#222: Consuming vs. Creating Challenge (Overcomer Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to the Overcomer series. My name is Shelly Hitz and in this series my husband CJ and I will walk you through some steps to help you overcome in your writing, publishing and marketing of your books. This series was originally recorded as live videos inside Christian Book Academy. And so if you would like to join us and be able to stay spend time with us live, then join us@christianbookacademy.com we wanted this series to also be able to encourage you. So I hope that you enjoy it and leave us a review and let us know how this podcast is encouraging your writing. We would love to hear from you. Enjoy this episode. Today our topic is the Consuming versus Cross creating challenge. This was just something God gave me. The other day I was actually taking a bath. I've been taking baths almost every day now for a long time. You know, it's just something that's a way that relaxes me. If you've heard of the documentary, the book called Blue Mind, there's actually scientific research that shows the more time we spend around or in water, it can significantly decrease our stress and give us well being. So anyways, I was in the bathtub and I was reading Compound Effect and and he was talking in that book about one of the number one things that you can do to make changes in your life and to accomplish significant things in your life is to track and to implement tracking in whatever you want to change. And he, you know, he says, you know, it's like been the single thing that he's seen to be most effective for himself, but also other people. This is Darren Hardy in the Compound Effect and he challenged us in the book to think about what is the one thing we wanted to change and to track at least seven days and then after that seven days to consider tracking it for a total of 21. And so I was like, okay, what is it for me, for me, I really want to be creating more. I want to be working on my next book. I want to be creating art just for me. I want to be doing more of that. And yet it just seems like life is busy, right? There's always, always distractions. There's always things that lure us away or that, you know, you can get into that take Your time. So all of a sudden the Lord gave me this idea for this challenge, the creating or the consuming versus creating challenge. And so what I've been doing is I decided to track just like Darren suggests. And you, you know, cj, you've seen a lot of, you know, benefits in tracking. I know you're going to share some of that testimony later. But, you know, what I decided to do is I just got out this little notebook, just found this in the cupboard. But you can use any little notebook, spiral bound notebook or whatever. And then I just decided each day I would start tracking like everything I was consuming. And for me it tends to be Instagram or Facebook and it tends to be hgtv. That's just what I tend to do. So those are the things. And then on the other side, I would write how much time I spent in creating, whether it's writing or art or some form of creative work. And I literally would write down every single minute. Because Darren Hardy talks about this in the compound effect that for your tracking to be effective, you have to like write down every little thing. And you know, if it's finances for your budget, you're writing down, if you're spending, you know, a dollar on this, $5 on this, you know, and he's like, you know, when he was doing it, it would get to the point where he'd be like, oh, I don't want to write this in my notebook, so I'm not going to get it. But.

Some really interesting things started to happen. I started to create something every day because I was being intentional and I didn't track it this last week because I was gone. And to be honest, I didn't even barely have time to check my email. I mean, I was just checking in to put out fires. And I mean, it was an intense week. I was, you know, teaching 18 hours, three full day workshops. It was worship every night. I mean, it was packed. But the week, the eight days before that, I was starting to see a trend where I was consuming and creating about the same amount. So it wasn't out of balance. So I'm still giving myself permission to consume. So whatever it is that you're consuming, maybe it's even reading books or other things. But many times we're taking in information, information, information, but we're not actually creating and doing the things that God has given to us. And so just track can really help make you aware of what you're doing. And I want to really challenge you. Is there anyone right now that's willing to do this challenge with me over the next seven days. So it's a consuming versus creating challenge, whatever that means for you. You know, what you typically consume. Social media, tv, Some of you might even be video games, reading books, whatever it is, YouTube videos. Right. Whatever it is that you consume. And then whatever it is you want to create, for most of you, it's writing. Right. I mean, you're wanting to finish your book, you want to write a new book, you're wanting to even, you know, write social media posts, blog posts and things like that. And, you know, if you're willing to do this challenge with me, just let me know in the comments. Rebecca says, me, yay. It really a significant thing that can change the way that you move forward on your book.

