Red Dirt Catholics
Join Jayce, James and guests from "Red Dirt" Oklahoma as they discuss what evangelization and discipleship looks like in real life.
Red Dirt Catholics
Achieving Your Vision
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Drawing inspiration from the book "The 12 Week Year," Jayce and James discuss how you can achieve goals in just 12 weeks, unraveling strategies to maximize your time and productivity, form discipleship groups and more.
Register now for the 2025 Discipleship Conference for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City! This full-day, bilingual event will feature amazing speakers, breakout sessions, adoration, Mass, confessions, vendors and more at the Oklahoma City Convention Center on Saturday, August 9. Register now to get the early-bird price at OKDisciple.org.
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Links and other stuff from the show:
Pastoral Letter, "On the Unity of the Body and Soul:" archokc.org/pastoral-letters
Red Dirt Catholics Email Address: reddirtcatholics@archokc.org
The Book "From Christendom to Apostolic Mission" (Digital and Print): Amazon
The Social Dilemma: https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224
Daily Examen Prayer: https://bit.ly/309As8z
Lectio Divina How-To: https://bit.ly/3fp8UTa
I got stung by a wasp on Sunday.
Speaker 2:That is the worst it is.
Speaker 1:It's stung me right here on this arm. I can't get my hoodie all the way up to show it, but it's like it is still there, like in a way where it's like raised and a little bit swollen. Like when I got stung, we were discussing what does the wasp sensation feel like?
Speaker 1:It's like a bite with electricity is like kind of where we ended it at because it's not just, it's just not, it's not just like the bite and then it's gone, it's just like simmering or something there. But yeah, I was just outside grabbing a chair and like just out of nowhere, I didn't even know there were wasps out there, you can see it, and it just like out of nowhere and it was painful.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that stinks. I think I have a phobia of things with stingers because when I was I don't know two or three, my sister, who is three years older, had convinced me that would be a good idea to launch a rock at the nest of yellow jackets that was in like burrowed into the like rock bed in their parents' garden. I was like, yeah, sure, I'll get it there, like excited to land it on there, not knowing what things with stingers did. And then I was like Yellow jackets are aggressive. Yeah, they don't lose their. They don't lose their stingers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they keep going Like a bumblebee, mite or whatever. Yeah, they keep. They don't stop stinking. How many times did you get stung?
Speaker 2:Oh, a ton like all up and down my whole arm and I just was like running down the yard and your sister did this to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and where was she? Was she a rat or she like go inside before you threw the rock, or how did that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I don't. She must have backed away enough, like because we were standing right by each other like, hey, james, you should throw the rock, you know, and I don't recall that, but I think she might have like receded up to the porch as I got ready to throw it and I started screaming when they came to me. And came to me and running and made it obvious who the threat was, whereas it probably would have been better to like walk slowly and make no noise. You know, but I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 1:After I got stung, as one does, I went down the rabbit hole of like what exactly was it that stung me? What could I have done that would have made that thing not happen to me? And I was reading the difference between like paper wasps, yellow jackets, and like paper wasps, you're supposed to just run because they don't. They're not going to follow you too far, okay. But yellow jackets it's meant to, you're supposed to just like because they just follow it. They're highly aggressive. Like yellow jackets are known to just sting for fun.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, okay. So they're like aggressive of a species. So if they're angry, they're really going to go after it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, like throwing a rocket through that. But so then so I went in and it was just, I just wanted retribution. I'm like look at my arm, it's all swollen and it still hurts. So Danielle left to go to her book club. I was like Peter, we're going to go buy some wasp spray. He was doing some sort of activity. So he was really upset. He didn't want to go. He's like I don't want to do it now, I don't want you to do it, you'll get stung again. Like he was really worried that I was going to get stung again if I tried to take out these wasps. Um, I told him I won't get stung, it'll be okay. Um, and so we went and bought it, came back and I knew, I knew where. Like it was right above me, where the hornet's nest was on our back porch, and I was fixing to go out there and here he goes daddy, what about the other? Nun, what about the other nest? I was like there's, it's just that one. And he's like no, there's another one right above our door.
Speaker 1:My four year old tells me this and I was like what? So I like slide it out, like poke my head out, and there's like 30 of them Like right off. I like.
Speaker 2:I close it. Did you go get some rain from the store?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Some rain with like the 20 foot shot radius. So so step one right, um, I like crack the door. I'm trying to, I'm aiming at it, and so then, and it gets there, and you know I have pretty good aim. So it was direct hit, um and uh, and they went down and man, they like those, the, the nests aren't that large. There's a lot of them in there.
Speaker 2:There are a lot in there. I was doing this the other day too. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:Um, and so they, they all fall out and I'm like all right, the easy one that I can shoot at from inside is done. The next one was a little bit more scary right? So I made sure I like brought a broom out there and like swerve my way across quickly, try to get as far away as possible. What?
Speaker 2:was the room for.
Speaker 1:Um, the broom? If so, I could swing at it. If there was an issue, I played baseball. It would hurt, they wouldn't like it. So, um, just in case, cause I like, couldn't go anywhere. Like if they for some if they were able to somehow trace it back to me, like I couldn't run back inside, right? Uh, because that's where the nest was and I was for sure going to get it.
Speaker 2:Yes, You're going to spray and then, like, go around the other way. Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1:Um, that probably it probably would have been a better idea to like spray and then just like get going, but I wanted to watch them die. Um, they needed they. They um.
Speaker 2:Wanting to all the buffs out there yeah, Stay away from Jace Palmer no, it was a.
Speaker 1:It was funny, so sprayed it, and then they did come after me again a little bit I didn't get stung again. I did use my broom, but Danielle was like watching it all happen from from inside. Um, uh, that evening she'd come back. Cause you have to. You're supposed to wait until like right before the sun goes down. That's when they're the most domicile. Oh, really interesting. Right? These are the things that you learn when you read about wasps for about an hour.
Speaker 2:I was just really hoping you had to use the broom and Danielle had a video of you using that.
Speaker 1:That did not exist. But as I came back in she was like graceful.
Speaker 1:You know, nice Cause, I'm just like going all over the place, but the wasps are gone and they're. My backyard is safe again. Um, so yeah, I'm not. I'm not a fan. What was something else interesting that I learned about them? Well, there's like the difference. Like some of them, certain wasps have, like they're up in this, up in your porches, and they try to be pretty out in the open. There's others that are like try to be more like you can't like, you can't really see them. They're secretive.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like, like the Hornets or the Yellowjackets you were talking about and those are the really scary ones, those are the ones you don't want to mess with. Um, well, peter was very happy. He was like good job, dad. And I was like no problem man just risking life and limb me, me against these wasps. That's awesome. Um, which was pretty fun. I was talking to our old, long lost friend, uh, chris Beck, oh, from from P town, from P town, who, if you haven't figured it out yet, um, chris, had to take a step back just with being the dad and figuring it all out and him being farther away was going to take a step back for the podcast, but I was talking to him about being a guest on the podcast. Now.
