I have learned something over the past 15 years as I have pursued business and wealth generation through my writing and creativity. Less leads to more. What do I mean by that? Listen and find out.

Why Less Leads To More

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00:00:02.710]
Well, as always, it’s great to be with you. Thanks for tuning in. And today I want to talk about the power of glass and how less can often lead to more. I certainly over the past kind of 10 to 15 years, as I’ve particularly pursued business and wealth generation through my writing and creativity, this has been so true. I mean, I do produce a lot of content. So it’s it’s not that, you know, that there is a there’s a necessity to put yourself out there.

00:00:40.000]
There’s a necessity to bring value to the table and expressions of your creativity out where people can purchase them, where people can benefit from them, where people can be blessed by them. So what do I mean by less leading to more? What I’m really talking about today is the power of focus. You know, there’s there’s a scripture that I often quote because I see it at work, not just in the church walls, but just really it is.

00:01:16.350]
But it’s not really not really a great word to use right now. But it’s pandemic and it’s a pervasive influence. And in 2 Timothy 3:7, Paul said that he he spoke of like a great company of people who were ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. You know, and obviously the context in in Paul’s letter is referring to someone spiritual life. But this but this principle, I see it at work all over the world.

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And I, I especially see it in kind of the creative sphere and where people are looking to discover ways to make money online, discover ways to kind of extend their influence, build a business, whatever it may be. And in the context of that, so often we find people consuming product after product and buying course after course, but never actually doing anything with the information that they accrue. You know, they’re just ever learning, if you like.

00:02:34.370]
Oh, he is the new course. He is the latest thing that every Tom, Dick and Harry is advertising, you know, and we’re even we’re even all aware that much of the advertising that takes place really happens not through a genuine recommendation, but more because there is an affiliate competition happening behind the scenes. And so, you know, but we there’s like a willing a willing blindness that we can enter into because it does make us feel better.

00:03:11.110]
We feel as though we are doing something, when we buy something, when we get another course, when we buy another tool, it’s some head for for a very, very short moment. It relieves us of that awful sense that we are not acting on what we know, that we are not taking action, but taking action, buying something is not really taking action and buying something. Although the rhetoric that surrounds these kind of things where, you know, people talk about investing in yourself or, you know, that take massive action by my course, that in itself is not really a massive action.

00:04:00.580]
If that course or that product or that training or that coaching just sits on your hard drive doing nothing as something has to take place beyond that initial kind of door step entry point. And over the years, I have certainly been guilty of this. And I suspect if you’re listening to this and these kind of podcasts are of interest to you, I suspect that to whatever degree, it’s probably true of you, too. And I just want to kind of come in and sit round the fire for a few minutes and just talk about the power of where we actually stop chasing after things and really give ourselves to intentionally consider and give thought to who we are and what we want to do.

00:04:55.990]
I mean, certainly for me, one of the biggest breakthroughs that I ever. Ernst was very much when I sat down and asked myself if the things that I was doing really honestly aligned with the future that I desired and the values that I hold, not that I was doing anything that was untoward or outside of kind of my Christian worldview. But really, I was asking myself, you know, do I really want to be doing this five years from now, 10 years from now?

00:05:31.090]
And is the trajectory that I’m setting myself doing, the things that I’m doing today, is that trajectory very clearly going to take me where I desire to be several years from now? I’m going to throw another scripture out, if that’s OK, because there’s so much wisdom to be found in the in the book. As we know, again, Paul is speaking and he says in 1 Timothy 4:16, the first part of that verse and I’m reading from the amplified Bible and I’m just pulling out a little soundbite from that scripture.

00:06:09.880]
It says, look well to yourself, to your own personality. Now, to me, that is a big key. I talk about the WHO before the do. And, you know, we really need as people, as Christians, as Christian creatives in particular, to find a pathway that fits and aligns with who we are as people. Not just what we do, but who we are is the key thing that we want to kind of centre upon here are discovering our call in our vocation has more to do with discovery of who we are as people than it does than it does with the skills that we can exercise out in the marketplace.

00:07:00.850]
Now, where there’s an alignment of the two, that’s where the real power and connexion can take place. For me, it was writing. It was also a friendship, if that’s the word, if that’s even a word I’ve heard it used. But, you know, I’ve done and just to be clear, it’s not like, you know, some people may have kind of a lucid arrival at an early age as to what they want to be and who they are.

