Be Prepared. Be Patient

You're tuned into Made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Justin Lester is an average guy who refuses to let Mondays control him. Justin is a husband, dad, pastor, student, and Jesus follower. He's done a lot. He's learned a lot, and he wants to see you at your best. Let's win Mondays. Hey, Justin. What's up today?

Well, hey, everyone. Welcome to Made for Mondays. It's been a while since it's been just you and me talking about how to master our Mondays, but let's jump right back into this. I pray you've been blessed by all of the amazing leaders and innovators and doers and dreamers and change agents that have come on and Made for Mondays to help you frame your Mondays, to jump into your Mondays and run forward and be all that you know you're destined and able to be. Here's the things I want you to grab a hold of in those regards. I want you to grab a hold of the fact that those leaders, those innovators, those dreamers and change agents are of all different ages, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, educational achievements all over the board, which tells me one thing. You, no matter where you are, can be an amazing, amazing leader in this world. I believe the world right now is dying because of leaders and leadership and poor leadership. And I believe that you can be one who. Who can be that effective, powerful change agent. The world is begging for that. Your gift is what fits and changes our whole community. So I pray you were blessed by all of them. So let's jump into our time together. What is today? What are we talking about today? What are we jumping into today? Well, if you don't know and if you were listening to the conversations earlier, you may have grabbed a hold of it, but I just purchased my first home along with my wife. And it's been such a journey. It's been powerful. It's been a great, great situation that we were able to jump, that we were simply blessed to get in. And one of the first purchases we made was a grill. I was looking forward to making two purchases, and that was my first lawnmower and my first grill. Went to the store, got the grill, and I was so excited. And there were two things I was looking forward to making on the grill. Number one, ribs and number two, brisket. I just couldn't wait to make them. And you know that these companies, like these barbecue places you go to that cook them, like, perfectly. They are so expensive. And so I said, man, if I'm gonna make ribs, I'm Gonna make ribs. I'm gonna make brisket. I'm not gonna get a plate where I can choose one. I'm going to make my own. And so one day came along, and I was going to make brisket. And as I was going to make brisket, I looked it up on Google the night before, sorry, the night, the day of. And I said, you know what? I'm going to make myself brisket for breakfast, for dinner tonight. And I realized that brisket takes a long time to make. Here's the process of the brisket. If you've never made brisket, let me tell you how you make brisket. First of all, you have to purchase the brisket, which more than likely isn't at your local grocery store. You have to find a butcher shop. Then after you purchase the brisket, you have to season the brisket. The brisket has to be seasoned overnight to sit in the seasonings to get into the brisket. After you season the brisket, then you need to make sure that you have the wood chips you need for smoking it because it has to be low and slow or in your slow cooker that you have all of that prepared for your brisket. Then after everything is prepared, y', all, the brisket takes anywhere between six to eight hours to cook. I want to let that sink in. Six to eight hours. So here's what I did. I realized that moment I couldn't get the brisket. So the next day we went and found a butcher shop that was local and nearby. And after we went and found the butcher shop, I purchased this big slab of brisket. I took that brisket home and I got myself prepared, put my seasonings on it, put everything together, put the wood chips in water to get the smoke ready for those wood chips. After we did all of that, let that sit overnight. The next day, I got up at 6am, got my grill ready at 6am while the sun was just coming up, I was already outside grilling because I knew if I wanted to eat dinner, I needed to start cooking at 6am and Y', all, that evening I had my brisket. So why did I tell you that? Long story. I want you to go into this week owning two statements. Be patient and be prepared. Be patient and be prepared. I had to prepare extravagantly and extensively in order to have the brisket, and I had to be patient with the brisket. The process that I wanted to cook on one day took me almost three days till I actually got to the end goal. It was something as simple as brisket and if that's the simple thing we have for brisket, imagine what that would look like for us to carry that over into our workplaces and jobs. Now, trust me, I understand we have people that we're working for and people that we're leading that want and demand results immediately. Trust me, as I pastor a church, as I be part of our community, I understand that we have individuals around us who need things immediately. But can I tell you something? Often the individuals who demand things immediately are the people who aren't doing anything in the first place. If