Embracing Discipline: Aligning Goals with Purpose for Long-Term Growth

Unlock the secrets of lifelong discipline and personal growth as we explore the enriching theme of 'Discipline for the Long Haul.' We promise you'll come away inspired to set and achieve meaningful goals, with insights from our uplifting discussion featuring insights from guest Tamika Snodgrass. We dive into the powerful role of vision boards and the importance of aligning one's aspirations with a higher purpose. Hebrews 12:11 reminds us that discipline, though challenging, is the pathway to rewarding outcomes. Our conversation touches on the accelerated pace of time and the crucial role of discipline in areas like finance, health, and personal development, offering practical advice for maintaining focus.

As we journey through the essentials of setting specific goals, we delve into the profound impact of accountability, whether through self-reflection or with the help of friends and mentors. Embrace the idea of spiritual guidance to enhance your life's purpose and fulfillment. We wrap up with heartfelt gratitude to our audience, encouraging engagement and inviting listeners to become active members of our community on YouTube. Remember, our phone prayer line is available today to support you, and as always, we send you off with love and the reminder that Jesus loves you even more. Join us for an episode that promises to inspire and uplift your journey toward a disciplined and fulfilling life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Discipline for the Long Haul
• 13:05 Setting Goals, Accountability, and Celebrating Wins
• 24:31 Engaging With the Audience

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

no-transcript. Good morning y'all. Welcome back to another Thursday. Come out of the wilderness. I'm a little bit excited because it's Thursday and I love being here with y'all. So, good morning, I'm going to be following the chat. I'm going to be doing a better job. Good morning, please, please, like and share this video so that you can get the word out.

Speaker 1: 3:45

And so a good shout out, a brief shout out, to all friends and family on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on Paradec TV, on all the audio streams, so, whether you're catching it iTunes, buzzsprout, spotify, whatever wherever you are in the world, hey, so this conversation we're having this morning is week four, remember, our theme for this year is discipline, and I just want to share a few things with you. I already dropped the scripture in the chat that we're going to lean on, but I just want to start off by saying a couple of things, and then we're going to go into scripture. And even before that, lord, we thank you for allowing us to see another Thursday and bringing us here, and I'm especially praying, lord, for those who might be traveling this morning, those who are in commute in places where there's a lot of ice and snow, that you'll take folks to and from the destination. Lord God, I ask that you'll bless our kids and our family members who are on the roads. I also pray for those who are in need of shelter, those who are homeless, who need a warm place to land. That you'll provide resources, lord God, and even speak to the heart of your children so that we'll want to help our neighbor, lord God. So I ask for that. I pray for every person on LinkedIn who's connected to me, that they will get what their needs are. Their needs will be met, whether it's a financial need, a project, whatever it is. That you're giving them wisdom to make the right decision and understanding, even when it doesn't go their way, that your grace is still with us. I let this be a day, lord God, that we'll look back on the morning and say how truly blessed we are and we're looking for you. I thank you, lord, for this platform and for every person listening, wherever they are in the world, that you'll just give them a seed of encouragement in this season, a seed of inspiration. Let it be something that they can take away from this morning to stay disciplined and to keep going this year. Amen, all right.

Speaker 1: 5:52

So listen, I don't know about y'all, but it feels like good morning, kiana. On LinkedIn, it's all right, listen, the coffee is coffee-ing, but not as much as I'd like. I was thinking this morning before I came on talking to the Lord about this thing, about this is the 23rd of January and I don't know about y'all, but it feels like October, don't you feel like we've lived a lot of days in a very short time, but time has accelerated in some things and then maybe you feel like it's slowed in some things. So today we're going to talk about discipline for the long haul. Discipline is our theme for this year and regardless of what area. So maybe you need discipline in your finance, your health, your career, your personal life, your relationship, your spiritual life, all the things we're going to focus on discipline for the long haul. So, for the folks that know me very well, you know that I am not a person for vision boards. They don't work for me. I really look at vision boards after you've established your goal, after you've taken those goals back to the Lord Lord is this it, you know after you have really truly aligned those goals to his will. So, for example, if you put on your vision board that you want a new car in 2025, but you still haven't considered the goal of building up your finance, paying off debt, saving the cost, probably not going to see. Listen, the wireless is wireless. So I'm still here and we're still taught, but there's there's issues in our area. So just bear with me and the folks that are on Audible like I don't know what happened, but you still have to align those goals back to the vision. The vision comes actually after, so so I want to.

