Simplicity Taught Us Why Doing Less Creates Room For God To Do More

We unpack how a year of simplicity reshaped our faith, marriage, and business, then reveal our new word: all in. Doing less opened space for peace, presence, and bold, God-sized goals we’re ready to pursue together.

• why a single word beats resolutions for direction 
• how we discerned “simple” and pruned our commitments 
• one-step goals and 20-minute daily wins 
• resisting social pressure to do the most 
• accountability as a couple using a shared word 
• simplicity as stewardship that scales impact 
• shifting from panic and perfectionism to peace 
• revealing our new word “all in” for faith, marriage, business 
• practical rhythms for connection and check-ins 
• choosing bold prayers and trusting God with outcomes

Draw the Circle 40-day prayer challenge by Mark Batterson — see the show notes so you can get your copy

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Draw The Circle Challenge

Want more?

⏩ Check out our Youversion bible
plan: Marriage Reimagined

⏩ Follow us on Instagran: @wearespartners

⏩ Book us to speak!

⏩ info@thetbeffect.com

⏩ Join our newsletter

⏩ Buy Spartners Book

Make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE! Also, follow us on all Social Media:

website
Instagram

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:27

We are back.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

We are back.

Welcome And Show Focus

SPEAKER_01 1:30

What's going on? Welcome to Numero Dos of the Spartaners podcast where faith, marriage, and business align. We are your awesome, happy to be here host.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

I'm Chantal Brooks.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Troy Brooks. And today, this we're vibing. We were talking today about our word for the year. We're talking about um how God has planted us this year and what God has placed on our heart. Every year for context, we pick a word for our family that kind of just points us in a trajectory of where we think God is sending us. And last year, that word was simple. So we want to walk you through a little bit of what that looked like for us, and then we'll talk to you about what our word is for the year this year.

Why One Word Beats Resolutions

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah. And before we even talk about that, let's just talk about the importance of having a word for the year. So for a lot of years, I mean, we definitely were on the New Year resolution bandwagon like a long time ago. And then we're like, we're not chew resolutions, right? He he was like, we're not doing this anymore. Like, okay. And then I got really into vision boarding and visioneering. Um, and that felt good. But then over the last couple of years, we really fell into choosing a word for the year. Yeah. And um, and it's something that the Lord blesses Troy with as being the leader of our household. Um, the Lord blesses him with a word, and it's and and you could perhaps talk about how you come to it. Oh, yeah. Um, of course, we do discuss it, but but a word is planted on his heart, yeah, and um, and that's a word that we seek to grow into, focus on, uh seek uh throughout the year to help us in what we believe the Lord wants for us.

How Their Yearly Word Is Chosen

The Call To Simplify

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Absolutely. So, first and foremost, no shade to my New Year's resolution people out there. I know they probably was rolling their eyes, but uh no shade to y'all, but just wanting to go deeper, honestly, and I I feel like that's a great base to start with your intentionality, but we just wanted to go a little bit deeper and be a little more intentional, and we started to think about like what can we do? And that's when we thought about the word. Um, the word that God was giving us. I kind of think of it like uh the way royal families have a crest that represents like the identity of their family. God gives us a word every year that kind of underpins where we're gonna go. And the way he works through me in that capacity is I just I I like to zoom out and look at how we're moving, how we're spending time with our kids, how we're spending time intentionally in our family, what we're doing in our business, where God is leading us, what I see. And God is He's He's uniquely designed me and Chantel to be complete opposites, which really benefits our household. Chantel is amazing at locking in and dialing in on something. So, like, think about like if you put a finger right here, like Chantel is gonna lock in on that finger and she can see every part of the uh the fingerprint. And for me, like I see the finger, but I also see every other thing behind the finger. Um, God is casting me with the vision to zoom out and see things broadly. Um, so last year I looked at, you know, just us simplifying our life. And, you know, God really just kept putting the word simple, simple, simple, simple on my heart. Um, when it came to like our business offerings and, you know, people like us, and I and I say this confidently, we we honestly are good at a lot of things. And because you're good at a lot of things, for anybody out there that also feels like they're good at a lot of things, it can get really hard to really figure out what you're great at when you're good at so many things. And um, when it came to ministry, when it came to our business, it was like, Lord, use us, lead us where you need us, and use us in the things that we are great at. And scaling back just kept coming to mind, even when it came to presence with our kids, being present with them, slowing down, simplifying, like in a world that says you got to get them all the toys, you gotta get them in every program, you gotta have them in every after-school program, you gotta have them in every uh, you gotta have them in every organized sport on the weekends, you gotta have them in all these things. It was like, man, we didn't grow up with all those things, and we were fine. So it's like we don't have to conform to societal pressures. And I think a lot of us with social media and all those things can get caught up. So God just kind of really has been speaking to us about his power to put more on our less. So we believe that the more that we took off, we said this in the last episode, but the more that we were able to extract from our plate, we were, we were giving God space to move in our lives and to do things and do things well.

