Talk Notes
Trying Versus Training – Talk Notes
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My name is Craig Booker. In this episode, we’ll be talking about Trying Versus Training. But it’s on The Power to Change by Craig Groeschel. This is all from his book, okay, I am taking this and kind of adding stuff to it that applies to mental health, but it’s all inspired by his work. I want to make sure and give him credit for that
Alright, so you know, past weeks we’ve been talking about uh last week we talked about goals and establishing goals and you know the real importance about having goals uh in here in the notes I I talked about going through a quick review on why goals are important goals give us Direction and they give us inspiration right we need direction where to focus our efforts we also need to be inspired about what we’re doing uh so just like Paul we must realize that having a goal is not enough. We need to define our win like I was saying we need to know what it looks like when we’re being successful so uh it it doesn’t necessarily mean that that is like the finish line and it’s over but that means we know we’re doing well in that particular area so this week we are kind of taking that a step further and we’re the title is trying versus training okay and we’ll go into detail here about what the differences are between the two or the first question what do winners do differently the people that are succeeding that in whatever area whether you know it’s leading their family maybe it’s in their business uh maybe it’s in other relationships what are they doing differently that works right so this quote is from Craig Groeschel he says winners don’t try they train another quote from Pastor Craig’s book defining your win is how you begin like it’s the starting point and they you know we say remember defining the win is not how you win but how you begin the question is how do we win and his whole thing is we stop trying and when I read over that about like stop trying I’m like okay like I’m not gonna quit but what he is saying is that we don’t go about change or what we’re trying to do by trying we’re going at this in a different approach and why it’s because trying doesn’t work if you look back at all the things you’ve tried to do and failed most likely you failed because you were trying and not training Craig Groeschel says trying is an attempt to do the right thing by exerting effort in the moment so let’s let’s stop there again because it’s really important that we understand the differences here trying is an attempt to do the right thing by exerting effort in the moment if you think about you know significant things in history and people that made a really big impact in history they didn’t just show up in the moment and try really hard no matter who it is they at some point you know maybe they didn’t take this they didn’t have this whole concept of training but they had some really intentional effort over time and it just didn’t happen overnight and it was just all of a sudden I tried really hard if we want to create lasting change we need to switch from trying to training so it’s a mindset shift about how we’re going to go about change when we’re talking about mental health struggles if you struggle with mental health or someone else you know and desire desire positive change in your life you will not get there simply by trying hard let me tell you it won’t work trying hard is not enough when it comes to our mental health it requires more so most likely you’ve already kind of taken that approach and we’re disappointed with results if it were you uh or if it were a friend you’ve probably seen them try really hard to make a positive change in their mental health and they just fail and come up frustrated if we keep working to implement change in this way just trying really hard you’re likely to end up depressed and defeated if you want different results it will require intentional and deliberate practice over time so you can call it what you want but this is the type of approach that’s going to yield results it’s going to yield fruit for you this approach is really important I don’t want to move too fast through that but we also need to realize that we need more power I would like to also note that just because you’re intentional and practiced deliberately over a set period of time it doesn’t mean you’re going to succeed at this and you may be and Craig you just told me that if I switch from just trying real hard to training then I will have like positive impact on whatever I’m trying to do and you will right but a lot of times just doing that just relying on your own human effort is not enough so changes to our mental health and often involve trauma and other factors that I kind of talk about I call them layers right they it involves other things so relying only on human power alone whether you’re a trying or training often leads to defeat okay so I’ve introduced this new concept of okay we’re gonna train instead of try right we’re going to intentionally do something over time trying to get better and better at something to have a positive impact or a positive change in our life but we also need to realize that we can’t do that alone and only our human power we are gonna need a power that’s greater than us we’re going to need to go to God right and seek God as well while we’re doing our training so we might us learn to acknowledge our limitations and understand the power that is available as today the reality for us as humans is that our human power is limited and quickly dries up we run out we get tired we get exhausted we get frustrated and we run out of motivation and that’s why we also need to seek God for power that we don’t have so I want to read this it’s Ephesians 1 chapter 1 verse 19 and 20 and in the NLT it says I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe in him this is the same Mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the Heavenly Realms we’re going to need to approach us differently we’re going to need to shift our approach from just trying really hard