you as a leader, you, as someone who understands the importance of doing things with intelligence, with integrity, never confuse what others call important as something that you need to stop and deal with urgency, right? That you are so passionate and powerful, that your time is so important because you know the impact that your time has into the world, even the time that it takes for you to make concrete decisions. Now, I'm not saying wait for perfection and you don't pursue anything. I am saying be intentional with your time and let your time lead you and guide you. And so I want you to be patient and be prepared. I want you to go into this week with patience, and I want you to go into this week with preparation. So I want you to ask yourself these questions. First of all, what are the things you need to prepare today as you drive, as you go to work, as you're on a train? Whatever it is, what are the things you need to prepare so that this week you don't miss it? Whatever your it is, what do you need to prepare? What is it in your life right now, what lists you need to prepare, what meetings you need to prepare for, what people you need to prepare for. I want to challenge you to make sure you have a buffer in between your meetings. Make sure you end meetings earlier and don't let meetings go over so you have a buffer to be prepared. Be prepared. I told you about the brisket. I had to to find a place to go. I had to get the seasonings together, had to let it sit in my refrigerator overnight. I had to heat the grill up. I had to make sure the chips were ready. I had to make sure everything was ready to prepare and then notice. I had to be prepared to be patient. I did all of that preparation to still let something sit for six to 12 hours. I want you to not only be prepared as you go into the space, but I want you to be patient, and I want you to prepare yourself for patience. I want you to prepare yourself for patience. Where are the Areas in your life that you rush that you need to prepare for. Patience. You know, one of the things I've learned is that there's nothing more arrogant than someone who thinks they don't need a proofreader. Prepare and be patient and wrestle with the fact that there's places you need to be patient. So what are the points of power I want to give you today? What are the points of purpose to give you today? So here's the first point of purpose I'll give you. Number one. If you seek clarity, you'll gain clarity. If you seek clarity, you'll gain clarity. Go into this week being prepared, but also in that preparation. Be clear in your preparation. If you seek for it, Bible tells us this. If you seek for it, you'll find it. If you knock the door open, if you seek for clarity, you will gain clarity. And go into this week as clarity seekers. Even be willing to challenge the people around you to make sure that every engagement and everything you engage in is clear. That way, when you're clear on something on the front end, you don't waste your time in the process and you protect yourself as you go into the places you're running into. Number two, don't go into something with the end in mind. Go into it with you in mind. Don't go into this week with the end in mind. Go into it with you in mind. Here's the question I want you to ask yourself this week. What are you hoping to get out of this week that's essential for your well being? What are you hoping to get out of this week that is essential for you to begin to be happy? I didn't go into and prepare the brisket for and look at the end in mind what it'd be like to sit down and eat. I prepared with me in mind how powerful it would be for me to know that on my first grill, in my first house, I was able to cook brisket. No matter how perfect or tender or rough or or meaty or juicy or whatever it was. Because I'm not going to tell you how it turned out. But I went into it with me in mind. I'm going to be okay with whatever turns out with my brisket. I'm going to be okay with how I cooked it. I'm going into this saying I'm going to learn how to cook brisket. If I succeed this time, great. If I fail this time, great. I'm going into this set with me in mind. I didn't go into it with the end in mind. I went into it with me in mind. What are you hoping to leave this week with? What are you hoping to leave out of this week knowing that you learned this week? And here's the last point of purpose I'll give you. You are not. You are an asset. You are not a liability. You are worth being invested in and you are worth investing. You are an asset and not a liability. Go into this week preparing, going to this week with patience because you are not a liability. You are an asset. You can do amazing work. You can do amazing things. You can be an amazing individual because you are one. Listen. You were made for this. You were made to conquer your week. You were made for Mondays. Let's say our affirmation statement this week and let's go into this week and be the best we possibly can be. Repeat after me. Say, I am me. I can be me. No one will stop me from being me. This feels great, doesn't it? You were made for this. Go win your Mondays. Have a great day.

This has been Made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Be sure to follow Justin online at mrjlester and online at www.jlester.com. see you next week. Go win. You were made for this.