Yeah. And it really brings to mind even that saying that I believe is credited to Beth Moore. At least that's where we first heard it years ago. And that is impression without expression equals.

Depression or leads to depression.

Yeah, it's. I kind of look at it as like a formula, like a math problem in some ways. That's why, you know, hence the equal sign. But, you know, it's so true that when we're impressed with something to create or write or do, and we don't do that, or maybe we know that God's put something on our hearts to actually, you know, be obedient in and create. We don't do really does lead to a depression, sort of a depressed feeling, like either I'm missing out on something.

We. We've all been there when we. We're taking in a lot, but we're not.

There's no outlet, you know, so to speak. And it's even like that that, you know, some people have use the Dead Sea as an illustration. You know, in the Dead Sea, the Jordan river flows into it, but there's no outlet.

Yeah.

And as a result.

That water is very stagnant. And there's nothing that can live in that body of water. It's the saltiest body of water on the planet, that Dead Sea in Israel. And, you know, it's a good illustration of our lives. So we. That we need outlets. We need to be able to create. We were created to create good works, so to speak.

Yeah.

And so it's, you know, that comes to mind, you know, just that saying even.

Yeah. And, you know, it can lead to a lot of emotional weight when we're not creating, when we're not doing those things and we know that God has called us to do it. It can lead to regret. It can lead to, you know, some self sabotage that, you know, all these things can just spiral, you know, and we want to say no to that. We want to say no to the enemy of distraction. Amen. And you can let life happen to you. Getting fired up. Can you tell? You can let life happen to you, or you can choose to be intentional with your time. And I'm getting so fired up because I'm living it too. It's like, I have a business that could take 150% of my time, right? I mean, like, I could be, like, working every minute and still not have enough time. And yet God's like, shelly, I want you to write these books. I'm like, how? Where?

I don't understand. Like, where am I going to fit this in? But it's a matter of being intentional and still giving myself freedom. It's not about being legalistic. It's about the freedom to still consume things, but to be intentional, you know, am I moving forward on this? And you today, you can choose to be intentional with your time, and you can choose to do things with your time that are just going to bring life to you. So instead of that regret, instead of that self sabotage, instead of that depression, you, my friend, are going to come alive. That's what I began to see as I started to do this challenge on day three and four and five. I was like, I am coming to life in a way that I have not come to life for a while. And I realized I had been in a creative drought. Like, I had been creating, you know, curriculum for Christian Book Academy. I had been creating books, blog post, I've been creating podcasts, I've been creating all these other things, But I had not been working on my personal projects, my books. I had not been doing my art just for me. And coming out of that was just like coming alive in a new way. And I want to see that for each one of you.

Yeah, you know, and there's a couple verses. Well, one verse that I want to read, but in two different translations. And it's really just our. Our verse of the. The episode. And it's John 13:17. I'll start off reading the NASB.

It says this, Jesus speaking. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them well. Jesus has just been demonstrating to his disciples.

Servanthood through washing their feet. And of course, he had that exchange with Peter. Peter was like, no, you're not washing my feet. You know, Jesus is just like, this is an example I want to set for you. And I have to do this in order to make you clean, so to speak. And so Jesus sets that example. And we want to kind of take off with this verse to say that we know, you know, when we know the things God's put on our hearts, we're going to be blessed when we actually do do those things. There's a difference, you know, when you think of weight loss, for example, weight loss requires a change in diet and it requires some exercise. The calorie burning, that's just. There's no rocket science. Don't let anyone tell you that there's some fad, quick and easy way to lose weight. You may do it for a little while, but it's going to come back. Fad diets really are just that, they're fads. There's no replacement for changing what goes in our mouths and getting out and actually a little blood, sweat and tears, you know, through the exercise. It's those two things. And we can know all of the great strategies, the great diet plans, we can know how to lose the weight, but until we actually implement those things through a plan, we don't lose weight. And I had to do this myself years ago. I started monitoring on little yellow sticky notes. That's the way I like to monitor. I would monitor everything that I would eat during that whole day and then sort of look at my calorie intake versus my activity and exercise as well, and how many calories I knew I was burning. And let me tell you something, over the course of several years and implementing, you know, running and growing in that sport, I lost over £50. But I did it the good old fashioned blood, sweat and tears way it was. And I use that illustration to say that we can know about all the diet things, but we actually have to do the plan to actually see the weight loss occur.