Saying No And Guarding Capacity

SPEAKER_00 6:17

And if I could just rewind, this was now 2024. Uh, we were doing a lot. We were all over the place. Um, and I mean, I think we kept, we stayed in our lanes, but we definitely entertained a lot of opportunities that we thought were great opportunities, but we realized weren't necessarily God opportunities. There were good doors, but not bad doors. And so a lot of time was spent um planning and and and trying to grow something and build, and next thing you know, it goes nowhere. And so we had to really um learn the hard way uh that we can't say yes to everything. And there's so much power in no or not right now. And so as we got towards the end of 2024, uh we were, you know, obviously in prayer, but you were in prayer a lot about like what this new word would be as we went into 2025. And as you said, you were super aware and cognizant of okay, what am I seeing? What am I feeling? But Lord, what where do you want us to go? And at this time also, I had a panic attack. Like I never had panic attacks, I mean ever. And I had two panic attacks that year. And um, and I was putting on a lot. I was there was a lot on my plate. And that's when uh the Lord revealed to Troy that our word for last year should be simple. And that was so helpful for me because I thought I was simple. I'm like, but I learned to say it was I was simply complicated, but by having the word simple truly was so freeing and really helped me simplify all of the expectations, all of the goals, all of the things that it was that I was trying to do for me, I was able to simplify it by being more prayerful of asking God to help reveal what it is, what is it that I need to do for him.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah, that's that's really good. If you could if you could tell the audience listening or watching right now one actionable step that you took to simplifying your life, what would that look like?

Panic, Pressure, And Finding Peace

SPEAKER_00 8:17

So one strategy that really helped me simplify my life, um, our lives, was when we came together and made our plan for the year. Yes. So that's the beginning of the year, we make a goal uh for the parts of our life that we care about the most. So by having this word simple and making these goals, it was like, okay, how can we keep this simple and not complicate it? How can we make this just a one-part goal, not a 10-part goal with plan A, B, and C? And that was so freeing. Yeah. That was so easy, so much easier to be consistent with. That was so much easier to go back to. And for me, having that, those simple goals for those key areas of our life, um, it just made it so much um less burdensome on me than I because sometimes I could create so many expectations for myself and never meet them, and then I get frustrated and now I'm like stressing and next thing I'm having a panic attack. Yeah. Um, but keeping it simple really helped free me and give me the margin I needed.

One-Step Goals And Consistency

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Absolutely. And I'll say for me, like, you know, like trying, trying to get back in good shape, trying to keep a consistent workout schedule. Even talking to my therapist, she was like, your life doesn't look the way it's always looked. So you can't act like you're going to be able to do things the way you've always done them. And for you, that might look like you're used to getting 45 minute to an hour workouts, but in this season, you're getting 20-minute workouts and you're not coming down on yourself or being hard on yourself because of the time, but you're just celebrating the fact that movement is medicine and this is something that you're able to do every day. Just move your body, have fun. I remember talking to my good friend D'Anthony. Shout out to D'Anthony, shout out to Dad Vlog. We were just talking about getting back in shape and working out, and he was like, man, 20 minutes a day, just get up, just move your body. But, you know, coming with my background, I'm so used to this program for this many weeks, this many reps, increasing the weight, doing all of this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this season looks different. So just being okay with simplifying and doing something daily has brought me a lot of joy. There's joy in the simple. And I believe that we lean into pressure, societal pressure, so much that just robs us of the joy and peace and in the simpleness of life. There's so much beauty in simplicity, which is why we say the quote: simplicity scales, complexity fails. You try to do too much, you're not aware of your bandwidth, you're not aware of the actual season you're in. You put too much on your plate, you don't check any of those goals off, and then it just sends you down this spiral of disappointment, feeling like you're a failure. But the the reality is you never had the capacity to begin with.

