We all talk about living out our journey, but do we know what that means? Or, do we walk a journey that doesn’t have a defined end? Maybe we walk through that journey directionless and without purpose.

Can wandering define a journey?

I don’t think so.

A journey is defined as traveling from one place to another. We can certainly speak about an intangible journey, like a spiritual one. But a real journey must have a starting point and a place to land. A spiritual journey lands with a stronger relationship with God or significant spiritual growth in our life.

Obstacles Along the Way

Everyone on a journey encounters obstacles. Those obstacles can be both internal and external. The external blockades are often systemic of an internal battle within our soul.

I was recently in a person’s living room who had emotional ties to the objects in the room. This tie was an obstacle to the person growing and becoming successful.

The collected items were so numerous that I couldn’t find the couch to sit down on. Across the room where the TV was located, there were three 7’ walls of boxes between me and the buried digital equipment.

Instead of enjoying the comfortable couch and the large screen HGTV, the person sat in an upright dining room chair watching TV on their smartphone. The person was frustrated in their attempts to watch a show but not frustrated enough to get rid of the hoarded items.

The thing stopping this person’s progress is an internal belief system. They believe something about the items that once made them feel good. But today, they are frustrated and overwhelmed because keeping those items no longer serves them.

Unfortunately, no one can suggest that some items should be donated, sold, or trashed without detrimental ramifications. It is less painful for this person to live in a part of their home than letting go of the once-cherished items.

To help you get past your obstacles, whatever they might be, I’ll share the healthy steps I took that ensured my last journey was of value.

Select Your Single Focus

When we go on a journey, it’s essential to determine a single focus, so we aren’t overwhelmed when moving forward. This is especially true since moving forward means change—something few people enjoy.

Select one key point of growth to work on. Two won’t work. Depending on the internal and external obstacles you might face, more than one point of focus can hinder you from creating new healthy habits that support your journey.

Once you’ve selected your point of focus, determine what a 1% daily gain will look like. Yes, we’re only talking about 1%. Why? Because it is so simple to accomplish, you are guaranteed to succeed.

A few years ago, Forbes published an article about the science behind adopting habits. The report stated that there are only two reasons people fail to adopt new habits.

• They don’t understand how to leverage the structure of habits (Trigger, Action, Reward)
• They set themselves up for failure by doing too much too soon.

Start Small/Start Simple

The key to developing a habit is to start small. You start by doing one push-up per day instead of saying you want to do 50 push-ups a day. This allows you to become consistent and make the activity a natural part of your life.

After a couple of weeks, you can get it up to two push-ups per day. You will get to 50 push-ups per day. However, if you start with 50 push-ups per day, you’ll fail and not build the habit.

Examine Your Beliefs

Ask yourself questions to understand your beliefs.

• What do you believe about this area of focus?
• What do you believe about yourself in this area?
• Why do you want to grow in this area of life?

Once you understand yourself better, determine the simplest next step you can take to move in the direction of your focus.

Seek Counsel for Knowledge and Accountability

The best counsel will come from someone who knows your heart and the direction of your life. This might include your God, spouse, and mentor. Make sure they help keep you focused on the promise you’ve made to yourself.

This is not a session filled with judgment. The goal is to have someone come alongside you that wants to see you succeed in your goals. This person might be able to inspire or motivate you to push through when things get tough.

You might even consider becoming an accountability partner with a like-minded person with similar goals. They would certainly understand the obstacles you face and empathize with you. But they will also know how important your goal is and encourage you forward despite those difficult moments we all face.

Let Go of Old Beliefs

Be honest with yourself. The old beliefs you hold to are most likely no longer serving your best interests. It’s time to face change and embrace new beliefs that will help you shine.

One day, I offered a neighborhood kid a piece of chocolate. He wouldn’t take it because he had shiny stones in his hand that he thought looked cool. He wasn’t willing to put the stones down to accept the chocolate.

I ate the chocolate as I watched him walk toward his house. He went inside, so I headed home. I heard the neighbor’s door bang open a few seconds later, and I turned around. The mother stepped outside and tossed the stones into the driveway. I saw the kid staring at me from the dining room window with tears in his eyes.

No matter what we’re handed, we can’t receive it until we let go of what does not serve our interests.