to a training approach but we’re also going to need to seek God for help for his power so we’re going to dig into this in more detail later in future lessons I want I pray for you guys and for anyone listening to this is that you’ll understand incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe in him if you understand the power that’s available to you you can realize that anything is possible with God if we take this different approach and we’re seeking God for power for the strength to do this and keep going it can yield positive results all right so I talk about a training mentality no one in history accomplished anything great just because they try real hard in one way or another they were intentional much like an athlete goes into training to prepare for a competition all right so First Corinthians 9 25 and the NIV everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training then First Corinthians 9 26 through 27 in the New Living Translation says so I run with purpose in every step I am not just Shadow Boxing I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it should otherwise I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified this is Paul speaking and you can see his approach he acknowledges the need for training all right and the next section I talk about these Greek definitions of discipline this is coming from Pastor Craig Groeschel’s book, The Power to Change and it says the word translated discipline is the Greek word hippo piazzo literally meaning to hit under the eye Paul chose an intense word to declare that he would he would do whatever it took to win and then the word training this is also from Pastor Craig Groeschel’s book it says Paul continued trading his body to do what it should the word training is from the Greek do do log go go I may have got that wrong which means to enslave all right uh also says Paul entered into a life of training and encourage others to do the same to do the same he told his ministry of Prince Timothy train yourself to be Godly first Timothy 4 7. all right another alternative definition for training that Craig Groeschel gave it in his book is training is training is doing today what you can do today so you can do tomorrow what you can’t do today right so we’re gonna do today what we can do today so that tomorrow we’ll do what we can’t do right now today another quote is I do today what I can do today through strategic habits we’re going to set up strategic habits that help us get to where we’re wanting to go all right so a big point that Pastor Craig brings up it’s important to kind of reflect on this is can trying prevent relying on God like if we’re just trying we’re relying on our own strength is that going to prevent us from relying on God here’s a quote from his book as as I have lived this I I’ve wondered if another more subtle distinction is that trying can prevent relying when I try I do what I can in my strength trying can keep me from allowing God to give me his strength so that he can do in and through me what I cannot alright so another quote from his book by trying I may be unintentionally denying God’s gracious offer to to make his power perfect in my weakness second Corinthians 12 9 by training we’re going to invite God into the process and we’re going to be intentional we’re going to set up strategic habits that help us get there and and we’re going to be relying on God’s power not just human power so there’s an exercise here and we don’t have to do it now we’re just going to go over it real quick but it asks people to write down like what have you tried to change in the past but failed at like and to list those things at and then what are some strategic habits you could Implement through training Okay so we’ve we’re acknowledging things that we’ve tried to do in the past but somehow failed to do them and then we’re looking at strategic habits that would help us maybe achieve that goal here’s the example that was given in in Craig Groeschel’s book it’s to forgive someone who hurt you that is the goal we’re going to write out verses Jesus taught on forgiveness uh we’re gonna also write out offenses God or others has forgiven you for so we’re going to write out what Jesus taught about forgiveness and then we’re going to also as a second part we’re going to write out things that we’ve potentially done that have offended other people or hurt other people that either God or other people has forgiven us for that’s just an example of how we might go about learning to forgive someone who hurt us okay so that was the overall goal and the way we might have a strategic habit or an exercise that helps us to forgive that person that hurt us it’s the same way no matter what we’re doing whether me wanting to write a book or become a writer I’m gonna in private every day or on a schedule I’m going to put in time to become a better writer and when I decide to publish a book that’s going to be the public view of what I’ve or the public result of what I’ve done day after day in private they don’t always see the struggle of I’m exhausted I have no more energy I don’t want to do this God help me give me that power to keep going to be disciplined they don’t see them seeking God and saying I need your help to keep moving forward and that’s what we’re bringing to light in this lesson so here’s our recap of the lesson uh we’re we’re saying that trying doesn’t work training does trying is an attempt to do the right thing by exerting effort in the moment training is a commitment to strategic habits you do before the moment that equip you to the to do the right thing in the moment the passage of scripture here is 1 Corinthians 9:25 – 27 in the New Living Translation. All athletes are disciplined in their training they do it to win a prize that will fade away but we do it for an eternal prize so I run with purpose in every step I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it should. That’s all for this episode. Thank you for watching. If you liked the video, give us a thumbs up, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes.
