2026 Goals: The Discipline Gap That’s Holding Men Back

Transformation happens when I do consistently what other people do occasionally. Occasional heroics don't scale. Small, repeatable behaviors do. That's scalable, isn't it? It's doable. We all have good intentions, but do we have the right rhythms in order to grow? And that's what we're talking about today. If you're going to be consistent in this year, this new year, you've got to have the right rhythms. Transformation is going to happen in your life. Change is going to happen. You're going to gain ground if you can do consistently what others do just occasionally. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the Gaining Ground Podcast. We're all about helping men grow. My name is Landon, and I'm here with my dad, Drew. And today, we're talking about consistency. Consistency, the discipline gap that's holding men back. And dad, I think if we're honest, consistency is probably the one thing every man wishes he was better at, right? Well, and everybody's thinking about it right now because it's kind of that new year tension that's going on. Oh, yeah, baby. New year's resolutions. New year's resolutions. It's January. Yeah. I bet there's a bunch of dudes right now thinking about starting hole 30, 75 hard. Have you ever done 75 hard? 75 hard. I chose 15. I did 15 hard. It was awesome. Very hard for 15 days. Do you consider that a victory? I'm almost 60, man. It was great. Okay. Yeah, that's my excuse. You know what? I think I made it 52 days. 52? What got you? What tripped you up? Honest truth. I was in a hot tub, and I was with two other guys I was doing this with, and we were all miserable. And one of us looked at the other one was like, hey, do you guys want to just have some bourbon right now? And we were all like, yeah, let's do it. That was it. So we did 52 days. For me, it was like chips and dip and just too much exercise, man. Well, I stopped when I realized how dumb I looked. I like to work out in the morning. Yeah. It was like winter time, which is the worst time to do 75 hard because it gets dark at like 3.30. Yes. Crazy dark. And I'm walking around my neighborhood like a serial killer, just with a hood on. I wanted to stay home and watch sports. It's just the worst. So anyway.

Consistency, man. Coming in hot today. I was going to ask what New Year's resolution you feel like you failed at. Obviously, I failed at 75 hard. That's pretty much every year. I try to lose weight. I'm going to get 12,000 steps a day. I want to be under 50 carbs. Under 50 carbs? Yeah. When you're old, you just can't eat bread anymore. That seems like very few carbs. That's my problem. I need more. Would you tell your mom? Mom hates carbs. Please tell mom. Mom doesn't like carbs, and there's no carbs in our house because of it. That's one of my favorite lines from the movie, Step Brothers, where that one guy, it's like, I think it's like Dale's brother. He's like, I haven't had a carb since 2008 or something. It's really. I think you guys should do an intervention with mom because I believe I'm, it's, I think there's a, it's a form of neglect for me. Yeah. I'm serious because like we have no carbs in the house. There's no bread. And I've told her Jesus, like he is the bread of life, right? He was all about bread. Jesus was all about bread. Yeah. And so she buys like this sola bread. That's like one carb and it's just tastes awful. That's how much flavor is in it. Just one gram of flavor. She makes me eat that. It's awful. I'm really sorry. My wife, uh. I crossed a bear. Yeah. We probably have too many carbs in our house. So. But that's usually the New Year's resolution. I'm trying to get steps in. I'm trying to lose weight. And I do usually do pretty good in January. Then February kind of falls off. Okay. So here's one thing we're going to talk about today is that, and this is going to sound odd when I say it probably is that hope is a good thing, but it's a bad strategy. Okay. What I mean by that is a lot of times, a lot of times we have declarer or we have a New Year's resolutions and it's, I hope I lose 30 pounds. I hope I can get 12,000 steps a day. I hope I can do 75 hard. I hope I can run that marathon. I hope I stop fill in the blank. And what, what we want to ask all the men listening to this today to shift to

is instead of, I hope it's like you, you declare it. Right. I'm not talking about manifesting, by the way, it's, it's, it's moving from a wish to an owning. So why is a declaration better than, than, uh, just hoping something happens is one declarations, engage identity, right? That's ownership. Second, uh, they give direction. That's the next step. And as we've talked about in previous episodes, uh, words carry power, right? The Proverbs talk about that all the time where it's a big power of life and death. So let me ask you this. Why do you think so many men live in like an, I hope reality instead of I decide when it comes down to their habits? Well, Failure to draw a line in the sand. Failure to have a conviction. Um, man. Do you think it could also be because like they failed in the past? Yeah, I think they have a, they don't have a real stellar track record. Okay. Of consistency. Right. And they end up giving up too quick. And, you know, you got to feel victory. If you feel some victories, I think, I think that's why, maybe part of the problem is goal setting. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe it's unrealistic. Well, I think that, you know, consistency is difficult because not very many of us are. Yeah. Right. And I just want to remind everybody again, and you can get this on website, you can get this anything we put in print, honestly. Guys, you are designed to grow. That's the whole vision for gaining ground. The theme verse for this, Paul tells Timothy, this young man in the faith,

practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Right. That God has a plan for your life. He's created you for a reason that he's given you gifts. Every single one of us have gifts and that it's our job and duty to practice those gifts, immerse ourself in them so that all may see your progress. Not so that people can pat us on the back, although encouragement is a great thing, but actually when you, Dad, step into your gifts and your calling and you grow, not only are you better, but I'm better too. Everybody around you is better when you're consistent. When you're a model of consistency, people want to follow you as a leader. All right. So let me ask you this, Dad. How many of you, like, would you say that you're just like naturally a consistent person? And there's probably some people listening to this right now that struggle with consistency. You're like me. And then there's the one dude who's like, oh man, that's great. I get up at 4 a.m. and do a cold plunge and I haven't eaten a carb since I was 22 or whatever. So where are you at in that? I am not a very consistent person. Really? I want to be. You want to be? I want to be. You're trying to grow in your consistency. Especially in areas that really matter. I've got to start thinking about physical health more because as you get older, you have to think about that more. So I'm thinking more about that, you know. And I want to be a consistent leader.

I want to, you know, as I teach, I want to be a consistent communicator. All those things. Okay. All right. So you would say, like, yeah, consistency is not something that comes naturally to you. And I would say, by the way, I fall in that same category. And, you know, one of the areas that I've learned, like, I'm inconsistent in is, like, my words. Well, I talk a lot. So if you grade that on consistency, then I'm pretty good at it. I've noticed that. Like, I try to do a podcast with you. You do talk a lot. I know. I'm sorry. I want to push back real quick. I think you're a very consistent person. Oh, thank you. I've always wanted to be a little more like you in that regard. Well, I really appreciate that. You're very disciplined. Yeah. I really appreciate that. Sincerely. What I've noticed, though, about me is I always am trying to have to put my foot in my mouth less, I guess. That's what I'm trying to say. And so I've noticed that, you know, one of the areas that I can grow the most in is having to, like, look back at conversations and go, gosh, I'm an idiot. Why did I say that? Yeah. And I would imagine there's probably a lot of people that feel that way. And the truth is, guys, consistency is hard.

It's really easy to be inconsistent. It's easy. And, you know, in fact, I think it's easy to beat yourself up on it. You know, sometimes I'll look at myself and, you know, it's what is wrong with you. You know, you said you were going to start that diet and now you've eaten pizza and cheeseburgers in the same day. And, you know, that ice cream in the freezer when you're watching Netflix at home is calling, you know, calling your name. You said you were going to decrease your screen time and now it's attached to your face. Oh, how about this one? You said you were going to read your Bible, right? Have a quiet time. You know, whatever it is. The good news, though, is I think that's all of us. Like, and I think there are some people who are probably more disciplined or more consistent than others. But the reality is, is we all have at least one area in our life, and it's probably multiple, where we struggle with consistency. So, Dad, I know you were, as we were putting together this podcast, there was a passage in Romans chapter 7 that talks about this. Can you set that up and tell everybody about it? I mean, it's unbelievably powerful. Romans chapter 7, if you read that whole chapter, Paul is just talking about how wildly inconsistent he is. And he says in Romans 7, we'll start with verse 15, I don't really understand what I do. I don't understand myself, he says. I'm actually going to read this in your favorite version, in my favorite version. ESV? Yeah, I like ESV. His feet better here. Okay, got it. I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that is not good.

So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have a desire to carry out what is good, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want to do, I keep on doing. It's unbelievable the back and forth. He's thinking through all of this. And what Paul is saying is I'm human, therefore I struggle with consistency. And I think this should bring so much hope to us, right? So that we can have a conviction around this because here's the apostle Paul wrote a third of the New Testament, powerful, powerful preacher, unbelievable evangelist, man of God, spiritual advisor, mentor to others. And yet he's saying, man, I'm just not very consistent. The things that I really want to do, I can't seem to put it together. The things that I hate, I find myself doing. You know, that's one of those scriptures I think too, that for like a non-believer, like if you read that verse in everyday words, it's like, hey, I don't really understand myself for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead I do what I hate. Like we're all stuck in that cycle, right?