Practice New Habits for 60-Days

The key to building habits is consistency. Scientists have found that if you miss one day, your chances of building the habit drop a few percentage points. However, if you miss two days, your chances drop significantly. Missing three days is typically beyond repair.

Make sure your new habit building is super simple with little effort required. After it’s a habit, you can look for daily 1% increases. But do not do more than the trivial when creating the consistent habit; you want to be made permanent.

Let me know in the comments below what simple new habit you’ll start this week.

©2022 by CJ Powers

The most amazing thing about live streaming is how the tools empower me. I’m able to broadcast a studio-type show with little effort.

Back when I worked for ABC, I worked with millions of dollars of equipment and large production staff. No one speculated that we’d one day have the power of a broadcast station available to us for a few thousand dollars.

I’ve even broadcasted online using my iPhone. The power and quality in my phone exceed that of WLSU-TV’s studio, where I cut my teeth years ago at university. The equipment we have is marvelous.

But having great equipment at my disposal doesn’t alter the one thing that can’t be bought. An audience’s interest.

Finding Your Audience

We can all create content. But if no one is on the other side of the broadcast, why produce?

There is a big warning on the opposite side of the spectrum too. Altering your content to draw in an audience will dissolve your passion for the project. Too often creators shift what they are doing for the sake of numbers.

They soon realize their work lacks the innate message that energized their beginnings. Creators lose sight of what got them out of bed in the morning. They forget the importance of why they launched their show.

If you have an audience of 500,000 fans, you can create most of the moderate projects that pop into your head. Half that number of viewers have launched many careers. But how do you find the people that support your dreams?

Dreaming in a Bubble

I’ve written 14 books and published five. My first book sold two copies. Two people I didn’t know bought my book. It was my most heartfelt work and none of my family or friends bought it.

The book failed. It took many hours to write from the depths of my soul and I couldn’t find more than two people interested in the topic. The book came from my heart, not from the needs of an audience.

I realized that there was a fine line between writing what you know and finding the right audience.

With live streaming, you put your heart into your show and then wonder how to get it to the right audience. Where do they exist? It makes me wonder if I dream dreams inside of a bubble.

Social Media Marketing

Some suggest I step up my social media push. The experts tell me that I need to publish promotions 40 times per week. That effort would take me 3-times more effort than the creation of the content.

There are shortcuts to trim back the amount of time required. But I struggle with spending twice the production time on promoting a show. Especially since I’m a creator and not someone who wants to spend more time selling.

A few folks get a satisfying break. One of their social media clips goes viral. Overnight several million people know their content exists.

Somehow the audience found them. Life changes and they can hire a staff to handle social media marketing. Their proverbial train soon heads down the track at faster and faster speeds.

They have to consider creating what’s in their heart or derivative content for the audience.

Fun vs. Life-Changing Content

I’ve talked with dozens of streamers who make 6, 7, and 8-figure salaries. Few of them held tight to their passion and content. Most changed directions for bigger paychecks.

One woman was passionate about her dream content. She believed the ideas were a gift from God. She made $120,000 a year promoting what she called her “life-changing” content.

Then, one of her off-the-wall videos went viral and life changed.

She now produces off-the-wall videos and makes over $3 million a year. When I asked about her early passionate content, she clarifies that no one supported it. She now focuses on what people support.
I understand.

You can bet that I will never write a deeply passionate book again since only two people bought my first book. It doesn’t make sense to put in hundreds of hours for two people.

Find A Supportive Audience

This is where life gets tough. Lamont Boyd and I have been “helping” fathers for three years. We’ve been sharing on our live streaming show, “Just 2 Dads Talking.”

I’ve also worked with Christine Crow and Marty Jalove. We’ve been creating a show to help develop good communicators and leaders. The show is “Brown Bag’n It.”

Neither show has broken even. Both shows will get canceled by noon on Christmas Eve. Well, unless we get enough funds to extend the shows.

But, finding donors or sponsors within the next two weeks seems unrealistic.

We weren’t able to build a sizable audience with our mere start-up funds. Nothing we did went viral to catch the attention of supportive fans. Nor have the fans spread word about the shows.

Surviving in this media-rich society is all about building an audience. You either find your audience and they support you, or you don’t. We did not.

This is my last entry on my live streaming journey—unless a miracle happens before noon on Christmas Eve.

For those of you interested in supporting this blog, please consider buying me a proverbial cup of coffee by clicking the button below. Thanks!

