Life Design Essential #1: Uncover the Only You

We live in a world where every artificial thing is designed. Whether it is the car we ride in, the streets we drive on, the lights that illuminate the road, or the building that is our destination, some person or group of people had to decide on the layout, operation, and mechanisms of the journey described above.

Your life has a design, too.

Design doesn’t just work for cars and roads and streetlights and buildings, and all the hundreds of thousands of components that make those things up. You can use design thinking to discover the life God has uniquely created for you. It is a life that is meaningful, joyful, and fulfilling.

Several years ago, Auxano founder Will Mancini launched Life Younique, a training company that certifies church leaders to offer gospel-centered life design through their church. Will, along with co-founder Dave Rhodes, is passionate about helping people get life mission right – what exactly is the best way to know and name what God has created you to do?

THE QUICK SUMMARY – The Rhythm of Life by Matthew Kelly

In The Rhythm of Life Matthew Kelly exposes the lifestyle challenges and problems that face us in this age obsessed with noise, speed, and perpetual activity. Kelly’s message rings out with a truth that is challenging and unmistakably attractive Who you become is infinitely more important than what you do, or what you have. Are you ready to meet the best version of yourself?

The Rhythm of Life is a brilliant and clear-eyed rejection of the chaotic lifestyle that has captured the world, written with common sense, humor, and extraordinary insight. This book is destined to change lives.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

What is the brief and bold big idea that best captures today what God made you to do?

Think of it as a golden compass pointing the way or a silver golden thread that weaves through every activity of your life. It’s the enduring rally cry of team-you; it’s the victory banner waving over everything you do.

Ideally, every priority, project, and penny is filtered through, guided by and championed through this concept. Imagine every person in your sphere of influence being blessed better, served stronger, and loved longer because you form a unique life mission every day.

Translate a wide variety of life-awareness and self-awareness into a meaningful, practical, and simple understanding of what God has made only you to do.

Who you become is infinitely more important than what you do or what you have. The meaning and purpose of life is for you to become the best version of yourself.

In the diagram below, Point A represents you right now – here and today – with all your strengths and weaknesses, faults, failings, flaws, defects, talents, abilities, and potential.

Point B represents you as the person you were created to be – perfectly. If you close your eyes for a few moments and imagine the better person you know you can be in any areas of your life, and then multiply that vision to include the better person you know you can be in every area of your life, that is the person you have become when you reach point B – the best version of yourself.

At every point along the path closer to point B, we more fully recognize, appreciate, and use our talents and abilities and are more dedicated to our development – physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.

At each point along the path toward point B, there is a more harmonious relationship among our needs, desires, and talents. Through this process of transformation, we begin to reach our once hidden potential. At point B, through the dual process of self-discovery and discovery of God, we have overcome our fears and transformed our faults and failings into virtues.

Matthew Kelly, The Rhythm of Life

A NEXT STEP

Duplicate the drawing above on a chart tablet. Add the four words “Physically, Emotionally, Intellectually, and Spiritually” above the line between Point A and Point B.

Below the line, and under each of the words, write in actions that will help you move towards Point B. These are the best things you can do for your spouse, your children, your friends, your colleagues, your employees, your employer, your church, your nation, the human family, and yourself.

The best thing you can do is to become the-best-version-of-yourself, because it is doing with a purpose.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 101-1, released September 2018.


 

This is part of a weekly series posting excerpts from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix book excerpts for church leaders.

Each issue SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; each solution is taken from a different book. Additionally, a practical action step is included with each solution.

As a church leader you get to scan relevant books based on practical tools and solutions to real ministry problems, not just by the cover of the book. Each post will have the edition number which shows the year and what number it is in the overall sequence. (SUMS Remix provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

>> Subscribe to SUMS Remix <<

 

 

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VRcurator

VRcurator

Bob Adams is Auxano's Vision Room Curator. His background includes over 23 years as an associate/executive pastor as well as 8 years as the Lead Consultant for a church design build company. He joined Auxano in 2012.