Movement Is Medicine: 20-Minute Wins

SPEAKER_00 10:59

So I was just having this conversation with my girl this morning, um, and also my Kings of Sisters last week about the same. Where we, especially as perfectionists, uh, we think we can do it all, right? And I mean, let's be real. We probably do do it all at some point, but at what cost, right? We sacrifice so much to do it all. Yeah. And it's usually we're sacrificing ourselves and our needs. And so when we can keep it simple, we recognize that we have a bandwidth that is probably like that is way less than what we think it is. So if we can just cap that at 80%, I mean, now we can serve and now we can work and now we can connect with people in the in the abundance, right? In the over in the overflow. Um, and so keeping it simple truly, truly honors us as women, um, but as people who who try to do the most, who try to do the most. Like you said, we complicate it. And something that was really great for me last year was you being my accountability partner with having this word. And that's why we also highly encourage that couples have one word together because you got each other's back, right? You got each other's six. And so every time that that I would start going down a spiral, like, oh, I could do this, or maybe we could try this or this, he'd be like, Babe, are you keeping it simple? Yeah, babe, is that simple? Seriously, babe, we're supposed to keep it simple, babe. Yeah, and he must have said it to me, like starting off a lot, failures, right? And I was like, man, yeah, okay. And because I agreed to this word at the beginning of the year, I had to hold myself accountable. Doesn't matter if I thought I could do it. It doesn't matter if if I thought that it was like the best thing. I had to keep it simple. And if I saw, you know what, I am complicating it, let me say no, let me say not now. Um, it helped so much, and it was so helpful to have you be that that check for me.

Simplicity Scales, Complexity Fails

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, and I and I just want to put a disclaimer out there. The word, the word you heard that she said she she agreed on the word. And I think that's important too. That you this isn't something that one of you get, and then y'all just like, okay, cool, we run with it. Like, I bring the word to her, we pray over the word, she feels good about the word, and we move forward. Make sure that the two of you are in alignment and agreement on the word that you select for your family. Also, I love that you said that you just mentioned the word doing the most, and I think that's something I really want to speak to today. I believe that that is something that so many people suffer with. Some are conscious of it. Some of the people that suffer with that are unconscious of this. But I believe that again, this is something that is societal, that we see people doing things, we see people moving. It looks like people are winning and making moves. And subconsciously or consciously, people feel the need to do more, to look as if they're successful. And I know this is so countercultural, and I'm not saying this to sound lazy, I'm not saying this to sound crazy, but we are in a season of doing less. If we do less, then we are creating room for God to do more. Right? The word says, lean not on your own understanding. And I don't want us to feel like we got it all together. Like I said in the last episode, of course, we wake up with a plan, we have things on the calendar, we have things that we want to do, but the least amount of things that we can do that we can do really well, that we believe with excellence, that are honoring to God, will create room for him to put more abundance, more favor, more grace, more acceleration on the things that he's called us to do. We can do less, y'all. So in a in a society that says do the most, we say do the least. Do do less, and you are literally going to create space for God to do more in your life.

Perfectionism And The 80 Percent Rule

SPEAKER_00 15:29

And I think, you know, we're we're thinking of of different patterns, right? You can be in a place where you've already had that season of simplifying, yeah, of really just focusing and honing in and okay, Lord, like show me exactly what I need to be doing. And you're and you really try to be simple, and now you're in the next season, right? Um, but then you and then the Lord has blessed you. Okay, well, now he's putting more on my plate. And I think so long as you stay tapped in, and as so long as as you are um truly relinquishing your, how should I say, so long as you're truly tapped in and you are relinquishing control and you maintain that open hand posture and you're submitted to how the Lord's using you, then he may, he may trust you with many things. You might have multiple businesses and multiple ventures and multiple opportunities. So to one person, uh, it might look complicated, but you're like, oh no, like I actually only have to do X, Y, and Z. And and it's just flowing, right? And so we we thank the Lord if you are in that place. And we also want to encourage you to keep it simple, even though your plate looks full. Yeah, everyone has a different vantage point. And to weren't people who were like us back in 2024 saying yes to so many things, even if they weren't on a line like in alignment with us. You had things going on, I had things going on, we got things going on together, so much is happening, right? If you're in that space, also know that it's okay to surrender it, that you don't have that you can shelve it. It doesn't have to be a no forever. Um, but keep it simple. Yeah, keep it simple in your approach, keep it simple in your expectations, keep it simple in what you do to reach the goals because the more you complicate it, um, the more anxiety, the more disappointment, and just the more circles. I feel like you just kind of go in. And then you never kind of feel like you do anything right because you got so many spinning plates.