Speaker 1: 7:45

I want to share a few things. We've talked about some of these things last night on our Rise and Reset. It's on YouTube. We ran it live on YouTube as well, so you're welcome to go back and watch that program. My friend, tamika Snodgrass, came on and she coached a lot of us through establishing real goals, and it doesn't matter if maybe you're like I got this goal thing down, then watch it anyway, because I think you'll be inspired by even some of the goals that some of the other women are setting this year, and it might look like something you're thinking of doing, but I think it's really still going to help you. That applies to the level of discipline. We're talking about discipline for the long haul, so I'm going to pull up the scripture and then I'm going to share a couple of things and that, I think, three things that I think is going to help all of us. All right, if you're liking it so far, like the video, so that we can keep this thing up on the YouTube streets. I have been doing a terrible job also on LinkedIn. I do a terrible job of asking people for anything y'all but I'm asking y'all and I'm trying to do better at asking All right.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Hebrews 12, 11,. This is the ESV version and it says for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. For the moment, all discipline seems painful, right? So if you were a person that you know, you had your resolutions. If maybe you're a resolution girly or you know, you know a girly or a man, whatever, and that was your thing, you have the vision boards, you have all the things, but regardless of what the goals are that you set out for yourself, your family, you know, maybe your goal is to be promoted this year. Maybe your goal is to find a job this year. Maybe your goal is to, you know, to help your kid get into the college of their choice this year.

Speaker 1: 9:35

Whatever that is, it still requires a level of discipline, because you have to commit yourself to doing research, to networking. You have to commit yourself to doing the things, and the encouragement here is just for the moment. So, yeah, I even thank you, lord, for even this where you are, because when I produce these monthly teachings I do it a month in advance, so I literally just think about. It's been a week now, or maybe last weekend, when the Lord started showing me that even the way I talk about the season, some of the things that I might be going through to start referring to it as a moment, not a season. So for the moment, right, you're not in a season of pain, like let's, we're going to stop taking, we're going to stop using words, as my spiritual mother tells us all the time that we've got to be careful what we say. Like we speak, we actually speak death into our lives. Right, we speak into our lives.

Speaker 1: 10:25

So for this moment, this discipline might seem painful. There might be some things that you have to sacrifice. If you're going back to school, if you're listen, if you're 60 and you want to get that degree, go and do it right. Don't let anything stop you doing this this year, and I don't care what it is that's happening around you, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your country, in your county. Focus on your goals. Let the chaos happen around you. We're going to stay focused on our goals, but for the moment, that discipline is going to seem painful because you have to give up some things. Right, it says but comma, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, peaceful fruit, and it says also to those who have been trained by it so discipline requires some kind of training, it requires some additional coaching. There's some things. It's not, it doesn't come natural to all of us. Right? If that was the case, all of us would achieve all of our goals and we'd be super disciplined, right?

Speaker 1: 11:21

Listen, one of the things that that I'm trying to be disciplined about this year is my health, and so, because I already have health issues, I'm already restricted in what I eat, but now I have additional restrictions that I have to be disciplined in my life. So it might mean, if you're saying, you know, hey, let's go out to dinner someplace, I might be with you at dinner and all I can do is drink a juice and that's it, you know. But I have to be trained so that I can stay aligned with my discipline for my health and I'm trained in that area right. It's a mindset that you know, if you say, lord, this is the year for my promotion, this is the year for my expansion, this is the year all the words we say right, this is the year for my elevation that you also have to have a mindset that's trained for that, where you stay focused and you stay on track right, so that again you yield a peaceful fruit of righteousness. There's nothing better than when you come to the end of it all and you look back and say again God is working with us. That's something we shared in the discipline video that you saw at the opening. It's God working with us. That's something we shared in the discipline video that you saw at the opening. It's God working with us. It's not just God doing everything right Answers the prayers, yes. Gives us instructions, yes, but we have to do the work in conjunction. He's going to send you help, he's going to place opportunities in front of you, but we have to go out and get it. But it requires a level of discipline for the long haul. So here are three things that that I want to share with y'all that came back, and again, please go back and watch the whole video, because I think it is going to bless you, regardless of what stage you're in, whether you're uber successful or you just you know you're getting there Right.

Speaker 1: 13:05

So three things I want to share, and the first one is that you need to be able to set specific goals and timelines. So, for me, I have a lot of goals because I have, just like you, I have to compartmentalize my life because in a lot of places doing a lot of things. So because I have to do that, that that also takes discipline. You have to compartmentalize. It means that when you're on the job, you're on the job. When you off the job, you off the job. Right, you have to compartmentalize what happens on the job, what happens at home. Maybe you're serving in your community, maybe you're serving in your church, you know, maybe you're a speaker, maybe you're a teacher, whatever it is that you're doing.

