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It Starts in the Dark
18 Plays2 years ago
Today we talk about starting something new. Whether it is a business project, creative endeavor, ministry assignment, dream, or vision, we're exploring the process of taking the first step into the unknown to illuminate the path forward.
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Transcript
Creating the Future: Ventures and Imperfections
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Leonard Sweet Sweet said the future is not something we enter.
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The future is something we create.
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And so in today's podcast, I really want to take some time to share some light on the topic of starting something new, you know, of getting those creative juices flowing, whether it's a business project, creative endeavor.
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Ministry assignment, you know, what have you dream vision.
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I want to explore the process of taking that first step into the unknown to illuminate the path forward.
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So grab your flashlight and let's embark on this journey together.
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What's up fam?
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Through self-development and spiritual growth, take the next step in life, love, and your leadership through the Mixing Up podcast with your host, Sylvester Mixon.
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Hey, let's get ready to get empowered.
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So hear me as an entrepreneur, church planner, dreamer, visionary, pastor, father, etc.
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But my disclaimer is I'm not perfect and I'm not an expert.
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But here's what I know.
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Startups, dreams, visions, they all face many challenges, especially in the beginning stages of development.
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And I've listed a few things that I believe are good for taking note of.
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That can literally be challenges or hindrances to the growth of your church plant, your vision, your startup, your your dream, your
Overcoming Procrastination and Building the Right Team
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drive.
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And that is number one, procrastination.
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You know, and I've always said that procrastination is the assassination of your dream in slow motion.
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Like you'll be putting off what you tomorrow for what you could do today over and over and over until you just get started.
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Sometimes you just got to just take the risk and get going.
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Just get something out there.
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It's not perfect, but you're just getting started.
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A lot of professional procrastinators are procrastinators because they're perfectionist.
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It's just got to be perfect.
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Let me let me tell you something.
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It's not going to be perfect, even when you put it out there and think it's perfect because you're just starting.
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You're just getting going.
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So get going.
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You know, the other thing is finding the right people.
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Startups need people with the right skills to survive and grow.
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And let me tell you, often the right people come after you become the right person.
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So, number one, take time to lead you first.
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Another thing is just poor management skill.
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Like startups need effective management to make the right decisions in order to.
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Cause this thing to get off the ground to go, you know, and so again, I go back to really investing and taking time to pour into your own leadership.
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And I suggest really sitting down and getting honest with yourself about your weaknesses, get honest with yourself about any insecurities that you may have that you need to deal with.
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That could make you non-attractive to others that could repel people from you because your insecurities are repellent.
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They get in the way, you know, and so you want to deal with those grow through those.
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We all have
Addressing Personal Weaknesses and Strategic Planning
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them.
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But the difference between those who see their startup, see their vision, their dream, their drive, go to the next level are those who actually deal with those insecurities or weaknesses that could undermine your dreams from moving forward.
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So remember, I think it goes back to the first principle.
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Take time to lead you.
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And you may do that by putting in a growth plan, a personal growth and development plan for yourself.
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Something that looks like what books am I going to read?
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Who am I going to add as my mentors for this year?
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What conferences am I going to attend to this year that deal with my specific area or that enhance my leadership skills?
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You know, what podcast am I going to start listening to?
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Mixing it up.
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Plug.
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All right.
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Another thing is lack of planning, you know, no vision plan or guide, you know.
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Who are we?
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Why are we?
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Where are we going?
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Where are we going to be in the next three to five years?
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You need a plan in place.
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There's a passage in scripture that says he who plans to build but doesn't count up the cost.
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You know, otherwise people will laugh at him and say that he started building and couldn't finish.
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And so you don't want what you're doing to fail and be a mockery because you didn't.
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Prepare yourself or properly plan.
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And the same thing is another thing I wrote down was financial management.
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And I think it kind of flows into that same thing.
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Having a strict budget now and starting strict on that budget is that you can't you can't eat up your seed.
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You know, you've got to make sure that you put a plan in place that tells your money where to go or your money is just going to be going everywhere.
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You know what I mean?
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You know, competing with others.
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I think that comparison is the thief of joy.
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Now, while in business, there is a degree of competition.
Budgeting, Competition, and Progress
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Obviously, there is you do need to embrace taking note of what others are doing in the industry that you are in.
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But you don't need to fall by the wayside of just getting stuck or depressed or drowned in sorrow about getting stuck.