Speaker 2:And he, he, he just laughed at it.
Speaker 1:He was like, yeah, at this point you know it's been over a year since I've been in there um, which, uh, which made sense. But we rediscovered Chris would I'm talking about this now because Chris would be upset if I didn't I, like, I haven't played, I haven't picked up a video game in like in a while, like, especially like an online video game. Um, and then Chris, while I was coming home from spending time with a friend, he texts me and was like, hey, rocket League, the game from our college days, uh, is cross platform now because Chris is an Xbox guy and I have. I have a PlayStation. Um, so we should play together and I have a mic, so you need to go buy a mic and we're going to play Rocket League tonight.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay, sounds good. So I went and bought one of those like dorky little gamer gamer mics or whatever to put on the deal and hang out with Chris. And it was, it was a blast and it was worth every worth, worth every penny, and we just like hung out. So it was fun, that's so cool, um, but he's doing really well, um, so, james, what are? What are we talking about today?
Speaker 2:So today we're, we're we're going to talk about achieving a goal, achieving our vision, and, um, uh, I'm just excited to share Jason. Jason, I were actually just kind of brainstorming looking at some our lists and also looking at some books on the bookshelf and Jason was like hey, have you talked about 12 week year on here, like you share that with everyone? I was like no, but that'd be pretty fun, right? Um, so excited about it. 12 week years of book written by a couple guys in the business world.
Speaker 2:Um, and the uh, what I found is whether it's a business goal, a personal goal, like a goal on mission. Um, it's probably. In my opinion and I kind of voraciously read business books it's probably one of the best books in that sector on goal setting and on, like, the excellence around achieving a goal. Like the whole book contains not only how to look at this with a slightly different paradigm, but also kind of a system of living. So some of the best practices of how you might be excellent and what you're committed to are really anchored in the book too. So it's it's both how to, it's a different paradigm, how to go about crafting a tactical plan around your goal, and then kind of a, an operating system, if you will, of of achieving those things.
Speaker 1:And to put this into perspective, when James says that he voraciously reads business books for the entirety that I've gotten to know James and become best friends with them I'm not sure if there's a time where he isn't like preaching the gospel of whatever business book he read last. Overall, it's just, it's absolutely wild, like I remember, you know, when we were ready to talk about habits, we were all about that when it was 12 week year and then it was the, the four hour work week and all that. I know that I've shared the four hour work week that much.
Speaker 2:But but the thing to to that point, like the thing that I like about I've kind of found and I probably share this one more than others is that if someone's not big on reading this category of book, if you will like, some of the best things are in here. So, like you can read seven habits of highly effective people and you're going to find the parts with regard to goal setting that are needed and, like having a vision, you're going to find them in this book. You know you could read another book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they all piggyback off of each other, so this one's just really well designed and an action oriented way that you could kind of take the playbook and it's applying to your vision and your life and your goals. So it's a nice, a nice may. I've probably read it five times at least.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if anybody's like wondering why are we looking at this book, you know, in particular, or something like that, a whenever James was first really excited about the 12 week year, like I'll be, like I'll be really completely honest with you I was like, come on, let's just work a little faster, work 12 times as fast, or whatever. Whatever the tagline the tagline is make like I understand the like, I understood the basic concepts of like if you make your deadlines closer, you will act like your deadlines are closer and it will generate, it will motive, it'll have greater motivation to accomplish your tasks quicker and you'll get like what the tagline is what is this?
Speaker 1:they get more done in 12 weeks than you do in 12 months. So whenever that, whenever you're first talking to me about it, I was trying to be excited with you because I know that you have good stuff, but I was like, oh it's just another okay, and honestly that was kind of a friend of mine who's in the insurance business.
Speaker 2:They had someone give him away, like when, when I was at the office and I had kind of that first impression too, like, okay, this seems like you know one of the same books that you, you know one of the recycling of some of the same stuff and seems to be overpromising what it can't deliver. But I think, as a point of distinction, like yes, that that is their tagline, even like get more done in 12 weeks than others do in 12 months. But the reality is it's not like we're not doing this to like cram extra activity into our lives per se. We're trying to be very intentional about how we're achieving a lesser amount of things actually. So it kind of starts with a paradigm shift and the.
Speaker 2:The reality is most of us like think about annual goals, like New Year's comes up, or New Year's Eve, or your birthday, or Lent, or the, the quarter, or the new fiscal year, and there's this trigger to think about, okay, what do I want to accomplish in this next season? Sure, well, I don't know if anyone else is like that, but the amount of times I've like thought, yeah, I'm going to get in better shape this year or do this by the end of this year and then come December or October and like now I'm thinking about doing it because I made that goal. I basically wasted the whole three quarters of the year on saying I was going to do that but not actually doing anything about it, so I kind of put it off. So the timetable is much too long, but also there was nothing specific around how I'm going to get in better shape.
Speaker 2:So the thing that I really love about the book is this realization that we do need actually a long horizon, like we actually need longer than a year, because you know, some of the most life-changing things are a progression of a mountain climb over three, five, seven years, and they actually start that way, like kind of beginning with why they have. You write this, this aspirational vision, because anytime you're taking on something very important, there's going to be resistance and uncomfort and you really need to have a sense of where you're going. In this case, you know, since we're Catholics and you know, maybe there's some mission tied up in our goal and the the, the charisms that God's given me, like there's actually the reality that you know I'm a son entrusted with this gift of a life he gave me, and so there's a great vision I'm working through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, parable of the talents, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And so you spend some good time on this vision as you work through it and then what you're doing, as you might think, like you would in annual planning, like what are the kinds of things that I want to work on or what's the goal that I have in mind, but then you hone in on just a few things Three is better than 10, one's better than three, like one goal, maybe two goals, maybe three goals max, and you have kind of an intentional imbalance and you work through. Once you have that goal, you really work through, do the hard work up front of flushing out that goal. So, instead of spending weeks kind of chipping away at it, working through it without definition, you actually like in one week they call it the 13th week in one week, when you're not in this in an acting on a tactical plan, you actually start to chart out your course and you realize, well, I only have 12 weeks, so I can't do everything that one might possibly want to do to lose that weight or achieve the sales goal or start this thing at the parish. So I'm going to have to be discerning in the things that are actually more likely to be fruitful or the things that better fit my current state or the people around me. So it kind of forces some decision. But then you mentioned something since the time horizon is shorter, you do feel, week over week because you are measuring and you've intentionally thought through this you do feel the little bit of a push that you need to take action on something, whereas in the past it would be a lot easier to say, well, I've got time to do that, but you're just being a good steward of your time by saying you know it's actually possible for me to start this initiative within 12 weeks if I make a decision to do it. You know, and that might mean I'm deciding not to do other things, but it's actually possible.
