Where New Life BeginsSample

Hard Work

In John Maxwell’s book Intentional Living, he wrote, “There is enormous magic in the tiny word do. When we tell ourselves, ‘I’ll do it,’ we unleash tremendous power... What is the number one catalyst for change? It’s action... If you take action, it will change your life.” 

Just as there is physical therapy for shoulder pain, there is spiritual therapy to develop our faith; both require a commitment to doing the work. You can get fifteen pages of exercises from three professionals, but just desiring and knowing how to get healthy won’t actually make you healthy. You have to do the work. You have to follow the plan and do it right.

For ten years I religiously followed a three-days-a-week workout routine: thirty-five minutes on the elliptical, ten minutes of stretching, twenty minutes of weights, then two sets of twelve pull-ups at the end. I was the champion pull-up guy in high school and secretly measured my manhood by the ability to continue doing them. But three people told me, “That’s the worst thing you can do for your shoulder. Stop doing pull-ups!” Furthermore, during therapy I discovered I exercised completely wrong by using too much weight, going too fast, and having bad posture.

Today I’m assigned these wimpy, embarrassing exercises with one-pound weights. I also do pelvic thrusts while lying on the floor to strengthen my lower back. They’re borderline obscene and really shouldn’t be done in public. But I’m all in and committed to staying strong. After humbling myself to accept the honest help I needed, I now know the work I need to do.

It took humility, facts, and action to abandon the old life of failure and pain and move squarely into the new life of golf and happiness.

Why do so few people overcome their problems and become successful? We can access more information and expertise than ever before. but having information isn't enough. If you just listen, hope, wish, dream, or vision-cast, nothing will change and you'll be mired in the old life. You have to do something. 

What are you going to do? It takes a "do" to get something done. Far too many people know better; they just don't do better.

No matter who you are or how painful your life has been, you can do something to make it better. So be humble, be honest, and do the work—because that’s how new life begins.

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We hope you enjoyed this reading plan. You can learn more about the author Bob Merritt and his new book Done with That here.