00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 609 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Okay. I'm Patrick Anson Nucci from dad hackers and I challenge you to become the man that you are called and created to be. One way to be inspired to do this is to listen to this show, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader. Notice and reduce the behaviors that you use that are not productive and cause you to worry and stress and then begin to redesign your life slowly but surely so that you can focus on the hopeful and move forward,
00:00:50 no matter how uncertain the times may be. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired stewardship podcast, we'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. And today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about why the expression we live in uncertain times is meaningless.
00:01:37 I talk about looking for certainty and security and I share why you have to move forward with hope no matter what. You've heard me talk about developing your talent and one of the best ways to do that is through books, but if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read and that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from and you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible.
00:02:18 That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books. The same way you're listening to this podcast.
00:02:29 You know right now I've seen a lot of different ads and post and various groups that are out there and talking about in this uncertain time,
00:02:41 how right now is such an uncertain time for the world that we have to worry about. How we live in this uncertain time,
00:02:51 and here's what we're doing to help. And in fact, uh, I've heard from a lot of people how that phrase about uncertain has begun to grate on them and,
00:03:01 and almost feel inauthentic and feel sort of fake. And here's the funny thing. So I'm releasing this podcast at a particular day in a particular time.
00:03:13 And right now there's a lot going on that makes these times quote, uncertain. But the truth is if you tune into this podcast a year from now,
00:03:24 five years from now, 10 years from now, a hundred years from now, odds are really good that there's something going on in your life right now that is uncertain.
00:03:36 Sure, there may be more or less uncertainty. But the truth is we always live in uncertain times.
00:03:46 That expression is completely devoid of meaning. It's absolutely meaningless because the truth is there's always a degree of uncertainty.
00:03:56 This in anybody's life at all times, no matter what's going on, whether it's climate change, stock market volatility,
00:04:06 a pandemic murder, Hornets, or whatever it is, there's something going on that you can feel anxious about.
00:04:14 You can worry about, you can become concerned about and it will add a degree of uncertainty to your life.
00:04:24 But the truth is in times like that, what happens is you see higher levels of anxiety and depression.
00:04:31 You know, I reached out to folks that are on my newsletter a few weeks ago and I asked them what are some things that they want to keep in their life when this pandemic is over?
00:04:39 What are some things they want to make sure that they don't allow back into their life? And what are some lessons they've learned from this time?
00:04:51 And one of them came back with something really profound. They said everything is less certain than most of us believe stability is a precious state for the world,
00:05:00 or at least for your world to be in. You know, this idea that stability is really something that we should aim for or certainty is another way of saying it.
00:05:12 And yeah, I mean I want stability in my life. I want predictability. We all do. We want things to be safe and secure and certain,
00:05:21 and you should do everything you can to move in that direction. But the truth is looking for certainty,
00:05:29 looking for security and all times is tenuous at best because the truth is we always live in uncertain times.
00:05:41 We always live in a degree where there's a little less than a hundred percent security, a little less than a hundred percent certainty.
00:05:50 What's interesting is our minds have a the ability to forecast the future. We do this all the time.
00:05:56 We it naturally, we forecast scenarios. We think about what will happen and what's interesting is there's a cognitive bias that we all have that's called an impact bias.
00:06:09 And what's interesting is we tend to overestimate both the number of bad events and the impact that they will have on us all of the time.
00:06:21 We think if this happens, it will destroy my life. But the truth is most of us adjust relatively well to both positive and negative change.
00:06:33 We're much more resilient and capable than we believe. And recognizing that realizing that your mind has this inherent bias allows you to begin to define stability a little differently than certainty.
00:06:48 It makes you recognize that you want to control the things you can control, but you can't control everything and you shouldn't worry about that.
00:06:58 You have to continue to move forward with hope. Anyway. Another trick that you can use comes out of CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy,
00:07:09 which is when you begin to think about those future scenarios. Think first about what is the most positive thing that could come out of this,
00:07:18 and then think about the worst case scenario. What's the absolute worst that could happen? And then think about what's actually most realistic,
00:07:27 what's most likely to happen and do what you can to prepare for the worst based scenario, but recognize the fact that the,
00:07:35 the realistic scenario is actually probably much more likely to be what happens and you can recognize that there's a degree of results that helps begin to inoculate you against thinking always about the worst thing.
00:07:53 Begin to focus on the things that you actually can control. What can you actually do if it helps you designate a certain amount of time every day,
00:08:02 maybe 20 or 30 minutes, and that's your worry time. And so when worries come up, things you can't control come up that you want to worry about.
00:08:10 Write them down and only focus on them during the worry time. Recognize as well that no matter what,
00:08:19 there's always uncertainty in your life and believe it or not, you've grown to accept a degree of uncertainty in your life.
00:08:26 You leave at a certain time with the expectation that you'll get to your destination just fine, but then traffic wares up and you end up running late.
00:08:37 That is dealing with a certain amount of uncertainty and you have a frustration about it, but you don't let it rule your life either.
00:08:46 You don't no longer drive or go anywhere or even leave four and a half hours early every single day just to be sure that you'll it.
00:08:55 They're on time. No, you just recognize that there's uncertainty and deal with it. This allows you to begin to move forward with hope.
00:09:05 It begins to allow you to recognize that you have a certain degree of control. That's all you've ever had.
00:09:13 That's all you ever will have, no matter what's going on in the world. You have to focus on the things that you can control.
00:09:21 You have to notice your own behavior, focus on your own mental and physical wellbeing, notice and reduce the behaviors that you use that are not productive and cause you to worry and stress and then begin to redesign your life slowly but surely so that you can focus on the hopeful and move forward,
00:09:47 no matter how uncertain the times may be. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:10:01 As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling.
00:10:13 If you like this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent.
00:10:27 Or if you're in the U S you can text four, four, two, two, two talent tips.
00:10:34 That's talent tips to four, four, two, two, two and get those tips. Until next time,
00:10:41 invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.