Shared Word And Accountability

SPEAKER_01 17:19

So, yeah, I agree with you in regards to like everyone's less looks different. But I I don't care what kind of business, I don't care if you have multiple businesses. At some point, you when you want to scale those things, simplicity also comes into play. Like, I am all about let's automate what can be automated so that we don't have to deal with it. Like that's when you grow and you scale. And the Bible says specifically, he who is faithful with little. That means that those that steward little will get more. So it's not about not getting more, but it's about being faithful with the little bit that God gives you and really having a posture of, okay, Lord, I'm gonna honor you with excellence in these few things so you multiply my territory. And then we also got to lean into the fact that when he actually multiplies the territory, he's going to he's going to also supply the strategy, the simple, effective strategy to scale whatever it is that he puts on your plate. Right. You know, and I think that's something that we also need to really focus on.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah. So we went through all of last year really trying to focus on being simple. Yes. And I was we were laughing about this because it was on New Year's Day. I was talking to another great friend, and we were talking about the words for the year. And I was like, oh my goodness. I just realized it took me literally up until yesterday, which was New Year's Eve, um, to finally get to a place of being simple.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Well, let's not go too far. I want people to understand that you said it took you almost the entire year, right? To get to a place where you were actually able to really be simple. So we we're not we're not putting this information out here thinking that you're supposed to be, you're supposed to simplify your life overnight. It does take time. Like any other thing, it is a refining it and it is a pruning of whatever it is that you are constantly doing, and it's a shift in perspective and then some actionable steps to get to a point where you can simplify your life. Right.

Do Less So God Can Do More

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Because naturally you're going to default to who you are. And um, I have to admit it by default. I'm I guess I guess I'm complicated. Yes. I don't know. You got it here, you're here, here first. Whoa. I don't know. I'm simply complicated. I'm still holding on to it. Whoa. But no, so I guess I can be complicated. Yeah. Um, but I guess it really did take me a year to actually like it's funny. I was talking to her and I was like, it just it took me the entire year to get to a point of simplicity. Wow. Like I even in how I dress and how I show up in my expectations of myself and of people, in my in my load for the week and for the day, um, and how I parent. I mean, literally, I felt so just real like in awe of the fact that it took a whole year. And so many of these New Year uh, I don't want to call it gimmicks, but so many so many of these new year so slogans like, oh, in 30 days, simplify your life, or in 20 days you could do this. And while that sounds good and you could really learn some awesome strategies and chat GBT, different ways to simplify your life and even the things that we're saying to simplify your life, it takes consistency, yeah, it takes awareness, it takes obedience, and it takes an accountability partner and someone over your shoulder almost being like and prayer, lots of prayer. Am I living am I living this out? Right. Um, and so it took me the entire year. Yeah. Um, and it helped us, it helped us get to our new word for this year.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

And this year, drum roll. The word for this year for us is all in. And because we want to be simple, like there are only a few things that we're doing where we want to be obedient to God to go all in on those things. This podcast is partners with faith, marriage, and business aligned. So let's talk about what it looks like to go all in on our faith. This is the year that we trust God. We have some things that we believe he has called us to go into partnership with him for, and we are expectant on him to fulfill those promises to us. There are some things that we have to step out in obedience. There's some goals that we've set for ourselves that are God-sized goals. These goals are so much bigger than us, bigger than anything we can do from our natural talents, gifts, our abilities. But these are things that we are partnering with, that we are praying with God. We are in our Chantel has blessed us. This is one thing I love about my wife is that she'll find something for us to do to truly keep us anchored and rooted. And we are doing the uh prayer circle. Draw, draw the circle. And we're doing this. Yeah, so you could talk about. See, I just show up to do it. We get in our prayer closet, but she could speak more to that.

Different Seasons, Same Simplicity

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah. So one way that we're going all in in our faith this year is we're Are participating in the Draw the Circle 40-day prayer challenge by Mark Batterson. Again, not affiliated, but see the show notes so you can get your copy. He is the author of Circle Maker and the Draw the Circle Prayer Challenge. And in it for 40 days at minimum, we circle back to the same prayer every single day. But as we pray, we are open to the Lord to reveal to us how can we stretch this prayer that we have? How can we deepen it? How can we um be outrageous with it and audacious with it, right? And so there's a very short reading uh that you start the day with and then you go into prayer. Yeah. And it is what? Day 16, and it has been so transformational and uh so many revelations that have come from it so far. So that is just one way that we are starting off the year uh and going all in on our faith.