00:07:33.580]
But for me, it’s been a rather long journey. You know, I’ve done my boot camp in search engine optimisation. I’ve run a local website companies. I’ve made thousands of dollars over the years and affiliate commissions I’ve done, affiliate marketing. I’ve kind of all said several best selling information products and made great money through that and helped a lot of people through that. I’ve done video marketing to a degree and membership sites. As some of you may know, I’ve actually written and run an online Bible school.

00:08:13.750]
That’s how I got my feet wet in the online space in the first place. So essentially what I’m saying is I’ve been there, seen it, done it, got the T-shirt, you know, and a shiny million treh a gazillion shiny training products that I’ve purchased along the way, teaching me how to do everything from sell T-shirts to I don’t know what else. And so why do I say this really? Just to let you know that most of us are like the rest of us, you know, it’s the way we arrive at who we are.

00:08:51.850]
The way we find our voice is often just by using it. We often kind of mistake our way into ministry in the sense that we find ourselves as we explore the opportunities and the possibilities that are around us. But there comes a point really where we have to make a decision. You know, it’s not that we don’t try new things. It’s not that we’re not open to opportunities and possibilities. It’s not that we close ourselves off to things. But there does come a point where really there is a necessity to narrow the focus.

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And, you know, because we can make money and we can have an impact in so many different ways, but you’ll only truly begin to make a mark when you narrow your focus down so you can go deep, not just kind of inch thick. Wide. Yeah, we want to go deep. We want to really exercise our in a powerful way to impact the world around us in our. And so, you know, despite my success in other things, one thread ran throughout the mall and it was always the writing and publishing side of things, and it may be that as you’re exploring your possibilities, you’ll see kind of common common traits.

00:10:18.360]
So common threads that run through much of what you do in your creative life. And it’s then really seeking God for wisdom to know how to exercise that gift and crystallise that into something that you can then share and sell and bring to the world. And so I guess I decided that I wanted to live by design, not by default, not just reacting, not just jumping from one thing to another, not not just burning myself out in a direction of directionless pursuit of something.

00:11:00.960]
Quite honestly, oftentimes I didn’t even really want if I was honest about it, you know, and, you know, to quit hustling and to start hearing. And as Paul said in that that scripture, to look well to myself and to my own personality where what sits well with me, where do I operate most powerfully, I asked what I really wanted to do, not just what I wanted to do now, but what I wanted to be doing five and 10 years from now.

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And after asking honestly, asking these questions, then being as intentional as I possibly could be in making decisions that would chart my course in that direction. As I say, it’s been for me, it’s been to really focus on the writing side of things, both books and blogs. And, you know, writing really centres in pretty much everything that I do. Even these podcasts really arise from the things that I write. You know, this is just an audio, kind of an audio expansion of what I’ve put as words on a page oftentimes.

00:12:13.110]
And Larna and I, we now run a six figure Christian publishing company, which we’re extremely thankful for, and and continue to explore the possibilities of where our writing can take us. You know, and I just want to encourage you to do the same. Do you? I mean, it’s like if you feel as though you’re chasing your tail, if you feel as though you’re running in every direction, you know, you’re just spilling all of your energies all over the place and just focus in, spend some time, take some time with the Holy Spirit and ask him, Lord, where I may be occupied with all of these many things.

00:12:55.980]
But where will where is my vocation, what is my God given call and purpose on this planet? What have you called me to do so I can begin to live with my focus just on one or but a few things and really make those things my passion driven focus. And so, yeah, God bless you. Hopefully this may have helped. I’m not sure. I guess you’re probably aware that to a degree this is an ongoing journey, even for me, an ongoing discovery as I as I continue to expand as a person.

00:13:41.430]
And I still have to be really careful not to be caught in the trap of running after the next big thing and really focussing consistently upon the things that I believe will bring the most value to the people that I serve. And this podcast is just one way in which I’m seeking to serve you and and serve whatever audience would choose to take that journey together with me. God bless you. Have a great day. And I look forward to speaking again tomorrow.

00:14:16.890]
Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.