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Redefining Hustle: Navigating Success With Jesus with Erin Harrigan! · Anchored by the Sword

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Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Anchor by the
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Sword podcast. I pray that today's episode will
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leave you encouraged and also challenged in your faith.
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And I pray that. You would take.
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The stories that are talked about here today and share them
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with other people. Thank you so much for joining me
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and enjoy today's episode. Hey, guys.
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Welcome to this episode of the Anchor by the Sword podcast.
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I am super excited because we have a repeat guest today.
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My friend Aaron Harrigan just released a new book called
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Redefining Hustle, Navigating Success with Jesus.
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She was previously on episode 273 where we talked about the
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power of surrender, redefining success, and trusting God's
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timing. And so I'm excited to dig into
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this new book, this thought, and all of the things.
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So, Aaron, thank you so much for joining me today.
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Oh, Gina, it's such an honor to be back as a guest.
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Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely.
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So what's been going on since we talked last?
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Gosh, while the new book is out, it is a book that the Lord had
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been working on me for a while and I'd been kind of talking
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about this idea of redefining hustle since 2022.
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And you know, when you're talking about something and then
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the Lord is like, OK, now go this way.
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We have to be obedient. So he led me to write the book
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and just to bring forward this framework that he gave me of
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what does it look like to let Jesus lead?
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Because we talk a good game of letting his him lead, but we're
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not always good at actually relinquishing the control to
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allow that. Yeah, we were just talking about
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that offline, that you can feel like there's so much going on
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and so much you have to do. And sometimes your brain.
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My brain anyways. And I'm sure I'm not the only
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one whose brain gets so overwhelmed that they just check
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out. That's right.
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And it's like, Nope, I'm done. I can't do another thing today
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and I can't, I can't concentrate on that.
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Well, I had certainly those kinds of moments when I was
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writing, right? Because I thought this was going
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to be taking content from my podcast and writing a book.
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That's what I did the first time.
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And every time I wrote Gina, it was like this giant block in
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front of me. Like I would start to type and I
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nothing was coming out of my head.
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And the Lord then would get me up at 5:00 in the morning and
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say, OK, right, this chapter. So there are a number of
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chapters in this book that was exactly that.
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And I think it was such a lesson of, oh, well, you're going to
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talk about this, but are you really surrendered like we've
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talked about previously? And are you really trying to
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carry it at all yourself or letting me be in charge of it?
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So definitely ongoing lessons of all of those things as we walk
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out this journey. You guys can't see it, but I'm
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actually holding up her other book that we talked about
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before, Pursuing Success God's Way, A Practical Eye to Hustle
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with Heart. So now in this one, we're
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talking about redefining the hustle.
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So let's talk about the difference between the two books
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and where this now comes into play.
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For sure, when I wrote that first book, it was very much
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about telling my story of transferred formation after
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giving my life to Christ in 2014 at age 46, and how that shifted,
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of course, everything and the way that I viewed success and
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business. And what did that mean?
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But about four years ago, the Lord was putting it on my heart
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that pursuit is not the issue. Because we're really good at
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pursuing, right? We're really good at chasing the
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things and going and making things happen.
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What he wanted his daughters to understand is that we were made
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ambitious. He made us this way, but not to
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be working and leading the world's way.
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And that meant that we needed to take a look at how we were
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hustling and looking like the rest of the world.
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And instead of pursuing success, we needed to learn to navigate.
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In other words, we needed to learn to be the copilot or the
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skipper, not the captain, because Jesus is the only one
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that can be at the helm. And so there was this shift that
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he was taking me through between that book and this one to take a
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hard look at how we show up operating like the rest of the
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world. And so therefore, how do we look
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different if we're doing it the way everybody else does it?
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And that was the impetus to take a hard look at the word hustle,
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but mainly really dive into letting Jesus, for lack of a
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better term, take the wheel. But not just take it, keep it.
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Yeah, I know. The other term.
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I was thinking of what this is, and I'm just coming out of a
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season of having to be this and I'm not very good at it.
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I was a passenger Princess. I've heard the term so many
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times, but I am not one. I am the one who wants to drive.
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I am the one who wants to have control.
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I am the one who is driven all the way to Texas when there was
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somebody perfectly able in the passenger seat to drive.
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But I had to have that kind of control.
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And so I completely understand where you get trying to
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relinquish that and trying to put pride aside.
