Every person wants to know that their life has meaning and significance. But most people aren’t sure how to live in a meaningful and significant way. If you only go through life simply focused on getting through the day, not giving much thought or action towards your future, then you likely won’t reach your God-given potential. The reality is that in order to fulfill God’s will for your life you must live intentionally. This is because as you grow personally, new opportunities become accessible to you. This is true in almost every area of life, which is why living intentionally and continuing to grow as a person are so important.
5 Things You Can Do To Reach Your God-given Potential:
1. Making Better Use Of Your Time:
One of the most important things you must do to reach your God-given potential is to realize your most valuable commodity is your time! This is because your life is lived out in how you use your time. Here are some ways you can begin making the best use of your time:
- Set priorities: There are a lot of ways to spend your time. Some are worthwhile, others are not. You need to take a careful inventory of your life and decide what matters most to you. What responsibilities do you have? What are your passions? You must prioritize these things if you ever want to accomplish them. Don’t wait until “one day”… start now! Are you married or in a serious relationship? Do you have children? Making time for these relationships to thrive should be a top priority of yours… you will never regret it. Learning to prioritize will make it easier to know which new opportunities you should or should not pursue.
- Schedule your priorities: Set aside as much time as possible to focus on each of your priorities. If you don’t schedule time, you likely won’t get to them… because life has a tendency to get busy! Stay up late or wake up early if that’s what it takes. If you’re unclear on what your priorities are, then set aside time each day to discover them. Once you discover them, schedule them!
- Stay Focused on your priorities: Don’t commit to anything you don’t need to. While serving others is an important part of life, make sure you aren’t so focused on everyone else’s priorities that you can’t pursue what God has called you to do. This means learning when to say yes and, more importantly, when to say no… even to your boss! Everything you say “Yes” to means you are also saying “No” to something or someone else. Give your top priorities and your primary relationships your first “Yes”. If you don’t focus on those first they will get whatever’s leftover or worse, they may not happen at all.
2. Taking Care Of Your Health:
It’s much harder to pursue new opportunities if your body is constantly hurting.
One thing Christians tend to sacrifice most in the normal course of a busy life is their body. Considering you need it to fulfill God’s purpose for your life, this doesn’t make much sense.
Taking Care of Your Health Includes:
- Getting Sufficient Sleep: Sleep is critical for a healthy life. If you must depend on stimulants like caffeine just to get through the day then you aren’t functioning at optimal levels. Getting sufficient sleep, around 7.5 hours each night, will have you ready to tackle the day with energy and focus! I also recommend reading “Sleep Smarter” by Shawn Stevenson for those of you struggling to maximize your sleep.
- Making Healthy Food Choices: If “You are what you eat”, then you want to be eating foods that give you energy and focus, not foods that zap them. Simply cutting out most processed and packaged foods and replacing them with fresh fruits, veggies, as well as lean meats, will have you feeling 10-15 years younger in no time. When you do decide to cheat, don’t gorge yourself!
- Finding Ways To Manage Stress: Stress kills, so take it seriously! Find out whats’ stressing you out and deal with it. If it’s your job, try to unwind for 15 minutes before leaving work to help your mind transition off of work and onto your home life. This simple tip, recommended by Stuart Levin in his book “Cut To The Chase”, has been very helpful for me. Don’t allow underlying stress to eat away at you by ignoring it. Face it, deal with it, and your quality of life will improve quickly!
- Working Out Regularly (Preferably With Weights): This will change your body and your confidence. When you feel good physically, you feel like you can take on the world. When I joined a gym a few years ago, I lost 35 pounds in under a year and completely changed the shape of my body. You don’t need to look like a bodybuilder and, most of you won’t unless you try to. Weights are your friend. They build muscle, burn fat, and help reduce stress! Plus, success in this area of life has helped me tackle bigger projects with more confidence. It will do the same for you!
If you haven’t already, start making it a priority to get healthy and stay healthy. This will radically improve your life in more ways than you can imagine!
3. Continue Learning New Things:
I’m not sure why, but it seems that many people stop learning once they complete school. This isn’t a smart thing to do (pun intended). Our mind is like a muscle and needs to be worked regularly. Benjamin Hardy, a best-selling author, once wrote…
“Ordinary people seek entertainment, extraordinary people seek education and learning”.
Another great practice that will help you reach your God-given potential is to continue learning from people who are further ahead in life than you are. Plus, learning is fun and requires less time than you might think. Spending just 20-30 minutes a day doing some of the following things will have a noticeable impact upon your mind and life:
- Reading: There is so much wisdom to be gained through reading. It’s one of my favorite things to do! By simply opening up a book it’s as if you are spending time with the one who wrote it and allowing them to personally speak into your life. Looking for a place to start? I highly recommend you read the Bible each day. The book of Proverbs is loaded with practical wisdom. The Gospel of John gives a glimpse into the life and wisdom of Jesus Christ. No book has changed my life more than the Bible!
- Taking Online Courses: There are plenty of free and low-cost courses that cover topics you might be interested in. This is a great way to learn new skills that will make you a better person. Try looking on sites such as Udemy for great course content. I also highly recommend you take “The Elements of Focus” course by Shawn Blanc. It’s a great starting point!
- Listen While You Drive: If you drive a lot you could use that time to listen to podcasts, sermons, or audiobooks.
- Find A Mentor: An especially effective way to learn is by finding someone to mentor you in your current field of work or in an area you feel you are called to.
Consider this: If you could go back in time and talk with yourself from 5 years ago, would you have any meaningful advice to offer yourself? If not, then you aren’t growing. Change that today! Start learning new things. When you stop learning, you stop growing, and you might miss out on fully becoming who God created you to be.
4. Being Generous Towards Others:
Whether you realize it or not, generosity is a big part of reaching your God-given potential. Learning that life isn’t all about you is an important lesson if you want to make an impact and leave a legacy!
God’s purpose and plan for your life aren’t just about you. You were created so you can know Him and bring Him glory by impacting the world around you. If you’re self-absorbed you will miss the opportunities God has for your life.
Make it a goal to be generous with those around you by giving them of your time, resources, talents, and experience. By doing so, you will gain influence in their lives and impact the world for God’s glory.
We are all standing on the shoulders of the great people who’ve gone before us. Pass it on by finding ways to be generous with those around you.
5. Reach Your God-given Potential By Taking Steps Of Faith:
This may be last on the list but it is first in importance.
For years one thing that held me back more than anything was simply this: I didn’t believe God could use me to make an impact.
I regret the time I lost believing this lie, but I praise God for the work He is doing in my life. I don’t want to see others make the same mistake. There are two things I’m referring to when I say to take steps of faith.
- First, you need to place faith in Christ! He is the One who created you and He has a plan for your life. Apart from Him, anything you accomplish in life won’t amount to much in eternity. Like He said, “What does it matter if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Don’t overlook the gravity of that truth! Faith in Christ is the first and most important step of faith every person should take.
- Second, you must believe God has a plan for you and wants you to accomplish it. Every single person was created for a purpose, that includes you! Believing this empowers you to seek His will, take steps of faith, and pursue the opportunities He puts in front of you. You must also believe that if God is calling you to it, He will give you everything you need to accomplish it. Taking steps of faith is an important part of fulfilling your God-given potential. Infact, if you never take any steps of faith, I promise you will never become all God created you to be! His plan for your life is bigger than anything you can accomplish on your own. You will absolutely need to fully depend upon Him in faith!
In life, there are many things that will try to keep you from making an impact, don’t let yourself be one of them! Regularly doing the 5 things in this post will help you reach your God-given potential.
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