Of, hey, all the things I know I should do are really hard to do. And everything I know I don't want to do is really easy to do. So what do I do next? And you know, it's that I'm human, therefore I struggle with consistency, right? And every single one of us, you know, I think about that Albert Einstein quote, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But I think a lot of us live in that cycle. And the good news is we have an opportunity to be different. That's what Gaining Ground is all about. And I want to give you, we're going to actually go through, dad, four ways to grow consistency. For everybody listening, four ways to grow consistency. And here's like the main line, you know, I want you guys to write this down. And if you're, you know, in the notes app on your phone or email it to yourself, that's how I do reminders all the time. Transformation happens when I do consistently what other people do occasionally. Wow. Transformation happens when I do consistency, consistently, I'm sorry, what other people do occasionally, right? That's those occasional heroics don't scale,

small repeatable behaviors do. That's scalable, isn't it? It's doable. Right, that's like the difference between that five-star athlete that only plays hard on one play. And the, you know, the dude who's the practice squad player walk on that carves out a role for himself because he goes out there and he does it every single stinking play. Well, look, we all have good intentions, but do we have the right rhythms in order to grow? And that's what we're talking about today. If you're gonna be consistent in this year, this new year, you gotta have the right rhythms and transformation is gonna happen in your life. Change is gonna happen. You're gonna gain ground if you can do consistently what others do just occasionally. And man, I think like my heart for every dude listening to this is like, I want you to be somebody that other people can count on. Right, you know what's the most annoying thing to me on the planet are people who are flaky, like who say one thing and do another, man. And friends who, like, I'm so stinking tired of flaky. Yep. And I'm so tired of inconsistent. And look, I don't need perfect, right?

I need consistent. And I want everybody who's listening to this because I want it for me too to be a consistent dad and a consistent friend and a consistent brother and employee and whatever area that you find yourself in. So, all right, let me just say that. If you're a dad, that's what your kids are looking for the most is consistency in your life. They wanna know that you're there for him. That's what's gonna give them security if they know you're consistent. Same thing with marriage, right? Yep, and by the way, just like one little thing that makes me think of, for anybody in the room, or I'm sorry, not in the room, we're the only ones in the room. Anybody listening to this that is in ministry and if you have kids specifically, let me give a word of encouragement and advice just based on nothing that I've done, but how I watched you do this. When I was growing up and you were doing ministry, there were a lot of things that happened, right? I mean, you grow a church, you gotta change stuff. Some people like that. Some people don't. but don't, you know, you go from one campus to multiple, like whatever reality is, you had to scale and there's a lot of pushback.

The one thing though, like I will absolutely give you credit for is that you never put the church before our family. And I don't remember you missing a lot of games. I don't remember you missing a lot of big moments. And I think a lot of times, sometimes we will, especially for those of us who are in ministry, kind of romanticize like what God has called us to do and unintentionally not be there for our family. First of all, everything I read in the New Testament says you're called to lead your family. So you should probably do that. Well, one of the biggest mistakes pastors make is they presume their role to be way bigger than it really is. Okay, what does that mean? Yeah, they just, they think, oh man, everything is dependent on me. If I don't do this, this, and this, the church is gonna, it's not gonna grow. And the truth is, I mean, look, you wanna feel like you're a small part of it. But the truth is God's gonna grow that church and you're gonna be fine. And you presume too big a role in yourself and you put too much pressure on yourself. Okay, so we gotta get into the four things, but I also just wanna like, man, that was really good. And I appreciate you saying that. And I remember, because I've been guilty of that.

Well, that's another podcast for another day. And I think that's probably true for like, guys who are in ministry and those who are not. You know, one of the biggest lessons I ever had to learn was like, I wanna be an owner, I wanna grow, I wanna win, I wanna do all those sorts of things. And whatever I put my heart, soul, and mind to, I wanna do really well. And if I don't get the desired outcome that I was hoping for, a lot of times I can go into a tailspin. And I remember a mentor told me one time, he said, Landon, two things. The days of competing with men are over. Yep. And I was like, what are you talking about, dude? Like, I wanna win. I don't care if it's pickleball or Monopoly. He's like, fine, you can be competitive, but at the end of the day, the days of competing with men aren't over for you. Right. You follow Jesus. Yep. Right? So, doesn't mean you can't have fun. Doesn't mean you can't go out there and play wreck ball, whatever. Or if you're a professional athlete, right? I'm not talking about that.

