The Give…

So what are you willing to Give? I’ve heard so many people over the years talk about wanting to do something. They’ll want to lose weight, start a business, get a better job, go on a super cool trip.

But when you ask them what they are will to do to make any of these things happen, they usually have no clue. This is what some would group in with the Law of Trade-Offs. If you really want to gain or accomplish something that you are not already doing, you must be willing to make a trade.

If you want to get into better shape, how is that going to happen. I personally love soft drinks. And for many years I have had a soft drink in the morning, at lunch and in the afternoon. The problem is that these are full of sugar…and I’m not as young as I used to be. So for me to stay healthy I needed to get rid of all that sugar.

So about a year ago, I made a big reduction in my soft drink intake. As a result I am down over 15 lbs. and feel much better every day. This was my trade off. I still drink a soft drink every few days, but for the most part I am using water or coffee and not pouring cups of sugar into my system daily. The only way for that to happen was for me to make the decision that better health was a much better option than a soft drink…I had to decide to make that trade-off.

I also remember when I started my growth journey and really started trying to create content each day to share with everyone. You don’t just sit down and have a library of information to push out to the world. To do that you have to devote time to speaking on a podcast, writing or doing videos. After a while it does get easier to come up with ideas to cover, but you have to make a decision and dedicate the time on your calendar ever single day.

For me, this change meant that I would not be able to watch Netflix as much as before…or on many days, none at all. But I think the trade-off is much better. After just a short period of time I will have a great library of information that others can use to help on their growth journey. And, you don’t get great by not starting.

So I would ask if you are reading this, what have you given up? Or what will you give up? Do you have a plan and have you set a time on your calendar to make it happen. Remember, growth doesn’t just happen all at once. It takes you being persistent each and every day. It takes committing your mind and energy to a mission that will make things better.

You also have to remember that in many cases where we make a trade-off, the reward is not instant. You have to be in it for the long haul.

I remember growing up on the farm how we would work so hard to get a field ready to plant. We were just a small family farm, but that just meant we had to do more of the work manually. We would work for hours or days getting ready to plant and then once the seed were in the ground…it would take days for them to sprout and many weeks before you would ever see any sort of reward. We traded-off all of that time and energy and had to wait for the return many weeks.

And the return was not guaranteed. In order for the seed to produce a good crop we had to constantly work the field to keeps the weeds away. But the nurturing definitely paid off. We never had to buy vegetables from the grocery store or market. And in many cases we had enough to share with other neighbors in the community.

It can be difficult at times to know when to make a trade-off. There are a few questions I would suggest you ask before you make a big trade-off.

• Is this something I really want?
• Is it going to push me in the right direction?
• Will it help me to be more effective in helping others?
• Can I afford to make this deal?
• What is the long term mission behind the trade-off?

If you can answer those questions it should give you an idea if the trade-off is really something you want to take action on, or if you want to avoid the deal.

Lead well!