Speaker 2:And so it's taken from the idea of periodization actually. So like what's the word Periodization? And so, like a bicyclist, for example, let's say he's training for Tour de France, or a marathon runner, like they're going to have a period between their races that they're training for, they might have this long term goal of being in, like the Boston Marathon, the runner, but there's a benchmark way before that Boston Marathon and so his annual goal isn't to get in the, isn't just getting in that marathon. There's something much before that, a time trial, a specific race he's running, that he's, that's time bound and soon, and so he's able to give an intentional imbalance to that thing as opposed to try and work on. So in that thing he might be working on his time trial as opposed to trying to work on distance and time.
Speaker 1:You know so, yeah, more specific, and it's like it's a, it's a human formation.
Speaker 1:It really is that we're really that we're, that we're discussing here and you know we're we're a podcast about discipleship and like discipleship is with humans, and there's just certain things that humans are just pretty naturally bad at, and one of those things is like procrastination, planning and different things like that, and so I think that like framing, framing this model, for that I'm just excited that we're like going into these parts of it, Because I think these are the, the neglected parts.
Speaker 1:A lot of the time when it comes to like a church thing, like it would be great if a pastor like gave a homily about this, like a, a homily of the talents, or that's on the gospel reading of the talents like this would be really really great formation for a parish or yeah, or sitting with your team or your staff and kind of doing it together would be really neat.
Speaker 2:A couple of things I want to share that that I that were some high points to me as I went through this. One of them is that we're just we're actually going to throw out the annual plan, like we're going to throw it out and the, and the reason why I say that is it's dead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the reason why I say that is like we're going to be really clear about what we want over a long horizon and we're going to be kind of aggressive with what that big vision is Like. We're going to have great expectations for what God can bring about in our lives. But I can't affect something 11 months from now, like I can't affect change on that. Very well and, frankly, if I live the next 12 weeks very intentional, I'm going to be able to see through the fog a little bit better 13, 12, 13 weeks from now towards December, than I would in January, and so I might have some ideas. And so, as long as my 12, my goal that I pick for this 12 week year, for this period, is directionally correct, with that long-term vision, like I can have some ideas or like a repertoire of stuff that I'm discerning.
Speaker 2:That could be an annual goal, but it doesn't matter, because we have to be great in the present moment. And so, being great right now and being excellent right now it actually doesn't matter what's on my calendar six months from now, because it doesn't affect today. It might matter that I'd like to be in that direction in that, and so I want to build to that, but so much could happen between now and then the other one I really loved is this idea of accountability as ownership, and so we all talk about accountability and I love that the book covers this. But accountability, like if you were my boss, might be that I might view it as a bad thing, right, like I might be like kind of worried about how I'm measuring up. Why would you think that me being a boss would be bad?
Speaker 1:No, the accountability.
Speaker 2:So it gets kind of a bad rap that accountability. Is someone else making me do something or asking? Me to do something, and so this holds you accountable at notion, and so the-. Why do you think that we resist?
Speaker 1:that.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think we're. It's uncomfortable. I think that we don't like failing, we don't like the imposition of others sometimes. But a slight different shift that the book has that I love is accountability as ownership. So I want to ask everyone if you have a goal, you're the one owning the goal. And so the shift here is like no, if I do have a boss and this goal happens to it, I'm articulating what my goals are and I'm asking him to help me own my goal. Or, like in the book, they have what's called a WAM partner, a weekly accountability meeting partner. So 15 minute check in. You've already written your plan, you kind of have your measurements in it and you have some tactics that were due this week. You're just having a check in with that person and, like that person other than loving you doesn't really have always a stake in the game of if your plan successful or not, it doesn't affect them. But you've set up that system to hold yourself accountable to what you've already owned.
Speaker 2:So the shift is like Instead of the accountability, instead of accountability, as like the thing it's like I'm owning the success of this and the accountability helps me own it, so it's a slightly different. If you're authoring this plan and it feels phony or fake like, then there's probably something that kind of tweak that hits your long term vision to make sure you're owning it and you feel confident in that. Any questions so far.
Speaker 1:No, I'm tracking. James is like taking me through this, Like I haven't read the book. It's a pure. He's just bringing me along for the ride, so to speak. So I'm excited.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so we'll talk to at the end, like some of the best practices in their ex execution system and things like that. But rather than talk through it hypothetically, we thought it'd be kind of neat to just model it Like Jace has a goal that some of us might have in common. Let's just work on how to get started on your plan and how to write it Right.
Speaker 1:So the goal is to start a Bible study, more specifically, to start a Bible study that generates more Bible studies overall, like the classic, the classic focus or spiritual multiplication goal overall. But we just thought that that one would be a really a really simple one that we have a lot of experience in, that we can develop and, like, show how we can, in a mission way, use this way of thinking and planning to count the cost and do it well, awesome. So what's why?
Speaker 2:are you so? James is the consultant and.
Speaker 1:I am the loser who needs a consultant.
Speaker 2:That's what's working. Or, in this case, like I'm a friend who's done it and we're thinking about being WAM partners and you want me to kind of help you walk through it the first time I go to bed dreaming about being a WAM partner Like this.
Speaker 1:James, you have no idea how important this is to me and have like this moment right here, Wow.
Speaker 2:I love it, I'm here. So first off, like let's kind of back up a little bit Aspirational vision we haven't had a chance to write or whatever but tell me, like, why would starting a Bible study that's going to lead into starting several more? Like why is that important to you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's important to me, coming from the Great Commission right, that we are to go out into the world and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Like that's the end, being able to preach that gospel. It's really important to me from a from a like a personal standpoint like I've gotten to. I got the opportunity to live in that way. That's like a pure mission, like even as my vocation for a time while I was a missionary and got to see all of the fruit and the lives that are changed and that as a result of it. But if, when I really dial it back to like my why?
Speaker 1:for something like that is because it is because nothing else matters ultimately more than than than that. Then having that relationship, that personal relationship, that Jesus Christ that becomes, that is a life-changing paradigm shift for for a, for a soul, and that life-changing paradigm shift ripples everywhere. And when that happens, just like people's purposes are fulfilled and they get to and like ultimately right, like the goal is like heaven. But that's a little bit abstract. So just the idea of like purposes being fulfilled, and I was, just when I'm on mission, like I've never, I'm never happier, you know, in a way like I love being in that, in that specific space, making things happen. So why do I do now?
Speaker 2:So you're like part of your vision for life is like you want the people around you to experience the love of Christ like you have and be transformed with by it, and that's really, from that place, is why you want to do start up a Bible study. That then, in turn, starts more, and I think that's important, guys. The reason why we we spent that is like I could want to start a Bible study because I want, because my vision, because I want like community, and that's that's a good reason to start a Bible study, and and but it's very probably one of the main ones why people start, and it's probably one of the main reasons why people join.
Speaker 2:For sure too right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the beautiful gift is that, like you, get to give them this vision that Christ set out for us in the process.
Speaker 1:And so community in my, in my wine, like communities, like baked into that lifestyle a little bit.
