10/15/2010 12:55:01 PM
Rome Was Not Built in a Day
top priorities for postgraduate students
My Life Project (magnum opus): How do hard working, sacrificial, successful people of character and integrity pursue their highest goals and stick with them as a life pursuit? Here are seven pointers to keep you motivated, prevent burnout, keep you on track and moving forward with your work, 'unstoppable' in fulfilling your dreams. The best piece of advice given to me at the beginning of my PhD work was that you have got to really, really want this in the strongest way, and be willing to do what it takes to make it happen: count the cost, develop the skills and then commit yourself to the effort day after day with a full heart and wise stewardship of time. How will your faith make a difference in this pursuit of your goal’s reality? True character is facing reality in a dedicated way with integrity; it rejects fantasies and excuses. These suggestions are rooted in the knowledge that God is interested in every detail of our lives (Psalm 139); he is the most intense source of goodness and hope (shalom) for traveling the ancient and eternal ways, the higher road.
1. Devote yourself to your truest purpose or calling (your deepest dream or vision); this will ignite your spirit and animate your life. Write it out clearly and revisit it regularly to reflect upon it and finesse it, at least monthly if not weekly. What is that great good to which you want to devote your life? Become powerfully inner-directed by discerning this deeper purpose and let it drive your life. Ask yourself “Who am I deep within?” and “What gets me fired up and motivated?” These are primary questions of the first order. Identify the unique and strategic nature of your calling; many people are deeply unhappy and bored because they did not take the time to dig deep enough to find this creative well within and in God. Augustine found the insight that as we look deep within, we also transcend self and find God in fresh ways; the reflective life is fruitful and well worth living.
2. Remember to follow you heart’s passion, and not some other person’s dream (a false substitute), unless theirs happens to coincide with yours; this will fuel you with energy and build your confidence towards maturity of vision. Do what you love or risk dying inside and becoming a cynic. Ask yourself, “What do I really enjoy doing that thrills me and gives me meaning?” There will always be moments of discouragement or disappointment, but you will be continually built up and renewed as you follow something that resonates with the core of your being and your purest convictions. It is also important to re-examine where this inspiration is sourced, and to keep going back to that source of the good (constitutive good) or motivation. If your source dries up, reassess and search for a new one. We all need a mentor, coach or a spiritual director to speak into our life, one who call us to our best game, in order to keep the connection to this source alive. This is someone who helps us to fan into flame our passion and push the edge of our envelope—to keep our imagination growing, to keep facing or leaning into our passion, aligning our whole lives with that vision. We see this focused attention in Jesus’ mission; he knew that he was about his Father’s agenda.
3. Believe strongly in yourself, your ideas and what God has called you to uniquely; don’t be afraid to be a little different; this will sustain you in the journey and help you ward off the detractors who do not see you for who you really are. This is not narcissism or pride but genuine self-confidence. Your first and most fundamental question is that of your identity. Many people will try to discourage you from your life task and seek to discredit your vision—the “naysayers”, the diabolos. Don’t let the doubts and negativity of others, or your own doubts for that matter, stifle or crush you or pour cold water on the fire of your ideals. What is your vision for a better world, for helping others to flourish, for offering hope or repairing a broken world? Grab hold of this with tenacity, walk and work it through to the end; don’t sell yourself short to some lower goal of security and comfort, or trendy research. There is true freedom in taking more responsibility for yourself and your vision in this way; this is called taking yourself seriously versus allowing trivialization or narcissism of self—low expectations. Become tough in this commitment.
4. Prepare for the inevitable challenges; they will most certainly come. This builds foundations, muscle and maturity into your passion, so that you don’t flip flop, or cut and run when it does get hard. I used to think I was unique and that I would escape the struggles I saw in other people having, if I just had the right ideas; I was naïve. Adversity is not necessarily a sign that you are on the wrong track or headed in the wrong direction; it may indeed be a sign of the opposite. Strangely enough, one often faces the greatest opposition when one is headed down the center of the right path. See Jesus' temptation in the desert; there was a great temptation to divert or retreat, but he stayed with his vision in the teeth of formidable challenges. Don’t expect an easy ride on the road of your true purpose. The best goals can go against the stream of the majority as any reformer could tell you. Therefore expect challenges and don’t be surprised when they show up; the biblical writer James enjoins us to welcome trials as friends and let them build our character, and strengthen our resolve and commitment to the vision. Failure can then be reframed as a mere set-back and a great teacher on a successful path of integrity and purpose. Stay on trajectory and it will run deep like a river in your soul, where convictions reign and mobilize energy.
5. It is absolutely vital that you ask for the help and support of others; those who can offer you help are out there, but you have to ask, pray, discern and explore. Build good partnerships right now, drawing on different types of expertise. Christianity is fundamentally a community, a communion, and for good reason; it flies in the face of radical individualism; lone wolves die hard and don’t enjoy the journey nearly as much. Build a creative think-accountability-action team around you. The right team strengthens the cause like nothing else and can help you problem solve difficulties in creative ways, drawing on different expertise. You are the chief entrepreneur of your purpose or calling; manage it well; if you are in touch with it and able to articulate it, your passion will be infectious to many others. Surround yourself with good people who understand you, and get you and your vision.
6. When faced with challenges in the journey, work creatively towards solutions; this taps unconscious resources you may not have known existed. This is the grace factor. Don’t quit on your dream when you first run into obstacles; be undaunted; get creative when others might get discouraged and quit something really good, true, beautiful and important. Learn the art of creative problem-solving; much of life is about exactly that. Get going with positive vision and suggestions; rethink context; re-imagine your opportunities and options; re-examine your alliances. Lean into the wind of adversity backed by your calling and your faith. This is endemic to discovering your emergent self, the one you and others are coming to know for the first time; you are becoming a new person while you deepen you commitment to your fundamental purpose and the good that you love. We all have some handicaps which keep us human, can make us stronger and more courageous, as we lean into faith, hope and love, empowered by agape. Keep facing into reality; don’t settle for excuses.
7. Finally perseverance, discipline and focus is a powerful key to accomplishment of your life task, no matter how large the challenges; it may be even more important that superior knowledge. Note that it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, obedience in the long direction. Great good means great risk and sacrifice. “Never, never, never, never give up” was the sage reflective advice Winston Churchill offered to young high school students one day when asked what was the most important thing he learned during his years of leadership. Know that true rewards come eventually to those who persevere through hard work if they know where they are going and are prepared to pay the cost and keep putting spade to earth. Make the good thing come true gradually as you put shoulder to the plow; keep drilling for those diamonds and you will eventually find them.
With the above infrastructure and attitude built into your vision for your life’s work, you will surely flourish, discover your true self and help many others do so as well. These commitments are essential to all sound and mature leadership in which all of you will participate.
God’s Courage and Grace in Your Quest,
Dr. Gordon Carkner,
Outreach Canada Grad & Faculty Ministries gcarkner@outreach.ca
Reference: Henry Cloud, Integrity: the courage to meet the demands of reality. Harper.