The contest had officially started. My nerves were so strong that I couldn’t imagine winning the “Evaluation” competition. Yet, the event would only take ten minutes and determine my future.

Should I quit now and pretend that I lost my Internet connection to the online contest?

My stomach churned in agony. Fear and anguish replaced my thoughts. I was about to go down, and I hadn’t even taken my turn.

Evaluation Competition

The contest goal is to find the best person to give positive and critical feedback to new public speakers. After the target speaker talks, the competing evaluator gets 2-3 minutes to share their observations. They also share a couple of recommendations to help the target speaker learn how to improve their techniques.

I was at the Area Contest. That means those competing had already won in their local community. So I was up against the best in the area.

Imposter Syndrome

A friend sent me a chat before the program started. She sent friendly words of encouragement.

My response came from my focus—my nerves. So, first, I shared how nervous I was.

She responded with a quick reminder of who I was and my capabilities.

I felt the impostor syndrome attempting to make its way into my thoughts.

The impostor syndrome is a psychological pattern that causes us to doubt our skills and accomplishments—the syndrome forms from a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.

I foolishly rebutted the compliment with a chat clarifying how my nerves were getting the best of me.

There was no reply. My friend knew I was stuck in my head and couldn’t see reality regardless of who I was or how highly she respected me. So she was right not to respond.

Battle of the Brain

Many a battle was lost before the fighting ever started. Our mindset can make or break our chances by dwelling on a single thought designed to tear us down. The lack of reply forced me to realize that I had entered a new battle.

My mind flashed with pros and cons. Could I save face by stepping down and letting my backup take over?

The contestants were moved into the virtual breakout room. The host shared the rules with us and pointed out that the woman in the room was an incredible competitor and had won numerous times before. He jokingly warned us that we were about to lose and suggested there was still time to step down to avoid a brutal beating.

Since many a truth is said in jest, was this highly respected man allowing us to quit?

The host drew our names to determine the order in which we would share. I was to be the first speaker. That meant everyone else would have 5-10 minutes more time to prepare their evaluation—plenty of time to craft a great response.

The Courageous Battle Rages

A couple of dozen people filled the virtual space to watch the competition. Several were very experienced speakers and dignitaries. I was feeling overwhelmed and out of place. I was desperate for a healthy perspective.

Years ago, a teacher told me, “…God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” The word discipline popped into my mind. At that moment, I understood that I needed courage.

I understood courage to be the ability to do something while still feeling fearful. But, unfortunately, the fear wasn’t going to go away until I started sharing my views on the target speaker’s talk.

At that moment, I steeled my will to move forward.

My Evaluation Presentation

I listened intently to what the speaker shared and gathered my thoughts. I had two dozen ideas of how she could improve her message. The problem was us having only enough time to speak to two or three of the items.

But realizing there was a commonality in some of the items, I grouped my thoughts based on her ability to captivate the audience, provide concise content, and her appearance on camera.

The speaker was thrilled to receive such practical advice. She accidentally voiced her excitement during my evaluation. Realizing her microphone was still on, she turned it off and took notes.

Contest Results

The host interviewed the contestants before the results were announced. The host also interviewed the target speaker, and everyone noticed she had already taken some of my advice.

I was happy that I could make a positive impact on her life. I didn’t need to win because seeing the woman’s improvements made my day.

I was startled to hear my name announced as the winner. I was not expecting it. Nor did I feel worthy of it.

Why?

Because when I realized my nerves were going to be there regardless of my competition, I chose to be courageous and focused on helping the target speaker improve. When I forced myself to focus on her needs, I no longer had anything to fear. The moment was no longer about my worth at all, but the speaker’s value.

My nerves turned into energy that boosted my clarity. I was then able to speak in a way that mattered for the target speaker. She even got excited about what she was learning. And she implemented a couple of suggestions immediately.

The Future

I’m now headed to the Division Contest. I will be going head-to-head with my podcast co-host Lamont Boyd. That’s right; he had entered the same competition and won at his community and area levels. It’s his goal to get to the district level and then beyond.

It’s my goal to encourage the next target speaker. I want to give recommendations that can be implemented and will improve the target speaker’s life.

I’m pretty sure that my decision to be courageous during the past contest will soften my nerves for the next competition. But if not, I’ll still compete to help the target speaker advance their speaking career.

What do you need courage for this week?