Ep 024 Power of Perseverance in the Mundane Middle: 4 Keys to Meet Your Goals
Struggling to meet your goals or feeling like spiritual and personal growth are just out of reach? It's a common problem, especially when challenges seem too tough to handle or the wait for results stretches longer than expected. This can lead to discouragement, making it tempting to give up on your aspirations—whether spiritual growth, career advancement, weight loss, or other goals.
In episode 024 of Wholly Well Journey, we address these challenges by exploring the powerful role of perseverance—a quality essential not just for overcoming difficulties but for pushing through the mundane middle to become the person you're aspiring to be.
Hear more about the four keys to developing the quality of perseverance!
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Key Takeaway
Perseverance is deciding that my feelings don’t dictate what I do; my principles drive my action.
Key Scriptures
Romans 5:3-5 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Philippians 4:12-13
Luke 18:1-8 Parable of the Persistent Widow
Focus on the 4 Keys to Cultivate Perseverance
🔑 1. Purposeful
Finding your 'why' is crucial in cultivating perseverance. When your goals and efforts are tied to a meaningful purpose, you're far more likely to stick with them through tough times.
🙏 2. Prayer
Prayer is a powerful tool that strengthens perseverance by connecting us to our source of hope and resilience—God. It's through prayer that we find the strength to continue, especially when the path gets rocky.
🔄 3. Practice
Perseverance is not just a trait but a skill, honed through regular practice. Each challenge we face and overcome serves as practice in perseverance. This approach helps to transform overwhelming challenges into more manageable pieces, making perseverance a habit rather than a hurdle.
🤝 4. People
The people around us can significantly impact our ability to persevere. Surrounding yourself with a supportive community provides encouragement, wisdom, and a sense of belonging, all of which are essential during tough times.
Blog & Coaching Resources
Show Transcript
Note: Podcast transcripts are automatically generated and may contain some errors. The transcript below has been lightly edited for grammar and readability, so may not match the podcast audio verbatim.
022 The Power of Perseverance in the Mundane Middle
Thomas Edison said that many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. And it's true. History has proven that one of the greatest determinants of success is simply continuing to show up. And this requires grit, tenacity, and perseverance. These are qualities that are ever more important. Whether your desires to grow spiritually, if it's achieving career success or it's meeting a health goal, like weight loss. You can't do it without this powerful tool of perseverance.
And that's what we're going to talk about today.
Before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to give a quick update that our firm foundation devotional is now available on Amazon in paperback. And this is a 21 day devotional and prayer and fasting journal centered on Jesus. And so if you're brand new to fasting, there's an introduction that kind of lays out the basics of fasting.
And then there's 21 daily entries with devotionals, practical fasting tips. a place to, write your prayers and journaling questions to prompt you for each day. So encourage you to check this out, whether you're just curious about fasting or it's something that you do regularly. I really believe this would be a great tool for you. And one of the key scriptures is first Corinthians three 11 for no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And so as we fast, as we get into these spiritual disciplines, it's so important to remember that it's not about the work that we're doing. But it's about deepening our relationship with the Lord.
That's truly what fasting is all about. Now let's move on to today's topic. And I do have to apologize. Allergies have been really bad where we are right now. So my throat's a little scotchy. And you may notice that. But I wanted to talk about perseverance and it's been on my mind a lot lately. And personally, I've just been in a place of, you know, I don't know what to call it other than a blah phase.
I just don't really feel like doing anything. And it's not because I'm super tired or exhausted or burnout. It may have a little bit to do with being tired, but it's mainly, I just don't feel like it. And this may be partly seasonal because we're in may. And so you start off the year, really strong with your commitments, with your goals, with the things you want to accomplish. And then you even get into that Q2 and you play on things, and then there's sometimes just this feeling of stalling out. And we know perseverance is really important when we're going through a hard time, when we're going through a challenge. But sometimes perseverance is difficult when things are going really well because we have a tendency to think, oh, everything is going so great.
I might as well just kind of slack off and do what I want and enjoy myself. Or sometimes it's just in that middle, what I'm calling the mundane, middle. It's so easy to give up when you just feel like you're going through the motions without necessarily seeing the results. But there's always stuff happening below the surface.
That work is happening, even when we can't see it, the effects are compounding over time. And when I think back about the goals I set at the beginning of the year, one of my main goals and word for the year with focus. It was just to be focused, to be consistent in the different areas of my life that I had set goals in. And if I think now about what it will look like at the end of the year to look back and say yes, every month I continued taking steps toward my goal. That's going to feel awesome. But if I see these points where I decided to just kind of give up, because I didn't feel like it. Not because something major happened in life, or I had some kind of major setback, but I just didn't feel like it.