Speaker 1: 13:44

But all of my goals are very specific and they have a date and a time, and so when you now you know, after you've done that, after you set those specific goals, I take my goals back to the Lord and Lord bless them and you know I start to speak life to them and he'll start. You know, lord, take this off. This isn't from you, this ain't what you want from me. I want it gone Close any door that I opened that isn't meant for me this year. And then I start to visualize, which is again common. People do this all the time, right, but then I start to visualize what it looks like for me. I literally can see myself at events. If I tell you I have an idea, I have already experienced it, I've already visualized it, I've already seen it. And so sometimes, when I'm talking to my close circle, I'll tell them yeah, I seen it, it's good, but that's a discipline, it's a mindset discipline. So you set your goals, you set the timeline and then you can start to visualize. And when I visualize it, I see how God is getting blessed Again. For me it always goes back to how, you know, god is being glorified through everything that I touch and I start to speak into my own goals. That way, right, and so it doesn't feel so overwhelming.

Speaker 1: 14:55

Right, if you have a goal again on your job, where you want to, you want to upskill. You know, don't wait for your manager to tell you which classes you need to take. Find out on your job search, in your job. You know what are the, what are the three things that are available to you, and go do it. Make that a part of your goal this year. If your goal is to start a business, don't wait for your friends to come tell you. Girl, you know, I think the Lord don't wait for oh, I'm going to pray about it. He's already answered. Go do the work. You got to actually do it right. So go find out what it takes to do an LLC or if it's a nonprofit. These are Google searches, y'all right, so just things like that.

Speaker 1: 15:35

So the first thing is you set the goal, you set the timeline and then you can start to visualize. That's your vision board, right, and I promise you, if you leave room, if you do a vision board, you leave room, you leave space for God to fill it. That's something that I charged the ladies in our circle to do last year. You create that vision board, okay, but you leave space and you say God, this is your side of the board and I promise you, because he is so faithful, because he's such a good father that when he starts to fill the blanks, you start to realize he's giving you more than you ever asked for. So I pray that that's what you're going to do this year. That's the first thing.

Speaker 1: 16:14

The second thing is accountability and something else we talked about last night. That, again, it could be a friend who knows you, who support you. I mean, you know real friends. Okay, it could be a spouse, but if you're looking for accountability and you're, you're, you're sharing accountability means it should be a two-way. So it's someone that you can share the specific goal with and you know they're going to hold you accountable for hey, did you? You know I'm trying to do X by December and they're going to periodically check in with you to see how you're doing.

Speaker 1: 16:44

So you could do that through mentorship. You could do that through a close friend, a trusted ally. You could do that through someone who is excelling in this area, who has decided they've agreed to advocate for you this area, who has decided they've agreed to advocate for you. You could do that through many, many ways. But what you're not going to do is go out and spend a whole lot of money hiring people to fill you up every month, please, please, because you can pay for a mentor, but the mentor is not going to do the assignment. They're going to coach you along the way. They might give you some tidbits, some guidelines, some instructions, but you still got to do the work. They're going to coach you along the way. They might give you some tidbits, right, some guidelines, some instructions, but you still got to do the work.

Speaker 1: 17:20

So the accountability really starts with you. So at the end of every week, on a Saturday morning, after my teaching, I start to play back what were the things that I achieved this week? And I look at my list, right? I look at my list and I say, okay, these are the things that I achieved this week. And I look at my list, right, I look at my list and I say, okay, these are the things that I achieved this week. And I start to create the list for the coming week and if there's something that I miss, it's okay. I thank you, lord, for gracing me and getting me prepared. That thing moves up to priority number one. So accountability truly starts with you. So that's the second thing. The first thing is you got we're going to set really real goals, specific goals, timelines right. Then you go, do your vision boards right. Leave a slot for God. Let God fill in his spot, okay, okay, cause he's working with us, let him take that part. All right, amen. And then the second thing is accountability is actually starting with us Now.

Speaker 1: 18:10

The third thing is something that my mentee tells me all the time. Her name is Makisha and it's always, always, to celebrate your wins, and it's something that it took me a long time to really get my mind around, because people will see it. Some people, including me. I used to think, oh, it's just bragging if I talk about it, right, if I talk about what I'm doing, or what my team does, or what the ministry does or my family does, people are going to see it as bragging. So why do I do it? It's the how, it's the how you do it right. So it's really important to celebrate. You don't have to tell everybody your win on social media. I'm, finally I think I'm in the place now where I'm definitely saying less and producing more, and I realize that the less I say, the more I produce, because I'm not focusing on, you know, telling y'all.

Speaker 1: 19:00

It's the, it's the, it's the results. I show the results. I don't have to tell you. You know, this year we're going to do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's the. You come and see the results, right.

