Keion Henderson - Stick With It

Today, I want to talk about sticking with it, and I want to give you practical tips and tools on how to commit to something and see it through. Now, it’s so easy to tell somebody to stick with it-it’s like, you know, «stick with it, that’s what men do; stick with it, that’s what women do; stick with it, that’s what Christians do.» But life happens, and it happens to you and to me, and it’s not always easy to stick with it. But I’m going to show you; I’m not just going to tell you how to stick with it. How many of you want me to show you how I stick with it and how you should be able to use the same format that I use to stick with it? If you’re ready, I want you to type «go» in the comment section. All right, I think I see it. Let me look and see-oh yeah, the «go» is coming! All right, okay, hurry up! All right, here I come. Here I come.

Number one, I want you to break down your dreams into manageable steps. How many of you have ever heard this statement: «Rome wasn’t built in a day»? Let 's take Rome out-where do you live? New York wasn’t built in a day; Houston wasn’t built in a day; Dallas wasn’t built in a day. In fact, in every city I’ve named, there are buildings going up right now as we speak. Miami wasn’t built in a day; a crocodile wasn’t built in a day; London, England, wasn’t built in a day; Barbados wasn’t built in a day; Abuja and Lagos weren 't built in a day; California wasn’t built in a day. And in all of those places I’ve just named, there are actual building projects going on right now. That means building is a lifelong journey. Don 't be frustrated because your city isn’t built in a day. Anything that you can build in a day can be torn down in a second, so it takes time to build sturdy things.

There was a study done-this is getting ready to help somebody, oh I feel it. There was a study conducted on people who were trying to lose weight. Both groups were extremely motivated; both groups had a goal that they wanted to achieve, and both believed that diet and exercise, along with a myriad of different things, could contribute to the weight loss they wanted to achieve. One group lost weight; the other group gained weight. And when they did a study to find out who gained weight and who lost weight, I’m getting ready to blow your mind. Are you ready? The people who lost weight focused on their daily caloric intake. The people who lost weight paid attention to how many calories they consumed each day. The people who gained weight were focused on how much weight they wanted to lose. Do I need to say that again? The people who lost weight broke their goal down into manageable steps. All they focused on was how many calories they consumed today. The people who gained weight said, «I want to lose 75 pounds,» and they actually gained weight. Why? Because short-term goals are effective; they take advantage of how the human brain already works. The human brain is designed for short-term tasks.

So you need-I need-we need that child you’re frustrated with who can’t seem to get it together. That spouse who is sporadically scattered, and you’re trying to figure out, «Pastor, give me something not only to help me, but to help my family.» Tell everyone in your house to break their goals down into manageable steps. Break your life down into these three categories. Are you ready? Break your life down into three categories: Number one, break your life down into steps; number two, break your life down into goals; number three, break your life down into dreams. Steps, goals, dreams.

«Pastor, what’s a step? What 's a goal? What 's a dream?» I’m glad you asked! Steps are things that can be completed in two days or less. So when you break your life down into steps, goals, and dreams, the things that you can do in two days could include cleaning up the bedroom or opening up a savings account. Goals- purchase the camera so I can start my photography business-that’s a step. But buying the camera isn’t a goal; it’s just a step. If buying the camera is the goal and it’s taking you that long, then you know you’re already behind on your dream. So the first thing you want to do is identify the things in your dream that should be placed in the steps category.

After steps, then you want to find out what’s a goal. «Pastor, what’s the goal?» A goal is a short-term thing that you should be able to complete in a week or less. And really, I would say this: break your life into two types of goals: long-term and short-term. The short-term goal can be accomplished in a week; the long-term goal should be attainable in a month or less. Lastly, a dream-what’s a dream? A dream is something that will take at least three months or more to complete. So I’ve categorized my life into these three buckets: steps, goals, and dreams. What can I do in a couple of days? What can I do in a couple of weeks? What 's going to take me months to accomplish?

Let 's look at the life of Jesus. He was born at 2; we don’t see him again until he’s 12. From 12, we don’t see him again until he’s 30. By the time we see him at 30, we observe something that we’ve never seen before.