Speaker 2:So we didn't do it here, but like one of the first things after, maybe even before, reading the book honestly, like maybe you read the first section about the aspirational vision but is to write that vision. Like actually spend the time, like maybe go into the chapel and just like ask God some of the existential questions, like think about some of the gifts you have, spend some time in gratitude, but like visualize that future state like that, like these men or women in the parish that you want to have. Like falling more deeply in love with Christ. Like spend some time seeing that happen. Like how does it feel to be there? Like use real words, like actually kind of visualize that and like what could it look like five years from now?
Speaker 2:Like if you were really focused on you know things that felt like this goal that you're going to do now. Like how could that feel? What, what, what when you all get together and you have a big meal. Like what's that look like you know when time is over and we're in heaven, seeing God face to face. Like who are the people you see there? Right, these people that might be a name on your list, but that kind of thing helps us so much when we're living out in the desolation of life, naturally or spiritually, and when you're going through goals like the natural, informed, the search, like you'll find desolation. When you're working through a plan that's tight for 12 weeks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it doesn't matter what the what the plan is. Yeah, there'll be a little bit of value to spare there.
Speaker 2:It could be a sales goal, it could be a weight loss goal. I mean, you'll find that point where it's tough.
Speaker 1:And so so when people because sometimes I've noticed this, like when we're we start talking about let's, that's vision, let's think it through, people are like, oh my gosh, we're going to make some core values, we're going to make some goals, and then we're never going to look at them again.
Speaker 1:Mm hmm, Um, I think that sometimes we just don't understand exactly why we're doing what we're doing when it comes to getting that aspirational vision, like we are. This is something for you to look at when you're done where, when the the tank is running low Frequently, daily, weekly, yeah, yeah, I would.
Speaker 2:I typically have the habit of wherever my plan lives. I also have the vision written Um, I don't know that this is in the book or anything. But your, your mind, psychologically, doesn't know the difference between experiencing something great or visualizing something great. Necessarily. What do you mean? So or bad? So let's say, let's say I suffered some kind of trauma in my life and I am now anticipating something that's like the trauma. My brain kind of gets hijacked and doesn't overly know, like some of my reactions in my body and all that, Don't overly know whether I'm experiencing the trauma again or I'm being triggered into the trauma again.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting, and so, similarly with gratitude, the reason why it's so powerful of a habit and why it's in so much of our prayer, why I say Ignatius would say if you spent the entire retreat and gratitude in the first step, it would be a retreat well lived. It would be a retreat well lived is because it's transformative, like. Like if I'm grateful for an experience, if I'm looking forward to something with hope, that's a part of God's plan for my life. Me spending time there and being aware of it helps reframe my mind to look for those kinds of opportunities throughout my daily life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like that. I don't remember the exact study, but I know the story of. They had like 100 different free throw shooters, one sitting down lounging about thinking about making 100 free throws. And then guys who were just actually practicing the free throws. They both did that for an hour and then they put them against each other and they obviously had to have like roughly similar skill level and whatnot.
Speaker 1:And the guys who sat there and thought about making the free throws, it's significantly better overall, like they both had the court, like you have to know what the mechanic is and like so they eliminate as many of those variables as possible. But like it's the same, like in your brain, and sometimes even more powerful.
Speaker 2:Well, and there's also like this reality to like you will experience failure in this stuff, right, and we will be uncomfortable in it, and we're probably making resolutions around something that's not in our life currently, because we just made a plan about achieving a goal, so the goal is future state, anyway, and so we have to be preparing ourselves frequently for where we're going, and there's going to be turbulence and change in that process, and so if we're like not reminding ourselves of where we're going, it's a lot easier for old habits to be the predominating thought pattern than it would be for where you're going. So, a little aside, but it's very important, I would not skip that step, like I would give that like your top rock on a day or a week, you know, to your top priority to flesh out. I was about to ask what a top rock was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry, different, we won't go into that analogy but your top priority. So I would ask you to kind of write your vision. You've shared some of it beautifully here, but let's the first thing I recommend when you step into writing your plan is you want to have the goal, of course, and so you've said the goal is to start a Bible study that generates other Bible studies.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so you want to have the goal and then just like, right away, just white paper, any potential tactic, so like an action item you could take, and this is where the rubber meets the road, a little bit Like I could have that goal that I want to start by with studies, that start by with studies. But now I'm really doing some of the most important work, like I'm flushing through all the different ideas and I'm going to make decisions about them and write out a tactical plan that in these tactics, some will be happening every week, some will happen in some specific chronological order, but for now just like list the things you could be doing to start this Bible study.
Speaker 1:List the things that I could be doing. I could invite friends that I already have to the Bible study. I could go to my pastor and ask if he knows anybody that would like to be in a Bible study. I could go to or get it in the bulletin in my parish. I could give a mass announcement in my parish Maybe there's a dad's group at my parish's school that I could throw an invite into the group me there. I could start praying to the Lord to bring these people to me and have them begin working in their hearts and make it obvious and pray for divine appointments from the Holy Spirit. Stop me when I've gone too long. My favorite way is just the old fashioned fishing way is just going and being in the back of mass and finding people who are of the Maybe you're doing a dad's study, maybe you're doing a young men's study Finding people of that match, that constituency group, and going and talking to them and meeting them. Personal invite.
Speaker 1:Yeah personally inviting them. Or, at the very least, maybe you don't know anybody God forbid in your parish or of that age and you want to just start something. That's kind of where you have to start is just go find them and meet them. That's another thing that you can do as a tactic. You could say so you haven't been a missionary before, or something like that. You could study what does that look for, read a book, read making missionary disciples or Sherry Waddell, and kind of get some theoretical perspective behind it. You could pray with Pray like Sio Davina over.
Speaker 1:My favorite like Sio Davina passage, when it comes to the start, like at the start of a Whenever it was, like the start of a new year, is the passage where some of the disciples or the apostles meet Jesus for the first time and then they immediately go get their brother. I think Andrew goes, gets Nathaniel. I think I'm terrible about remembering the names, just absolutely terrible. It's like the concept stick though, and Andrew's like it gots to you, man, this is what it is. And Nathaniel's like I don't know I'll go, but just that immediacy of I have met Jesus and I know who he is and him moving forward, like praying with that and being nourished by the Holy Spirit, in that way deciding what this Bible study is going to do like what your curriculum.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what you're going through, what the schedule looks like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what your curriculum might be so.
Speaker 2:Jason's got a head full of tactics and a page full of tactics here. I'm going to pause you for a second and ask, like a scoping question so we've got 12 weeks right, so outcome base, we're at the end of 12 weeks. Where are you? What's that future state look like at the end of 12 weeks? You've got a group of guys. Where are they?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're starting from like Zero, from pure zero. My hope would that I've, at the very least, that I've met enough guys, or I've met a lot of different guys that potentially could be called to be in this Bible study with me. I'll put a random goal of like an ideal Bible study is like yourself plus six other people, like seven, they've done studies or whatever. Don't ask me why, I just know that's what they would say for a small group and it doesn't have to be like we say Bible study Like. I just want to very quickly talk about this. We say Bible study what we really mean is a group of people being vulnerable and discussing stuff that matters Like and the most important thing that matters is the Lord, but it could be anything else Family struggles, all of this. You know Any, and a Bible study in and of itself is just a tool that like helps facilitate that specifically. But sometimes a word Bible study, like means different things to different people, but that is what I mean.