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COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

How to Get Started on Your 100 Life Dreams List

Recently I launched a 90-day journey to equip and encourage you to develop a 100 Life Dreams List. My inspiration is a special life design experiment that I am conducting by living in Aspen Colorado for 3 months this winter. It just so happens that snowboarding 50 days in one season is one of my life dreams. So while I work and ride and spend some really special time with my family, I am going to be posting all kinds of stuff to help you.

So what’s the first step? I’m glad you asked.

STEP ONE

There are two things I want you to do today to get started. The first step is to calendar block 6 hours between now and Good Friday (April 19, 2019). That is exactly 90-days. You can do that 3 ways or any combination that works best for your rhythm of reflection and planning.

  • 30 minutes a week
  • 2 hours a month
  • one day in the next 90 days

The greatest barrier to doing anything with intentional living is that we don’t calendar block in advance. I use the term “calendar blocking” a lot. It’s just my way to describe scheduling. But I like the emphasis on “blocking out” the most important things in your life. The urgent things in life will always eclipse the important things if we don’t. How can I prove that? How many dreams do you have written down right now?

STEP TWO

Every person has some things already accomplished in their life and some things rumbling around their mind and heart that they want to do. So I want you to get started on your 100 Life Dreams List by creating a much simpler “10-10 List. Your 10-10 List is a list of ten things you have previously accomplished in life (think prior bucket list items) and ten things that you have already thought of that you want to do in your lifetime (think bucket list stuff that’s yet to be done.) Think of it as a way to jump start your journey of bigger dreaming. Take 20-30 minutes to create the list.

Your 10-10 List is important for three reasons:

  1. It primes the pump of gratitude as you look back over your life. To establish future dreaming as an act of worship it helps to look back and celebrate God’s known and experienced goodness. What has God enabled you to do? What are you thankful for the most? Who has he brought in your life to inspire or guide you? How has he provided? For example, I was able to become an author in 2004, because my friend and mentor Aubrey Malphurs invited me to co-author the book Building Leaders. I had no platform at all and Aubrey played a crucial role in helping me transition from pastoring to consulting.
  2. It is practice to start writing things down. It’s amazing how the failure to write things down prevents us from experiencing the best opportunities of life. Practice writing. Do so by using your favorite means to record your ideas. Get a fresh journal. Use your favorite app. But whatever you do, write your ideas down. I just purchased a new 90-day journal because the Younique team is still in the development process of creating our own 90-day planner for Younique’s Life Making Cycle. In that journal I have my one 90-day goal and my 4 NOW rhythms (I will be sprinkling in and introducing you to some of the Younique lingo and tools on this journey.)
  3. Realize that as a human being you are by God’s design a dreamer. You remind yourself of this amazing reality by writing down the things that are already in your mind. Where has God already led you? You were born with creativity an imagination as a birthright. So bask in that truth. For further inspiration you can download the first chapter of my God Dreams book at the “Get Now” tab on this page. What are your current aspirations? What kind of person have you wanted to become? What kinds of things have you already planned to do? For example I want to use this next 90 days to capture the stories of 100 people who actually completed writing down 100 life dreams for the first time. That’s a dream of having 10,000 new dreams in the world by Easter. (Will you be one of those 100?) #100Dreams

So those are your two simple steps to get this party started with me. Schedule 6-hours for thinking, reflecting and writing. And start by making your 10-10 List. I will have some downloadable tools as we walk this journey together. But for your 10-10 List, I want you to practice using your own tool for writing stuff down.

Please stay in touch over the course of this 90-days. If you are around Colorado, come on over to Aspen and let’s talk about your dreams over lunch. Follow all of the content that is coming by connecting to me on you favorite social channels.

Before I sign off today to hit the slopes today, if you think you are going to have a role change or significant transition in your vocational calling this year, you might want to check out the free eBook that I just released entitled Clarity Spiral. It’s all about finding your ONE THING in life.

> Read more from Will.

 

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| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Vision >

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Mancini

Will Mancini

Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. He is the founder of Auxano, creator of VisionRoom.com and the author of God Dreams and Church Unique.

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COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.