Stewardship: The Four Word Question That Changes Everything

Years ago Chris Hart asked Joey Odom a four-word question that Joey has asked himself hundreds of times since: what's in your hand? This episode is built around it, and around the principle that quietly changes everything once it lands. Increase always follows stewardship.

The word goes back to the steward of a medieval estate, someone trusted with everything and owner of nothing, measured by a single question: did you advance the interests of the one you serve? Joey and Chris make the case that stewardship is actually a higher calling than ownership, because an owner answers to no one while a steward answers for all of it.

Then the turn. The thing in your hand right now probably looks ordinary. Moses had a staff he'd carried for 40 years tending someone else's sheep, and God used it to set a nation free. The job you don't love, the body you've got, the marriage in a hard season, the 30 minutes before your kid goes to bed. Steward the small, unglamorous thing well, and the increase follows.

In this episode:

— The four-word question that reframes everything: what's in your hand?
 — Why stewardship is a higher calling than ownership: trusted with it all, owner of none
 — Moses' ordinary staff, and why your avenue is usually the thing already in your hand
 — The parable of the talents, and why increase always follows stewardship
 — "You're not stuck, you're stewarding": a reframe for the job or season you resent
 — Why comparison disqualifies you, like leaving your race to go chase someone else's
 — The healthy tension between ambition and stewardship, and how either one alone leads to stagnation
 — Stewarding your time, your body, the hard things, and the moments with your kids that don't come back

This week's small step: Pick one personal thing and one professional thing you know you could steward better. Commit to stewarding each one well for the next seven days, and watch for the increase on the other side.

Be Brave. Live Big.

—

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FOLLOW THE HOSTS

Joey Odom — @joeyodom.life; www.joeyodom.life

Chris Hart — @thechrishart · @thebravecoaches; www.bravecoaches.com

REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3-4). The parable of the talents (Matthew 25). David's path to kingship and Nehemiah rebuilding the wall. The saying "comparison is the thief of joy."

Produced by Sonus Podcasts · sonuspodcasts.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Brave and Big, where we talk about living a Brave and Big Life. I'm Joey Odom, husband to Kristen, dad to Harrison Indiana, speaker, former tech co-founder and author.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

I'm Chris Hart, husband to Molly, dad to Blakely, Cooper, Landry, and my son Brave. I'm the Steel and founder of the Brave Group and Brave Performance Agency. Joey and I have been having these talks for 25 years, and we're better for it. We believe the same will be true for you. Enjoy this episode. Be brave and live big.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Brave and big, welcome back.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Heart attack. I see you, son. My name is T. I wore a polo today. I mean business on the podcast today. So, heads up.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Hey, and I'll tell you what I did. I upgraded my reading glasses. I had some Costco buddies, got some Warby Parker reading glasses. Woo! That's premium content right there. You got to subscribe to see those reading glasses.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Face looks good. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Hey, I got okay. So we're we're like 10 episodes in, and I feel like it's time to do a couple little edits. Can we do that? One of one of them you may not love, and and it's I've noticed in myself as we're recording these, I get real Pentecostal. I get like like as you're saying stuff, I'm just I'm mmm, mmm, mmm. And it's just like it's just like Master P over here. Just uh You gotta make a I gotta stop. I know it's listener, I know it's distracting. I annoy myself by the all the times I say, mmm. So starting today, you're not gonna hear a lot more of that. And Chris, I know that makes you feel affirmed, I'm sure. Wow. That you got someone grunting after everything you say, but I'm gonna cut it.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

