Coach Dan Foster

This past week while reading the words of an ancient Hebrew prophet I was reminded of how easy it is to wake up one day and find yourself heading so far down the wrong track that you don’t recognize yourself or the direction you are going in life. The world we live in puts so much pressure on us to perform at a certain level and live up to others expectations, while at the same time deceiving us that this is all being done for own good.

Not long ago, I wrote a post entitled, Filling the Space Between Where You Are and Where You Want To Be. The space between our current reality and where we want to be never has a shortage of activities, feelings, or people waiting to fill it up. I am often reminded of how important it is to be mindful of what I allow into this space. The choices we make have immediate and long term consequences that either widen this gap or bring us closer to the life we want to live and the goals we are striving to achieve.

A 2011 USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 92 percent of Americans believe in God. If any of that 92% are like me, I bet they wonder how they can actually please God in their careers and personal life. Is it possible to bring joy to the creator of the universe? As I go through life each day, is there anything that I can do that really helps me connect with the Almighty? I believe these types of questions have been asked for thousands of years and many of us are still searching for the answer.

Have you ever reflected on your actions and discovered that they go completely against everything you’ve always stood for? Its difficult to have the words we say and the things we do always be a positive reflection of our values and convictions. In my experience, it does not just happen naturally once you state your guiding principles in a vision or mission statement. Rather, it takes dedication, discipline, and hard work to stay faithful to what you believe in and hold true. What do we do then when we find our actions do not match our beliefs?

If we play the part of someone we’re not for too long, do we eventually forget who we truly are? Striving to be good at things we are not, performing tasks we are not gifted in, setting goals we will never achieve, and holding ourselves accountable to disciplines that do not match our talents is an exhausting and depressing existence. Why do we do it?