102 – The 5-Minute Mentor: How do I Overcome the Overwhelm in my Life?

In this episode, I take the time to tackle the question of how to overcome the overwhelm of life so that you can find the focus, motivation, and even time to spend on what’s important in your creative life.

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Transcript

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Have you ever struggled with a lack of focus or feeling overwhelmed or just this kind of sludgy feeling that's like, I just can't get to what the important things are in my life, which for us is art as artists and really being all that God's called you to be. Hey, listen, if you struggle with that, which lots and lots of artists do, you're going to be encouraged by what I've got to say here next on 5-Minute Mentoring. Have you ever wanted to have someone in your life who you could ask real questions about your art, your business, and even your walk with the Lord? Well, that's exactly what we do every Friday here on 5-Minute Mentoring, where I answer one question from one of my awesome podcast listeners in order to help you start really thriving as the artist you know God created you to be. Well, hey there, my friend, and welcome to another episode of 5-Minute Mentoring here on the Thriving Christian Artist Podcast. I'm so glad that you're here, and man, it's been a busy, busy fall. We've had lots and lots going on, and I've been getting a ton of questions. You know, anytime we take new members into the mentoring program, we get the same kinds of questions. They're kind of the newbie questions that come out, and one of them that I've been getting a ton... from people is this whole question of, Matt, I'm overwhelmed. I've got so much going on in my life. I've got kids or grandkids and job or part-time job and I'm trying to grow my art business and I'm trying to find studio time and I just don't know how to make it all work. What should I do? And so I'm going to be jumping into that head on today because it's a super, super important issue. And listen, it's one of the things, it's the thing that will keep you from actually stepping into the fullness of what God's got for you unless you understand this process. And so I'm going to be jumping into that in just a second. But of course, I love to start out with a shout out to one of my awesome podcast listeners. Listen, we are so blessed all the time of seeing the constant reviews and ratings that we get on whatever podcast software you're listening to, whether you're on iTunes or Podbean or Google Play or whatever it might be, Stitcher or Pandora. It doesn't matter. We love, love, love to get reviews. And this one today is from Indigo Elisa. And here's what Indigo Elisa says. She says, Matt Tommy is a gifted motivator, teacher, and constant source of encouragement. When I listen to the thriving Christian artists, I find my thinking challenged and the barriers to my success as an artist seem much more surmountable. Not insurmountable, but surmountable. I love that. I wholeheartedly recommend this podcast if you want to begin believing in your calling and seeing the walls to your success begin to come down. Well, Indigo, Lisa, thank you so much. And listen, if you're sitting out there and you're a regular listener and you've not yet done a review or submitted a rating or something like that on the software that you're listening to, please take a second and do that. It's super, super helpful for us, our team, just to let me know that it is a blessing in your life and Honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I really want to say thank you to all you guys that watch and share and watching things on Facebook, listening here on the podcast, sharing with your friends. It's a huge blessing in my life to know that you're out there. So Indigo, Aliza, big high five to you. Big hug. Thanks so much for being a part of the podcast. Well, listen, this whole thing about overcoming overwhelm is a big, big deal. Because most people, especially as creatives, you know, we're intuitive. We're feeling oriented. We kind of wear our feelings on our sleeve sometimes. Sometimes we get a little more sensitive than other people sometimes. And when a lot is going on and we just keep saying yes, yes, yes to things in our life, what it does is it crowds out our ability to be able to be all that God's called us to be. One of the things that I've learned over the years is that discipline in your life is a wonderful thing because it allows you to be able to say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things. Because here's the deal, my friend. If you keep saying yes to the wrong things in your life or yes to things that are no longer in God's season for you at this time or yes to things that used to work but no longer work, you know, then you're going to find yourself in a really, really frustrating place. You know, the reason a lot of people have trouble saying no is because internally in that internal paradigm that is really the GPS system for our life, inside that is a core belief that is more of a have, do, be kind of, you know, mentality that says this, says, if I have this, all right, if I have success, if I have everything going on in my family, if I have a successful art career, if I have all these sort of things going on, then I can do what I need to be able to do, and then that will make me be who God's called me to be. Well, listen, nothing else could be further from the truth. There are also people that have it this way. Maybe a do-have-be. They think, well, if I do all this, if I do, do, do, and I'm busy, busy, busy with everything, then I can have what I really want, which they don't really know what they want, but they think that just being busy will get them there. And then I can be... what I really want to be, which is ultimately happy and free and all that God's called you to be. I didn't mean to rhyme that, but it just came out like that. So just roll with me. So the real way that you want to, you know, the position, I guess, that you want to be coming at your life from is not have, do, be, or do, have, be, but it's be, do, have. That is on an internal level. way, in an internal way, and on a heart level, in the deep subconscious part of your heart, you have to be first who God has called you to be. That's why Paul spent so much time talking about renewing your mind, because if your subconscious mind does not agree with the Word of God and God's plan for your