Speaker 2:Would it be fair to say that you're actually trying to create small groups where people come to know Christ yeah, right, yeah and where they're inspired to create their own small group doing the same?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 2:So it's like a slight different definition. So for scoping, you're scarring from ground zero. Do you think across your 12 weeks you've got it started? Or you think you've got it started and you kind of have the first part of getting them in motion, like the Bible study, is happening in this 12 week period?
Speaker 1:I think at the end of the first 12 week period I would have the roster. Okay, like, I wouldn't put it too much for myself because sometimes it can take a while, right? Right, like, if you go and try to meet somebody new after every Mass that you go to, if you only go to one Mass a week, that's like 12 Masses. So that means you would have to bat 50% on all of those invitations and that's unrealistic. Yeah, I would say so. Maybe it's just like having to like, I would set the goal of being having met maybe more than just 12 people. Maybe, like had 30 potential people that you could invite to the Bible study. Okay, would be like a would be a metric that I would choose to grab and that's something that, like, what's great about it is like it's a lead measure, right, like you can control how many people you've met and like.
Speaker 1:And what I would also say about having met somebody is that if you had a good enough conversation with them, then you probably would have gotten their contact info as well so that you can like reach out to them later on and invite them. So that's like probably a key metric behind. What I mean when I say met is that you have their contact information. So 30 guys contact information, you know.
Speaker 2:Okay, so by week if I'm hearing you right, you know, somewhere before week 12, you have launched half a dozen the eight guys into a Bible study where they get the vision that they're going to be starting one as well. Does that one understand? Yeah?
Speaker 1:I'm not sure if you like, depending on it, really that would. That's a kind of a new one. They might not get the vision, but they're. They're the guys who could.
Speaker 2:Yeah Is what you're. You're launching some with a group of the types of guys who could, okay, yeah, I like this because I think it's reasonable, right Like I think maybe if you weren't at ground zero and you already knew some people in the parish, yeah, you can go faster. You could maybe get the right team together and start and have kind of your first wave happening in the first 12 weeks. But I like what, what you're sharing here. So is there a point in here in the 12 weeks where you're doing You're kind of warming it up at all? Is there like a tactic, you see, like any benchmark along here with a certain tactic Before you've launched the Bible study, where, where you're not just in this invite mode?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would have want, would have wanted to have spent time intentionally With each of the guys that I'm hoping to invite to the Bible study or have invited to the Bible study, like Just being real and being being friends with each other. So whether, like, depending on who that person is, like you know, there's been guys that I would, you know, go and take to get disc golfing, there's guys that I would like Play poker with, or play board, go to a board game night with or go to the movies with like there it would depend on each individual, but Building that friendship would be like a key thing.
Speaker 1:So, and you know, out of the like you go from the 30 people that you've tried to meet and you're like narrowing it down to your six, so to speak. You know it tends to be just who's responding, you know.
Speaker 2:So would it be fair to say like, perhaps, like if we're, if we're thinking about our, our plan as having 12 weeks written out like on a piece of paper here yeah, if could you see, in week 11 or 12 you're having the first Bible study.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it goes if it goes really well and then. So then, what you just said is like maybe you've had you have a strong relational connection with About seven in. By what week are you trying to have that with If you're gonna make the? I mean, is it like eight to ten?
Speaker 2:somewhere in there to ten and I like that. We're not nailing down because we're kind of Designing it. So that's sort of how I think about putting it in there on order. Okay, so those are, I feel, like two really big ones. Now, how are you? What sort of tactics are you doing? You've mentioned some, but based on where you want to be at eight to ten, you have a strong emotion, a strong connection with some and you've spent time with them, met with all of them one-on-one, and you're inviting them and having the Bible study in 11 to 12. What are the best tactics? Are the ones you brainstormed that you're either doing one time or weekly To ensure that you actually have a chance at a relationship with some guys in your parish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think maybe one that I didn't particularly mention as I was spitting them all out on the fly, was, like having conversations with them, like counting the conversations that you have with each of the guys that Like imagine at this point, like, say, at eight weeks, you, at eight weeks, you have the guys that you think are gonna be the guys that are gonna join your Bible study.
Speaker 1:You know, so, taking it upon yourself like you know what I want, to have one conversation with each of these guys Every week, you know. So, you know, setting a time of like I'm gonna call them, I'm a way to work, or after I put the kids to bed, or after my wife goes to sleep, or my spouse or whomever. That would be a key one of just like staying, and like staying and being friends with this person, because, and and we should discuss this as well as we're like thinking about all these like different metrics and goals and things that we're doing. The reason we're doing like that this is happening is because the, the Lord, desires this and for people to be a part of Um, to be invited into these small groups, because they're able to receive community, they're able to receive love and all of these things, you know, even, and even though that there's like a goal behind it of like, hey, I hope that, I hope that, uh, a bunch of these guys end up like leading their own Bible study, that doesn't.
Speaker 1:That doesn't negate the fact that the reason why we're desiring this is, like love like yeah and like what is, what is the eternal good and the Lord will, like real life happens and there are, like I don't know of any Bible study that's like started and had six all like six out of six go and start another Bible study within the next 12 weeks, like that's. That's probably an unrealistic vacuum.
Speaker 1:Yeah, an unrealistic thing, but having half isn't unrealistic of the guys in that study, um, and people and people, like Nothing is linear here, like what we're. We're presenting a linear picture, but a lot of our like these journeys, like these are real people, real thoughts, um, and uh, the devil doesn't like what we're doing with this, so it's ultimately messy and unlinear, um, but this is just kind of like we're do we're designing a plan which, like, tends to stick towards ideals.
Speaker 2:So I just want to like make that super clear that, even if, even if these things aren't hit like we experienced, like you said before, we're going to experience failure in all of it, yep, um and uh, not hurting yourself or like, uh, getting angry with yourself or getting too discouraged when you receive that failure, because that's just part of the game, yeah, and since we're talking about like a spiritual goal in some sense, like um, there's, there's the reality that, like we're collaborating with god and the holy spirits, the agent of evangelization, so like we're just trying to make to order our own nature to give him the most room to work his grace, and He'll work beyond this, but that happens in natural goals too.