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So how do how do you encourage readers to do that in a way of
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being self-sufficient? Well, self-sufficiency,
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self-reliance, self-confidence are all applauded in the world.
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I mean, let's think about it, right?
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The world is constantly telling us to trust ourselves and rely
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on ourselves. And you, you know, follow your
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heart and do your thing and live your best life.
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And all the mantras that the world talks about in this book.
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What I start with is encouraging the readers to think of Jesus as
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our great positioning shepherd or GPS.
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Now I don't know about you. I grew up at a time where before
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we had GPS, we had MapQuest and you print out the directions.
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And because I am a high achiever, I always tried to beat
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the time on the directions, right?
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And technology has come a long way.
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So you don't often beat it, but but you can always find another
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route, right? You, you mentioned wanting to be
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in control as you're driving. And I think that that's exactly
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what we want to do. We want to control the outcomes.
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We want to control the work. And to a point, our focus on
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control has served us in some way, right?
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Things have worked out a certain way or we've had a certain level
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of success. So really encouraging them first
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and foremost to understand that Jesus is our shepherd, that he
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positions us, that his ways, his thoughts and everything are
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higher and greater than ours. So if we think of him as our
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GPS, then even though we may know the route, just like on
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some technologies, it'll give you a different route in the
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middle of your drive because there's an accident or
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something. He's already gone out ahead of
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us. So I start there in helping them
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to really equipping them to see him in that light so that they
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can first get comfortable or at least come into agreement with
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that, that is his role, and then lead them through the framework
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that the Lord gave me for this. But I have to ease them into,
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hey, Jesus is really the captain of the ship.
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He is really the driver of this bus.
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You may think you are, but you are not.
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So here's what that looks like. Right, right.
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Exactly. So what have we missed when it
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comes to even well meaning work that we get that we use to get
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ahead? What I believe we've missed is 2
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things. The Lord created work and work
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is honorable and He calls us to work.
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We, however, somehow have been taught that it we have to take
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it further. So the one thing that we've
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missed is that work is good and in follow up to that, that work
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is not everything, right. The second thing is that all
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good things are not God things. We can take the gift of work and
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we can overextend ourselves and burn ourselves out and become
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overachievers, and then this good thing that the Lord gave us
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now becomes an idol and is no longer really about the Lord.
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So we miss that piece. I think the third thing that we
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miss is that when we work the way we've always been taught,
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and I mean outside of the Bible, then we are in jeopardy of
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looking like the world. So we're hustling and we're
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doing all the things that the world does.
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So then there is no differentiation between us as
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followers of Jesus and an unbelieving and broken world.
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So if that is the case, that that's not drawing people to
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wonder what's different about us because nothing is different
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about us. And so we we have to be
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conscious of that as we are seeking to reflect him and to be
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his ambassadors. Yeah, definitely.
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I just went through a period of time with my job where we had
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somebody that was off for like 2 weeks.
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So when this person was off, I felt like if I did not work past
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my shift, if I did not work an extra 2 to 3 hours a night, then
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I was not going to get anything done.
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And I know there's a lot of people out there who may have
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ADHD tendencies that if they see all this stuff get needs done.
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But if you feel like you're not getting it done, then you feel
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like you have to do extra to make sure that it gets them.
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What do you say to people who kind of have that mindset?
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Well, I first would acknowledge that is not an accident.
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The Lord made you that way because they're there really are
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gifts and talents that come from that, that kind of brain power,
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if you will. But just like anything else,
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we've got to lay it before the cross.
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We've got to be surrendered in it.
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So as you sense that tendency to do more and to work longer and
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to compromise your family or compromise relationship,
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compromise boundaries that you've set, compromise the
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priority, Thank you Holy Spirit, compromise the priorities of
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God, family, and then business. As you face those things even in
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the moment, I encourage you to take that before the Lord.
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You know, I think sometimes we believe well to take something
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before the Lord. I have to be sitting in my
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prayer room, in my war room, in my prayer closet, and it has to
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be dedicated time, etcetera. The Lord is with you always.
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So it could be a split second that you're like, Lord, I feel
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myself wanting to overwork. Show me the right way, Lord, I
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feel myself. I don't know how I'm going to
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get this done in the next two hours.
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I'm going to have to work three more hours beyond that.
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Show me, right? It's Lord, You know how my brain
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works because you made me. You know me better than anyone.
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So Lord, show me how to leverage this as a gift for your glory
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and not overextend myself as I would tend to do.
