Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 365 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Life at the Speed of Average

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 365 of our trek. Yesterday and for the next couple of days, we will reflect on completing a full year of daily treks as we approach the end of May. As with life, this past year seemed to zoom by so quickly, and yet we have slowly trekked each day for an entire year. Today on our trek, let’s explore what I mean by the speed of average.

Before we get started on this new trek, I want to remind you that the initial release of our 100 page Your Life Plan Blueprint manual/workbook is available for download at Wisdom-Trek.com on the left-hand sidebar of any page. Or, if you are listening on your smartphone, you can text the word LifePlan (with no spaces) to 44222, and Your Life Plan Blueprint will be delivered to you in an email. The manual/workbook is free during the month of May, so I would encourage you to become one of our early adopters so that all updates will be available to you for free also. By the end of 2016, we will have a complete web/mobile version available of Your Life Plan Blueprint.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio.

We were able to attend church at Putnam Congregational again this morning, and it is always good to worship and fellowship with Christ followers. After church we did our weekly grocery shopping, and then I invested most of the afternoon continuing to clean out the garage. It has been several years since I last cleaned it. It is a detached five-stall open garage fashioned after a turn of the century carriage house, so it is not only large but also prone to attract leaves, dirt, and other debris. Once I finish, it should be in good shape at least until the leaves fall again.

As I mentioned yesterday, we will be making a change in Wisdom-Trek starting June 1^st.  We will be releasing new Wisdom-Trek themed episodes three days a week, which will be Motivation Mondays, Wisdom Wednesdays, and Philosophy Fridays. The episodes may be slightly longer than in the past but still short enough to consume easily in one session. Making this adjustment will allow us to invest the time needed to release the Wisdom-Trek monthly journals, create the online version of Your Life Plan Blueprint and roll out our new platform Christian Podcasting Network. We also have additional exciting projects in the planning stages that I will announce later.

For today, it is time to head out on a trek of reflection from this past year of Wisdom-Trek. Today our trail will reflect on what I call:

Life at the Speed of Average

Many people have asked, how do you keep up with a daily podcast along with your other responsibilities? I have to admit, it was not always easy, but I committed to a daily podcast for one year and was compelled to keep that commitment. It takes being consistently persistent in the small things of life to achieve what appears to be great results. You can move a mountain one stone at a time, as long as you are consistently persistent for a long period of time.

I certainly have no extraordinary abilities or talents. I am a fairly average person but have a desire and drive to move one stone at a time from the mountains that stand in front of me. You too can be average and still be a mountain mover. As we move into a modified season two of Wisdom-Trek, let’s look at what can be accomplished even if you feel that you are considered average.

As I wrap up this first year of Wisdom-Trek, I look back and realize although I was an average student that grew up poor on an apple orchard, through being consistently persistent, I will have written over 500,000 words within the daily journals. We are currently working on assembling the daily journals into monthly volumes, and once we include pictures and the daily fillable reflection sheets, each volume will be about 150 pages. Once completed, all 12 volumes will comprise about 1800 total pages. While looking at it from the end of the year, it does look like a huge undertaking, this undertaking was accomplished by writing a few pages each day consistently.

Due to the nature of our consulting work and other projects, I did not have the ability to hide away in a remote location and write, record, edit, and publish the daily podcast and journals in batches, but like our trek of life, I took it one day at a time. It reminds me of a little booklet that I read many years ago called “Little Is Much When God Is In It.” The premise of the book is to be faithful in the small everyday tasks, and you will be able to accomplish much. It’s okay to be average as long as you are faithful and consistently persistent in the small tasks of life.

This concept holds true for all areas of your life. For example, anyone can feel a burst of inspiration, head to the gym, and push themselves really hard for a single workout. That’s maximum speed but will produce little result long-term. Instead, what if you had a slower paced workout, but averaged 4 days per week in the last month? How about the last three months? Or the last year? What has your average speed been? Your long-term results will be much greater if you are consistent over an extended period of time, even if each day did not include an intense workout.

This principle holds true for your work habits, your eating habits, your relationship habits, and virtually every other area of your life. Here’s the surprising thing about average speed…It doesn’t take very long for average speed to produce incredible results.

So often we waste our time and energy thinking that we need a monumental effort to achieve anything significant. We tell ourselves that we need to get amped up on motivation and desire. We think that we need to work harder than everyone else. While I am all for continual improvement, it does not take herculean efforts to see huge results over a long period of time.

The natural question that follows from all of this is, “How do I increase my average speed?” I recently read an article written by blogger James Clear where he wrote “Habit Graduation: How to Increase Your Average Speed.” In other words, graduating from your current habit level to one level higher. Basically, habit graduation is about increasing your average speed.

Here are some examples…

• If your average speed is eating three healthy meals per week, can you “graduate” that to one healthy meal per day?
• If your average speed is exercising once per week, can you “graduate” that to twice per week?
• If your average speed is to only read spiritual or inspirational materials once per week, can you “graduate” to three times per week?

We all have an average speed when it comes to our habits. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, that average speed might be much slower than we’d like.

The truth is, anyone can get motivated and push themselves for one day, but very few people maintain a consistent effort every week without fail.

In your health, your work, and your life, it doesn’t require a massive effort to achieve incredible results — just being consistently persistent over a period of time.

This reminds me of the parable from Matthew 25:20-21, “The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’  The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

As we wrap up the final two days of a full year of Wisdom-Trek, remember in your life if you are consistently persistent even at an average speed, you can move mountains. Let us work on increasing our average speed gradually at the same time. Tomorrow we will continue our time of reflection as we finish a full year of Wisdom-Trek, so encourage your friends and family to join us. Then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person and invite them to come along with us each day. Don’t forget to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on iTunes, Spreaker, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeart Radio, and Google Play, so each day’s trek will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!