I I'll I'll have no gauge if it was a decent point or not. I'm just gonna have to assume it landed, but okay, I love a good edit.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Well, I do have one more edit. I've noticed that it I've I've noticed at the end of the episodes, we always we close with one one small one small step to live a brave and big life. Here's what I've noticed is that each of us give a small step, and my small step is usually four steps. And so more complicated than things. So here's what we're gonna do. Here's what we're gonna do starting today is we're gonna land on one small step together. Listener, this is our promise. It's gonna be one small step.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Listener, just fast forwarded to the very end to see if you were a man of your word. I um hold us accountable, team. That's how this whole thing works.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Hey, one thing I love about us, you and me, is that we recorded this topic already is that the the topic you're about to hear, listener, is something that we recorded, and you and I got off the call and we both said that was not as good as it should be. So we scrapped the other one. And the reason we did, I think, Chris, I think the reason why we scrapped that first one, and it was good. It was six or seven out of ten, but I I think this topic and really the question we're gonna roll out for people to ask is one of the most important things you can ask yourself. So I'm excited to dive into this topic and and this question, which again I believe is the most important question we ask. So the the the problem that I see, and this this comes from a story, and I'll share this story in a second. But the problem that I see for kind of with all of us, with humanity, with you know, guys and ladies, people who have ambition, is sometimes we hit a wall, sometimes we we don't see the fruit of our labors, sometimes we we want more. Maybe we even slip into entitlement, maybe we give up, maybe we lose heart for all those things. We want all these great things for our lives. When we don't see the fruit, we can feel stagnant, we can feel frustrated, and we risk giving up. And I I found myself at that moment, this was probably seven or eight years ago. I found myself in my career in commercial real estate, actually, probably longer than that, probably 10 years ago in commercial real estate. I found myself on the precipice. Like I found myself at a peak moment in my career where I felt like I should be absolutely crushing it. And I was just not quite over the top. Like I hadn't quite progressed over. And at the same time, I was looking at everybody around me and I was seeing all these other people who were crushing it in real estate, and I felt like I knew I was better than them. I'm not saying that with arrogance, but I was like, I I'm better than these guys, I'm better than these gals. I can do better, but I wasn't quite getting over the hump on success and career. I had a call with you, and I explained this to you. You and I were talking about it, and you said you said a question. It was four words. And these four words, I think I've probably asked myself this question 500 times since that day. And that those four words were what's in your hand? It was that simple question. It was you saying, What's in your hand? So I I want to I want you to unpack that question for us a little bit. I don't know, honestly, I didn't I to this day I actually don't know. Was that a spur in the moment thing? Was that was that a concept you had considered, you had thought about? But I will tell you that that question is one that has absolutely changed the way I look at basically everything in my life. So will you un unpack that maybe that moment, that question, give some of the backstory on it?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Wow. So I would say for the listener, I would just pose that to you, and now we're gonna unpack it. But it's a fun thing to actually start thinking about. It's like, wait, what is in my hand? Or or the reality of that is what do I currently have? What am I currently been given? What am I currently responsible for? Because the reality, most of the time, we're looking at what we don't have. We're looking at what we hope takes place in the future. And and so that brings kind of to the point, the topic for today, which is stewardship, right? Dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun stewardship, right? That's where we landed. And Joey, it I remember that so vividly because you you had all these like swirling questions and thoughts and what it could or should be, and and it was very kind of in the moment and spontaneous. And I think I had done a study on it, and it was just like, oh, this is this is what we're dealing with right now, and it comes from that idea, it's a moment with Moses. He's actually in front of the burning bush. And the here's the beauty there's no more burning bush. We get to talk directly to God. But I think this is a question that God would ask all of us, and I love that you've asked it yourself so many times because I think that's what we should be doing. Did you ask yourself today, what's in my hand and what am I supposed to do with it? Or how am I, how should I be stewarding what I've been given? And if we'll actually ask it, it's fascinating. Okay, like for me, man, what's in my hand? Oh, my family, my marriage, yeah, these beautiful kids that I've been called the steward. And we're gonna dive into a lot of that. But I remember this moment you're talking about, and it's like, man, what's in your hand currently is exactly what you had responsibility for in your job right now. Currently, I have this many staff right now. We're doing this much in sales right now. Great, let's take care of that. Right? I have to think about that. Up here are the clients I currently have as a coach. Am I stewarding them my best? Because here's the great thing proper stewardship takes us out of a limiting mindset. And we're gonna get into this. And I'm I'm I want to get the cart ahead of the horse a little bit because here's what I know to be true. The principle is this increase always follows stewardship. So the problem is if we're just looking for what could or should be next, and we're not stewarding right now, we're constantly living in a place of unmet expectations because we haven't done what was asked of us in the first place to actually get the increase.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