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Comparison and how much better they are than you know, you know, look at what they're doing.
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Take some notes and see how you can implement a few things that will help you to get off the ground and use it as encouragement.
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Use it as motivation, but don't use it as an energy trainer.
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Simon Sinek said we achieve more when we chase the dream instead of chasing the competition.
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And so chase your dream.
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Don't chase your competition.
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You know, Walt Disney said it this way.
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He said the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
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And so how do we do that?
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Let me give you just a few steps that I wrote down.
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I think that'll be a blessing.
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If you're going to start this thing in the dark and remember that it's it's not an overnight success.
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That's very rare.
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Those are often shooting stars.
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You know, we're shooting stars or dying stars.
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And so, you know, it's going to take some time, some effort, some energy, some drive, some stick to it, if this some faithfulness, some prayer.
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You know, the right connections and company, getting the right people in, wrong people out.
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Let me give you a few steps.
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Number one, define your goals.
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Imagine standing in a dark room.
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You need to have a clear vision of where you want to go before you can take the first step.
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And so defining your goals with clarity and specificity is going to be key.
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You know, it's like turning on a light switch in the darkness.
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Suddenly everything becomes clearer and you can see the path of head ahead.
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That's what defining your goals is going to do.
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So you got to picture yourself, you know, like with a flashlight pointing it toward your goals.
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Each beam of that light represents a specific goal that you want to achieve.
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Number two, work your why.
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You know, Simon Sinek says every dream vision leadership starts with why, why, you know, why am I doing this?
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You know, what is my why my drive that my my passion, my purpose?
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You know, people don't buy what you do.
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They buy why you do what you do.
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And when you become more centered with why you do this, why is this important?
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Why does this matter?
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Then what you do simply proves what you believe.
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Remember, the why is always over the what.
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Right.
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And I would also add getting centered on the who you're becoming is always before the do that you're doing.
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Right.
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All right.
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And so your why purpose gives you working power like it gives you that that strength that when you get in adversity, because, you know, as the good scriptures say, I love to quote it in the book of Proverbs, adversity will have a day.
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And if you faint in that day of adversity, then you're not ready for the next level.
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You're not ready for that next dimension quite yet.
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There's still got to be some prepping that you got to do.
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There's still some things that you need to get more centered with, particularly your why, so that when that day of adversity comes, your strength isn't small, but your strength is strong.
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Right.
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Like on that day of adversity, what you want to do is use that day as a day to advance and as a day that adds to the testimony of your why.
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So whenever you feel like quitting, revisit why you got started and you'll find the strength and you'll get the grit that you need to stay in the race and keep going.
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Listen, because you are going somewhere.
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You got you got work to do.
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God didn't put all of this inside of you for nothing.
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God doesn't keep waking you and stirring your heart.
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And then you you'll hear a message or you hear some motivation or whatever and you get fired up.
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That's not for nothing.
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The fact that you have a fire is because you have a future.
Defining Boundaries and Embracing Courage
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Number three, outline the scope.
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Just as a flashlight has a limited scope, it's important to outline the scope of what you're trying to do.
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Like, what do you want to achieve?
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You know, what are the boundaries and the limitations?
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You're not trying to hit everything is where a lot of people go wrong in business.
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They're trying to target every demographic.
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They're trying to get everybody know find who you best connect with.
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Right.
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And resonate with and go after that or them.
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and watch the rest come as a result.
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You'll find that you'll end up reaching way beyond that because you actually focused on something.
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I heard the acronym for focus as follow one course until successful.
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And honestly, this is a rule of life.
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Like a lot of people don't get anything done because they're just, they're too wide, they're too broad.
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I heard it said this way that a jack of all trades is a master of none.
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It's because you're trying to do too many things at once.
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Master something and then add something else after you've begun mastery.
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But don't just add it all at one time because now you're not able to accomplish or be efficient in anything.
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Right.
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And so this step outlining the scope is really all about understanding your boundaries and the parameters by which you're going to begin to operate.
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That, you know, you can't be in 50 different places at once.
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You need to get one place started, build some type of foundation and some type of of systems and structures in place and personnel so that you can expand.
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Right.
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We're going to be in multiple cities with who?
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You haven't built anything here yet.
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And so you want to make sure that you build and outline your scope.
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Where am I going to get started?
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What are my boundaries here?