Yeah. And it's the same way with writing. You can know the pomodoro, right? Like, you can know about it. You can know it, you can know how to outline your book. You can know all the things that we've taught you in this first draft challenge. But at the end, we cannot write the book for you. You have to do it. And you know what? When you really get into that creative flow, it is fun, it is enjoyable. Just like I've been exercising now consistently for a. And now I look forward to it. Like, I get those endorphins and I've worked through that phase and now it's like I enjoy it, you know, and so, you know, it's one of those things that, you know, you have to be intentional, and you have to do it. But just like C.J. did. Maybe you don't want to use a notebook like I did, but maybe you're a sticky note person. Get out a sticky note. Put a line down the center and on the left side, right, consuming. On the right side, put creating. And then put every single minute that you're consuming, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, whatever it is, tv, you know, on the right side, every minute you spend creating and start tracking that, that brings awareness. And that awareness can bring change.

Yeah. And there's another translation that we've read many times on these live videos, and that's the passion translation, the TPT. So I want to read that same verse, John 13:17, in the TPT, which is. So now put into practice. There's a keyword. Practice what I have done for you, and you will experience a life of happiness enriched with untold blessings. So again, there's that correlation between knowing and actually doing in terms of the results, the blessings, the. The happiness, you know, that's what it means to be blessed. It means to be fulfilled or happy, so to speak. Literally translated. But I remember.

Years ago, I've always loved basketball, and basketball was just a passion of mine through high school and even into college. I loved watching the NCAA basketball tournament every year, otherwise known as March Madness. Some of you enjoy that. Maybe you've got spouses that enjoy that. But when I was younger, I would watch game after game after game, and yet there was always that point where I got tired of watching, and I just had to go outside and put my own skills to the test. I had to practice myself. You get tired just watching the games on TV all the time. You want to actually get out there and practice yourself. You want to play the game, we want to play the game. Right? And so, you know, it's a good illustration as well, of just saying, okay, you know, it's one thing to see, you know, hear about Max Lucado.

Publishing his 65th book or how many he's published. I mean, the guy is a content machine.

There comes a point where you're like, you know what? I've got a book in me. I know I can encourage people. And you just get tired of hearing about all of these other popular authors putting out yet another book, which you enjoy consuming. I enjoy consuming. We're encouraged by. But there comes a point where you're like, you know what? I have a story, and I want to actually create something that others can consume, because you know what things that we Produce God will use in other people's lives. Yeah, they'll consume those things. And we've got an opportunity to be the encouragers. Instead of always being the ones that are constantly fed, we can then be used by God to share the bread, to feed other people, the bread that God's birth through us. So that's, that's cool. And I had one other little thing that I heard. I actually, actually just came across this today. Some of you are familiar with a pastor named David Platt. He's written several books. He's a pastor back in the Virginia area, I believe. But David Platt was telling a story about a friend of his that he met and he knew who's a missionary over in Himalayas. And he knew that this man before his family and had moved to this country in the Himalayas to do ministry. He says, you were a pastor before. What prompted you to just take your family and move and become missionaries and start doing this? And the guy was hesitant. His name was Aaron and he says, do you really want to know? And David plouts, you know, like I've already asked you a couple times. Yeah, I want to know what, what's going on. And he's, he was hesitant, but he says the bottom line is, is I just got tired of talking.

I just got tired of talking, talking.

About it versus doing something about it.

