How do I get stuff done?

I think the number one thing I hear from my friends is, “How do you get so much accomplished? How do you do it? How do you get stuff done?” How about I share my secret with you?

First of all, I dream. I dream big because I know my God can do more than I can ask, think, or imagine. The dream He gave me is to give Him glory.

Second, I act. A dream without action is only a fantasy. But a dream with action is achievable.
Third, I commit a portion of my day, every day, to my dream. For example, if I am writing a book, I write ten to fifteen minutes every day. Even if it sucks and I have to throw it away, I write every day.

I think a lot of people look at what they dream about with the end in mind instead of realizing it takes being faithful in the tiny everyday steps. It takes trying, failing, trying again, and continuing to try. Before you know it, you will have sixty thousand words on a piece of paper. It doesn’t happen overnight, but there is beauty in the process. It’s through the process of us remaining faithful in finishing as strong as we started that we can endure the success on the other end. It develops in us the character to be able to be successful. Working hard in the secret place where no one ever knows or sees what you are doing and being faithful every single day yields beautiful fruit.

Out of college, I was a consultant. I went to work for a company, and I was their internal consultant. After interviewing people in the company, I would come up with ideas that would reduce our expenditures. Some of my ideas back then were huge. I wanted to achieve the sky.

The sky was the limit, in my opinion. All things were possible. I remember the CFO I worked for said, “You know, Sheri, the pie in the sky is great, but it’s impossible to implement the pie in the sky in stage one. We have to break down every idea into stages. We start with the baby stage, and then we increase from there. We continue increasing until we get to where we want to land.” 

That was extremely difficult for me to swallow. I’m like, “Oh, whatever. We can knock this out of the park. This is a grand slam. A home run.” But looking back now, I can see all those years ago, I learned how to take an idea and implement it step by step, even if it’s hard. I learned how to walk through difficult doors, overcome hurdles, and attain high impossibilities to finish the race strong. It built character in me. So it’s no surprise that today I am still doing it.

There was a man who worked at that company. I remember him saying that my husband and I were either all in or all out. There was no middle ground. I think this is true. If we are going to do something, we are going to be all in. Just like with our fitness—we were all in. When we go to write a book or pursue a dream, we are all in. We started a ministry a few years ago, and we are all in. It doesn’t mean it is accelerated or fast and furious. It means we are not going to stop. It means we are committed, loyal, and are staying in the course, trusting God to bring what we need. He has been faithful thus far, ever shockingly, replacing everyone who was lost and replacing the loss with gain. That is awesome.

It’s a process. You do a bit every day. That is my little secret of how I get big things done.

I’m praying for you today that you would begin in the little things and continue to chip away until big things happen.