Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach

wrock and today's episode we're asking

the question is your mind full and this

comes from a Wall Street Journal article

called why all in is no recipe for

success I I found the title interesting

and the substance of the article even

more so because the article was about

something called hyperfocus which is the

kind of single-mindedness you get when

you're chasing one big goal when you're

building your life around one thing that

you're convinced if you can accomplish

or you can obtain will make your life

meaningful so this could be anything

from running a marathon to achieving at

work to getting married having children

etc etc we're different people with

different kinds of interests but often

times we do gravitate towards hyperfocus

another good test of hyperfocus is that

what's the one thing in your life

through which you evaluate everything

else so if you're running a marathon

things that help you get there become

good things that don't help you get

there become bad not because they're

intrinsically good or bad but just

because all you really want is that one

thing and we think of hyperfocus as the

price we have to pay to achieve that's

kind of what movies or books or or kind

of our own minds tell us that hey if you

want to do anything great you have to be

hyperfocused but increasingly research

is telling us that's actually not true

in fact hyperfocus can lead to burnout

which is when you begin to hate the

thing that you once thought would make

you happy it increases your fear of

failure because after all if you've

spent a great deal of time aiming at one

thing and you don't get there what does

that mean and actually it weakens us it

it it actually makes us less focused and

and and more tired which actually can

diminish our performance what studies

are beginning to show is that Nobel

Prize winners professional athletes

entrepreneurs uh overwhelmingly their

lives are actually more well-rounded

than we think they are driven and

focused people but they tend to

diversify that Focus across multiple

Pursuits not just

one thing now the reason why I say this

is because yet again research is showing

us something the Bible has been saying

for a while consider that in the Old

Testament God is leading Israel out of

Egypt into the promised land where they

are going to establish a country uh they

are going to have to uh domesticate a

land to fend off enemies they have a lot

of work to do but from the very

beginning God builds in a system where

every Sabbath day they're going to rest

rest that's because God is systematizing

the idea that they're not just workers

they are also worshippers they're also

human beings who need to rest he's

building into the system a

diversification of focus Jesus lived

this way you know Jesus only had three

years of public Ministry which is not a

lot of time to do all the things that

Jesus had to do and yet when you read

the gospels like passages like Mark 6

for example you'll see that he regularly

took time to rest and recharge to

diversify his Focus Ecclesiastes tells

us this Ecclesiastes 3 says there's a

season for this and a season for that

it's telling us that life just doesn't

sink up with

single-mindedness different seasons call

for different speeds and different

emotions uh but here's the real thing

hyperfocus tends to stem from idolatry

it tends to come from this idea that if

I want to be happy if I want to have

meaning and purpose I have to have this

one thing so when Jesus in Matthew 11

tells us that he came to lead us to rest

what he's telling us is that he came to

set us free from the gods that enslave

us it's not that Jesus doesn't want you

to run a marathon or achieve at work or

be married or whatever it is you're

dreaming about it's that he came to

remind you to show you to teach you that

even if you never have those things your

life has meaning and purpose eternally

your place in the kingdom of God is Not

based on any of those things listen are

you tired I know you might be telling

yourself I actually just need to keep

pushing to achieve listen if that's how

you feel we are the same person I

understand that but what research in the

Bible are telling you is not just that

that one thing can ruin you but that

actually to be your best in pursuit of

that one thing you need to think about

other things stop laying aside the other

other things God has called you to in

pursuit of that one thing diversify your

focus and as a result you'll be happier

less anxious and actually more able to

perform and parents by the way let's

make sure we're raising kids who

intrinsically get this I know you

believe your son's going to be the next

shortstop for the Cleveland guardians

but maybe take three months off of

baseball let him do something else teach

him life is more than whatever it is

that we're chasing let's tra Chase

dreams let's be people who aim big let's

be people of ambition but let's also be

people of rest hey thanks so much for

watching this episode of wake up lookup

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