“Life is too short not to experiment.”
Jamelia
“For years I’ve heard people in the church say, “Whatever you are doing – do it with a spirit of excellence.”
“It is how God wants you to do things.” They would spout.
On the surface this sounds great and spiritual.
It actually has been my own motto for years!
After all – I wanted God to be proud of me and what I did for Him.
When I first started my company Square Tree Publishing, the very first book we did was by far the hardest book we ever published.
Not because it was the first one, although there was a HUGE learning curve – but because it was the most challenging graphically.
I was using a company to print the books that only knew how to use templates and…
…well, our book just didn’t fit the mold.
My mantra of “Do it with a spirit of excellence.” – kicked in during the entire project and in the end the book turned out fabulous.
It was completely stressful, but the project itself turned out great. It did take its’ toil on me.
This ‘spirit of excellence’ has carried me through the dozen of other books we have published since then.
But this motto was about to get challenged!
Recently I began working with a group of high level guys in the online marketing sphere. I have spent countless hours (probably close to 2,000 hours at this time) in learning the online marketing space.
I went into this endeavor with the ‘spirit of excellence’ mentality and it left me in a heap of tears on the floor as I was trying to learn this industry.
There were many days I’d be working with these 20 something year olds feeling like the “middle-aged housewife” that can’t keep up.
For anyone who knows me that can’t be further from the truth.
(I even have a business degree with a specialty in computer science!)
But it is how I felt every time I worked with them.
I would be on my group coaching calls with them and I would literally get lost in the process and tell myself not to break down and cry on the call.
The conversation would go something like this:
“Do you understand what we just explained, Sherry.” The online guy would ask me.
Long pause…
“Yes”, I stated not convincingly
“You don’t sound like you are getting it.” He would say.
“Just keep going, I’ll catch up.” I would say.
The whole time in my mind this is the way it really sounded:
“I am completely lost.”
“I am just a middle-aged housewife.”
“I am never going to catch up with these young technical guys.”
…and the ‘I am’ statements kept coming as I held back the embarrassing tears.
My self-talk continued…
“Do not cry.”
“You will look stupid if you cry.”
“Hold it together Sherry.”
…and on and on it went.
Because of all the self-talk – by this time I REALLY didn’t get what they were saying because I was almost having a break down on the spot.
My old motto ‘Do everything with excellence’ was not serving me well.
As Dr. Phil always says, “How is that working for you?”
Well, not very well.
It was time for a change.
I had to do a major shift in the way I approached this new work I was doing.
My new mental shift became:
This is all one big experiment!
Some things will work and some may crash and burn, but keep going and learn from your mistakes.
This new shift in thinking has been totally freeing!
This past weekend I went to an inner healing training and the instructor had us close our eyes and ask God what He thinks of us when we make a mistake.
I closed my eyes and I felt God say…
“I am proud of you!”
What?
Maybe I wasn’t hearing correctly I thought to myself.
“I’m proud of you for taking the risk and going for it. Many people won’t even take the risk because it can get messy. Keep going and I will be with you and cover over any mistakes you make along the way.” I felt God say.
Boy did that really challenge my “Do it with excellence way of thinking!”
But since I have shifted my mindset, it has been liberating and freeing.
I’m not as stressed about getting it right the first time and I am actually beginning to catch on to what these young techie guys are teaching me.
When God helped me take out the high expectations that He never set on me in the first place – it has been liberating and freeing.
Don’t get me wrong….
I still believe in doing things with excellence, but there is a new-found grace for making mistakes and that my projects don’t have to be totally perfect.
Today, step out and do something that is way out of your comfort zone and release yourself from having to do it with excellence.
God is big enough to cover over any mistakes you make along the way.
He cares more about your heart than He does about your perfect project.
One fateful decision landed me smack in the middle of my own Wilderness…
Though I was obeying God’s voice, I spent the next several years “walking on water,” even though it felt more like I was treading water. A Journey Out of the Wilderness is for people going through a rough time—a Wilderness experience—where you feel as though you are “down for the count” and ready to give up. Wilderness Wanderers feel as though they are doing laps around the mountain, passing the same tree over and over again wondering, “Will this never end?” However, being in the Wilderness will be one of the most transformational times of your life.