And so then I had these huge gaps. Where I just got distracted and started doing other things. That's not going to feel good. That's not what I want to see at the end of the year.
So perseverance does not come naturally to us. It's a skill we need to practice. It's a character quality we need to develop. And our emotions are easy to follow and easily sway us, but they're fickle and they're undependable. So, if we're relying on our feelings to inspire us to action, we may end up never continuing anything we start. Because the emotion and the adrenaline and the momentum, it's always really high in the beginning, but then it very quickly fades out. And I see this all the time with people who come to me. For health coaching or for goals of weight, loss, or healthy eating. It's always easy that first week, but it doesn't take long for people to feel like giving up.
I mean, really by the second week, most of the time people are ready to say, Hey, this is harder than I thought it was going to be. It's requiring a lot more effort and energy. My life is getting in the way my life is busy. And it's easy to just immediately drop off. But the Bible reminds us to remain steadfast in our faith to not be swayed by our circumstances. And there's a famous verse that we can do all things through Christ it's on coffee mugs.
It's on t-shirts. But sometimes it's taken in this context, almost like we have the super human power to do whatever we want through Christ, but that's not what the Bible says when you're reading it in context. The previous first Philippians four 12 says. And this is Paul talking. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through him who gives me strength. And so rather than trying to perfect the situation and the external circumstances, Paul is saying, he's learned the secret. Is being content in Christ.
First of all, making him the first thing. But this is also an internal attitude adjustment. It's no matter what's going on outside. Whether, you know, I have a lot or I have a little, whether I'm well fed or hungry. I'm going to be content in every situation. And so there's a couple of things you probably already know.
The first one is the external changes. Don't automatically bring internal happiness. That's an internal job. The second is that if we want to be content in every situation, we have to develop perseverance.
We need to learn to ride the waves, of life, the ups and downs and the various seasons every day it's not sunny and 75 degrees. Unless maybe you live in paradise and that would be great. But although we know it's true and obvious that things aren't always going to go well, and we're not always going to feel high motivation. Sometimes we still have these underlying expectations, that things shouldn't be hard.
I remember being in a middle school assembly and we had a speaker come talk to us about planning our careers and planning college and things like that.
And he said, you have to find something you are so passionate about and you love to do so much that you would do it for free. Even if nobody paid you. That's a great idea, but it sets the bar so high. And I think so many people struggle with that in college and in their early twenties of like, well, what do I want to do that I'm really passionate about that. I'm going to have that high level passion every single day. And not only that, but somebody would pay me for it. That's a pretty hard thing to find in life.
But what's really wrong with that expectation too, is that we're going to be so passionate. So gung ho. So a hundred miles an hour energy tank on full every single day, loving every minute. That's just not the way that life works.
But part of what affects us as well as messages like this, and also the marketing that we're constantly exposed to. And we have to be really wise and really discerning in that Romans 12 two says not to be conformed to the ways of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And that transforming that's a constant process.
We have to be continually vigilant about that and persistent in working on those mind patterns in that transformation. Because every day, we're going to be bombarded by marketing, whether we want it or not. That's telling us and pointing out all these different areas of our lives that could be better.
Maybe there's all these things that we need to fix, that we didn't even know that were wrong or that there was a problem there. And told , someone told us that. And then there's also the secrets to do it quickly.
It's the lose weight in seven days. Get out of debt in 30 days.
Completely transform your mindset in two weeks. It's these huge promises in a short amount of time. And that sounds great, but when it comes to our mental health, And May's mental health month, and we're going to be talking about that and having some future guests to dive more into that subject. It's a big area. But if it's mental health, if it's personal growth, if it's weight loss and not just the weight loss, but the longterm weight maintenance is what really, and truly wanting. We need to be prepared that it's going to not just be done in a week and then we can do whatever we want, whatever habits are going to get us, there are going to be habits that we need to maintain.
And that's why we have such an epic failure when it comes to the diet industry. And research suggests about 80% of people who lose a significant portion of their body fat. Won't maintain that weight loss for 12 months. And there was one meta analysis of studies that showed that dieters regain on average, more than half of what they lose within two years. And I'm not saying that to be discouraging or saying, don't try. But the problem with it is that weight loss mentality of the diet mentality of I'm going to go on a specific type of program for a certain amount of time.
