
Most people think of it as a negative thing.
In fact, most hate it.
It’s hard, uncomfortable and that’s the point.
Hard things make you grow and easy things don’t.
So embrace the grind.
Learn that it doesn’t matter how you feel.
Don’t give up, push through it and see how your life changes.
All the growth you seek is found in grinding it out.
You’ve probably heard the phrase: what get’s tracked, gets managed.
It reminds you of the fact that tracking and data are important. They inform decisions and help keep you on track.
This same business rule applies to your life as well.
If you want to make real and meaningful progress in an area, you’ve got to measure and track it.
Keep notes on books you’ve read.
Write down scripture verses you’re memorizing.
Maintain a workout log.
Things are far more likely to improve when you take the time to track and measure your progress.
Sadly, the opposite is true as well. The things you pay little attention don’t get better and often deteriorate.
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.
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.
Growth, change, and progress always happens internally before it ever manifests in an external way.
In fact, the distance between when real, true, systemic change takes place inside you, and when it becomes apparent to everyone else is gargantuan.
That’s how you get better though; winning one small internal battle at a time.
Victories over donuts, laziness, and the snooze button may seem tiny and insignificant. And they are when taken individually.
Things rarely happen in isolation though.
Each win you secure over weakness in whatever form is a deposit in an account that’s accruing interest.
Every time you say, “No,” to something you shouldn’t do, you make a deposit in the account. Those deposits are small at first, but blossom over time.
Compound interest is a beautiful thing, and it doesn’t apply to bank accounts only. It applies to every area of your life.
Invest in a handful of daily habits. Habits that seem small when taken in isolation, but yield massive results months, and years down the road.