Finish Well: Evaluate

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. I pray you guys are having a great Monday, however you're starting your day. I've gotten some really great emails and notes from some of you that start your day and say that you listen to this while you're working out. Some of you listen to this while you're driving to work. Some of you listen to this while you're making breakfast. And whatever you do and whatever you're doing, happy Monday morning to you or happy whatever day of the week you listen to this, you are Made for Monday. As we get into December, welcome to December, the last day, the last month of the year, the last leg of this year. And oh my gosh, 2020 has been a year. I wanted to do a short series this month of December. I anticipated doing some things with my wife. We're actually, we're going to do that on our own separate and personal podcast together as a couple. And so I wanted to end this year differently here in December for us here at Made for Mondays. And I wanted to engage today and this month about finishing the year well. Finishing the year well. Don't hear that in a toxic way. By no means telling you to grab every single thing you started this year and finish it. By no means am I telling you to grab every single thing we engage in to finish it. Any other year, I would tell you finish the year well in this month of December, but I think this year is a little different. We're telling us to have the type of mindset is very toxic because going into January of 2021 could actually be no different than being in December of 2020. But there still is something about the changing of the time from 11:59 to 12:01. And yes, if I don't change things today, things won't be different tomorrow. And nothing is going to change in that minute. But you know what may change is a mindset. The last couple of weeks, personally, I've been wrestling with the privilege behind changing mindsets. There's a privilege behind behind having the ability to pause and change your mindset. And for those of you listening to this, I want to bring you into my own personal journey, but also challenge you on changing your mindset. Because there might be something that actually does shift 11:59 to 12:01. Like there's a reason why it's a big deal that I'm not going to work out today, but there's something about working out tomorrow. It's a big deal for some people and for some of us where I'm not going to make that decision today. I'm going to complete that tomorrow. So for those of you who are ending this year, I want to challenge you in ending your year. And the first thing I want to challenge you to do that today and this week is to evaluate. Evaluate. I believe numbers are powerful. Every number has a name, every name has a story. Every single number in your life, whether that's the number behind your time, the number behind your resources, the number behind your friendships, every single number has a name and every name has a story. What are the numbers in your life? What's the story they're telling you when you look at how much money you spent, when you look at where your money is going, when you look at your time and when you look at where a majority of your time has gone, what's the story that your numbers are telling? What is the story of your life that your numbers tell about your life? I want you to evaluate your 2020 and give yourself an honest evaluation. I'm not telling you to beat yourself up because I think a lot of us can look back at our January and see everything we plan to do in January by the end of this didn't happen. Not because we didn't want it to happen, but, you know, things were closed and we were shut down and there were masks and there was distance. For me personally, I pastor a church and we had some amazing goals for this year in terms of buildings and in terms of numbers and services and things like that, that literally could not happen. Not because we didn't possess the ability, not because we didn't possess the skill set. But I can't expect to go to three services in our worship experiences if we literally haven't been able to be entire building and have more than one service. So I want you to have an honest evaluation of your year. Where are you today? And when you compare yourself to where you were in January, where are you today? When you look at the person that you desired and believe that you could become this year, where are you? And what is the gap between the person you believed you were going to be by the end of this year and the person you are right? Whether that's in mindsets, whether that's in thinking or you're feeling or you're doing. When you look at what you believed you were going to become by the end of the year and the person you actually are, what is the gap between that individual? Told you before, and I'll say it again, never compare yourself to others, but compare yourself to the best version of yourself. What's in the gap? How far are you from that individual? Or have you surpassed that person? And whatever you need to do to fill that gap, fill it. Nobody is stopping you from becoming all of you, outside of you. And so if that's reading, if that's study, if that's time with your family, if that's time with loved ones, if that's relationships, if that's finishing working on something, if that's writing, if that's school, if that's completion, if that's mindsets, whatever it is, what is in between the gap between you being the person that you knew were capable of becoming this year and the person you are right now? If you surpassed it, God bless you. Now, here's what I want you to do. If you surpass the best vision of yourself for this year and you surpassed it, here's what I want you to think about. What did you pass? Like, when you think about the best version of yourself and where you are right now, what's the gap between what you thought was the best version of yourself and how you surpassed yourself? What did you pass and what's in that gap? And what can you master in that gap to bring into 20, 21? Right. The gap is what's going to bring you from good to great. The gap is what's going to bring you from mediocre to magnificent. The gap is what's going to bring you beyond. So when you look at where you are and where you want to be or where you are right now in terms of good things and where you surpassed what's in the gap? Maintain, manage and hold your gap. My pastor used to put it like this. He said, justin, raise the bar and keep the bar. A lot of leaders fail because we raise the bar and we don't keep it. I want you to raise the bar and keep the bar. And the way that you can even sustain your organization is by teaching other people how to