I mean, competing in the sense that if you lose, it crushes your soul. And second, you're not responsible for outcomes. And I remember thinking like, dude, what are you talking about? Like, of course I'm responsible for outcomes because if I suck, we're gonna lose. Or if I don't do X, Y, or Z, then this isn't gonna go the way I hope. And what he said is, I didn't say you weren't responsible for your effort. I said, you're not responsible for outcomes. He said, you work hard. You show up, you do the sports metaphor, play the next play, whatever. At the end of the day, though, the fruit is the Lord's. Yeah, amen, so true. And I think that's so related to our consistency because it's like, we're gonna mess up, right? And so, if the first time you mess up, you just lose your stinking mind and kind of go into a tailspin, you're never gonna be a consistent person, so you gotta get back on the horse. Well, then you think that the key is working harder and working longer and then it sacrifices other things in your life. Yup. Let's talk about those four ways to grow your consistency. Yup, four ways to grow your consistency.

Number one, and I think this would be encouraging to every single person who's hearing this, start small. Start small. Start small. Small things done consistently will trump big things done occasionally. Wow. A lot of times we think meaningful change will happen by doing a giant leap. Yeah. Going from zero to 60 in three seconds or going from step one to step seven, right? We live in a culture of immediacy, but how does most change happen? It happens through small, faithful steps. Transformation doesn't happen overnight oftentimes, right? It's a little bit every single day. So, Dad, why do you think men, like, why are we so tempted to swing for the home run instead of the daily base hits? Well, first of all, it's easier. Okay. Much easier to swing for the home run and do it. If I do this, if I buy them this, if I provide this experience, then I'm good for a month or two. It buys, in your mind, it buys you some time, but those things don't make as big a splash as we think they're going to, right? And so it's so much to be,

if you want to be faithful, if you want to be consistent, it's the little things every day. It's so true. The small things done consistently trump big things done occasionally. That's what I think. Well, I think it's, I think it's, yeah, it's a brilliant place to start of, you start small, right? Because everybody can do that. And I think you start with your pain point. It's right. Frustration is a signal that there's an area of your life that you're being inconsistent. So, you know, asking yourself, where do I feel stuck? And where do I keep having to do the replay button and start over? And why am I always saying I'll fix it, but never following through? And frustration exposes the gap between your intentions and your actions. Yeah. Hey, Frank Reich, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts a number of years ago, great dude, loves Jesus, made it their mantra to be consistent. Just small steps. And we talked in the last podcast about like owning your 1%. And I wanna use that same percentage again,

but for a different application. And he made their entire mission as an organization this, to get 1% better every single day. There's that 1% thing again. Right, to get 1% better every single day. So maybe that's something we should pay attention to. Talk about gaining ground. Right, yeah, gaining ground is taking a step. Gaining ground is taking a step. So can I, let me ask you this, dad, in your life, what does that look like? Like what's one small habit you started that ended up changing your life more than you expected? Maybe it's spiritual, you know, how you meet with the Lord, maybe it's something with mom, marriage. How does, what do you think that is? Well, I don't wanna over-spiritualize this, but I started praying a prayer every morning. And I still do it every morning. I pray, Lord, I pray that everything that I say and everything I do today will bring you glory. Mm. And I know that sounds so simple, but if you pray and you ask the God of all heaven, Lord, I pray that everything that I say and everything that I do brings you glory, you actually do think about things that you say and do during the day. Now, sometimes I forget.