So a lot of directions we can go here. Take it for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Well, and and to your just to refresh on the story of Moses is that you you have this moment. I I laugh at this moment because God is calling Moses to deliver the Israelites out of the Egyptians' hands. He's talking to them through a burning bush, and God goes through all these instructions, and then Moses says, Well, what if they don't believe me? And he's like, Bro, you just had a burning bush talking to you. What are you talking about? And that's when God says it. He goes, Okay, what's in your hand? And he says, I have my staff in my hand. Okay, take that staff, God says, throw it in front of them, it'll become a snake, and then they'll believe. Oh, by the way, that same staff he later parted the Red Seas with. But it all began, and this is the thing that I just kept coming back to, and you said it is it all started with a staff, a piece of wood that God used, but it all began with what starts there. And it and and I have thought about that. Again, when you asked me that question, we had that conversation. I don't know that we were giving it this big fancy term stewardship. We were just talking about that idea. Well, what do you have? Can you be great with what you have? But I've looked into that, that idea of stewardship. I've looked into okay, what's the etymology of this word? What is stewardship? And it goes, it goes back into medieval times and it talks about the stew, the steward of an estate. So you'd have a lord's estate, you'd have the steward over it. And so the steward would take care of everything in the house. He was responsible for everything in the house. And when the Lord was away, the the steward effectively became the Lord. So to the outside world, the steward was effectively the owner, and they treated the steward that way. But the steward knew I'm not the owner. He knew, yes, I'm responsible for this, but I'm not the owner. But he had to act like the owner when the owner was not there, even knowing he wasn't. So in other words, he had enormous authority, but he had no ownership. And everything he did was measured against one simple question, which was, did you advance the interests of the one you serve? So in other words, he was trusted with everything, he owned nothing, and he was accountable for all of it. Wow. So, Hart, what this says to me is that stewardship is a higher calling than ownership. When I own something, I don't really have an accounting for something if I'm the owner. I don't have to account for it because it's mine. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take some, I'm gonna take care of your truck more than I take care of my truck if I drive your truck. And so I think in thinking of the term stewardship, this is this is where it really uh unlocked for me here is that if I think about everything I have in my hand, if I think, and we'll talk about a bunch of these, if I think about my family and I think about my job, and I think about this podcast and I think about all these things, and if I think of myself as a steward and not an owner, it puts a higher level of responsibility because I'm accountable for what I do with this. And so it re-orents the re totally reorients the conversation with how we view everything in our life. I own nothing. This keeps you from from keeps you from looking at others around you. This keeps me from saying, okay, this I don't own that. I'm just stewarding this. So I don't have to compare myself with anybody else. I've been entrusted with these things I have in my hand. It forces me, if you really, really take this question seriously, it really forces you to take an assessment of what you've been entrusted with. For me to take a look around me, say, what do I have that I'm entrusted with right now? And then it forces you to ask yourself a question, really be honest with yourself. Am I doing a good job with what I have? So that this whole elevation beyond ownership into stewardship. And if we can begin to look at our lives this way, I think that we're gonna begin to start living very, very differently because we'll realize that we are very, very much accountable for the things that we've been entrusted with that are in our hands. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Well, and and I'll take it back and then let's give some more examples. But what Moses had in his hand seemed very ordinary at the time. It was a staff, probably covered in sheep stuff, because that's what staffs have on them. It's not this spectacular new toy that would be the breakthrough. It's it's literally, I know you want to say um right now, but you're not doing bro. I'm so I'm trying so hard not to not to give the Pentecost. I think that's the that's the beauty of this. It it was the staff. It was that he had carried it for 40 years tending someone else's flock, his father-in-law's. And that's exactly what God wanted him to use to set a country free. And and I want us to take that same stance and have that same energy about it. It's like the the sales job that you've had is your ticket to more leadership. Let's use it right now. Let that be the platform. Man, you you talk crazy. How about stewarding your kids? I've got these kids in my house for 18 years, and I'm stewarding the gifting and the calling that's on their life. I'm stewarding the wildly diverse personalities that are my four children. I don't own them. I am releasing them into the world. I think kids might be the best example of stewardship. And we'll talk a lot about that. But it's just let's get the framework right. I love how you set this up uh because a lot of times it's not this spec, like okay, God's not saying, okay, now here's the Ferrari. Now you can go reach car guys. It's like, man, what's the car that you had that they can appreciate? You did this with the car that you had. Let's go have some impact. But we're always waiting for something that we don't currently have, and that's opposite. How about this?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I think a lot of times we're trying to find this like passion so we we can have some purpose in our lives. And I think what God's saying is, can I trust you to be consistent and commit to what you have right now? And I believe you'll find purpose in that commitment. That's stewardship. You and I are doing a lot of what we dreamed about doing 20 years ago, and we'll give examples, but there's been a lot of stewardship that took place to get us right here, right now. And that's what I want to infuse courage into listeners right now. There's something that you currently have and hold that's been given to you that probably doesn't look shiny or special, and it's actually your avenue to what you're called to do, and it's going to be amazing if you take care of that thing well now.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

And it's funny too, man, the the stories that we love, the stories that we celebrate, the heroes we celebrate, they're the ones who took something that wasn't that great and they did their best with it. The story of Joseph. The story Joseph is in a prison and he's the best prisoner that's ever been. And he just, it's just a story of, and so we love those stories that last thousands and thousands of years. But when we're in that spot and we have a job, and listener, if you if you're listening, if you have a job you hate, that's what this is what great stories are made of, where you can be the absolute best at this job you hate, and you just keep building on it, or you go through a tough time in marriage. These are the stories we like. Yeah, it was it was tough. It was tough in a marriage, yet I took that moment, I recognized that it was in my hand, and it was up to me to steward this and be faithful in it. And and you said something, Chris, at the very beginning. I want for you, I want for you to to unpack this is that increase must follow stewardship, which I love that. And this is a real barometer for are you stewarding well? Is it's increase following, but will you unpack that a little bit for us?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

