“The best decision you can make for yourself is making decisions against yourself. It’s disciplining yourself to do the right things day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out. If you pay the price, the payoff will be greater than the sacrifices you made.”- Mark Batterson (emphasis author’s)
“They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”- Psalm 84:7 (NIV)
Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 8 of Win the Day as he talks about the concept of desirable difficulty. Robert A. Bjork, who coined the term in 1994, describes desirable difficulty as a task that requires considerable effort. Certainly, difficult tasks slow down the learning process at first. But, such tasks yield greater long-term benefits than easy tasks. Hence, Mark offers this formula:
Deliberate Practice + Desirable Difficulty = Durable Learning
A great way to achieve this is through stretch goals. As a result, you go from strength to strength – little by little. Consequently, over time your ceiling becomes your floor. However, Pastor Batterson cautions, if you start too fast, you’ll finish slow! Therefore, you need to pace yourself- which is the genius of kaizen.
Emil Zatopek, the greatest runner of all time, measured five foot seven and weighed 145 pounds. In addition, he possessed little natural talent and ran with an unorthodox style. Thus, sportswriters said he ran like a man who’d been stabbed in the heart. Yet, in the three years prior to the 1952 Olympics, Zatopek won sixty-nine races in a row.
Furthermore, while on sentry duty, he’d run in place in his combat boots for hours. And he often carried his wife on his back when he ran. Also, Mark adds, “Success will not be shortchanged, and it never goes on sale.”
Finally, Mark underscores, if you want to fly the pennant, you need to fly the kite. How? You:
- commit yourself to kaizen
- embrace desirable difficulty as a gift from God
- set stretch goals
- make decision against yourself
- define the win
Today’s question: What Bible verses support you in making decisions against yourself? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “God ideas change the course of history”