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Because when we're seeking Him at every turn, even if we seek
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Him, we get an answer and we don't listen.
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The Lord will redeem it, but we're acknowledging His
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sovereignty and our submission to that.
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And I believe then it's amazing how he makes us far more
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effective in less time. Yeah.
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So what Bible verse or verses do you use when you are talking to
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people about this so that they can hold on to?
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The first one is John 15, four and five.
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It's all about abiding. It's all about coming into the
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acceptance and agreement that we are just a branch.
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We are not the source of nourishment.
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We don't have to fight for nourishment.
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We don't have to go make nourishment happen.
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We are to stay connected to the vine.
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Period. Right when we start to view our
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life and our work and our leadership from that
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perspective, it breaks down barriers of pride.
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It breaks down barriers, barriers of idolatry.
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Not just idolatry of what we're chasing after, accomplishment,
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money, etcetera, but even idolatry of ourselves and how
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much we can get done. And we realize that he is the
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sole source, right. It takes us off the pedestal.
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It humbles us. The second Scripture that has
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been really coming up for me as I've talked about this book is
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Psalm 127 verses one and two that that starts with unless the
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Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain and ends
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with he gives rest to his beloved even while he sleeps.
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It's about anxious toil that we were not made to toil anxiously,
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that we were not made to build these things on our own and to
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just follow our own direction. And again, to rely in, rely on,
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and have confidence solely in ourselves.
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And it is a reminder that there is work to be done, but we are
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to work as to Him, not as to the world.
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And those two verses have really been highlighted, not only as
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the book was written, but even in this launch time, which is
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amazing to me because as I was writing it, I just wrote it, you
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know. But they seem to be highlighted
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even further now. Yeah, I know it's, it's so easy
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to just get carried away like with your work.
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And I know so many people like I've had to try to really stick
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with boundaries. Boundaries are never fun like
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setting them because people are not always responsive to those
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boundaries. But with my job about five years
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ago, I had to really set up some very strict boundaries because
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there was some stuff going on with my work and individuals
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that I felt like if I was to work any more than what I was
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doing, that I was going to lose my ever loving mind.
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And that this person wants you to work, work, work, work, work.
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And you can't stop working till the work is done.
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It's like, well, it's going to be there tomorrow.
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This is not life and death. Like the work I do is not life
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and death. And I think that because I was a
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nurse on the floor for so long that I'm able to differentiate
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between the two, but it's not always easy.
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No. No, you got people harping on
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you and you got people, stuff like this going on that it's not
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always easy to say, OK, I'm going to stop today, this is
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going to be done. But I think I've been able to do
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that for the most part. That's so good.
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Except when people are off, yeah.
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Then it's like. Then I get a little lost.
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Sure, exactly. But it will not stop me from
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taking vacations, I'll tell you that.
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Yes, yes, yeah. The boundary piece is so
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important because sometimes, yes, it is challenging to hold
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boundaries and yet there is freedom in that, right.
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One of the things that I've had to learn late in life and I so I
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would say in the last 10 years and have then tried to impart
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that as best I can as a mom to my now adult daughters is that
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no is a complete sentence. You don't have to explain
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yourself, right. So first of all, if we believe
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Galatians, I think it's 110 that says like, am I now working on
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to man or to the Lord? And in Colossians and other
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places where it tells us that our work is to glorify Him and
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it is about Him, then he already knows, right?
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He's already gone before us. He's already worked all the
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things out. If we're surrendering our
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schedule and we're surrendering those priorities like we talked
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about earlier, God, family, work, then we don't have to
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explain to anyone. We don't have to explain to the
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Lord, 'cause He already knows. No one else has to have an
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explanation. And at the same time, this is
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what we've been taught, right? There needs to be an
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explanation. I don't know about you, but I
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have most recently and again in the last few years, broken
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myself of the habit of apologizing because, oh, I'm
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sorry, I can't make it. No, no, no.
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Why am I apologizing? Nobody's injured, nobody's at
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fault. I've done nothing wrong, right?
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But holding those boundaries is critical because that is how we
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honor the Lord. It's how we honor our family,
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even our ourselves and our well-being, right.
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We are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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So we need to protect this temple.
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And yeah, it's, it can be hard. And yes, not everybody's going
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to understand it, but she makes such a good point.
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Like the work will be there tomorrow.
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And I think as high achievers, it's one thing when someone sort
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of standing over us telling us the work has to be done and
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we're like, well, hold on. No, this doesn't have to be done
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tonight. I can go home and right.