There's another biblical example here in Matthew 25. They call it the parable of the talents, and and this is where that statement comes from. And I'm I don't know that I'm more convicted by anything else consistently than this story, because of the fruit that should come from our lives. Okay, so the the paraphrased example of this story, it it's a it's a leader, it's an owner, it's a master that's going on a trip, and he picks three people and he gives them something to work with, and it says, based on their current ability, and that's critical. The first guy he gives five talents. So we'll just keep it that. But for reference, a talent would basically be one month's salary. So one talent, let's call it 10 grand is a month's salary. So he gave this guy fifty thousand dollars. Like it wasn't a small amount, um, it was something he could go do something with. So the first one he gives five, the second one he gives two, and the last one he gives one based on their ability. The guy with five, it says immediately, it's one of my favorite parts of the story. Immediately went and worked it. Let's go get it right now. Worked it. It doesn't say specifically what he did. He worked with what he was given and he doubled it. Five turned to ten. The second guy does the same thing. He doesn't, he doesn't, he's not hindered by the amount. He was given two, he went and worked it and turned it into four. Okay. The last guy. And we're gonna we're gonna talk about this for a second. He was given one. All we know is that it said it was based on their current ability. Maybe he was newer to it, maybe he had some potential but hadn't fully shown it yet. But it's interesting, the guy that was given one for whatever reason, instead of taking one and turning it to two, he went and buried it and was just gonna give back the exact same amount when his master came home. Okay, so so here's how the story unfolds. A lot of you know this, but the master comes back, it says he was gone for a long time. He comes back, and the the guy that turned five to ten is proud of it, presents it to the master, and he says, This well done, my good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a little, I'm gonna make you ruler over much. Another translation says, I'm going to make you a partner. Love that. Here's what's maybe one of the coolest takeaways in the story. The guy that was given two and turned it to four, the master never brought up the amount again. The guy simply comes and he says, You gave me two, I turned it to four. So he gets the same response, even though the amounts were different. All the master cared about was what did I give you and did you increase it? The amount became irrelevant. It was the principle, it was the heart, it was the strategy, it was the effort. That's what he cared about. And so he says the same thing. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a little bit, I'm gonna make you rule over much. I'm gonna make you a partner. And then the guy with one, and you got you got to chime in here a little bit. The guy with one comes and he starts saying some crazy stuff about the master. He really does. He he he leads with excuses. And and you guys know this. Man, we hate excuses. Excuses will stifle your potential, it will kill your ability, it creates a lid, and that's exactly what happened here. He says, I knew you to be a harsh man, and you reap in fields you've never sown in. He's basically saying, like, man, somehow you just magically make money present itself. You do th I don't fully understand how you do what you do, but because you're that way, I believe he was thinking he couldn't do what he saw his master do. He limited himself, and so that's why he went and buried it. And he goes, Hey, here is exactly what you gave me. And I always try to make this point. He didn't lose it, he didn't go by crack with it. He didn't, he didn't just go by stakes for him and his buddies, he gave back the exact same amount, and the master said, You are wicked and lazy, and he cast him out. Now I'm gonna make this point even harsher because I want you to hear this out of the message translation. Okay, you the you theologians, the message translation is cheating and it makes it sound great, but listen to this translation. The master was furious. He said that's a terrible way to live. It's criminal to live cautiously like that. If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would be to invest the sum with bankers. At least I could have gotten a little interest. Take what I gave him and give it to the one who risked the most and get rid of this play it safe who won't go out on a limb. Throw him into the utter darkness. You didn't lose my money, you just didn't increase it. You're a play it safe. It's criminal to live cautiously like that. Get him out of my sight. And here's the last thing I'll say, and then I need your whole feedback on this. I think the master recognized that there was a cancerous mindset in this guy because that fella thought I could never do it. I've seen the master do it, he gave more money to the other guy. He had a million reasons why he couldn't do what he was asked to do. And it's not that the it's not that he tried something and lost it. I think the master would have respected that. It's that he did nothing, he didn't put effort into it, he obviously didn't increase it, and he had to remove that from his staff, from his team, from his estate, because that mindset would kill what he was obviously trying to build.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