Speaker 2:To like there's a quote from 12 step programs that says um, without god we can't and without us he won't, and so god loves us enough to like Honor, that we have agency and free will and he wants to collaborate with us, like he wants to do this with us. And so, like this isn't like, oh, I'm this super evangelist, you know, perfect bible study maker person. It's just you being prudent with the time you have Because, like I'm actually assuming, since you have a different full-time job, like you don't have like 40 hours a week to devote to this, not a close right. And so, like I would actually ask you like, so, if you're having six meaningful conversations a week, you know maybe, um, at least week zero, at least week one through eight, you're doing that Like, when are you having those conversations?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you'd have to pick that time, like for me, um, like like nine. Nine o'clock and after is like If someone wants to get a hold of me, I am the. I tend to be the least busy. Nine o'clock and after, like that. Like Danielle is normally Starting to simmer down for bed, I'm a bit more of an eye now. My son is asleep, like unless I'm we're doing date night or something like that more intentionally, I tend to be Extremely available.
Speaker 2:So so I let. He's specific there. And so one little tip on writing a tactic is you want to start it with a verb, because it's an action item, a verb, and you want to be specific, right, so you, I think you would say, make X calls, you know, yielding six meaningful conversations.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:In the evenings, you know. So you're like kind of specific bound that happens and so that would be your tactic. And then measurements a big part of the plan, and a lot of people don't like this because it could feel phony again, like we're talking about people and relationships with this, and so it could feel phony. Um, but the reason why we measure is like you have to be able to be honest and consistent about what God's asked you to do, and so if God's placed me in a secular job to earn a living for my family, I have to be honest and consistent about showing up to that job and doing the best part of it. If I'm Spending my time and talent on something that God's called me to like, I should be honest about doing it. Yeah, you should be just as honest.
Speaker 2:You know, and that and that's right and and similarly, like, even more importantly, like if I have this great burning desire for people to know God, like I've gotten to know him and be transformed by him, like wouldn't I want to have a sense, if, like I'm bearing fruit what the talents he gave me, or like if it's not really working and I'm kind of seeing that in my measure, how I'm measuring myself. Sure, I should have the freedom to shift, to change, and so it's not like I'm not measuring myself so I can beat myself up. It's just like a mirror Of how this is going. You know, it's a looking glass on on how the plan is working. So I would think you'd probably put that one and your meaningful conversations and your your meaningful one-on-one time, like as a a metric, you're sort of tracking.
Speaker 1:Another one of those like key goals of from the things I stated before was that is that the, the prayer has to be there at the beginning, right, like it's just the way Evangelization works is that you can't give what you don't have, and if you're not, if the Lord isn't Pouring into you and if you aren't consistently making yourself available to the Lord for him to pour into you, like your ability to pour it to to for it to have that his pouring into you overflow, is just a it's. It makes it very, very difficult. Um, I've had moments in my life where I've, you know, prayed more, prayed less, and it always makes it more difficult. It's just the way that it is. So like praying, like having like that personal prayer for yourself as like the leader, but also intentionally praying for the guys whose names that you're writing down, um, so how do you?
Speaker 2:if, if that's not a habit of yours, um, or it's a habit you're wanting to restart, like what would? What's a specific way in the season of your life that you can make sure you're doing that every week? Like, how would you write that tactic?
Speaker 1:to just be very tech specific yeah, I mean so to in the way that you just said it. So at like in the goal setting at In the morning probably would be for me at 7 30, I will pray for 30 minutes and and pray for Make sure that a piece of that prayer is intercessory for potential bible study guys.
Speaker 2:So maybe pray at 7 30 am For the men that might be in my bible study. Yeah, I like that. Earlier when I was looking at your list, you had like do it together as a thing and you kind of asterisk it, asterisk it how what all could be involved. Just to branch off that because, like through the communal life is you kind of ask because it's important, what sort of things could you do with the men that you're meeting? Like you haven't started the bible study but what are some ideas and do you want to make any one of those a tactic?
Speaker 1:um, yeah, you could. You could, sir, like say, say you have Two out of the six. You know that I've said yes to the bible study at this point.
Speaker 1:You could go to a particular mass you know every week and make that a and make that something that you guys do together, um, like a morning mass or something like that, or or there's just a, a particular activity that you guys are interested in you could work out together. You could um, go watch a, watch the thunder game together, watch all you football together. There's a. There's a million different community things based on what you guys are, have a shared interest in um, but really it's just all about focusing in and honing in on what that friendship can look like. Um, and building that and building that and having real conversations with them, um, and then and then doing it together, peace, and then even like.
Speaker 1:Just like some of the ideas, like when you're asking those guys into the bible study of um, like, depending on whether or not you think that they're they that they would be excited to hear or ready to hear, you know the um, the invitation to. I hope that you would lead a bible study as well someday, and that's Partially why we're doing this is because this is what the lord has asked us to do um, but we'll do it together. Um and like cast the vision for what together and that looks like, and so, instead of it like remember back when you were, when I was the one, that was like hanging out in the church narthex like a creeper, like looking around for who's who's there. Well, now we're both going to do that together.
Speaker 2:I like how you're thinking about that because, like, you have a sense of the vision and what seed you're planting right now so that this is directionally correct. Do you think you would have that as a measurement or do you think you'd have that as a tactic of vision casting, like making sure there's a moment where you vision cast it before you start, or?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. You know, it's like this moment of like, like Depending oh gosh, it's so in discipleship, so annoying. Like it's so non-linear and, in this particular way, like there could be. Like Because I would, I would imagine, like the vast majority of the time. Like because, like A lot of times it's a great. Like, a great practice is to make sure that the gospel is presented to a particular person when they have, because, as catholics, we've been terrible about this for years and, man, we've talked about the gospel a lot on this podcast.
Speaker 1:But this, having this moment where you get to say yes or no to whether or not you want to follow Jesus Christ is Is a basic right that we all should have, um, and you, the guys in your bible study, should have.
Speaker 1:They can look different for different people, um, but sometimes maybe there maybe have a guy who you know has had that happen to him before and you've asked him into the study so you can, before that actual conversation happens, maybe maybe you're already talking to him a little bit about Some of that vision casting beforehand, but there's, there's probably a lot of guys that that vision casting doesn't happen until until later.
Speaker 1:Um, because and the reason why doesn't happen until later is because what is the like? Someone has to have met and known Jesus to be Really excited for the right way to see that vision and to like, because otherwise it's, otherwise it's vanity. Right, I want to leave this bible study because I'm a part of this group of guys who are all leading bible studies and it's I'm popular because I lead bible studies with these guys. You know it become it can. It can so quickly get easily twisted and into our egos and and all of this stuff and we have to be really careful of that. So there's just this we have to prioritize, like our relationship with the Lord and encouraging them in that way too. Otherwise we're doing things for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 2:Can I take a stab at, just like a guess, based on what you just said, like I heard you say, like I don't necessarily want to like vision cast the future for everyone, because some person might be seeking and they don't have met Jesus really, and so I'm answering a question they haven't asked what if, like week seven through 10, like you've picked a number of like amount of men, you're inviting per week to come to this Bible study, that you're starting on the 11th week or something, and you're sharing the gospel with them in that, or a high call or some sort of vision cast?
Speaker 1:Yeah that there's one of those three, depending on where they are.
Speaker 2:And so it's clear what the Bible study is for, because I think you're being really is beautifully intention about that.