And he didn't want to offend David because he knew David does a lot of talking and speaking. And you know, what he meant though was that in his ministry he felt like he was speaking a lot about.

Helping people break free from bondage. I mean, when he had gone on a hiking trip to the Himalayas, this is where he had been captured by the Lord. You know, he saw sex trafficker, sex traffickers taking 10 year old girls. And in the process, I mean, he met sex traffickers that were doing this.

There were the country he was hiking in, their problems, their kids were dying of diarrhea because of lack of clean water. There was just one thing after another that he saw. And he, he had been talking a lot about, you know, we can do this to help and this and this and this.

Yet at the end of the day he just said, we can help in a very literal way by going over there. And that's not going to be everybody. But that was his story. And he basically just said, I got tired of just talking about it and I needed to go do something about it in terms of what I could, the change I could affect over there. And I think you and I, you know, there might be Areas of our lives that we're just tired of talking and we're ready to start walking.

Yeah.

And that's something that I am convicted by in many areas. And the Lord will continue to work that out in my own life in terms of areas that I need to quit just talking and actually doing. And for. For those of us, we have books or things that we need to continue putting pen to paper, fingers to typewriters, computers, in order to get those things done that God has called us to share. It is blood, sweat, and tears in the process. But there's going to be blessings as. As Jesus mentions in John 13:17. There's a blessing in helping to feed others as well and doing, you know, going from knowing to doing.

Yeah. And like C.J. and I often say, we are in this with you. And this is actually coming out of my own desire to get back into writing. God's given me, actually the next several books in the Broke Crayon series. And I'm just like, okay, where am I gonna find the time? Well, he's starting to show me. But also it just, like I said, it makes me come alive when I'm doing the things that are creative that I'm creating and I'm moving forward on these things, or I'm just creating art just for me. But there will always be distractions that can keep you from your writing. Can I get an amen?

There will always be distractions that can keep you from your writing, but you can change how you respond to those distractions. And so what is it for you? What are those distractions for you? For me, it was some things that I was consuming versus I could move some of that time of consuming over to the creating, get more balanced, and then move forward and, you know, have time in both. But what is it for you? You know, I encourage every single one of you listening, whether or not you're here live, you're listening to the replay or later, to consider doing this. Seven days consuming versus creating challenge. Take whatever piece of paper you have, whatever notebook, put a line in the center, right? Every minute you're consuming something on one side, every minute you're creating, it's going to give you just insight. And I really believe it's going to start helping you to get that momentum. You know, sometimes it's just the hardest thing is just to get the habit started, right? To get the thing going. Whether or not it's like 15 minutes of writing, you know, do it. Next week we're going to be talking about mini habits. And this is another book that I just recently read. And so we're going to be talking about some other things and just the power of moving forward little by little. The small, consistent things that you do on a daily basis or a consistent basis are the things that will change your life, guaranteed. I mean, it happens. I mean, we see it over and over and over again. So we are so excited for all of you. We know I'm seeing in the group, like, all the time now, new books being finished, first drafts being finished, you know, things moving forward. And so I know that many of you are in that process of creating, and so it is so exciting. But I know some of you are also still stuck. You're still not moving forward. And so we want to help you. We are here to serve you, to encourage you, to inspire you. Unfortunately, we cannot do the writing for you.

But we're here in this with you. C.J. is going to pray for us all, and then we will end praying specifically for those of you that are here live.

Yeah. So, Father, we just thank you so much for not only those who are here live with us, but those who are watching the replay and also those who will listen to the podcast. Father, we just thank you so much for all that you're doing through each one of these authors, these Kingdom writers. And we ask, Lord, that you would remove every obstacle that stands in the way between knowing and doing that we would be people of action, that we would actually be people that just. We get antsy and get a little tired of just watching the game, and we want to actually go out and shoot some baskets ourselves and practice our own moves and so to speak, you know, as writers. And so I just pray that you would birth incredible things through each one of us and that the things that we write would bless others in such a way that it's like a feeding. It's that somehow they're being fed something and encouraged.