That's where stewardship, that's why I'm aware of it on a daily basis. Today in my business can't be just like it was yesterday. It's got to move forward. What are the incremental steps that we're taking? What are we doing to advance? I can't just give back to God what He gave me. I was given a staff. Did I develop the staff today? I was given a friend. Did I was I a better friend today? And if we're doing that, we live this amazing life. If we don't, it's stationary, it's plateaued. We're asking ourselves questions, we're wondering why other people have what we don't have. And I think that's where it gets so. unhealthy but it comes back to not stewarding. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Well the one thing I love that you said is that I think the manager would have been excuse me I think the the the king I think he would have loved it if the guy would have gone and swung big. I think he would have been totally fine with that. I think that that's the in fact if you even look at it you look at how he set it up you had three different guys so clearly he was he was diversifying his risk profile knowing that some guys are going to do better than others and some and so I think he would have been very much okay with you going and doing your best to increase it. And even if he would have lost it I wonder what that's how that parable would end up that's one and then the other thing I think about we don't you you alluded to this and we don't know the mindset of the master here we don't know the mindset of the of the servant here but it would be very easy and I want people as you're listening just think about this for your own life. Think about what seems so small and insignificant in your life think about think about a a job where you know you don't have the position that a lot of your buddies who went to college have think about think about your house that may be a little bit smaller than some people around you. And so as a result we don't take our need for stewardship as seriously and so it's small so it doesn't matter. And so we we we overlook these very very small things in our lives and I think about someone I I'm thinking about someone you know in my life right now I know they hate their job. I know it. I know they hate their job. Even this guy that guy that the the servant had some resentment towards the master in the way that he said that you you you reap in fields you didn't sow that that feels like resentment to him. And so maybe you're in a job right now where you resent your boss. Maybe you're in a marriage right now where you feel some resentment towards your spouse. Maybe you don't like what your kids are becoming whatever it is, fill in the blank. And so as a result we talk ourselves out of stewarding at well. We say it doesn't matter and so we talk ourselves out of it. And so again as we're thinking about this and I I I think it maybe would even be fun Chris for us to go through and and just list some things that are in our lives that we're stewarding because we overlook it. This is the first question is what's in your hand so how does that hit you before we jump into that how does that hit you this idea of it feels small or you feel resentment towards it and so you kind of talk yourself out of pursuing stewardship.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

I think fitness is such an interesting category here. And I I'll say this I Nate Bargatzi got up on stage and it was a great opening line. He goes well I was going to lose some weight before the show and here we are you know like the show started right and and I I've thought that through this lens of like well if if I if I had a meeting with the president or man if I if I was on this stage talking to 10,000 people I'd want to be at my best and it's like wait a minute I'm gonna talk to 10 people this afternoon. Why would I to your I love how you just frame that where it's like we're we're waiting for the thing and then we're gonna get really serious about it. Then I'm gonna then I'm gonna steward well and so I think about that so often and and it well it's the summertime and I'm gonna be at the beach so so then I'll eat right and it's like man we should eat right because we're stewarding this body that God gave us and I want to live to 100 instead of 75. You know so yeah I think about that a lot I I'll come back as an example to your question just my kids are each so unique and so different. I've got a a black and white one I've got a a true showman I've got a wild competitor I've got one with a very sensitive heart and and so I think about that I want to be I want to be very convicted about stewarding like I can't just let my daughter Landry just live where she's currently living that that would be like burying the talent that is her big amazing personality. I want to encourage it appropriately I want to course correct it appropriately I want to discipline it appropriately you know I mean all those different things and then and then I immediately think how am I my best if I've got my head right and my if I'm stewarding my walk with God, that directly affects my ability to steward her and her growth. Right. So there's a real powerful tension I think with stewardship of how do I steward me really well because I'm responsible for other people and if I can really find that rhythm and I you know like we talk about that's where accountability comes in and the right conversations and the right people if you're around other people that aren't stewarding well you're probably not going to steward well. But if this becomes the conversation and and the topic and I'm about increase God honoring increase in all these different parts of my life it's amazing how a team of people really can see all of that kind of fruit in their lives. Yes go there a little bit I love I love the question that you asked but just kind of some of the examples for you of just this is what I know I'm supposed to be stewarding.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