Speaker 1:It's almost like being clear about asking or having a conversation that drives wherever we are forward Is like kind of like. So you could call it like a forward movement conversation based on where they're at, and that allows you like. I like that because if you just say by week 17, I want to have preached the gospel to every, or week seven, I want to have preached the gospel to everybody, like it's going to be different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I love the idea of what you can measure, or like the overall topic you can measure, is like a conversation, that like is an invitation forward in whatever way that that is and that could be the metric that you're tagging, like the invitation forward that you're tracking.
Speaker 2:I love that and I'm switching into like friend and fellow disciple maker for a second out of here because I love the topic. Like you probably have other men that like are doing this somewhere or could like be with you or you could pull in in some way Like what if, before you just move into invite, you have this intentional time in prayer with anyone you've been talking to? That gets it Like it's like, yeah, I want to do a study, like he's already happened, yeah, and like hey.
Speaker 2:I'm fixing to invite this guy, like I'm going to invite a bunch of people this week, like there's usually these guys I'm praying over, like would you come spend an hour and pray with me? So you're grabbing like one of your probably your Peter, james and Johns, you know, and maybe like a good brother, like that you're already close with.
Speaker 1:When we say Peter James and Johns, we're referencing that Jesus spent the most time with Peter James and John, Right? Just so that we all know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's kind of. He kind of had the three and then the 12, the 72, the 5000, you know there's these degrees. He spent time, but like, do you think like a time of like set aside to intercessory, to the Holy Spirit, move in the lives of the men you're about to invite with? And you're doing that with others, but you don't know who that is yet, because it you might not have met the man, but you're doing it with some guys that are 100% that's an amazing idea. Okay, cool. So we've, we've written down a few tactics. One thing we, by process of elimination, we didn't mention some, but I think it's worth saying like, which aren't you going to do? Like, can you just list on there and just look at it? Like I've chosen, I'm not going to put energy towards this tactic.
Speaker 1:I am not going to make a mass announcement. Okay, and why?
Speaker 2:Because it doesn't work.
Speaker 1:I okay, I have a story of more specifically why it doesn't work. First is and I think I've talked about this particular study, I think it was like it might have been within the Thaumic habits, I don't remember. But the basic, the basic principle is when something is everyone's job or when it something is asked of everyone, less people respond Overall. Like if you, if you invite 100 people to help you move and they all know that you asked 100 other people to help you move, they're not feeling the urgency or the sincerity or it's just not communicating the value of what you're fixing to do with them. And then the same thing happens if you, if you make a mass announcement to, to something relational at your, at your parish, like you're like well, I might not do that. So like personal invites is always, is just always better.
Speaker 1:Like it's not necessarily bad. Like it's not like it's still like a like, a nice step.
Speaker 2:It's going to be harder for you to get from mass announcement to meaningful one-on-one with the guy. Yeah, Like they, they.
Speaker 1:that means they have to contact you. But also you don't work at the parish Right.
Speaker 2:And they're not. They're not there outside of this Sunday time. So if you're giving the mass announcement, you might not be able to organically meet a guy and maybe you're not going to get the space in the mass mass announcement like no one will be able to get to the mass announcement.
Speaker 1:No one likes mass announcements. You know everyone's checked in at checked out anyway.
Speaker 2:So there's just time and energy you'd have to allocate towards that. You're not allocating anything else. You can cut off. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Not particularly interested. I can't read my handwriting.
Speaker 1:This isn't or or or or so, one thing that like maybe messaging, throwing a message in, like the dad's group or at your school or something, it's the same, it's the same thing, right? Like when you ask a large amount of people to do a very specific thing, like it just, it just doesn't make sense, it's not the same, it's not the same deal, and so anything that's along those lines I'm not particularly interested in. So those would probably be the two biggest ones out of all of these that I'm the least interested in making start.
Speaker 2:And what I want to give you freedom to do as you, as you finish this, because we've kind of like chunked it in. We've got some things where we think it's going to happen week one through whatever, week seven through 10, or week 11 through 12, and some ideas on weekly ones. Kind of put that in and, like, hold it for a day, think about it, you know, wake up, pray, review the vision and your let's pretend you're in week 13. So you're kind of in planning mode. Look at this again, like do you have any other thoughts or inspirations? Think about your calendar, your constraints, Like is there anything here that you want to make adjustments to? Can I go back to that story though? Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not going to make any announcements.
Speaker 1:Right. So this is a story from when I had just gotten here, like after my time with Focus, right. So I was living in kind of the War Acres area. I was going to church at St Charles Borromeo and I'd met one other guy that I knew from college. That was like hey, let's get some community, let's get some small group stuff going.
Speaker 1:I'm like heck yeah, I've been doing that for 11 for the last two years, let's do it. It was like, oh, don't even worry about it, we'll have a group in like three weeks. I know, father, I know Father Lucian really well, we'll make a mass announcement and we'll get it going. Let's just talk about like, let's talk about the specifics of like what Bible study we're going to do and all this stuff. And in the moment, like I knew I was like I don't know how, like I didn't know how effective that it was, of whether or not it was going to be that effective, but like he seemed really eager, so I was, I was ready to do it, and so we make the mass announcements goes through and I try to like, like have my head on a swivel one. And so I talked to a few dads. The most brutal part about like talking to people after, after mass is when they're not even from your parish and you're like, oh my gosh, this guy, this guy is perfect for our Bible study. He's like oh, I don't go here, I'm going to go to. I was just here on a one off week, sorry. So I tried to do a little bit of that but was figuring out how to do that in the context of family life and having a one year old who's like I want to get out of here now. So that was. Those were some new constraints for me, so for the most part, I just wanted to see if this would work. So we did that. We made a sign up list online that we put it in a QR code, put it in the bulletin and made it look good, all of that stuff. And so we made the announcement announcements. And then we had I think we had one. We had one person out of the entire parish sign up, one throughout the entirety of the thing. So it was the tagline was like young dads Bible study that's what we were doing.
Speaker 1:And so we ended up having this Bible study at my friend's house and we, like we had it all. We had a little bit of whiskey, we had a little bit of music going on, we had like we had the whole environment go ready to go and we were excited and the guy and the guy came and everything. But when the guy came, the guy was not young and he wasn't a dad either. Like, yeah, like I was, I was trying to have this conversation and get to know this guy. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, how many kids, how many kids do you have? And he's like, oh, how many kids? I have two dogs. I was like oh, wild.
Speaker 1:And then I, guys, I was trying to like keep the conversation flowing and I was like, how did you get married? And he was like I met my wife. I met my wife on an online dating site. And I was like, oh, okay. And he's like, yeah, I was married before. And it was just like the most brutal conversation I've ever had and it was really difficult because we didn't know this guy at any point before he like just like walked into the in the confines of his home. So there was just like no, there's no warming up.
