That’s the thing… isn’t it.
Applying what we learn.
But what does that mean?
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,… said it straight up…
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20Â because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21Â Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
Where did we learn, those things, that we do… do… in our daily lives?
If we look at those things… they do define us.
What does it take, to get us to take a truthful look at ourselves… and then what does it take for us to decide we may need to change something about ourselves… and then how do we know what action would be needed to move ourselves forward into that new direction?
Are we talking about a habit; a routine; a personal proclivity; an attitude? Maybe all of the above.
In sports, we were a baseball family; sports in general really, when my kids were growing up.
In that, you have “practice days” and you have “game days”… practice days are for learning; tweeking; and building muscle memory.
Game Day is… Game Day… where it all comes together and you “apply” what you have learned “during practice” ON THE FIELD OF PLAY.
Not thinking; not worrying; not tweeking your swing… BUT DOING IT, playing the game at game speed.
My “garage to work shop” project has provided an opportunity to APPLY those successful steps of… success and growth… that I have learned over the last five years.
Taking from my past life experience of “owning a retail shop” and applying new knowledge learned from success books, the garage to shop experiment has me applying; assessing; and then dissecting the new experience… with my newly learned information to be used at… my day job, to be used for ideas for my articles, to be used for my overall The Emerging Man project.
But what does “applying Gods Word”, or “applying what you learn” really look like?
An oldie but a goodie example is… what I learned from my dad concerning physical altercations, fist fights, he said to me, “Always swing first, it might be the only one you get.”
I did that growing up. And the two times that I didn’t do that… I paid the price.
But I applied what my dad taught me. And it worked. On multiple occasions.
Gods Word instructs me to “help” people, when possible. That is getting easier to determine even when the other person may be trying to decline help. God says, “Hey Dave, go check on so and so, or Hey Dave, see that lady in the pick up truck parked funny, go check and see if she’s ok.”
Yes sir.
That’s getting easier TO DO, at game speed. Now that He’s provided the “practice days.”
Being “successful” first has us learn to create a clear mental picture of our goal; and then we need to DETERMINE the next successful step, one at a time, APPLYING knowledge to knowledge about our specific project that will help us ATTAIN our goal of “being successful”… whatever you have determined success to be.
Applying Gods word to our life, or reaching for a success goal, requires us to DETERMINE THE NEXT SUCCESSFUL STEP… in real life, in real time, so what does that look like?
Specifically… for my garage to shop project… a successful step, is anything that moves me closer, to being able TO DO a retail service or repair… IN RETAIL TIME. That means the shop has to be ergonomically organized into work stations that can accommodate such a goal.
With that specific mental image… standing in the empty work bay… I can determine what THE NEXT STEP needs to be… because I can identify the obstacles that are keeping me from completing my appointed rounds.
Today’s step was… making a scrap run.
As I work on projects I save out the valuable steel; brass; #2 copper wire; car batteries; rotors and drums; etc, etc.
I’m counting today’s scrap check as the shops first “revenue earned” step.
It’s hard to “surround yourself” with like minded people in order to get your bearings as you move forward. That’s where the books come in.
So whether it’s God and His Word; or another author providing advice… we need to come to the place where we “trust” their information; and then act on it; and then daily apply it; and then dissect it… to see if it has allowed us to grow closer to God; or helping us to understand what success is; or making us more aware of ourselves and our position in the world.
Got an idea? Go ahead and take that first step… it’s a doozie! In a good way.
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