Keith Battle - I've Got Work To Do

Whatever you’re doing professionally, you have to have a marathon mentality and not a sprinter’s mindset. So the next word I want you to write down is «stop.» It stops because it’s not enough just to go hard; you’ve got to know when to slow down, and you’ve got to know when to stop. God’s telling me not just to slow down; I’ve got to stop working sometimes. I don’t know how to stop working. I don’t know if there are other workaholics in here who are so passionate about what you do that you have this struggle. This is my hardest area out of the six words I mentioned. This is my hardest area. Look at Proverbs 23:4: «Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; be wise enough to know when to quit.» Hmm. Don’t wear yourself out trying to prove you’re done. Listen, every human being needs a gas pedal and brakes in their life. The gas is what makes me go; it drives me forward, gives me drive and hustle. I hustle. Awesome, awesome! We try. Yeah, no days off, hashtag no days off, hashtag no sleep, right? All that stuff is popular, but it’s not wise. If all you have in your human vehicle is a gas pedal and you don’t have brakes, you’re going to crash. Your brakes tell you when to slow down in case you hit something. I talked with a pastor; I’ve known him since he was a teenager, and we always talk about burnout and such. I tell him, «Let me tell you something, son. We call it hitting a wall. That’s when you burn out; when you hit that wall.» Does anybody know what it’s like when you hit that wall? You can’t go any further; you’re sick, and you just don’t even want to get out of bed. You hit the wall. I said something because the wall is still undefeated. Keep hitting it and see. You think you’re going to hit it every time you don’t believe the wall is undefeated. Hit it again, and it’ll have you laid out in that bed for two months. Right? And here’s how: when you’re an entrepreneur, the best person that can tell you you need to stop and slow down is your spouse. Vicki has told me several times this year, «You’re doing too much, Keith. You’re doing too much.» So I have tried to figure out how to build in stops in my life.