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But we also do it to ourselves, Gina, because we're high
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achievers. We're like, oh, but I could get
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this done in the next hour. Let me just put in the time and
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I just encourage us to also take that before the Lord, because
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often times yesterday I was trying to respond to my
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publicist who was sending me article opportunities and
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writing opportunities. And everyone I looked at, even
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the ones that I thought this could be a good fit, like my
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brain did not have the space to write yesterday.
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So I so I set that boundary and Laura was like, you are not
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writing today. So I messaged my publicist and
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said, I'm not writing today to get back to you.
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Right? And they understand that, but
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we've got to be careful in setting the boundaries because
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you know, we know as moms that children need limits.
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They need boundaries. They need to understand, you
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know, where they can go and where they can't go.
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And while they may throw a tantrum, and sometimes we do
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that too, it is the best for them.
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And it's the same with the Lord, right?
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So we've got to set those boundaries and no one is going
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to protect those for us except ourselves.
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So we've got to be strong in that.
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But we can be kind and gracious in that at the same time.
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Yeah, yeah, it's well. And for me personally, I work
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from home, yeah. And so it's so easy to go back
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to the dinette table and get back to work when it's like,
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wait a minute, switch the computer off, get that computer
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out of the way, bring the ministry stuff in.
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Do that. Because I'm running two things
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in my house, like I'm running my normal job.
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And then I'm also running the ministry and the podcast and all
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these things, so. And a wife and a mom and right,
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right. Dog and cat mom in my case.
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But, you know, got. We were just talking about the
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cat. Exactly.
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And just running so many different things and I think
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sometimes, and I can say this personally, that when you work
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from home, you don't get downtime.
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Like I love working from home. I wouldn't change it for
20:19
anything because I get to stay home with my dogs and I can do
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what I get to do. I can do these interviews on
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lunch and I can get to do the things that I want to, you know,
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that I want to do and everything.
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But at the same time, there's no break like literally you wake up
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in the morning, you handle your, you handle your business and you
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start your business, whatever work you're doing, then you take
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that work and then you're when you log off, you're
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automatically a wife, you're automatically doing your other
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work. So like there's not much of a
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break there. And I know that that can I think
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that's contributing to the way I've been lately.
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Yeah, where I've just, like, zoned out, like, I'll literally.
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Plus, I mean, I'm, you know, certain TV shows are back on,
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you know, after a break. So there's always that too.
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Like, oh, I got to see what's happening now.
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But it's so easy to just keep running, running, running,
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running and not stop. Yeah.
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Especially. Especially when you do have an
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ADHD brain that doesn't like to stop.
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Oh yeah 100% like my daughter lives with ADD and it is better
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for her to have a lot going on. Like she actually functions
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better that way. Same.
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So couple of things that I have learned.
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I've been working from home since 2004, before working from
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home was a thing. Yeah, that's how old I am.
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It's OK. I hear you operate that way and
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there are times absolutely that I that I do operate still in
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that way. However, what I have learned and
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has worked for me and I would encourage and invite everyone to
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consider is where do I schedule my breaks?
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Where do I schedule? And a break for me might be
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going for a walk with my dog, but it also might be sitting in
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a different seat in my office and reading, right?
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But I have to schedule that. There's a couple things that I
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do on my calendar. First of all, I schedule 30
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minutes between every single meeting because I lived in the
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corporate world where meetings would end at 12 and begin at 12,
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which is not even possible, right?
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And sometimes as entrepreneurs or even those who are doing
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something alongside of a full time job and even as a nurse,
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right? I mean, you're down to the
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minute. You know, we, we think that our
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business or our passion or whatever outside of work also
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has to run that way and it does not so #1 schedule that time,
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schedule that time. Because if you don't schedule,
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it's not going to happen. It's just not even if you've got
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the gift of ADHDADD or or whatever that is, and you do
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like to have a lot of things going on, what are the things
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that you could have going on that actually give your brain
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rest, right? Is it reading?
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Is it coloring? Is it puzzles?
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Something that you're like scheduling in 15 minutes to go
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put a couple pieces in the puzzle or to do a little bit of
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drawing or whatever. So that while your brain
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functions in a way of having a lot of things going on, those
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things that are going on, you're still sort of taking them into
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captivity. Like we take our thoughts
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captive so that you're not running from thing to thing to
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thing. When I look at a day like today
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where I'm back-to-back, right? I taught my master class.