And then that's going to get me my goal. But then what? You have to have that persistence to carry through. And that also means that whatever habits you're doing, whatever. Type of eating and exercise and however you've adjusted your lifestyle, that has to be sustainable. That's a really big point.
So what happens when we've started a plan and not necessarily a weight loss plan, it could be. Career plan, it could be or i t could be a commitment to self care and taking care of our mental health. And then we get into that lull phase.
We get into that place where we're not maybe seeing immediate results and things are starting to get a little hard. Well, that's where this quality of persistence. And perseverance kicks in.
Somebody recently shared a post with me that they had seen on social media and it was talking about meal planning. And it said. Basically I'm, you know, Quoting at secondhand, it said basically that if you don't have your dinner planned by 10:00 AM, then you're in trouble. Or basically it was saying like, you're screwed, it's over. And it was talking about meal planning in general. And I totally agree with meal planning. It's a great principle. It's going to take the guesswork and the pressure off of you.
It's going to make things much easier. So yes, meal planning is great. But what I can't stand about this type of message. And I think that this type of thought is so deadly to people. Is that you can still end your day at 5:00 PM and you can be tired and you can be stressed. And you can still have a healthy dinner. And you can do that.
Absolutely. If you didn't plan it. And the message from that post and that type of thinking, it sets this expectation that we have to have every detail. Perfectly nailed down in order for things to work and be successful. And so then if one detail's not out of place, it's like we throw the baby out with the bath water.
It's like, it's all over. I didn't eat a good lunch. So now I don't need to eat a good dinner. And then I'm going to wake up the next morning and think, oh, I didn't eat well yesterday. So why bother eating? Well today, I'll just start over Monday. It like really makes no sense when you think about it, to think that way or to put the expectation or the pressure on yourself that you're going to get things 100%, right.
All the time. Like we don't expect that out of ourselves in so many areas of life yet, then there's some places where we do.
But it's also partly about that mindset that just allows us to make an excuse to quit. It's an excuse to give up. And so again, that idea that we have to be on this program in every detail has to work out perfectly for us to be successful.
That's totally false. That's not accurate.
The second point is that we have the power to make a good choice at any time. You could go to an all you can eat buffet and you could still eat just enough. You could eat moderately and you can make healthy choices in what you're going to eat. And I'm not saying that that's easy. But I'm definitely saying that's not impossible.
We shouldn't have that mindset. That says it has to be all or nothing. That's what causes so many people to go back and forth on this diet rollercoaster. And I know I keep using the example of weight, loss and diet, but it is what I work with most frequently. And so it's kind of top of mind for me, most of the time.
But there can also be some dangers to constantly overthinking over analyzing and judging our every move.
It just leads us to be so introspective. And so self-focused and not acknowledge that we're just really resilient. You know, our bodies are really capable of so much and our minds are capable of so much. And sometimes we need to just let go of what's happened or what was in the past and just continue to move forward. We don't need to second guess our every move. We don't need to overthink it so that we're talking ourselves out of the goals we previously set. We just need to take that action and move forward.
So what could happen in your life by the end of the year, if you just keep doing the right thing without overthinking it, without relying on the energy and the feelings and the adrenaline and the dopamine to motivate you but you just keep doing it.
You keep getting up and going out for a morning walk. Which may not feel like much today, but you end up walking 10 miles a week. It's reading your Bible for 15 minutes every day, which would get you through the entire Bible in a year. It's choosing salads for lunch and giving your body those good nutrients and balancing your calories, which you may not see the effect of by the end of this week. But maybe you will by the end of the month and you certainly will, by the end of the year.
We're all going to have good days and bad days. And we won't see the effects immediately so perseverance again, it's the key. It's the focus is on the action and the perseverance. It's not necessarily looking around for the instant result and for the circumstances that may make it easier or harder. And if you have within your power, the ability to set up an environment and set up the habits and set up the routines that make it easier by all means, do it. But remember that you still have the power of choice at all times.
Want to share another scripture with you. Romans five, three through five says not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings know. Knowing that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us.
And some versions say perseverance, some version say endurance it's really that same principle. But as this scripture says, do you want proven character? Do you want hope? I think we would all say that.
Yes. I want to have that proven character that gives me hope. But the first links in this chain are our suffering that produces the perseverance. And then perseverance produces the character.
Our first reaction when challenging suffering comes. Is that fight flight or freeze it's to either turn away from it, to bury it, to get rid of it. To blame someone or something for it. Or it's to just tackle it to the ground and immediately try to fix that thing that's uncomfortable in our life. It's not healthy to want to suffer or to go out and purposely seek suffering.
