Stop Taking the Path of Least Resistance: Choose the Road by Where It Ends

Here's a question I've been sitting with. When you make a choice, do you pick the road by how the beginning looks, or by where it ends?

Most of us would say the end. We've got goals. We've got dreams. Some of us even sense a real calling on our lives.

But then the day starts. And the day is full of beginnings that look pretty good.

Why the easy road looks so good

Our brains are built to protect us. Without getting into the brain science, they look for the efficient path - the one that feels better, the one that costs less right now. That's usually the path of least resistance.

It's not the uphill path. And it's almost never the path to where we said we wanted to go.

I'll be honest with you, I do this all the time. I'll say, "I want to accomplish this, this and this," and that's the end of the road. Then I look at the day in front of me and something looks attractive. Something looks fun. Something looks easier. And I choose that. One distraction at a time, I trade what's down the road for what's right in front of me.

We tell ourselves we've got time. We'll get to it later. We procrastinate, then we beat ourselves up about it. Sound familiar?

Everything worthwhile is uphill

Great leader and author John Maxwell says it simply: everything worthwhile is uphill.

So we've got a choice. We can keep climbing out of the same ditch over and over again and never get any stronger. Or we can climb the hill. Every step up makes us a little stronger, so we can climb a little further, and get a little stronger again.

Here's the thing. Odds are you're an expert at who you are today. I'm an expert at who I am today. But I'm not an expert at who I'm meant to be - who I could be, who God wants me to be. Getting there requires something different. It requires more. It requires change, and work, and some humility.

What got us here won't get us there. The next level is uphill, and the work is what produces the fruit that gives us the energy to keep climbing. Too often we live in a comfort crisis, picking the road by how the beginning feels.

Add the will to to the want to

All of us have want tos. "I want to get in shape." "I want to grow my business." "I want to be a better husband, wife, mom, dad, leader." Fill in the blank.

Not all of us have will tos.

The want to is the end of the road. The will to is what decides which road you actually take today. So ask yourself:

• What am I willing to go do?
• Who am I willing to become?
• What am I willing to sacrifice, and what am I willing to pay?
• What am I willing to pay attention to?
• Who am I willing to connect with to get there?

It takes what it takes. When your will to matches your want to, the uphill road stops looking like punishment and starts looking like the way forward.

Your One More Rep: look down the road

Here's your One More Rep for this week. Before you start your day tomorrow, write down the one thing at the end of your road - the priority you say matters most.

Then, a few times during the day, stop and ask:

• Am I choosing what's easy, or what's important?
• Am I choosing what's distracting, or what's purposeful?
• Is what I'm doing right now on the road to the thing I wrote down?

You don't have to get every choice right. Just catch one. Swap one easy choice for one uphill choice. That's the rep.

It's not all about us

Here's why this matters so much. Our growth isn't just about us.

We use the word F.I.T. for Forever Intentionally Training our growth to serve well. The uphill road matters for two reasons: what it makes of you, and what you can do with it when you get there. As we become more, we can serve more. We can plant seeds in other people that keep growing long after we're gone, whether anybody remembers our name or not.

I'm a faith-based person. You may or may not be, and that's okay. Either way, I'd encourage you to seek wisdom. Then think better. Then grow through life instead of just going through it, so you can serve well.

So let's challenge ourselves to stop picking the road by how it starts. Look down toward the end of it. Match your will to to your want to, and do the daily reps that get you there.

You are worth it, and you have what it takes. Let's grow!