Speaker 2:There was no, so we would just dive in, it would be hard if your goal was to have a Bible study at Lunch. Bible Studies to that be the, the feed, the feeder.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, right, right and so and so it ended up being just the most awkward Bible study that we've ever had. We tried to, we tried to get through it and eventually he was like all right, I'm out of here. And. And then once he walked out and me and my friend, we just like, we just both like fell on the couch. We were like that was a mistake in every, in every sense of the word. So from that point onward I just really felt burned by it. Like within small, with small groups, specifically, like there's great things, like like inviting everyone to the parish picnic, like great, like those are, those are certain things, but that's a very different ask, right? Not an intimate thing like everybody's their thing. So, yeah, I just it's brutal, just like it's not, it's not going to be as fruitful as you think it is.
Speaker 1:Like you're going to be way more fruitful if you talk to one, if you just make it a goal Like this is what this is what I would do if I were. If I were actively trying to like launch a Bible study in the parish, I would sit in the back and normally like I pray for for a few minutes after Mass is over. I would save that for a little bit later and later on, maybe like 30 minutes after Mass, and like priests gets by me maybe we're in the second verse of the song. I'm standing up and like getting out there and then like enduring Mass, my head's even on a swivel, like who potentially would be a great person to like to strike up a conversation with. Hi, I'm Jace. Your family looks awesome, you know. Tell me what's your name, you know, and just like starting the conversation there. If you do that one time for every Mass that you go to, you'll be, within 12 weeks, million times more successful than if you just like through a Mass announcement.
Speaker 2:I know a guy who has a young kid and he's at that age, like I am where you're always standing like half the Mass, you're standing in the back because your kid's a little restless or whatever, and so he just is dealing the cards and he's dealt, and so he's already out there when people are walking out and so he meets him and like the first time the person, like kind of ghosted him, said no, a particular one. The next time, you know, it was like a short little conversation. The third time they had a meaningful conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you're going to have people who, like, won't even look you in the eye and it's still, oh gosh they ended up trading numbers getting together.
Speaker 2:You feel like a panhandler Got a beer together Said hey, I'm starting a Bible study Like it's almost what your plan looks like, you know, see it like towards the end of the season. Hey, I'm starting a Bible study Like I think you should come, and now that guy's leading a Bible study with a good chunk of other guys and preaching the gospel and it's like sold out. And so this it went from not to your point. It was literally the progression, not looking in the eyes, you know, not wanting to have a human conversation, to sold out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how are we do? Once again, I don't know where we are in the 12 step planning process when it comes to this and we're running lower on.
Speaker 2:So we kind of modeled it. We have a sketch of the plan, okay. So I think, look at it against your calendar, get a feel for it, think about it and over the course of the next week you're going to kind of try to hardline it like you know what does hardline? You know really kind of nail it down. So you're thinking through different parts of it, like, well, I don't, that's unreal. I'm not going to be able to invite X amount of people, like I just feel like I'm trying to be a salesman or something like. That's a little much. Like, let me be a little more realistic. Or like a converse, like I'm actually going to meet. If you had said I'm going to try and talk to seven guys and invite them, like I would tell you that was probably a bad plan, right, like?
Speaker 2:or you might, because, like, well what if you know less than a third?
Speaker 1:say yes, like you know, you don't have enough right.
Speaker 2:So you're going to like, think logically about it and just review and see, see what it looks like and then probably update. One thing that's big on the measurements is ask yourself some critical questions about the measurements. So you and I went through this and we won't bore everyone. I do want to attach this Like I think we'll flush it out and attach it to the show notes, Like it won't be that hard to include it so we can see the full example of where we got to.
Speaker 2:But you had like six or seven things you wanted to maybe measure. Like that could get exhausting, measuring that many of them of like yeah, here's my count every week. So we might ask ourselves, like what's the critical number? Yeah, so like if I'm over, if I'm in sales, like asking for the sale or proposing the offers, that critical moment before a contract signed, you know, like the top end lead of, like the interaction isn't. I might want to measure that, but I for sure want to measure that critical moment, right, and so you can kind of think through what are the critical parts and dial that in.
Speaker 2:And the other thing I would just I would encourage is reading part two of the book and like skimming through it, Like I reread it every time I write the plan almost, or at least like listen to it, because I'm an audible guy. But a couple of things when I've, if I've fallen out of this habit or I've never done it, never done it before, I put in week one that I'm going to ask my WAM partner, I'm going to ask my first, my accountability partner, to join me in this, and and then I put I actually do it. I put week one through 12 meet with my accountability partner because it's not a habit yet for me. So I want to actually use my first time I do the plan to help me install the system. So I'm like kind of just wait. What are the parts of the system they had? And then the other is one thing they talk about is the idea of like taking back control of your day, so like you're actually going to have to make time for these things, Like it's not in your habit of life already. So you need to kind of look at your calendar. Just like when you became a disciple with Jesus, you had to re-orant your life.
Speaker 2:If you're being more missionary in this season, you're going to have to change some things. Or if I had a new strategic goal at work, like I have a current status quo that I'm living out of I'm going to need to actually put they talk about two things a strategic block which they recommend if you're doing some new plan, find three hours once per week that you can work on your plan, that you can be strategic about just these, not everything else in life, but just this part of it. And then the other one is the idea of a buffer block. So if you're a working professional, or maybe you're a parish worker and like, this plan has to do with what you do and like if you're a stay-at-home mom or something, there might be a time where you expect yourself to do nothing but sort through the things that came in that you have to do and you actually give yourself permission to just get ordered, Keeping scores huge. So I would like do whatever you need to do to make sure that you've set aside a time for your weekly review. So weekly review is a beautiful habit, but I would.
Speaker 2:Where you're looking at your aspirational vision, looking at this plan, you don't need to be changing things every week, but you do want to be able to change. So let's say you had parish announcement on here in the first two weeks, like it's like nothing's happening. You need to cancel that off of your every week goal thing. If it was on there, right? Or let's say you realize, like man, for whatever reason, when I call in the evenings no answers it's like wow, I'm going to change that for this week and call people on my way to work or on my way home from work and just see if it changes right, Like you're going to shift it up to see where it's fruitful. So you're going to kind of install some of those things as you work.
Speaker 2:Your first plan and yeah, I would think the only last part I would give is just a bit of an encouragement to be imbalanced. What does that mean? To like be intentionally imbalanced, so to realize like I can't do everything, and so what I mean by that is like you've made a decision for like a really intentional goal here about your life on mission. Probably, if you're going to do it really well, means there's certain things that you just need to choose not to do, and so, like this is kind of ordered around a particular thing, and so there's maybe some other things that won't get as much energy, and so ask yourself that question and know that that's okay. This is just 12 weeks and you might look at your plan even depending if you put more things on here and take some off, so that you can be imbalanced around the ones that work the best. So that's kind of the 12 week you're in a nutshell, and yeah, we'll include a finished plan in the notes, because I think it'd be pretty fun.
Speaker 1:Perfect. Well, there you have it. This has been Red Dyrk Catholics. I'm Jace and I'm James. We'll see you next time.