JUMP!

Do you minister outside the box or are you perfectly content to continue doing business as usual?

I want to share an article with you that I received today via email.

Coaching Outside the Box by David Krueger MDExecutive Mentor Coach

Ben Fletcher at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom devised a study to get people to break their usual habits. Each day the subjects picked a different option from poles of contrasting behaviors -- lively/quiet, introvert/extrovert, reactive/proactive -- and behaved according to this assignment.

So an introverted person, for example, would act as an extrovert for an entire day. Additionally, twice weekly, they had to stretch to behave in a way outside their usual life pattern – eating or reading something they would never have done. What do you think was the biggest change in the group?

The remarkable finding was that after four months, the subjects had lost an average of eleven pounds. And six months later, almost all had kept the weight off; some continued to lose weight. This was not a diet, but a study focusing on change and its impact.

The Underlying Principle Requiring people to change routine behavior makes them actually think about decisions rather than habitually choosing a default mode without consideration. In having to actually process decisions actively, they exercised their choice and decision-making abilities, extending to other choices such as what to eat, and what not to. Once becoming aware of actively making choices, they could decide what’s in their best interest.

“The box” most of us are in is the result of programming and conditioning. And it is self-created in adulthood. Recognizing yourself as the author, the creator of your story challenges an assumed model and leads to the deeper question, “How do I create something else instead?” And, “What will the ‘something else’ be?” Coach outside the box and watch your clients flourish!

David Krueger MD is is CEO of MentorPath, an executive coaching firm tailored to the needs of professionals, and author of The Sage and Scholar's Guide to Coaching Professionals.

Isn't this interesting stuff? "The box" most of us are in is the result of programming and conditioning and self-created. Now I am going to take this a step further. Look at this concept from the Christian view. My thoughts are this - we are comfortable in the box and many of us cannot fulfill God's purpose for our lives because we refuse to step out of the box! We are what we do. Amazing! We are what we practice. Amazing again! If we do the same thing we get the same results. And again Amazing!

Our comfort zone or "box" if you will, tends to cultivate feelings that are warm and fuzzy but our prolonged time in that box is stagnating our gifts and abilities for the Kingdom of God. I believe that in order for you and I to be productive for the Kingdom it is time that we JUMP out of our boxes and aggressively go after what God has for us! Stop listening to the lies of the enemy trying to convince you that you don't have what it takes to accomplish what you know God has commanded you to do. Embrace God's Word and His promises for your life.

So, if you find yourself in a box today - GET OUT! Little can be accomplished in a box. It is too confining and way too restricted and the scenry is incredibly boring! We limit what God wants to do with us when we choose to remain in the box. I know God has great plans for you and I and there isn't a box in those plans. Are you ready to jump? Let's go - 1, 2, 3, JUMP!!!! Now go do great things for the Kingdom!

Blessings and hugs!