I feel like sometimes I'm super spiritual in the morning and by afternoon. Ha ha ha ha. It's the sanctification process, right? Yeah, it's tough, man. But that's, I mean, that's how I would answer that. I'm sure there's other things that I've started doing. What about you? What's a small habit you started doing that kind of changed your life more than you expected? Well, I think for me, one thing that growing up playing sports taught me to do is if I don't work out, I lose my mind. That's true. My mental health, spiritual health is so directly related to my physical health. And so for a guy that's maybe struggling in that area, my encouragement with you is just start, man. Yeah, start small. And for me, I write my sermons in the gym. If you look at how my sermons start, it's like 78 emails that I've sent myself just because the Holy Spirit's talking and I'm writing stuff down, put it on Google Doc and it becomes a sermon. I don't know why, but for me, just that's a big piece of my health and you gotta start. I'm so glad that habit has been in my life. And there's that passage in Zechariah, it says, don't despise these small beginnings

for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. Just for those of you that, cause you said that quick, Zechariah 4.10. 4.10. Do not despise these small beginnings for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. And I love that. It doesn't say the Lord rejoices to see a harvest, although he does. It says he rejoices to see the work begin. I love that. I also love Philippians 1.6 where Paul says, he says, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. It's gonna take time. It takes baby steps, but it's gonna happen. I love that. So, God is pleased when we start, okay? Number one, how to grow consistency. We gotta start small. Two, oh, this is a big one. Don't quit just because you don't see change fast enough. Yeah. Right? And that's the truth. If we show up to the gym, you know, it's New Year's resolution. We're gonna get back in shape this year. You show up to the gym three times a week for a month, you're probably not gonna see a change, right?

Or you're gonna see minimal change. But if you show up three times a week over six months or over a year, you could see radical change. What I've learned is consistency builds quietly and then shows up suddenly. Consistency builds quietly and then shows up suddenly. So, while habits are being formed, you may not feel much different, but it is happening internally. So, let me ask you this. What's something in your life where consistency finally paid off after it felt pointless for a while? And I'll tell you, I'll give you mine while you're thinking about that. Yeah. I was gonna ask you the same thing. So, for me, I've got some friends that are, you know, fitness junkies and they invited me to do this thing called High Rocks. And if you haven't heard of High Rocks, there's some guys fist pumping right now listening to this in their car because you're a High Rocks junkie. But it is the worst race ever, is what it is. And it's, and I say that kind of tongue in cheek because it's a ton of running. God did not give me. me a runner's body, uh, I'm built, uh, like SpongeBob. And, uh, I was made to push around heavy things, not run long miles. Sorry.

I never thought of it that way. And you know, like people talk about like a runner's high or whatever. Like I literally have never experienced that one day in my life. Okay. It's the freaking worst and, um, you know, it hurts and, and it's terrible. And I, and so anyways, I'm going to stop complaining now. These guys invite me to do this race and I wanted to do it because, you know, I wanted to be good friends with them and, and to do this together. Um, and I'll never forget, like literally for six weeks I'm running and I didn't see any improvement in my times. I didn't feel any better. I was just kind of like, dude, this is pointless. Why am I doing this? Then I got up one day and started running and I wasn't tired. And I, I didn't even notice it during the run, but like I, you know, I have this watch and I pressed stop on my watch at the end of it. And I looked back and I'm like, wait a minute, how did that just happen? Yeah. And so for me, it was like, I had to get to this place where I, I committed to it long enough before I saw the actual results pay off. Um, and, and I, some guy that understands running told me, he's like, Hey, what you're doing right now is zone two running. It was like, what is zone two running? He's like, well, you're keeping your heart rate at, at a certain level. And what you're doing is you're giving yourself the ability to go longer. And what I thought was so brilliant was I thought you needed to go out there and run as fast as you could. Well, if you go run as fast as you could, you burn out. And I'll never forget what he told me. He said, Landon, slow is fast, slow is fast, slow is fast by going

slow and just trying to be consistent. Meaning my goal is just to not stop. Yeah. What happened over time is I was able to build speed. I was able to build speed if I didn't give up. So can you think of something in your life that, that, you know, you can resonate with in that regard? Well, I think everything I've, I've, I'm equating everything to health right now, because I'm, I'm, I have arthritis. I have osteoarthritis. These are the things you have to look forward to, son. Oh, dude. I already got it. And, uh, it is terrible. It must run in our family and everything. But, uh, your mom kept telling me take to turmeric, turmeric to say that I think it's turmeric, turmeric, turmeric is the yellow stuff, right? And then she also wants me to take cinnamon powder and then she wants me to take collagen. And I found something that, you know, it got cinnamon in it. All of those things, cinnamon rolls. Yes. Amen. Amen. Yeah. What was I talking about? Uh, what you're doing, you're taking your supplements. Anyway, she found this supplement that you put in your coffee and I tried it for like a week and it didn't help me. And I was like, this is silly.