That's not it at all. But suffering is a part of life.
So the Bible tells us here in, in the book of James it's. Okay. When life is challenging. It's okay. When things are not all going your way, that's not something to always run away from or try to avoid, but sometimes to lean into, because in leaning into and walking through that process, something is forming in you internally.
It's strengthening your character. And perseverance, like I said before, it's equally important when things are going well. That's a key point when it's easy to just quit and say, Hey, I'm doing good enough.
But then what happens is that basic principle of an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest. And so when you're not being proactive, a lot of times you'll find yourself then slowly sliding.
And then perseverance is also important in that mundane middle when you don't really feel like it.
And you're not really seeing the results in the boredom has set in and you're feeling not that motivated, but you continue to persevere. You continue to keep moving forward.
So I just want to end here with keys, to building perseverance,
the first step to building perseverance is to be purposeful. It's just recognizing that this is a quality you need in your life and reminding yourself of that. Being intentional to think about this as a goal, because often our goals are all about the results. They're not about the character quality that we're trying to build. And that can really help you in those moments when you're tempted to give up or you're tempted to lay on the couch, instead of doing the thing you committed to, to say, no, I'm building perseverance in myself.
I'm intentionally working on this quality. And it means sometimes doing things. Even if I don't feel like it.
It's deciding that my feelings don't dictate what I do, my principles drive my actions.
The second key here is prayer. And prayer is always key in everything that we're doing. We're not here to just do it on our own by the strength of our willpower, but to seek the Lord, to ask him what he has to teach us about perseverance. And to look to him for strength to look to him. To support us and empower us in this journey.
And there was a time, not so long ago where I prayed for something for two years. And one of the scriptures that I would pray with Luke 18 verse one, and this is the parable of the persistent widow that Jesus tells. He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said in a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself though, I neither fear God nor respect man yet, because this widow keeps bothering me.
I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night. Well, he delay long over them. I tell you, he will give justice to them. Speedily. Nevertheless when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? And again, this is Luke chapter 18, verses one through eight.
If you want to go back and look that up. But I would just continue to pray the same thing over and over again. And I would remind God of the scripture. I would say, this is what you said. You said that just because this widow is not giving up. She got her prayers answered. And so I just kept coming and coming. And then that prayer did get answered. And in the grand scheme of life, two years is not that long, but it definitely feels long in the middle of it. And so I just want to encourage you with that.
But also to remain open and surrender to God in the processing.
God, is this prayer that I'm praying in line with your will. Is this goal that I'm seeking? Is it in line with your ways? And just give the Holy Spirit permission to convict you or course correct you or to help you refine that prayer to be more in line with God's will for your life.
And the next thing I want to say about building perseverance is practice. We have to view these habits, whether it's cultivating a new mindset even, or it's a health and wellness practice, or if it's a spiritual discipline. Practice means you don't get it right the first time.
Practice means you don't have this expectation on yourself that you're going to start Monday and do the thing every single day perfectly. We're not robots. We're not machines. We have to practice. We have to build up. Sometimes it's two steps forward and one step back. And just knowing ahead of time that I'm not trying to perform perfectly when I do this. I'm practicing. And just like with sports or music or other things you may have done, you don't always feel like practicing.
That's absolutely true. But that's where the perseverance comes in again.
So building perseverance, it's about being purposeful. It's about prayer. It's about practice. And then I also want to encourage you to find a friend, find an accountability partner, find a person. That's so important because when it's all in our head, it's easy for us to give up on ourselves or talk ourselves out of it. Having that accountability, having that person in your corner. Is what can truly strengthen your perseverance.
So I hope this is something that's been helpful to you. Hopefully it resonated just this idea of building perseverance. And if you have a goal in mind, if there is something that you are working towards in your life. Please remember you can book a free 15 minute discovery call on our website. stephaniechodges.com.
And that's a great time to just bounce your ideas off of someone. And I would love to talk that through with you. And also really looking forward to some of the interviews and the upcoming podcast we have in may, may is mental health awareness month. And so we're going to have some great discussions on what that looks like for us as believers and just tools and practical things that will help you in your mental health and self care.
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Wholy Well Journey podcast.
Just a reminder and disclaimer that this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice or professional counseling. Please be sure to consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet or exercise plan or starting to fast. If you're interested in more information about fasting and spiritual disciplines, check out danielfastjourney.com.
