The abbreviation “WWJD?” has been around for years. It was (hopefully still is) a very powerful movement as people began to ask themselves:“What would Jesus do?” for how to handle various circumstances in their lives. The abbreviation “WMWM?” can also change your life forever.
Every choice we make is a cause and effect scenario so it’s my guess that millions of people experienced much better outcomes because they slowed down and thought through how Jesus would’ve handled various situations. This approach is certainly a life changer because it changes the direction their lives take. A good analogy of this is to visualize that
you’re traveling down a road and reach a fork where you have to choose either going right or left. The choice you make sets the course for your journey. A lot of times we end up figuring out we went the wrong way so we turn around and head back the other direction. Having to do this is more detrimental than what you might think.
When we double back we not only lose the time we spent going in the wrong direction but we also lose the amount of ground we would’ve gained if we made the right choice in the first place. In other words if you travel two hours down the wrong road it will take you two hours to get back to your original decision point. With this in mind you’ve actually wasted four hours as you could’ve been that much further down the right road. Life is moving too fast to waste a bunch of it making bad decisions.
Whether good or bad the choices we make set the tone for our lives. We need something to keep us focused each day so the world doesn’t negatively affect our decision making. I don’t know about you but I don’t think the world cares about my wellbeing as much as I do!
“WMWM” is an abbreviation for: “What matters and who matters?” If we would begin each day focusing on these questions it can change our lives forever. Any successful person or sports team didn’t get that way by chance. These people stay focused on the things that matter and don’t waste time on those that don’t. They often call this thought process:
“Focusing on the fundamental few.” Meaning they don’t allow their brains to get distracted by a bunch of variables that don’t make much difference or possibly any difference towards them achieving what matters to them.
This idea of: “What matters and who matters?” isn’t a canned model as the things that matter can be different from person to person. You get to think through the junk that gets you distracted and decide what really matters to you. You can even come up with a few things you’d like to focus on and then maybe add some other things to your list later.
Let me give you an example of “WMWM” in action. “What matters and who matters?” could include things like I've listed below.
What matters:
* Taking my family to church each Sunday.
* Being a positive role model.
* Demonstrating love to my wife and children.
* Providing for my family.
* My health.
* Staying in touch with my relatives.
* Helping those who are less fortunate.
Who Matters:
* God.
* My wife and children.
* My parents and siblings.
* My boss.
The above are a few examples so it’s entirely up to you as to where your focus should be. I would recommend prioritizing the items on your list. This way if you have to sacrifice
something for let’s say time sake, you’ll be more in tune to the choice you should make.
A good way to come up with what’s important to you is to think about what you’re thankful for (a.k.a. count your blessings). If you’re thankful for something or someone they must matter to you. Or you can think about those things you’d most hate to lose in your life. Hard to think about but it can get your list in good shape. Once you have your list (I would keep it short at first), then you should start each day reviewing it in your mind. The reason I think your list should be short at least at first, is that most of us spread ourselves to thin. We can’t make everyone happy nor can we be good at everything that matters to us. It’s better to be great at a few important things in our lives than to be mediocre or terrible at most things.
Life is certainly a juggling act so we have a lot of pins in the air. This keeps us stressed because we’re trying to keep everything afloat; but there is no doubt pin(s) will drop sometimes. There is also no doubt that we can’t get away from having to juggle a lot of things because that’s just life. The trick is to make sure the most important pins stay in the air and that we’re willing to let the less important ones drop when necessary. These other pins are inevitable life distractions that we need to be aware of but not focused on because they can cause everything to tumble down.
Have you ever seen a professional juggler start to drop one of his pins and in his effort to reach out and save it he ends up letting all of them fall? We must know which of the pins we’re juggling are most crucial to us and allow the less important ones to drop so we can save the rest.
Focusing on the things that matter can’t be something we dabble in so thinking about them every few weeks or months won’t cut it. We need to reflect on “what matters and who matters” every morning and when we can throughout the day. It’s one of those things that take practice before it’s a habit. Something to help you in the mornings is to pick a time
(maybe while you’re brushing your teeth or before you pull out of your driveway to work), when you consistently run through your mind what and who matters most to you. It would take less than a minute to reflect on these things so we have no legitimate excuses for not doing it.
I hope you agree with me that this approach can make a tremendous difference in your life. Let me give you one last incentive and that is not only will you benefit from focusing on the things that really matter but you’ll also bless a lot of other lives by doing it and the positive impact will be life-long. Powerful isn’t it!?