This is just, we're paying, we're wasting our money. And I got about a month in and all of a sudden I noticed the inflammation was gone. But it took about a month and a half for it to happen. And I noticed now when I don't take this product, this little makes a big difference, huh? It does. But the, the, the, the, the learning in this though is don't quit. Right. And when you don't see change result fast enough and Galatians 6, 9, right. That's a verse that I repeat to myself all the time. Let us not become weary in doing good for the proper time. We'll reap harvest if, if we do not give up, if we don't give up, if we don't give up. And you know, dad, like, um, I don't, uh, one of the areas that I just like him super convicted in this about, and I'd love to hear your perspective on it too, is just because of what you do, you know, so we're in, we're in DFW right now. Um, pastor in DFW and over the last year at certain times, if you Googled like pastor DFW, what comes up is not good scandals, right? And, and I think somebody told me the other day, like there've been like 15 moral failures of mega churches in Dallas, Fort Worth over the last, like eight months. That's heartbreaking. And, and so here's why I bring this up. Um, not because I'm, you know, pointing a finger of judgment to somebody. Uh, the reality is, is like, I know, um, my own sin and, and you know, that Roman seven verse of like what I don't want to do, I do, and you know, here's the, here, here's like the, uh, the bottom line is like, sometimes I'm like scared to freaking death, you know? Um, and, and what I realized is what I don't want to do is that, like what I want to be is like, I want to be a man of integrity for the long haul and, and, and somebody that like, um, you know, doesn't have to make a public apology for something and, and who knows, maybe I will, but I just like, man, I think my

life goal at this point is like, I just want to finish the race. Yup. And I mean, man, what do you. you think about that? Like, you've been doing this a long time. How do you stay, how do you stay consistent in that? Well, one of the things that, first of all, I think, first of all, I think that when you're leading a church, the softest pillow, or you can keep a clear conscience, is preaching the word of God. I mean, preaching the gospel. That's the softest pillow, that you don't have to worry. If you're preaching the gospel, you don't have to worry. But I would say, it's like what I was talking about earlier. When you presume too big a role in yourself, and when you listen to people and what they say about you, because, you know, when you lead a church as large as ours, and there's so many out there, people tell you all the time how wonderful you are. You hear a lot of bad stuff, but then you hear a lot of good. You hear about how wonderful you are. You're great, you're amazing, you're incredible. And you have to deflect and defer all of that, because the praise of men, right? It's encouraging, it's nice, but it's not all that helpful. So I have tried really, really hard to give God the credit at every juncture. I've tried to make sure my staff realizes,

hey, it's God that builds the church. And I've tried not to presume too big of a role and take on too big of a burden. And I've tried not to be too hard on myself when things weren't going that well. I tried to realize that God's got this, He sees our heart, and He's gonna bless it. And sometimes that takes time. And sometimes you have to go through some difficult times, but it's like anything else. You just keep giving the Lord the credit, and I think it's helpful. So many pastors in the DFW area became power brokers. They became bigger than the church, and that's always a very dangerous thing. So that's why I love our model, what we do. I think integrity in the inches builds character for the years, right? Yeah. It's about waking up and just choosing Jesus every single day and having people around you that can tell you the truth and tell you where you're being a freaking idiot. Well, back to my prayer. Lord, I pray that everything that I say and everything that I do will bring you glory today. Honestly, I feel like my life goal is being able to be a wise old man sitting on a front porch with something to look at and people that I love and that know every part of me.

Because I don't have anything to hide, and I'm trying to sin less every single day. And man, that's easier said than done. It's a fight, it's a battle. Satan's coming after you, he's coming after your life, and you don't need to help him. And I think that's a piece a lot of us forget about. I think it's so helpful, Landon. This is why we're here, gaining ground every day, an inch a day, a yard a day, 1% a day. That's what we're talking about. That's doable, it's achievable, it's reasonable. Yeah. And one thing about failure, and this next piece we've talked about, we're gonna talk about, I'm sorry, the four steps to being more consistent in your life. Start small. Start small, right? Don't give up. Don't quit it. Don't give up when you don't see change fast enough. And this one is a little bit ironic. And I wanna, planning for failure, okay? Why? Because consistency does not equal perfection, all right? Listen, planning to fail doesn't mean you expect to fail. It means you know what to do to get back on track. It means you know what to do to get back on track. I think a lot of times, so many of us struggle with being consistent