It's funny man I sat I sat for probably 20 minutes this morning on this question and just writing down what is in my hand right now. And there was one this is not this is not me at this moment but it's one that I think I don't know why this one jumped out to me and it's maybe within the last few weeks of um some people I know friends of mine just going through some sickness and I think about someone I know who's diagnosed with Parkinson's I think about someone whose son was diagnosed with kidney cancer a son who's diagnosed with leukemia like I'm seeing this and I think about and it it it's hard since I'm not going through these to say this but I think about somebody who may be in a sickness right now and you even think about that kind of thing this is an opportunity for stewardship that this is this is in your hand right now. And I don't know what that looks like and I I can't pretend to um you know I can't pretend to it it's easy for me to to speak and say oh you steward that well well that's easy for me to say in the position I'm in but I've for maybe somebody I just feel this you know this need to say this for that person who's walking through that sickness right now this is in your hand also and it's something for you to steward well and for you to hold well and I believe that great things come from that as we can even look at those things that we would deem being negative and bad and hard and thinking okay this is also an opportunity for for stewardship. So I'm gonna answer the question but I just felt this this thought inside I've seen people steward those situations really well and it can be a really really beautiful thing as it comes as a role as a result from that.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Man no doubt and you know that's the that's that whole idea like what's a story without the opposition you know you get let's I want to be the hero but the hero needs a battle to fight you know and so I think stewarding opposition and being great at that man how much can we be trusted with if if God knows if the people around us know man that person can handle opposition they they will steward it well. It don't it kind of makes me think of Nehemiah a little bit it's like he just said I need I need you guys to cover the wall there's gonna be they're coming at us. And and so that's an interesting example because then he positioned them by their families and he said a sword in one hand and a shovel in the other hand and it's it's amazing. But but even in that moment it's like man we're under attack and it feels like okay I need you just to kind of guard this hole in the wall and here's here's a fascinating thought a lot of times you feel stuck but you're actually stewarding so let's go there a little bit. It's like man I need you to protect this this wall that like stay there stay man your post and sometimes it's like man I I there's more exciting things to do that men why does Bob get to be up on top of the wall and you know that that's where comparison's a killer but I just want to encourage some of you like some of you are manning your post and it might be in a difficult time it might be in a in a in an average time it might be while you're killing it. I love that but what I would say is man sometimes when you feel stuck it's like no I'm stewarding this well how can I advance how can I make this great where is the optimistic outlook on this what is my best effort in this situation because oftentimes there even if even if it's not totally obvious at first stewardship often is movement. There's action to it so you can man your post and there's an action of that there's an encouragement to the people around you in that there's a seeing what could be next in that right so I think it's it's a decision I'm not stuck I am stewarding the thing will break I can outlast this and that's a big part of it.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Think about I mean if you could have that I mean think about that hard it any situation you're in if you recognize that no I'm love how you said that you're not stuck you're stewarding and if you had that mindset on this I'm gonna keep going back to the just the easy example of the job you don't like say no I'm growing and you absolutely are this job will not last forever. I mean it's that the the age old you know the phrase that makes a happy man sad and a sad man happy is this too shall pass. And if in the meantime, what's happening in the meantime, are you stewarding that well? Are you making a good name for yourself in the meantime? Because the people see that if you're being treated unfairly by a boss and you handle it with grace if you steward that moment well people recognize that people see that kind of thing that's going on. And so then I think about I think about my my life I think about we've mentioned kids we mentioned our our marriages we are stewarding that marriage for as long as you are married and for this may be a dis discouragement to people who want to who want to cut and run right now in their marriage it's still in your hand you still got to steward it well hey how about my time how am I looking you talk about within the brave coaching you talk about the golden blocks of time how am I managing my day how am I stewarding the time that I have you mentioned diet how am I stewarding my diet am I putting something into my body into my temple that is serving it well again stewardship that question is did you advance the interest of the one you serve? Am I advancing those interests? Am I stewarding food well? How about this? How about I mean even with this podcast we we didn't feel like the first episode on this that we recorded was great and so we wanted to steward it better because I think this topic's important I'll I'll say this one I think is really important is are you stewarding those moments the these moments that pass by you? Are you stewarding those moments that time that 30 minutes that you have I mean they say once once your child hits 18 years old they say you've spent 90 you've spent 90% of the time with them that you'll ever spend and so that's easy for me having a 16 year old and an 18 year old that that hits home but what about you have an eight year old at home and they want to spend a little bit of time with you let's think about how you're stewarding that time. Are you going to scroll those moments away or are you going to be with your child right then? Are you going to savor that third those 30 minutes and steward that time well and here's what's happening is you're setting a template for your child for what they can expect in relationships the rest of their lives. You're setting a template for them that says no, when you're with somebody you love, you deserve your eyes on them. You deserve that person's eyes on you when you're in that moment. So are we stewarding those little moments well because those little moments become big relationships and it can go one way or the other and you set a template for the people around you. I think about my time with God in the morning am I stewarding that time well and it all comes back to that question but it takes an assessment I got I'm looking at a list in front of me right now of 30 things that are in my hand right now and I have the decision with every single one of them am I going to steward this well or not?