Every choice we make is a cause and effect scenario so it’s my guess that millions of people experienced much better outcomes because they slowed down and thought through how Jesus would’ve handled various situations. This approach is certainly a life changer because it changes the direction their lives take. A good analogy of this is to visualize that
you’re traveling down a road and reach a fork where you have to choose either going right or left. The choice you make sets the course for your journey. A lot of times we end up figuring out we went the wrong way so we turn around and head back the other direction. Having to do this is more detrimental than what you might think.
When we double back we not only lose the time we spent going in the wrong direction but we also lose the amount of ground we would’ve gained if we made the right choice in the first place. In other words if you travel two hours down the wrong road it will take you two hours to get back to your original decision point. With this in mind you’ve actually wasted four hours as you could’ve been that much further down the right road. Life is moving too fast to waste a bunch of it making bad decisions.
Whether good or bad the choices we make set the tone for our lives. We need something to keep us focused each day so the world doesn’t negatively affect our decision making. I don’t know about you but I don’t think the world cares about my wellbeing as much as I do!
“WMWM” is an abbreviation for: “What matters and who matters?” If we would begin each day focusing on these questions it can change our lives forever. Any successful person or sports team didn’t get that way by chance. These people stay focused on the things that matter and don’t waste time on those that don’t. They often call this thought process:
“Focusing on the fundamental few.” Meaning they don’t allow their brains to get distracted by a bunch of variables that don’t make much difference or possibly any difference towards them achieving what matters to them.
This idea of: “What matters and who matters?” isn’t a canned model as the things that matter can be different from person to person. You get to think through the junk that gets you distracted and decide what really matters to you. You can even come up with a few things you’d like to focus on and then maybe add some other things to your list later.
Let me give you an example of “WMWM” in action. “What matters and who matters?” could include things like I've listed below.
What matters:
* Taking my family to church each Sunday.
* Being a positive role model.
* Demonstrating love to my wife and children.
* Providing for my family.
* My health.
* Staying in touch with my relatives.
* Helping those who are less fortunate.
Who Matters:
* God.
* My wife and children.
* My parents and siblings.
* My boss.
The above are a few examples so it’s entirely up to you as to where your focus should be. I would recommend prioritizing the items on your list. This way if you have to sacrifice
something for let’s say time sake, you’ll be more in tune to the choice you should make.
A good way to come up with what’s important to you is to think about what you’re thankful for (a.k.a. count your blessings). If you’re thankful for something or someone they must matter to you. Or you can think about those things you’d most hate to lose in your life. Hard to think about but it can get your list in good shape. Once you have your list (I would keep it short at first), then you should start each day reviewing it in your mind. The reason I think your list should be short at least at first, is that most of us spread ourselves to thin. We can’t make everyone happy nor can we be good at everything that matters to us. It’s better to be great at a few important things in our lives than to be mediocre or terrible at most things.
Life is certainly a juggling act so we have a lot of pins in the air. This keeps us stressed because we’re trying to keep everything afloat; but there is no doubt pin(s) will drop sometimes. There is also no doubt that we can’t get away from having to juggle a lot of things because that’s just life. The trick is to make sure the most important pins stay in the air and that we’re willing to let the less important ones drop when necessary. These other pins are inevitable life distractions that we need to be aware of but not focused on because they can cause everything to tumble down.
Have you ever seen a professional juggler start to drop one of his pins and in his effort to reach out and save it he ends up letting all of them fall? We must know which of the pins we’re juggling are most crucial to us and allow the less important ones to drop so we can save the rest.
Focusing on the things that matter can’t be something we dabble in so thinking about them every few weeks or months won’t cut it. We need to reflect on “what matters and who matters” every morning and when we can throughout the day. It’s one of those things that take practice before it’s a habit. Something to help you in the mornings is to pick a time
(maybe while you’re brushing your teeth or before you pull out of your driveway to work), when you consistently run through your mind what and who matters most to you. It would take less than a minute to reflect on these things so we have no legitimate excuses for not doing it.
I hope you agree with me that this approach can make a tremendous difference in your life. Let me give you one last incentive and that is not only will you benefit from focusing on the things that really matter but you’ll also bless a lot of other lives by doing it and the positive impact will be life-long. Powerful isn’t it!?
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