Steward Little To Receive More

SPEAKER_01 22:54

And if I could be honest, um, because we're doing this prayer challenge, I thought that some of our prayers were really bold, they were crazy faith prayers, but in these 16 days, I see that, man, we can go deeper. And now we are praying for God-sized prayers because we want God-sized blessings. These are things that we cannot naturally do in our abilities. So, really, really encouraging y'all to check this out because I believe it'll do wonders for you. Another thing is that we're going all in on our marriage, and what that looks like is being intentional, being intentional at the time that we get. We are parents of two kids. We have a four-year-old and we have a seven-year-old, and they are loving, they are awesome. We love our family, they are demanding. They have sports and things that they have going on, they want our time, but we want to make sure that we are also super intentional about spending time together. Yes, we spend a lot of time together. We work together, we work out together, we go on walks, but a lot of that time isn't time that's spent necessarily asking curious questions. That's not the things to keep our spice and our romance alive. So we're going all in on each other because when we know when we show up better for each other, that overflow of leaning into each other also seeps into our family relationship with our children and how we show up for them and the in the ability to actually be all in on them.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

That requires knowing what each other needs. So, for example, there's something that the Lord put on my heart that I really, really want to do. Um, but there's not as much time in the day for me to do that right now. But then I also have this amazing marriage that I know is super necessary. It's like, okay, should I spend recreational time with my husband, his need, or should I go do me and this like venture that this uh this the seed that the Lord has planted on me? And that's a tension. That's a real tension. But because we're going all in on very specific things, if there's if if the Lord wants me to water the seed that he's put on me, he'll provide the time and space. But something I'm not gonna wait on is how I invest in our marriage and our relationship daily. So yeah, I'm going to make sure that I meet the need of recreational companionship that Troy has. And even though when Troy is super tired, he knows that I have the need of attention. Absolutely. Um, and and so he's going to give me attention as as needed, despite what he's feeling. Um, because that is his investment, and that's how we are committed to going all in on each other.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

And that looks like strategy, y'all. She needs to unpack the day with me. So I make sure I have it on my calendar to actually go and ask her, hey, how's the day going? Is there anything that we need to talk about? What's on your heart? And when we first did this, I'm not gonna lie, it just it was something that had to grow into a routine. But as we started to do this, it just became normal where now my check-ins are just organic. And it's like, hey, babe, what's going on? How are you? Is there anything we need to talk about before we land the plane and relax?

Simplicity Takes Time To Learn

SPEAKER_00 25:48

And for the record, I believe you say it's on the calendar. So something that I I need this, right? But he's also like, yeah, but I don't want to do this at 10 o'clock at night when you want to do it. For sure. So we found a mutual time where he can do it consistently so he doesn't feel um like too burdened or too stretched in because I also want him to be in a good space. Absolutely. Um, and where it's still not too early where there's more things that could ha come up where I'm still at 10 o'clock at night saying, I got that one more thing. Um, but point is is that we communicate it and we are and we are intentionally investing into each other.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Um without having anyone be stretched in and seeing each other.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Good, I love you. And then and then the other lane that we occupy that we want to go all in on is business. We want to go all in on partners. We want to go all in on all the amazing things that God has allowed us to do. And recently we'll talk about this, but God has been generous and kind and in just increasing the territory that He's called us to occupy in the marketplace as husband and wife, with our offerings, with our partnerships, and some of the people that we've been able to cross paths with. And we want to steward that well and go all in on that because again, we trust God. I think it all kind of ties back. We're able to go all in on business because we trust God in His faithfulness. So we're going all in on our faith because our faith is has such a big role in our marriage. We're going all in on our marriage, but our faith plays such a big role in our business, it's all the underpinning of the connection of faith. Um, but we just want to go all in this year. And this is um our heart is that if y'all don't already have a word, that you're listening. So if you're if you are single and you're listening to this podcast, I pray that you have a word. If you are seriously dating, we pray that you find a word. If you're engaged, we pray that you find the word. If you are married, we pray that you find the word and that you pray on that word, that you're discerned about it. You you bring God into that word, that partnership, and that he puts something on your heart that you have the ability to walk out this year.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

And if you and if it's really hard for you to discern or hear, um, try all in and go all in this year with us. Um going all in on your faith, on your relationships, and on how you want to serve the world is never a bad place to start.

New Word Revealed: All In

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Um, so join us and go all in.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

That is what we got going on this year. That is the word for our family, all in. But babe, I think we got somewhere to go. So we got we want y'all to go all in, but we got to peace out.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Yeah. Keep building, y'all.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Peace.