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Let's go into the idea of time for a minute. You want to like you you touched on it and and I won't take very long with this but if you're listening I would challenge you to evaluate every hour of your day. We we call it the golden blocks like if you're actually building your life effectively then you're making an account for each hour. So you know we look at it in the morning we've talked about this a little bit but it's that whole idea it's like did you make the most of the morning that time with God like your your your workout did you make I love going through the motions if if that's all you got but I really like making the most of it you know what I mean but then then we get into our day and it's like what's the absolute best use of nine o'clock to 10 o'clock what's the best use of 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock it's amazing how we start to recognize uh the lost productivity in our lives and it's amazing to realize what we can and should prune which is kind of its own part of stewardship like what actually needs to be cut out what's in your schedule that's occupying time that's taking you away from stewarding and actually increasing. So I I love that idea of just man in all the phases of your life am I saying like man this weekend weekends are such a waste sometimes because there wasn't a plan for it. Can you steward your weekend well I love some good rest. Float on the raft in your pool if that's refreshing for you. But let's also not just waste a day away what what could be what how could we help a neighbor out man what does it look like to work on that side project at the right amount of time and steward the day and build something that lasts man if we'll if we'll steward our time it's interesting how that really does trickle in everything else that we're doing because with the right time allocations we can have the right impact in the people and projects we want to be about I love the idea of pruning that again this we're saying this like it sounds complicated Chris I would I would argue that this takes a lot less effort than you might think it takes a little bit of time it takes a little bit of intentionality.

SPEAKER_00 35:39

It's not a ton, honestly but that idea of pruning one of my favorite quotes that I don't I don't know that I've shared here I don't think I have is there's no greater waste of time than doing something well that didn't need to be done at all. And how often do we find ourselves just crushing at getting to inbox zero when we probably should have been getting a a client or or working till six to get in box zero when we could have been outside playing with our daughter you know so so we got to be really careful like you said in strategically like you said and you're so good at this on the golden blocks of really evaluating scrutinizing and saying yeah it's filled up but it is it filled up with the right stuff and so that time the way we do it and I would even encourage you say this a bunch we will we will obey what our calendar says so if my calendar says um play outside with Gianna from six to seven I'm actually going to do it. So I think we can begin to use those tools around us to be intentional with it. One one I one thought I think is a major impediment here and probably the enemy of stewardship is comparison.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

We know the quote comparison's the thief of all joy I want you to have a joy filled productive like fulfill the call on your life kind of kind of existence. But what would prevent that is looking and saying I'm I'm comparing to something else it's it's that whole idea like you've trained to run the 400 you are great at it you are gifted to do it and you're in the middle of that race and you look across the track and somebody's throwing that shiny javelin and you take off and you're like I'm gonna throw the javelin you just disqualified yourself from what you're actually gifted and talented to do what you had been stewardy and that's part of what I I mean by like we have to stay the course stay the course that that's stewardship. Finish that race if javelin's something you're supposed to pick up later and you want to put that into your golden blocks of time that's great. But I think a lot of times mid-course comparison is getting us distracted and taking us off path, off calling and we're wasting time energy anointing and gifting to go pursue something that's somebody else's so to your point we're trying to carry some weight that's not actually ours to carry. We're putting time and energy into something that's not ours anyways. And so it's obviously going to be unfulfilling and we're gonna have unmet expectations on that thing. So what I what I think stewardship does is protects us from doing something we're not supposed to do. And I'll get personal with it you know we we were building the Brave group and I had to be really good with the little things in our company and for me like an example I don't love the follow-up accountability email that seems like a detailed thing but I knew somehow I had like a conviction about it. If I would do that well that was me proving that I would steward a coaching client and it's been amazing to see what's come from that we've added all these coaches and that kind but it we had to also do well we started adding coaches let's be great with one coach so that we can steward well 20 coaches. Let's take care of five clients so we can have 500 clients and that's how stewardship works but if I was instead of sending that email that I knew I was supposed to do and I'm looking up and I'm watching somebody else have a good time and in their big sales career, man, I could get distracted from what I'm called to do and that comparison would have killed the project or the focus that I needed to have and kept the increase from coming that was part of the plan.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

