Recently, I had a meeting with a screenwriter friend of mine. We’re both ambitious people pursuing a career in a highly competitive, with our goals very much in mind in everything that we do. As we were talking, the subject of age came up, me being in my mid-thirties and she being in her mid-twenties; when that topic came up, she asked me a very surprising question: “do you have any advice for me?”
I pondered for a very short moment, but then a very obvious answer hit me. A simple three-worded statement: “take your time”
I remember a resounding mentality that surrounded me throughout my twenties, and that was everything I absolutely had to achieve before reaching 30. Needless to say, the stress levels consistently climbed as the years passed (faster and faster, might I add), especially when I was 28/29 and that milestone was racing towards me with so much still left to accomplish.
Honestly, when I did reach 30, it felt like I could finally relax and catch my breath. Not because I accomplished what I wanted to, but because all I could think was; “well, I’m here now, what can I do?”
Regardless of your age, if you’re in a similar predicament of not quite meeting your personal timeline, ask yourself these things:
1 – Is this an outcome you can control? If you’re a music artist, you control how much music you publish, but have no control over how many streams it gets. Sure you can influence the outcome, but you cannot control it.
2 – Is there room for adjustment? I remember a season when my timeline slowed down due to a project I was working taking a lot longer than planned, instead of adjusting I went into a complete meltdown and basically considered my destiny forfeit. I was 23.
3 – Do you have the capacity to deal with failure? Eventually, I made some adjustments to my timeline, and the race to accomplish by 30 was very much in sight. Then, I was 29, a very harsh and sudden breakup of a long term relationship pretty much wrote it all off and I was back to square one.
4 – Is it God’s timeline, or yours? No doubt, a lot of us at least some understanding of where God has called us. But, when you came to understand your calling, did you ask God for the blueprint, the timeline, the overall plan? And do you wait for His answer patiently? Or did you create your own because He wasn’t answering swiftly enough?
Don’t get me wrong, goals are not a bad thing, as long as we don’t centre our value and reason for living on those goals. What I’ve learned is life very much is a cycle of: try, fail, repeat (until the failing stops, of course).
As we think about our future and where would like to get to, always bear in mind Jesus’ words:
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:33-34 (NLT)
