Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Motivation is so important. Matt says, “Overcoming obstacles involves strategies for overcoming the challenges to your time management, but it is about more than that. It is about passion and motivation, for passion is a key part of God’s power that gets you through the obstacles. It is hard to press through challenges when you are not motivated! On the other hand, being motivated and passionate not only gives you energy to do more than you otherwise could but also yields fresh insight for overcoming future obstacles.” He goes on, “Overcoming obstacles also involves being equipped with the specific tools for addressing problems that get you stuck, such as             • overflowing email,             • distractions and interruptions,             • procrastination, and             • lack of motivation.

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 56). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We really do need to know where we are going but we also need to know how to get there. Matt says, “You know where you want to go from personal leadership, and personal management is the skills, practices, and focus involved in making that happen. It addresses the problem of knowing where you want to go but not knowing how to get there. “Personal management involves             • determining your intermediate goals,             • choosing the activities to which you will give your time,             • defining and managing your projects,             • determining your next actions,             • managing your schedule, and             • just plain doing the work.” He goes on, “I find it helpful to use the term time management here. A lot of people don’t seem to like using this term, and I mysel

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 54). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Matt says, “God calls us to always be ‘abounding in the work of the Lord.’… that is a type of being unstuck. How are we doing with that? How can we abound in the work of the Lord more fully? “Central to abounding in the work of the Lord is not simply devotional fervency, but also productive skill. Skill in being able to get things done, achieve goals, and make ideas happen. After all, isn’t that what Paul is exhorting us to do? He is calling us to accomplish work, and these are the very things that work involves. They are an essential part of work. And note: Paul isn’t exhorting us just to try; we are actually to accomplish the work we are call

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the That is a possible trap for many, isn’t it? Matt says, “But if you’re continuing to make progress and aren’t experiencing huge snags, you’re not stuck. Rather, you’re in a dip. “A dip is a temporary hard slog that you will get through if you keep pushing and don’t give up. And pushing through the hard slog is actually the fastest route to the destination. In these cases, you will be especially tempted to bail. Be discerning and able to identify that you’re in a legitimate dip and you’re not a failure.” Matt says another trap to be careful of, “Some people are stuck and don’t know it.” He goes on, “Everything can be going your way, going smoothly, and going quickly. Everything feels and seems wonderful. Yet... you are still headed toward a dead end, a form of getting stuck, if you are leaving God out of the p

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 50). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We all have been there and a great many of us right now, are there.  Matt says, “You seek to do something important and therefore likely difficult. It might go great at first. But eventually, you encounter obstacles. That is, you get stuck. “We’ve also seen that all is not lost. People who have accomplished historic feats, including Einstein, Mark Twain, and Martin Luther, have experienced being stuck, and they got through it, so you can too. The Bible also talks about being stuck and gives us the encouraging truth that the times when we are stuck are often times when God meets us in a special way. So, you look to God, you implement certain methods to help you get unstuck, and with perseverance, hard work, and skill, you get unstuck. “What do you do now that you are unstuck? Is that it?” He says, “Obv

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 48). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) So, let’s clarify what he means. Matt says, “It would be a mistake to conclude that since God ultimately gets us unstuck, we should not take action ourselves.” He goes on, “Sometimes, there literally is nothing we can do but wait. In those cases, waiting is what we must do. But when there is something we can do, we are to do it . Not as a substitute for prayer but flowing out of our prayers… We do not stop working because God is working, and neither does God stop working because we are working. Rather, God works in our working . His work is first, but we are to take action to do what is in our power. Then we can rest, knowing that the results are left to God. “Martin Luther captured this perfectly: ‘Work and let him give the fruits therefore! Rule, and let him prosper it! Battle, and let him give victory!

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 43). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) For your purpose to truly flourish it needs to be more than material. Matt says, “In other words, even secular thinking is coming to see—and backing it with research—that traditional views of success as wealth and fame do not fulfill and are not true flourishing. They may be a byproduct, but those who are truly content with their lives and have those things found them as a by-product, not the original goal. “Seligman (in his book Flourish ) makes the great point that full flourishing, or well-being, has five components: ‘positive emotion, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment.’ One of his key insights is that well-being is a result of the integration of these realities, not a single concept. That is, it is not because of just one thing you do; it is from the bringing together of these

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We really do, don’t we? Matt says, “We want to be getting the right things done in the right way and for the right reasons. Because we live in a fallen world, we know that obstacles are inevitable. And so, to begin, we can sum up what it means to be unstuck like this: getting important work done through obstacles. “Note that this summary statement encompasses all three of the things we need: vision, execution, and overcoming obstacles.” He goes on, “We see vision in the phrase ‘important work.’ You aren’t just doing anything. You are doing important work —work that stems from and aligns with a vision. It meets needs and utilizes your abilities and capacities. “We see execution in the word ‘done.’ You are ‘getting important work done .’ You aren’t just trying (as noble as that is!). You are actually ma

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 32). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) So where am I going? Matt says, “Sometimes we aren’t sure what we need to do or want to do at all—with our lives, with our career, with the next project, or even with the next hour. When this happens, we may feel disoriented, lacking direction, or just confused (that is, stuck!). “Lack of direction is a very significant—and much overlooked—source of being stuck. For you can’t get where you are going if you don’t know where you are going! The problem here is lack of vision .” He goes on, “Very often, even when we do know what we need or want to do, we aren’t sure how to do it. We aren’t sure what the path is—or how to chart the path and move along it. This is like being in the water and seeing your destination, but not knowing how to swim. You know where you want to go but can’t move yourself there. This,

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 13). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We really do, don’t we? Stuck in traffic! Matt says, “We can get stuck in traffic, stuck in line, even stuck in the mud. You might be stuck in a job you don’t like, stuck in your attempt to lose weight, or just plain stuck in a rut.” He goes on, “At root, we are stuck when we really want to do, change, or accomplish something, but something prevents or blocks us from doing it. Those things can be internal (sometimes we are the reason we are stuck!), or they can be external. “One of the biggest ways we get stuck is in our productivity. We’ll focus on that in this book because productivity has such an impact on everything we do every day. And it’s getting worse. More and more people are noting that being frustrated and stuck in their productivity is one of their biggest pain points in work and life.

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 11). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) It seems like right now all of us are stuck, doesn’t it?  Matt says, “Mark Twain got stuck when writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , Einstein got stuck when developing the general theory of relativity, and Martin Luther got stuck trying to grasp the doctrine of justification by faith alone. “Even the apostle Paul got stuck on his missionary journeys (Acts 27:20; 1 Thessalonians 2:17–18). ” He goes on, “We all hate being stuck. But it happens to everyone in various ways—sometimes in big ways and very often in smaller ways. You can even be stuck in multiple ways at once. “You likely are stuck in some way right now. You might feel like you don’t know where you are headed in life, which is certainly one major type of being stuck. Or you might know where you want to go but keep running into obstacles—ano