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It is literally like trying to assemble a flashlight without the batteries.
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Like you need to know the scope of your project before you can power it up and get it going.
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Number four, budgeting and timeline.
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Now let's talk briefly about budgeting and timeline.
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The batteries that power your flashlight.
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Like you need to allocate some resources.
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You need to put aside some money, set aside resources and set a realistic timeline, a due date for your project.
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Write out a clear budget and be strict on that budget.
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This will ensure that you have the necessary resources to keep your journey lit.
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Yeah, you want to keep that journey lit.
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Here's a business startup fact is many successful businesses started with a minimal budget and a well-planned timeline.
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It's all about making the most of what you have.
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Like at the beginning, you're not going to have everything.
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I remember when starting UCC, man, I didn't have any money for real.
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You know, that was coming out of my personal money.
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And, you know, I use what I had.
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And, you know, the folks that were starting it with me, we use the things that we had.
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Like, I mean, we use makeshift.
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A makeshift mechanic garage with oil spills on the floor to open our first church.
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We use card table chairs and my aunt donated a podium that somebody had made out of wood in their garage.
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You know, we just started where we were when they bought a really cheap hundred and fifty dollar sound system from Best Buy.
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And we had church we built with that.
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We grew.
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We were and we loved it.
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People loved it.
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And we grew.
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So you have to start where you are.
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Everything may not be perfect, but do your best to make it excellent.
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Number five, take the first step.
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Like much of your momentum and your energy is not going to happen until you get going.
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Like you got to take that first step.
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Even if it's some sense of a risk, you've got to take that first step.
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Like Winston Churchill said, fear is a reaction, but courage is a decision.
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You have to have courage to take that first step.
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You know, it means that you're you are stepping into this lesson today is about it.
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It started in the dark.
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And so you take that first step in the darkness, just like stepping into a dark room.
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It can be intimidating at first, but with each step, you become more accustomed or acclimated to that environment.
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So you have to embrace the unknown and trust that each step brings you closer to your goal or your destination.
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You'll never get there if you don't start stepping.
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The Bible says, 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith and not by sight.
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Think of it like exploring a dark cave, which each step you discover something new and exciting.
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The darkness becomes less daunting as you navigate through it.
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So you got to get going.
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Get going.
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Whatever you do, get going.
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Get your motivation in the morning and get out there and get going.
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Number six, learn to adapt.
Adaptability and Celebrating Success
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So as you move forward, you have to be prepared to adapt to the unexpected.
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Like I always tell the church, one of our core values is flexibility.
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And so I tell them, blessed are the flexible so they will not be for they will not be bent out of shape.
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It's so important to know that sometimes the path won't be as straight as you initially thought.
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So you have just like adjusting the angle on the flashlight so you can see better.
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Adaptability is the key to overcoming obstacles.
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This is that you've got to realize is obstacles at the end of the day are really opportunities.
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And so you've got to sit down and say, OK, where's the opportunity in this?
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Do I need to change some stuff?
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Innovate?
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Do I need to add something?
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Take something away?
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Be more efficient.
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Like ask yourself those hard questions and see how you can win, you know, through being flexible.
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And then number seven, celebrate your progress.
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Remember.
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You got to celebrate every step to keep continue to give yourself that energy and that motivation to keep going.
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Every small victory is like a beam of that flashlight piercing the darkness, lighting your path and reminding you how far you've come.
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Sometimes you got to take a moment and reflect, look back.
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And where you started, look at the pictures, take plenty of pictures, look at the videos, look at how you dressed, how you spoke then and how much better you've gotten, how much you've grown, how far you've come.
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Look at how far you have come.
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It's important because it will give you the energy.
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It will give you the strength, the encouragement to navigate forward.
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So these are some steps to navigating in the dark.
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Remember, anything great, dream, vision, business, startup, venture, it starts in the dark.
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You don't see it all in the beginning.
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You have an idea.
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You may you have a dream.
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You have a vision.
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And it starts to come together that as you walk it out, God blesses it to to work out.
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And so embrace the unknown, define your goals, take that first step.
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And before you know it, you'll be lighting the world up with a dream that will bless people the world over.
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Thanks for tuning in.
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I'm Sylvester Mixon and this is Mixing It Up.
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Hey, I'm Sylvester Mixon.
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You've been listening to Mixing It Up.
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Win big today.