Marshall Goldsmith once said, “You are so busy being who you are, that you will never be who you could be. You could be more.”
Feeling stuck is depressing. You keep telling yourself that tomorrow will be different. The truth is you really believe that you’ll eat better, sleep better, get those devotions in, start doing what you’ve been putting off for years, but when the next day arrives, nothing seems to change. Ever been there? I have.
The unsavory truth is the person you are right now is the person you are most committed to. What I mean by that is that if you always stay up late, though you want to go to bed early, then you are most committed to be a night owl rather than an early bird. If you continue to eat junk food even though you say you want to be healthier, then you are most committed to being an unhealthy version of yourself.
When you want to make a change, you have to begin to not only envision the person you want to be (future you), but you also have to be committed to the lifestyle that “future you” lives.
For example, what time would the early bird version of me go to bed? Commit to that. What kind of foods would a healthy version of me eat? Commit to eating those kinds of food. If I want to be more social, how would social you carve out more time for going out or hosting others.
Here’s an easy way to kickstart this kind of thinking:
Divide a blank page in two columns. One one side write current me at the top. On the other, write future me. Jot down characteristics about each in the columns (e.g., healthy, unhealthy, early bird, night owl, spiritually vibrant, spiritually apathetic)—leave some space in between. Then, under each characteristic, write the lifestyle choice or habits that reinforce that characteristic.
Once finished, make a decision to commit to the behaviors in the “future me” column. Pray over the list and ask God to help you make the necessary changes In your behaviors. If you mess up occasionally, stay committed—over time you will start to see less of “current you” and more of the “future you” that you really want to be. It will be challenging at first but when you finally begin to notice your progress, it will inspire you with the confidence and motivation to keep going all the more.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17