Maybe you’ve had faith at one point in your life, but God seems to have ignored you or let you down or worse yet, punished you. So why bother? This puts you on shaky ground, leaving you without a firm belief that God loves you and wants good for you. As a result, nothing else can really come together the way you hope it could.
Perhaps you’ve struggled with your family relationships and no matter how hard you try, it seems like there is nothing you can do to fix it. Or maybe you’re aware that things could be better, but your work is so all-consuming that you think you have to put making a living first.
And now, you’re suffering the effects of family members who judge you, don’t trust you, and feel ignored, unloved and uncared for. Worse yet, you may already have crossed over the line and have such brokenness in the relationship that you are convinced it’s too late and things are over.
Your health and fitness is something you know needs more attention, but you don’t have the time or the energy to make the effort or even have the want-to. You know that if you lost some weight, reshaped your physique, had more stamina and drive, everything else in life would feel the positive effects. But you simply don’t have the discipline, the know-how or the right motivation to make it a priority.
Your health is at risk and maybe you are already experiencing the decline in the way your body should perform. You don’t want it that way, but feel almost helpless in changing it, to the point that you can’t even imagine what it would be like to function at your peak performance.
When it comes to finances, are you so in control that you feel invincible? Or are you so out of control that you feel enslaved? Have you measured success, or lack of it, by how much you earn, how much you owe or how much or little is in your bank account? Ever get in so deep you’ve been on the verge of bankruptcy, or already declared it?
Has your financial position kept you up at night, and like a computer program always running in the background, money is constantly on your mind? Or maybe things are just “okay,” and while you’re “getting by,” it never seems like you can really get ahead with enough reserve to take the pressure off.
Have an open and honest conversation with yourself. Acknowledge where you’re struggling so you can go into attack mode and learn to master it.
- Take a moment right now and think about which of these four areas of life are already causing pain for you. Write it down.
- What are the consequences of not having it under control?
- Besides you, who else is being affected by it?
- How would life look differently if this area was mastered?
- What can you do starting today, to make a plan that will cause you to take action and make changes?
You may already have one or more of these four areas somewhat mastered. But thinking that you don’t need to improve will short-circuit your growth.
Every man has an opportunity to learn more and become more proficient in each one of these areas. Doing so earns you the expertise to master all four of these crucial areas of life and gives you the confidence to be successful and to serve others.
For a more in-depth look at how to master faith, family, fitness and finances, get Todd Isberner’s new book “What Every Man Needs to Know: How to Master Faith, Family, Fitness and Finance” here.
