This or That or Both?

“Don’t give up your day job!”

“You want to do what ?”

“You’ll never make a living at it.”

“How’re you gonna pay the bills?”

Since time began and in every language, I have no doubt many ‘somethingpreneurs’ have heard such comments and questions. Often spoken in a dry / incredulous / skeptical / are you nuts? tone of voice.

Let me share a secret: a good coach will ask you these same questions and make similar statements (hopefully without the intonation!). Part of our job is to play the ‘devil’s advocate’. He’s likely already messing with your mind and aspirations, so countering him at his own game by systematically identifying and disarming his favorite messages serves a purpose.

In faith-based coaching, these kinds of questions are designed to get you thinking more deeply about:

• what you truly value
• in what or whom you are placing your trust
• where fear might be lurking, full-blown or in little pockets
• what you believe is most important
• what priority would look like
• what you might choose to or find you have to sacrifice, and more…

There are many voices – and media slogans – out there encouraging us to Just Do It with No Fear. Sure, there are plenty of instances where that kind of encouragement is dandy, like bungee jumping or trying sushi. And it won’t break the bank or burn bridges behind you.

▪ ▪ ▪

But for you – the one reading this who has a dream in your heart or a vision in your head – I equally, if not more, like playing the Father’s advocate* in my job as a coach. After all, if He is the Initiator of that dream or vision, then He is invested in helping you, helping us discover why, what, where, when, and how. He loves it when we invite Him into the process.

Solomon, who asked God for wisdom and was granted that wisdom in exceeding great measure, was an entrepreneur in his day. However, he also took his entrepreneur-ship to an extreme, denying himself nothing. He was what we call today a workaholic, while a pleasure-seeker at the same time. Whatever he could think of or discover, he went after it full throttle. By the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, he was a wearied out soul.

But true to his gift, he left us a word of wisdom that fits well with charting the course of transition:

Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening,
for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed,
or whether both of them alike will be good.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 NASB

This or That or Both? Those are questions worth asking, with worthwhile answers awaiting you.

If you find yourself somewhere on the transition continuum, whether merely thinking about it, heading for it, or in it, you may also find there will be a season of sowing both morning and evening.

• It may mean not giving up your day job. Yet.
• Or defining what what really is – and entails – before you stick your oar in the water and shove off from the shore.
• It might mean clearing some debt or building some savings while a paycheck is still forthcoming.
• Or it might include walking a simultaneous path of staying the course while investing time and energy in that something new – in ways that help prevent waking up one day to find you’ve lost irreplaceable time, relationships and things most important to you.

Do you know what is your seed to sow? Would you like to consider how you can sow both your morning and evening seed of perhaps two diverse plantings? Are you asking yourself, “Could it be possible?”

It would be my privilege to lean on that hoe with you, talk it through, and help you arrive at a course of action in ways of your intentional choosing. Let’s start your conversation; I’m just a contact away.

~ Nancy

*little ‘a’; big ‘A’ is the Father’s Advocate, Jesus Christ

Golden Wheat Image courtesy of domdeen at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Photo credit: Bungee Jumping @ Willy-Brandt-Platz 4/4 via photopin (license)
Purple seeds photo credit: assorted via photopin (license)