Do you feel like giving up? Did you think you had some traction, only to discover you were on ice and sliding downhill? In those times, it can be tempting to give up, throw in the towel and sulk in a corner. It may feel hopeless. But it’s not over until you say it’s so!
Yogi Berra was famous for his yogiisms. Even the BBC noted while some of his sayings were silly, this one has become quite helpful:
“It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Yogi Berra
The other day, my wife and I were talking with a friend about recent decisions. My wife was led to step away from a flourishing ministry to make room for the next step in her life. My wife commented on how some decisions require faith. The friend replied, “Or requires being a little crazy!” Hmm… crazy faith? That sounds about right!
I suppose any faith looks crazy to many people. After all, we live in a world that touts Seeing is believing! Yet, if everyone lived by this mantra, we would create nothing new or innovative. Without faith, there is no hope. Without hope, what’s the point of living if the present looks bleak?
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
I didn’t want the experience. Nobody looks forward to problems. But learning from them is so valuable. Among other things, that is what a vehicle breakdown taught me about creativity.
My family moved from Indiana to Arizona. For the first half of the trip, everything seemed to go according to plan. But as we were about to enter the Texas Panhandle, one of our two vans just lost it. Of all things, the power steering pulley broke.
We stayed two days in Shamrock, Texas while we waited for repairs. and we thought everything was fine. Then the same van overheated from Amarillo to Tucumcari, New Mexico. Once again, we found a garage to repair the ailing van. Alas, we limped through Albuquerque until the van gave up the ghost in Grants, New Mexico. It all sounds so simple now. But it was quite an ordeal. And guess what? I know next to nothing about cars!
Besides a great story for Spear family lore, this episode taught me a few things about creativity.
When we start a project, we are excited about the possibilities. Something new can give us a jolt of adrenaline and give us a new passion for the days ahead. But how do we keep our interest strong when we are in the middle of a tough, drawn-out slough?
“The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.”
Horace Walpole
This time of year, high school seniors are well into “senioritis.” They can see that the end is in sight, but the distance between March and May feels like a million miles away. We have all been there. I was probably thinking about this when I wrote this post on postponing school for lack of interest.
How do you keep your interest strong when a project takes longer than the enthusiasm it initially produced?
In the book The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller, the author states that the reason many projects fail is that we don’t focus our energy on the one big goal that matters.
Distractions can take us off course very quickly. The tyranny of urgent matters gets in the way of the big goal that is important but doesn’t seem as urgent when the result is months out.
Focus on the one big goal and visualize what it will be like when we hit that goal.
Why is this project or goal so important? What results will it bring when it is achieved? When we achieve it, how will it make us feel?
We can get bogged down in the how of a goal and lose sight of the reason we started it in the first place. In Start with Why, Simon Sinek reminds us that when we know why we are doing something, it is tremendously motivational.
Every long-term project has a messy middle. We get excited at the beginning and rejoice when the goal is achieved. But in the middle are many obstacles, detours, and frustrations. If it was easy, someone else would have done it already, right?
Any worthy project will have a messy middle. We can acknowledge we are there, focus on the goal and remember the why. It can get us through challenging times.
Today may be messy. We may be distracted for a moment. But keep going! Whether we have senioritis, a cumbersome project, or a life stage that seems to drag on forever, we can keep motivated and keep moving towards a worthy goal.
As I get older, it’s fun to see friends and peers reinventing themselves. Pivoting has been essential during the COVID-19 pandemic and many people have done just that. I wrote this article about two musicians that found their place during the pandemic.
I especially like one piece of advice Jay gave to musicians. It is something we can all benefit from.
Jay encourages [musicians] to plan, but be flexible. “It’s everybody’s motto these days. And it’s never been truer: live with open hands.”
Article: Jay and Amy Rouse Finds a New Melody
Our best-laid plans were upended in 2020. Everyone has had to find a way to live and work in an alternative way. Some of us have struggled while others have been able to make it work. Resilience and the willingness to change have made a big difference when it has felt like the world was falling apart.
Life rarely goes the way we hoped it would. There are happy surprises as well as unpleasant ones. The future is rarely as predictable as we would like to think it is. Even as there are signs of improvement in COVID vaccines and the economy, we will face some setbacks along the way.
Live with open hands. Find a new melody. Be flexible. It is great advice now and will be great advice in the near and distant future.