life and the dreams that He's put on your heart, then you will be pointing the... the actions of your life and the effort of your life, the energy of your life in a totally wrong direction. And you'll just spin your wheels constantly. The other thing that you'll do is you'll think that if I'm just busy, if I just say yes to everybody, then that way nobody will not like me because we can't have people not liking us because I got to please everybody. I mean, there's a whole lot of layers to this thing, all right? But the bottom line is if you will start with being, that is... aligning your heart and mind with who God says you are, what he says you can do, what he says you can have, the truth about what he's already done for you, if that is set in your heart in a deep way, and then you begin to build from that, you know, the vision and the habits and the actions of your life that are aligned with that, all of a sudden you will begin to see a life transformed. Why? Because out of being, then you start doing. And out of that doing that's aligned with a kingdom-centered being, that's when you start to have the things in your life that you're looking for. Listen, a lot of people think that if they just take on all these false expectations and pressure from family and from job and from getting out there and working three jobs because that's how they think they have to make a living or pleasing everybody in their family so they can't say no They can't set their own schedule. They got to do what everybody else wants first before they do what they're supposed to, you know, what they think is important. Listen, if you live your life like that with all that pressure and false expectations, you will never get to living the life that God has called you to live. So what's the pattern? Well, there's a really clear pattern in God's word, all right? You know, there's a wonderful verse, I talk about it in the book Created to Thrive, that says, without a vision, the what? The people perish. That actually means without prophetic revelation, people cast off restraint and kind of run around and do whatever they want to do, just kind of out of desperation, trying to find something that works. And so you always have to start in the place of vision, in the place of going before the Lord, all right, in a place that says, Father, I know that you created me for something special. I know that you knew me in my mother's womb before the very foundation of the earth, that you have a specific, incredible plan for my life. And Lord, I want to connect with that. Lord, I want to say yes to that. I want to agree with what you say about me. And as you begin to cultivate that mindset, and those thoughts, vision will begin to be birthed out of that. And then you can begin to set habits, all right, in your life that align with the vision and the new reality that God's implanted in your heart by the Holy Spirit. Again, instead of trying to have, have, have, do, do, do, be busy, busy, busy, trying to make things happen on your own and wondering why you're not getting anywhere, wondering why you're always chasing your tail, running around In circles, not getting the results you want in your life. No, you start with being. You start with, I'm a son. God loves me. I'm called according to his purpose. I've already been given everything I need for life and godliness. Just using God's word, again, as affirmations to build the subconscious part of your brain into alignment with God's word. And as you do that, vision, all right? I'm repeating myself because repetition is how we learn. Vision then gets birthed and then habits, faith rises for that vision, allowing you to begin to set and stick with habits in your life that will produce the results that you want. All right. Now, listen, I also talk a lot about this in episode number 64. I'm talking about knowing God's plan for your art in life. But when you begin to move through this process, again, pushing off false expectation, pushing off this idea that you got to be busy, you got to please everybody, that you got to do everything for everybody else first. No, you push all that off. You begin to renew your mind. You begin to align with God's kingdom, set vision, and then set your priorities in alignment with that. All of a sudden, guess what? Overwhelm gets reduced because you're not trying to be all things to all people. You've set clear boundaries in your life according to God's plan. And according to your identity in Him, and that's when the abundant life begins to manifest in your life. Listen, I love seeing this happen in people's lives. I see it all the time in the mentoring program. I get testimonies from people that have read my books and start doing it. And even from people that have gone through the mini course that I have called Knowing God's Plan for Your Art and Life. And listen, I want to encourage you, if you need help, if you'd like some help walking through this process of how that renewing your mind works, how to begin to get vision, how to create a vision board. If you'd like some affirmations that I've already put together for you in line with that, check out the mini course that's in the show notes called Knowing God's Plan for Your Life in Art. It's my most popular mini course to date. And I think for 39 bucks, it's kind of a no brainer. It'll walk you through this whole process and really, really help you get started in strength so that you can disconnect again, from that old pattern of living and really start connecting with the truth of God's word. All right. Well, hey, listen, I love you very much. And listen, a big part of a five-minute mentoring is not only answering questions that I read, but also your questions that I get on voicemail. So you can go to my website, matttommymentoring.com forward slash podcast, and leave me a voicemail right there on the page. I listen to those every week. And, um, Those are, you know, some people are, it's funny. Some people are like, Matt, I just love the podcast or Matt, this changed my life. Testimonies are great, but it's really there for questions. So if you've got a question that you want me to feature on the podcast, go there right now or anytime and ask a question. I'll download that. We'll feature it on the podcast and who knows, maybe it'll be your question that I'm answering next here on 5-Minute Mentoring. All right. Well, hey, until next time, remember you were created to thrive. I love you very much and I'll see you then. Bye.