keep the bar that you raised. Another place of evaluation this week is not only where are you? But what's going inside of you. And by going inside of you, I mean in your thinking. I want you to think about the podcast you've listened to this year. If you listen to four or five podcasts, what podcasts can you eliminate so you can add different podcasts to your repertoire? Different next year. So, for example, if you listen to four different podcasts, what two podcasts can you eliminate so you can add two different ones next year? What about those podcasts? Unearth something inside of you that you can deepen your knowledge in that area and remove certain podcasts from your life. There's podcasts I listen to all week long and there's two of them I can tell you I'm going to completely remove from my life going into 2021 so that I can add two different podcasts to deepen the knowledge of what can came out of the podcast I listened to. You change what's coming in. You change the direction you move and the pace you're moving. The same thing goes for books. What books did you read this year that you need to reread again next year? What books did you read this year that you need to just throw on your shelf and be a really good zoom background? But what topics came out of those books that you need to purchase immediately so you can jump into next year? What people in your life do you need to deepen your relationships with? What people in your life do you need to take an honest assessment and take a step back. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. Remember, some relationships are seasonal. There are some relationships that are only good for you for a certain time and certain segment of your life, and that's absolutely okay. And there's some relationships that will never leave you. I have certain friendships in relationships. I have very few friends personally, and I don't say that in an arrogant way. I There are very few people that get beyond the veil in my life, and that's really done intentionally. And every single year, different people are coming into my life and different people exit my life. Not in negative ways, not falling out, but simply we outgrew each other and that's absolutely okay. Either they outgrew me, I outgrew them. Their life went one direction, my life went a different direction. We're in a different city in a different area, and that's absolutely okay. But don't try to bring something into next year that doesn't need to be there. Evaluate what needs to stay and what needs to go. And when you evaluate your time, what needs to stay on your calendar and what needs to go off your calendar, how are you structuring your week? How are you engaging in your week in a healthy manner? Hear this. That if we're talking about entrepreneurship and applying more to our lives and managing the 168 hours of our lives, and we're working for 40 to 60 hours a week, what are you doing to mine your 40 to 60 hours? To perfect your 40 to 60 hours so that work stays at work, home comes home, and your hobbies are able to flow between both of them. I want you to get to a place, I want to challenge you, where you're able to do your 40 hour a week job in 25 so you have more time for your hobbies and more time for your personal life. I want you to evaluate yourself this week. I want you to take an honest assessment of where you are. And here's the good news. I want you to know you are so much better off than you really think you are. My son and I have an appointment every single Friday called Basketball with Daddy. And every single Friday, my son and I play basketball. Not first, my son really wanted to play basketball. And no matter what it was, I would tell him we would play. And there was one Friday, my son, he was picked up from daycare. And at the end of the day, my wife called me in the car and on Bluetooth, and my son kept screaming. He said, daddy, I can't wait to play basketball with you. And I was sitting at work, I had two more meetings to go. I felt horrible. And I said, from that moment forward, every single Friday when my son gets out of daycare, I will make sure that I play basketball with my child. That became the number one thing I look forward to now on Fridays or every Friday, I make sure. And I realized there were certain things I was doing on Fridays I didn't need to do. Certain people, certain times I was scheduling meetings, I didn't need to schedule them. That kept me from getting home before the sun went down to play 10 minutes of basketball with my son. Can he dribble? Barely. Can he shoot? No. Can he run around a court? No. But it gives me life. It reminds me of why I do what I do. I had to evaluate my meetings, my email structure, all for one thing, and that was for my son to play basketball with Daddy. As you go into your week, what are you looking forward to doing the most this week? For some of you, yes, it's basketball with your child. It's playing playhouse with your children. It's watching a certain television show, it's going someplace on Saturday, it's doing something Friday night. It's a date you have this week. Whatever it is, build Your week around what gives you life because I guarantee you'll begin to get rid of the frivolous and you'll function. What really you really need to function in your life is so much better than you think it is. Your job is so much easier than you think it is. Evaluate this week and make your own life easier without changing your workload. Finish the year well by starting with evaluation and evaluation. We'll talk next week about evolution. Evaluate, evolve, evaluate and then evolve. The last thing I'll give you this today and before we go and say our affirmations evolve as you go into this day, as you go into this week. If you were to quit your job tomorrow, what is the first thing your successor would come into your job and do? I want you to do that today. If you were to quit your job tomorrow, what is the first thing your successor, when they hire them, would come in and change and come in and do. I want you to do that today. Success isn't success without succession. Always prepare for the next because you're learning so that you can go to the next. But help the company and organization you're in today by preparing for their next while you prepare for yours as well. All right. That's all I have to give you today. Have a wonderful Monday. You were made for this. I'll say your affirmation and go into our day. Simply repeat after me, say, I am me. I can be me, and no one will stop me from being me. You were made for this. Have a wonderful, beautiful Monday. You're going to win today. God bless you.

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