Speaker 1: 19:10

So celebrate your wins and take the time. You know, thank you Lord. So, whatever that looks like for you, it might be, you know, maybe working on your finance is your thing this year and the way you celebrate your win is you treat yourself to a coffee shop. Whatever it is right. It doesn't have to be something huge or expensive, but take the time to celebrate your wins, and I actually celebrate other people's wins, and that actually is how I get blessed. If you want to know the secret to my success, it's I bless other people and that's how God blesses me. It is the craziest formula in the world, but I genuinely want all of you, every person under the sound of my voice, to win this year, and I keep saying this, regardless of whatever is going around us, we stay focused. This is our hour, right. This is our time to stay focused on the assignment. Focus on where God has you.

Speaker 1: 20:03

Don't worry about what man says or does. If we serve a God, that is again he's supreme, he's sovereign, he's above all of it, he knows all that's happening, he knows what's coming, he knows all of it. If you truly believe that all things are working together for your good, then you know that there is nothing on the face of this planet that will separate you from what he has for you. God is good and pure and he does acceptable things, and he teaches us what to you know what to think, even in the word. If you come up against something and you feel like you're going through that, that doubt and worry, then go back in scripture and remind yourself what he says about the things you should think about, things that are good, right, things that are pure, things accepted, all those things right, and you start to speak those things over your life and you ask more for the long haul. Help me stay on this path, lord, because I want to complete this assignment. Whatever he gave you to do, if he's blessed you with a job, that is your assignment and your responsibility is to show up as a person who's helpful, who's kind, who's you know what I mean. Don't show up as a bitter, angry Christian. Please don't do that. There's enough of those around right now. Right, and we don't want to fall into that category, because we've got things to do. So those are the three things.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Now I'm going to tell you something that I shared with my private. Private, I have a lot of. I call them circles, but I think I'm going to stop using the word circles. But I shared this with a group of specifically Black women yesterday and I'm going to share this with y'all now because I do recognize what we're going through is a little bit different than what other folks are going through. So this is where, if you don't look like me, maybe look to the side and then we come right back, okay.

Speaker 1: 21:50

But this is what I shared with these women yesterday that in this moment, we need to be bold and brave like our grandmas, we need to be warm like our mamas and we're going to be fly like our aunties. Okay, we are not going to fall apart. We are not going to allow anyone or anything throw us off. Whatever is happening. As a community, we have to help you, we help each other, and that's true. This is not the time to, you know, run into jealousy or envy, or talk about who's doing what. None of that. This is not the time for that, okay. So I'm going to say it again we got to be brave and bold like our grandmas. We're going to be warm like our mamas and we're going to be fly like our aunties. All right, and I really hope from the bottom of my heart that I encourage you to stay the course.

Speaker 1: 22:37

So, lord, I thank you. I thank you for giving us your word this morning and blessing us and showing us how to be disciplined for the long haul. Help us, lord God, as we are writing out those goals that you give us the instructions. You'll give us the wisdom to achieve it. I thank you for every person under the sound of my voice today that there is a word for them, that they'll be encouraged and that they'll also go and encourage somebody else.

Speaker 1: 23:00

For those who are in the job market right now, lord God, I pray that you will open doors for them so that they will find the assignments. I pray for everyone who stands in need. Pray for those who are traveling traveling mercies. I pray for all the kids who are going back to school today. Lord God, that they'll go to school, but they'll come back home to us safely. Lord God, I pray for all the teachers and administrators. I pray for the government workers. I thank you for our phone prayer line and for those who join and submit their prayer requests, lord God, for those who are leading those calls. I thank you, god, that we will see your goodness at the end of the day when we close the end of today. We, at the end of the day, when we close the end of today, we'll be able to say I saw the Lord today and my heart is glad. I thank you, god, for blessing every single person that they will. Lord God, that they'll see you in a real way, in a practical way, in Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 23:49

There's a thing that says it's not a thing. There's a saying that says I think it's from doxis, knowledge doxis, from doxis to praxis, which basically means you have to be able to shift from knowledge of the word to practicality, practicing the word. So, as you guys are reading the Bible because I keep saying I want us again to get into reading the Bible, to not just having the knowledge of what the word says, like we can quote scriptures, but you have to actually practice it. You have to do praxis. Okay, so we're gonna go from doxes to praxis this year and I think that's gonna bless all of us for real. All right, so that's what I had Y'all have an amazing Thursday.

Speaker 1: 24:31

Thank you so much for those who woke up with me this morning, who watched on the streets. Like I said, don't forget to like and share the video, tell your friends about it, and for those of y'all who are just listening on the audio platforms, thank you so much for listening. Come over to the YouTube and, you know, come check me out. Drop your comments. If you have prayers, please do that, and don't forget our phone prayer line 1 pm, 7 pm Eastern today. All right, I love y'all. Jesus loves you more. Have a good day, bye.