because we got this all or nothing mindset. And we think perfection is the goal, and then we fail once or twice, and we're like, forget it, I failed, and you wanna give up. Listen, if your aim is perfection, you'll give up when you mess up. Okay, you'll give up when you mess up. And so I wanna ask you, I wanna encourage you to use this rhythm. Miss one, not two. Okay, miss one, not two. If you miss your rhythm, if you miss your quiet time, your conversation with somebody, showing up for your team, whatever. Don't spiral, okay? Just start over. Just start over. Have a reset plan. Don't overthink it, right? But you have a reset plan. Speaking of spiraling, don't you think, Landon, like when guys fail, they do sometimes fall into that shame spiral, where they mess up, and they just say, they kind of resolve that, oh, you know what, this is who I am. I'm a loser. You know, might as well have some, whatever. Might as well have some fun.

Might as well do what makes me feel better, or whatever. I don't know. I think that's a big part of it. Well, how do you think, what's a wise way, I talk about like a reset plan, like what do you think a good reset plan is? And I mean, I'll just tell you mine. I told you all earlier, like I struggle with consistency with my words, and what I'll do is like, I'll think back on conversations and go, gosh, I shouldn't have said that, and I'm an idiot. And then all of a sudden, I start to play out those arguments in my head. You know what I'm talking, like where you fight with yourself in your head, or you have a fight with somebody in your head. in your head and you always win, which is interesting. And, or I'm like, gosh, that person hates us and they're gonna leave our church and they're gonna do whatever. Oh, a good reset might be what we talked about last week, being able to take responsibility and say, I'm so sorry. Well, and here's my reset plan. And I wanna encourage every guy that's listened to this to develop a reset plan and don't make it more than two steps, because if it's more than two steps, it's too long for you to follow through.

So here's what my reset plan is when I mess up with my words. One, is there anyone I need to apologize to? And if the answer is yes, I go apologize to them. Step two, move on. Move on. Yep. Move on. Because man, if it's any more than that, I'm not gonna do it, I'm gonna overthink it. And so it's like, I don't know, if you struggle with consistency with a particular sin, you watch porn, you drink too much, you lie, what do you need to do? Maybe your reset plan is you need to repent before the Lord, tell a brother you trust, move on. Yeah, realize we get it. You're gonna drift, you're gonna fall. The difference isn't in not falling, it's how fast you reset. Because you're gonna make mistakes. We all do, I do, you do. Right, and we're all works in progress. We're all works in progress, which brings me to step number four as we finish this thing up. Fall in love with the process, not just the outcome. We live in an outcome-oriented, driven world. Everybody's looking at the box score. The results are the fruit, which by the way, I'm not arguing against that.

Those are some great things. We should pay attention to that. But sometimes we pay way too much attention to the outcome and forget that we're actually supposed to learn and enjoy the process. And I think, Dad, what I've learned in my life is, and this is where gaining ground comes from, right? Like I'm so bad at enjoying the process. And sometimes I've made the things that I pursued miserable because all I'm doing is focusing on the outcome, when everything's done, when we've won. And I've stressed myself out. I've stressed team members out and made the thing that I loved, even if it was something God asked us to do, kind of miserable. Well, it's tragic because there's nothing more refreshing than a new rhythm that leads to a lifestyle, right? It's like the James Clear quote. You've read that. Atomic habits. Atomic habits. And he talks about new goals don't deliver results, new lifestyles do. New rhythms becomes part of your life. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome, right? That's what we're talking about. Right, a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. And so I just would say, guys, if you're listening to this, and we're gonna wrap this thing up,

is do the best you can to fall in love with the process and not just the outcome. Yeah, put your energy in the process. The best way you can do that is understanding who you are in Christ. That at the end of the day, you are not your net worth. You are not your position. You're not your title. You're a son of the most high God. And God loves you, cared for you, sent his son to die for you. And as a result, that verse, 1 Timothy 4, 15, so that all may see your progress. We cheer you on when you grow, but you know who cheers you on the most? Right, your heavenly father. All of heaven, man. Yeah, all of heaven cheers you on when you grow. And so I just wanna say to the men to wrap this thing up, man, we are with you, we're for you, we're real humans just like you. A lot of us struggle with consistency. I think you and I both said we absolutely do, but I wanna challenge you to fall in love with the process and not just the outcome. We'll take small steps together. We're all gonna grow, we're all gonna gain some ground, and we can't wait to see what God does in your life. It'll change your whole life. Hey, thanks for joining us on the Gaining Ground Podcast.

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