In these situations it's almost like we start thinking it's fair or unfair oh it's unfair they when you when you compare with somebody else it's unfair that they have something and if we can if we can again just be pragmatic about it and if we look at it through the different lens that says no that just happens to be in their hand and this happens to be in my hands and I have the opportunity to steward what's in what's in my hands and and I think if we look at that way because if you try to steward what's in somebody else's hand that's coveting. That's another good Bible term is that that that's that's coveting somebody else what they have when you try to steward what's in their hand instead instead of looking what's in your hand. And so I think it's really really important to your point we have to stay focused on what do we have it's not fair or unfair it's just your opportunity in that moment. And at the same time and this is what this is where it gets kind of cool is you have this kind of tension between ambition and stewardship. You have the you know I think that I think that ambition wanting somebody wanting something greater I think that's very healthy. And in fact ambition without stewardship here's what that looks like is you want you always looking ahead and you're not willing to do the small things that results if you ambition without stewardship is um that leads to stagnation but then stewardship without ambition so that's willing to do all the small things but not really looking towards something greater that also leads to stagnation. So you're going to stay in the same place ambition without stewardship or stewardship with that ambition. And so there's that healthy tension of continuing to climb that not trying to steward what's in somebody else's hands but to your point knowing that if I steward this well it will lead to those greater things that I have ambition for. So I I was in this was in early in my career in real estate I was um I was had been an analyst for several years. I I think I was like there for four years and I really wanted to go to the next level as being a broker. Like that was kind of like the the thing that I wanted to go. So this is early I was doing expense reports for the guys I was running financial models all that kind of stuff and I had uh dinner with one of my mentors Harold Briggs who is uh one of the best guys in the world we were in New York I had dinner with Harold and I was explaining to him some of my frustrations and he said two things he said Joey you need to go be the best analyst in the company and then start to do things that brokers do. Just start to pretend like you're a broker. Just start doing those things. So interestingly it was start working toward the thing that you want but at the same time don't ignore the thing that's currently in your hands. And it's one of the best pieces of advice that I've ever gotten in my life and it goes to what we're saying and somebody listening you want a great marriage well attend to the crappy marriage you have right now you know and then that will turn into that great marriage you want all of those things um I think that that I that idea of ambition and stewardship is really really important for all of us to make sure we're avoiding stagnation.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

I'll maybe start closing out with this I can't help but think of David he becomes a king and the ambition maybe in his young heart was always to be the king but to get there he had to kill a lion he had to kill a bear and then had the the on the stage moment of Goliath and that led to kingship. I I like how that kind of connects it's like I needed you to be a great analyst I hope that you're an owner someday. I hope you make millions of dollars and have big accounts but if you'll be a great analyst and act like a good broker if you'll kill a lion kill a bear be ready for the giant maybe you can be king that equals stewardship stewardship presents itself in small incremental steps and we don't always immediately see the opportunity the master was gone for a long time they went and worked it hoping he would come back and there would be some additional benefit to it so if we could say anything to everybody listening right now I would I would literally say stay the course and identify where we can be excellent right here right now today hang up the podcast however you however you finish a podcast I guess you hang it up if you hang them up I think you sure finish this podcast and I mean immediately apply it this like the next thing you're gonna do if you're if you're listening to this on your lunch break man what if at 115 you came in on fire you know and it's like man I I usually make two sales calls here I bet I could do four that would that would be you saying I'm taking this I'm running I'm stewarding the opportunity and watch the increased follow it's an amazing principle that works for everybody increased follow stewardship.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Tap into it Chris let's let's make I want to make it as I want to make it I've been so proud of myself for by the way for how I've held off on all my grunts. I had like three if you're counting at home and I'm really proud of myself let's let's also follow I want to make sure we make it super super specific our promise is that a brave and big life always starts with a small step. So let's make that if you're in an elevator for 15 seconds with somebody and you are telling them the small step on stewardship what is that one thing you're telling them right now?

SPEAKER_01 44:54

I'm gonna ask you to identify one personal thing that you know you could steward better. And then I'm gonna ask you to identify one professional thing and you get to decide this but what is that one thing that the next seven days you will steward well you will apply what we've talked about so that increase can be on the other side of it. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 45:21

I love that buddy I don't you try to trick me into giving a four step answer here. I'm gonna I'm gonna echo it's one personal item it's one professional item you know you could steward better and give it seven days I I I really have this hope inside and for people listening I I really do have hope that this hope inside that this that I have so much feeling and conviction on this topic. I really hope this is soaked in I mean even give it a second listen hey reach out to us too I mean drop in the comments with questions because I think this is this is I know it's transformational because it has been transformational for me. I even think about I just heard the ding on my door I know my son just got home I know Harrison just got home and I haven't I have a question for myself tonight is what what's my night gonna look like and it could look a couple different ways and so for me I'm challenged inside to say yeah I got a bunch of professional ambitions I don't you know I want millions of people to listen to the podcast all this kind of stuff but man I got about three hours right now and how am I gonna steer this evening if we can look at every area of our life like that I just know it it it it is it is an absolute principle that increase will follow those so I hope again but my point there is if you're listening to this please listen to it again until it soaks in because this is something that will change your life. Apply it. Live it be brave live big okay real quick triple S for us subscribe share star give us five stars wherever you listen to podcasts thank you so much for joining us this week on Brave Big Brave Big is produced by Stonest Podcast and the brilliant Miles Hall Britain. We will see you next week