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You start right where you are.​

• You embrace the realities of your context.
• You set (and KEEP!) a daily strategy and reflection meeting with yourself.
• You purge unrealistic expectations.
• You get serious about facing the deeper problems.
• You carve out time for adequate sleep and rest (you can’t solve problems or show up well for your relationships if you don’t get enough sleep!)
• You develop rhythms for your basic responsibilities.
• You clear focus time for the important things that keep being pushed to the back burner.
• You adopt a growth mindset.

Pretend we’re at a coffee shop together. 

I’m your best friend, and you’re pouring out your heart.

You’re telling me you don’t have enough time to do the things that are really important. 

You feel stuck.

So I do what any good best friend would do. I lean in real close and I say, “You know what? You’re in control of how you spend your time because you’re an adult.”

(Just a little tough love—and then I buy you another coffee with extra whipped cream on top because I’m a 2 and you’re my person.)

Last week, we talked about how to set solid quarterly goals, and then use them to get back on track.

But, if you're like most people, the one question that tends to trip you up in your intentional living aspirations is this:

What if I set epic goals, but then things change?

We can totally relate to this.

In fact, just yesterday, Shelby realized that TWO of the THREE goals she set for the quarter no longer fully made sense to pursue.

No matter how skilled we may be at developing solid rhythms, we all know what it's like for life to get a little bit "off track."

Whatever has thrown us off, we could all benefit from one key tip: set three focus goals for the rest of the quarter.

How exactly do quarterly goals help to get us back on track?

Imagine writing down your three main goals first thing in the morning, and then connecting with your motivating "why" for each one. You've just set up an accountability mechanism for yourself. You'll start to become acutely aware of when you're spending your time on non-essential things.

Last week, we saw how the Gospel has dealt a fatal blow to the legitimacy of the limiting beliefs holding you back from serious personal growth.​ Then, you were prompted to pull out your planner and make a bullet-point list in response to this question:

What are the limiting beliefs holding you back from getting serious about your core calling?

​Today, we wanted to share with you the EXACT limiting beliefs journaling exercise that changed the Shelby and Kyle’s lives forever.

Have you ever heard of the phrase, "limiting beliefs?"

The first time Shelby heard that phrase, she thought it was a little bit woo-woo. But then her husband did a limiting beliefs exercise back in November 2015, and—get this—it literally changed their lives.

Here's why: Limiting beliefs are, well, limiting. They hedge in the brain from considering certain possibilities altogether.

A few weeks ago I (Shelby) wrote about how while there are no silver bullets in life, for my family, margin was the closest thing that we found to one.​

This next tip is definitely a close second.​

Having margin in your schedule to think, dream, rest, adjust, and plan is an incredible gift. But if your only productivity super power is designing ways to pad your schedule with margin, you might find yourself with lots of time to strategize, but not a lot of fruit to show for it.

Life may still feel like it's "getting in the way."

I (Shelby) recently asked a very creative, capable, hard-working woman how traditional goal-setting methods had failed her in the past.

She answered and said that traditional goal setting methods failed to help her make a bridge between the accomplishment of her most important goals and the life she was actually living in the present.

I could completely relate to those feelings.

If you've been following us on Instagram long, you are familiar with our favorite hashtag: #makespacetothrive. In a world full of hashtags, this may seem like nothing more than a snippet of motivation, a pithy phrase, or something fun to add on on top of photos. But for us, #makespacetothrive is a reminder of a key practice that moves us from overwhelm, to intentional living.

The story behind the hashtag...

Back in 2016, Shelby was living in a non-stop, head-down, shoulder-to-the-grindstone hustle. She and her husband supported their tiny family with a home business and were always behind on deadlines. Every moment taken to just sit down and breathe—even just to eat dinner together without multitasking work—invited a crushing air of guilt into the...

Can you believe Christmas is the day after tomorrow? And goodness, it feels like there's still so much to do!

How about you grab a quick cup of coffee and cozy up for some words of encouragement before you launch into action? Let's take a deep breath, settle down, and get reoriented on what matters most.

Now, I could never outdo Isaiah 9:6-7 or Luke 1:46-55 in an attempt to explain how incredible the Incarnation has been to world history. It is fitting that a celebration of Christ's birth is a day with so much focus every year. God with us. It's a profound thought. A revolution. The Light entering the darkness of history and chasing away sin and death "far as the curse is found." It's phenomenal.

The sisters continued to reimagine the perfect day planner. Tossing out conventional boundaries and manufacturing constraints, they brainstormed until they'd dreamt up an analog planner that boasted maximum functionality, flexibility, and elegance. What if...