Next Step, Next Rep.
The mindset that can make or break the next move.
“Just do the next rep.”
When I was in high school, my dad trained me and my four brothers in the proper techniques of weight training, building muscle, and endurance, as he had a history in competitive lifting. I carry those habits with me to this day, doing what I can depending on the stage of motherhood I’m in.
There was a specific mindset he coached that had the power to make or break that last set of ten repetitions: “Just do the next rep.”
It was that simple. Stop looking at the whole set of ten and mentally giving up. Just commit to the next rep.
One. At. A. Time.
Oftentimes, I find myself in the midst of chaotic overwhelm that freezes my tired mind and body in its tracks, looking ahead at my foreseeable future as an unbroken chain of more of the same. I will erroneously assume this fatigue is never ending. The everyday business of running a family. The fatigue of heartache over unresolved tension in relationships or at work. The challenge of a serious illness. Financial setbacks. Loss of a loved one. The list seems to go on and on, and sometimes it feels that way for years. For myself and many of us, the temptation arises to project the pain onto the rest of our lives.
But this simply is not so. Even if there are bigger challenges coming around the corner, we are not being asked to succeed in those moments before they happen. The Creator of heaven and earth is asking for your faithfulness and persistence in this moment. No need to live the future before it happens.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
— Matthew 6:34
This is not an invitation to laziness, or to stop trying; this is a clarion call to vigilance! God’s will first. The correct work will become clear. There are jobs and periods in our lives that will demand more forethought and calculation than other times. You’ll have to “play chess and not checkers,” so to speak. A grievous oversight would be to make your calculations from a place of anxious survival, rather than a state of trust. But commitment to excellence in the present moment renders you more receptive to His preparations for your future, even if that future is uncertain. Offer Him your efforts, and He will bless and multiply your results.
Don’t project the current fight into a future you cannot see. That’s a trap that will suck the life out of you. Just take the next right step. Commit to the next rep.
One. At. A. Time.