By you, Lord, in ways that are unique because each one of us are unique as the writer. And so I just pray that you would just win victories over the course this next week. I pray that those that do practice this tracking of their consuming versus creating time, I just pray that they would have some aha moments, perhaps things that they might tweak or change. And we pray that there would be lots of creating, that it would be that perhaps even the C and CBA is creating, you know, book Academy, you know, that. That we can truly be.

Small creators inspired by the creator, capital C. And we thank you for what you're going to do we ask this in Jesus name?

Amen. So the verse that just came to me, it was the verse that was the theme of a ministry CJ spoke with for years. Media Talk 101. And is it Hebrews 12:1?

Yeah. Running the race.

Yeah. Are you able to look that up? My. I have my phone. Okay. But I just got this picture that a lot of us are weighted down, you know, with things, with distractions. And a lot of you already know my testimony. But I have had many addictions. One was an addiction to pornography. And as a married Christian woman, I had that addiction. But God healed me, and he set me free. And, yeah, I've had other addictions as well. One of them is workaholism. I've had an addiction to food and sugar. And yet God, through His mercy and his grace, has taken me one step at a time at a time at a time, one layer at a time at a time. You know, I was addicted to Facebook and to Instagram. I've been addicted to so many things, and yet God is setting me free. He's releasing me of those weights so that I can move forward. And I think some people are like, shelly, how do you get so much done? But part of it is God just keeps freeing me of all the things holding me back. Part of it is we don't have children. So I don't, you know, I don't have that responsibility. But, you know, I want to tell you, I have. God has taken me from this hold all these addictions had on me to this freedom. And now I'm able to flow with him. I'm able to hear his voice create as he leads me. And. Go ahead and read that verse. I just. Really just got that image from that verse as you were praying.

Yeah, it's roman or Hebrews 12, starting in verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down.

Amen.

Especially the sin that so easily trips us up and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping. Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.

Yeah, I just think some of these things, you know, that we're talking about, like the compound effect last week, this week, this creating, consuming versus creating challenge. Next week it'll be, you know, some of these mini habits Some of these things that we're talking about, these are just tools to help you release some of this weight and to move forward in this race. And the things that God has called you to do, the unique assignment that he has given you in the kingdom of heaven. And we want you to move forward. We want to see you shine and do all that God has called you to do. And so I'm excited to continue to hear the breakthroughs, continue to hear the testimonies, continue to hear what God is doing in your life. I know he's continuing to do things in my life. This year has been a health journey. I shared about that on my personal Facebook profile today. It's been a year, and I can see the changes. I can see as I have been implementing these small things day by day, consistently, how God is beginning to change my health. Actually, at Gathering of Artisans, someone that knew me last year, she is like, Shelly, you look younger this year than you looked last year. Praise God. I don't know. I'm so close to myself, but I've been implementing things. I've been exercising regularly. I've been drinking half my body weight in water. I've been eating less sugar and carbs, and it's hard. I was addicted to sugar, literally. They say it's as addictive as cocaine. And I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I'm saying it is going to be worth it. God has a call on your life. Don't give up. Keep moving forward.

Preach it.

Yes. I'm on fire. Even though I'm a little tired, it's like, whoa, let's go.

All right, well, thank you so much. We're going to go ahead and we want to see you move forward. We're cheering for you and we'll see you next time.

Bye bye.

Bye, bye. Thank you so much for spending time with us in this episode. It truly means the world to us. We also have a free gift for you. It's a new PDF that CJ and I recently wrote called 8 surprisingly Simple Writing Tips. Say that 10 times real fast in a row, right? But it's a PDF. You can get instant access just go to trainingauthors.com writingtips we'd love to send that PDF to you right now. And again, it's called called 8 surprisingly simple writing Tips. Enjoy.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this we choose to pour out our life lives and encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.

SA.