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It ended at 10:30. I had this at 11.
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I have 12 to one open and then I have another interview and then
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I have 1:30 to 2:00 open and then I have another interview.
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I will immediately go in and and hold those times in between.
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I probably can automate that. I haven't quite figured out how
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to do. It same, yeah.
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The second thing that I would remind everyone is you were not
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made to be constantly working. Like even the Lord took a rest,
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right? So let us, let us honor the
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Sabbath because Sabbath isn't just a nice to have.
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Sabbath is a gift. Sabbath is also a covenant,
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right? And when I think of Sabbath, I
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don't just mean a day of Sabbath.
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I mean the Sabbath moments throughout every single day.
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Let us honor him because it is only when we take that time,
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those breaks, that we are renewed and we are refreshed and
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we do our best work, right? And so honoring that by by
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getting that time on your calendar and, and preserving it,
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I mean, today, like I said, I mean, I'm back-to-back to back,
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but I'm going, OK, now hold on. I have 30 minutes.
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I need to like, get up from my desk and walk around and breathe
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and eat and those things. Yeah, absolutely.
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And I think that this conversation is really going to
25:07
help people because there's a lot of people that are in the
25:10
same boat as us. A lot of people who are, you
25:14
know, working from home have been working from home, whether
25:16
it's since COVID or before or recently.
25:21
And trying to figure out how to balance, how to have that work
25:25
life balance that they talk about.
25:28
And it's not always easy, but when we give it to God and let
25:32
God work it through, or we say help us to build these breaks
25:37
in, then we're going to crash and burn.
25:41
Yeah, yeah. And I am not a fan of the word
25:43
balance because the scales are never balanced, right, Right.
25:48
So balance in my head is, well, if I spent 4 hours doing this,
25:53
then I spent, then I need to have 4 hours over here and it's
25:56
never like that. Yeah, I would encourage
25:59
listeners to think about it as harmony.
26:01
What is the harmony of your work and life and your family and the
26:05
pets or the kids and the spouse, Right.
26:07
What is that harmony? You know, for me, I'm here in my
26:12
house alone from the time I get up until my husband gets home
26:15
around 4:30. But I have learned, because this
26:19
is another lesson that the Lord is teaching me about what does
26:22
the submissive wife look like? And it is not a crazy definition
26:27
of submission. But that means that when my
26:29
husband gets home, I don't want to be on the laptop doing all
26:32
the things. Even though my husband would be
26:36
perfectly happy to do nothing and watch TV all night.
26:40
I have been convicted by the Lord to sit with him and not be
26:46
doing work, right? Because that is when we have
26:50
conversation occasionally that is when we have Bible study,
26:54
right? We're like, so it is being
26:58
really conscious of the Sabbath moments and being really
27:01
conscious that we don't have to always be on.
27:05
We're not made to always be. On Yeah, that's so important.
27:10
Yeah, Aaron, I really am so glad that we got to talk again.
27:15
And where can people find you? And if they want to hook up with
27:20
you for a discovery call, how do they do all those things?
27:23
Sure. So if you go to my website,
27:25
erinherring.com, you will find my podcasts, my books and you
27:31
can schedule a discovery call right there.
27:33
And I if there's a way that I can serve you in that, whether
27:37
it's through my private or group coaching, my strategic planning,
27:40
please reach out to me. From a social media perspective,
27:44
I mainly hang out on LinkedIn or Instagram, a little bit on
27:48
Facebook, but Instagram is going to be Aaron D Harrigan and then
27:54
LinkedIn is Aaron Harrigan. But yeah, I mean, go check it
27:58
out, listen to the podcast, explore the books.
28:01
If there's a way that I can serve you, even if you just need
28:04
to DM me because you're just in a place and you need some
28:06
prayer, please do that. Amen.
28:09
Absolutely, guys, Go check out Aaron.
28:11
Go get yourself a copy of Redefining Hustle and her book
28:15
prior to that, Pursuing Success God's Way, and I'll talk to you
28:18
guys. Next episode.
28:20
Thank you so much for joining me for this episode, the Anchor by
28:23
the Sore podcast. I pray that the story that you
28:25
heard today will encourage your faith, challenge your faith, and
28:30
also help you as you walk in your daily life.
28:33
If this episode has done that, please feel free to leave a five
28:36
star rating and review wherever you listen to this podcast so
28:40
that others can find it and grow as well.
28:43
Have a blessed week and I'll talk to you next episode.