IT’S GO TIME!
Procrastination is one of the worst and hardest habits to shake. As a kid, procrastination was an easy way to escape homework for a few hours to make room for something far more fun. As we enter our teen years, delaying action was typically in the form of job applications, summer school or any mundane yet required activity. As an adult, these seemingly harmless synonyms can be replaced with one word- postponement.
Meaningless late 5th grade homework assignments have turned into postponing your dreams. Grown-ups are great with manipulating language to make us feel better about our appetite for inaction. In October of every year we boldly proclaim, I’m going to wait until the new year to break or start a habit. What is that? We would never let our kids get away with this sort of self-destructive postponement.
Intentionally delaying a decision can be strategic but not acting on a decision once made creates anxiety and leads to low self-esteem. We were made with a mind that gives us the opportunity to dream and decide what we want to be when we grow up. That same mind is powerful and understands the work associated with those dreams. Often times the raging debate going on in our head resembles the bloviating commentators on every major news network. The reality is that you have 2 or 3 things that you really want to accomplish. Not only do you want to do them, but you can do them. The only thing stopping you is the hard work and self-discipline required between here and there.
As you Chief Encouragement Officer, I would like you to remember who you are. You have accomplished much but there is more to be had. You have dreams and goals that are balled up in the desk of your mind. Reach in there and pull them out one by one. It’s been said that all good ideas devolve into hard work. This is true but the hard work between us and our dreams is what we were made for.
Oh the places you’ll go,
Matt Davenport
C.E.O.
TREE OF LIFE
Ancient wisdom tells us that Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life. We are 59 days from 2021 and this year has made many of us feel heartsick. We have hoped for health and prosperity yet many of our neighbors and fellow citizens have experienced the opposite.
We are on the precipice of a new chapter in our history. This chapter will be new for you personally and for our nation historically. As I write this, I feel hope bubbling up once again. The hope that I have is not based on change but rather on the fact that the things that matter have remained.
The past 9 months have helped us realize the need for personal connection in the midst of the “I” revolution. iPhone, iPad, I this and I that. The hope that has ultimately been differed is the one that yearns for deep human connection. Zoom rooms have been a real gift during this time but they fall far short of the family rooms our souls most deeply require.
The most difficult part of differed hope is anticipating if it will be met. The moment when heart sickness is met with hope and fulfillment is usually when we let go. Letting go takes intentionality. When we let go, we often find ourselves sitting under a tree of life with our family and friends.
Stay Rooted,
Matt Davenport
C.E.O.
