8 Mistakes To Avoid in Purpose Pursuit – Part 3

8 Mistakes To Avoid in Purpose Pursuit – Part 2
February 12, 2019
8 Mistakes To Avoid in Purpose Pursuit – Part 4
February 18, 2019

8 Mistakes To Avoid in Purpose Pursuit – Part 3

T

he future is an interesting thing. You can predict it but you cannot own it if you are not preparing for it. Eric Hoffer is one man that gave us a very thought provoking quote. He said:

In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.”

When it comes to purpose pursuit, being equipped is a great thing. However, we have to be equipped for the right things.

Purpose Pursuit Mistakes

We have so far learnt that there are some avoidable things that if not noted, can derail or affect your purpose pursuit negatively. For the most part, these things are internal issues and infighting. They seem so minuscule but have a way of totally delaying, derailing or at the worst, denying you purpose. That is why we need to grasp them and arrest them early enough. So far, we have seen two of them:

  1. Remorse over yesterday’s failure
  2. Anxiety over today’s problems

3. Worry over Tomorrow’s Uncertainties

Let’s face it. Tomorrow can be uncertain. Even to the most prepared, you might still have life hit you with an unexpected curve-ball.

  • The business partner can bail on you
  • The prospect that you had qualified might get caught up with other things
  • Sickness might come up mysteriously
  • Your body might not be in top notch condition to fulfill your targets
  • A terrorist attack might happen
  • A natural disaster might take place

Life is what happens…

When you are busy making other plans. It seems as if life has a mind of its own and no one has a grasp on it. That is just about half the truth though. Here is what the Bible says about ants:

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

~Proverbs 6:6

It’s Not About Blind Faith

I am not asking you not to read the weather patterns and be aware of the projections of the stock market and what note. Look at the scripture up there though. We are talking about an insect that for the most part depends on mere instinct. And yet as it says, these guys do not worry about tomorrow. They leverage the best of the day today and then prepare themselves for the eventualities of tomorrow.

What Worry and Anxiety Does

Worry and anxiety are the greatest thieves of peace, creativity and productivity. Ultimately, worry saps the life out of life and reduces you to an autopilot mode. In that mode, purpose pursuit suffers the greatest. Why is that so? It is because with purpose pursuit as well as with any worthy goal worth a bother, there will be need for you to be intentional and fully involved. You cannot mount a serious purpose pursuit while at the same time worrying.

Handling Tomorrow Today

Look, I know that worry and anxiety can be a real problem that is even tangible. So the question is: How in the world can we handle anxiety and fear of tomorrow while we are here today? Cracking that code can be an exciting revelation. There is a bit of mental toughness in the equation.

Also Read: 5 Key Life Areas You Can Use Mental Toughness

In order to have your purpose pursuit fully on track, the following ought to be done in order to overcome the anxiety and overwhelm of tomorrow. These nuggets appear in no order of importance.

1. Surrender

Jesus hanging on the cross. The Jews see that the Sabbath is close but the people that have been crucified are still alive. To hasten their death, they decide to break their legs in order to suffocate them. When they come to Jesus, he is already dead. What did he do? He surrendered. At times, the only thing you can do about tomorrow’s fear is let them come and you face them. There is an untold freedom that comes to a surrendered soul, but I do not have enough time and space to discuss that.

2. Plan

Planning enables you to put something in a box where it belongs. Worrying on the other hand is like carrying a load, hitch hiking and still carrying the load when given a lift. Worrying is a disease that can be cured partly with a plan. If you can sit down and plan around something that you are worried about, you will realize that there was no reason to worry after all. Planning gives you the opportunity to see through all the pretenses of a problem. You should try it so that your purpose pursuit can remain intact. Consider all the ins and outs of your worry and them “park it” and move on.

3. Be in motion

Perhaps the worst thing you can do when worry hits you is to park your bus and indulge the worry. It tends to increase to unimaginable proportions. The best thing you could ever to do counter worry, fear and anxiety is action. Do something. Anything. Be in motion. Being in motion sends signals to the brain that you are active. Doing nothing sends signals to the brain to fold up, I kid you not. So stay in motion. Force yourself to do something in spurts of concentration to ward off the worry. If you can build up great spans of concentration and momentum with the action you are doing, you are winning in your purpose pursuit.

4. Talk To Someone.

It is amazing how you can get reprieve by sharing what worries you with a friend or two. At times, what you are worried about is loose change with someone who is only too willing to help. You never know. At times, even if whoever you shared with cannot help, they might know someone who can. Sharing your issues with trusted people helps you leverage their networks, their expertise, their compassion in order to generate as many options as possible that you can use. Worry robs you of options. That is why talking to people is important.

Whatever you do, do not let worry rob you of your purpose pursuit. Worry is a reality of life, but we must not indulge it. At times what we worry about never really materializes. So let’s see today as an important day. Let’s crown this day with a passionate purpose pursuit.