Book Club – Month 1
Welcome to the start of the Catherine Gray Coaching Book Club!
Im picking the books and you get to join in in any way you want to. At the moment there is not an official ‘meet up’ but this may come in the future if people want it.
Month 1 saw us reading ‘Master of One’ by Jordan Raynor. Did you join in?
Ive had this book on my kindle for ages and was looking forward to becoming more ‘in charge’ of myself and more self aware of things, and yet when I started reading it it became apparent this was more about choosing one thing to master in life and then watching how you also become more passionate and purpose orientated about that thing too.
Now I must admit, that I was put off by that when I first started the book… I am not a ‘one thing’ kind of person. I need lots of things on the go all the time and am actually energized by that. If I only had one thing happening I would be bored and drained and annoyed! However, as I read on, I realised I didn’t totally disagree with what was being said and I realised that in this context, coaching is my ‘one thing.’
If you didn’t read along with us, here are some highlights:
‘We seem to have acquired some lies about our options and aspirations for the future:
1. ‘You can be anything you want to be’.
The truth is: ‘All I can be is me’. We are meticulously designed! Let’s choose work that aligns with that design.
2. ‘You can do everything you want to do.’
The truth is: If God has called you to excellence, you can’t ‘do it all’ as we can’t be excellent at everything,
3. ‘Your happiness is the primary purpose of work.’
The truth is: We find the greatest happiness in our work by prioritising the joy of God and others above our own.’
I can resonate with all of this. Really pleased it’s been called out. Being anything you want is so different to going for the best version of what you as a unique person can do with your life and the gifts and skills you have.
I also love this quote: ‘Your one thing may be broad or specific… either is perfectly fine, so long as you are on the focused path to mastering your one thing in order to best glorify God and love your neighbours as yourself’.
SO often, we are not showing love to people first and foremost. It also reassures me, as someone who like doing lots of different things, that my calling and my work can be varied and encompass so much despite still coming under one heading, as such.
‘Passion is as necessary as perseverance to world class excellence,’
That’s quite a sentence isn’t it! Passion is great, but it doesn’t necessarily get you to where you want to be or to make the impact you want to make. Perseverance is so much more important for that. I can’t even count the number of stories I’ve read of people who we deem ‘successful’ and yet their journey to that success involved being turned down to told to go away or that what they offered wasn’t needed by tens or hundreds of people until they had their breakthrough. Let’s keep going!
‘The path to finding work we love starts with seeking work through which we can love others well.
Rather than focusing primarily on your happiness, focus on finding the work you can do to be if most value to others’.
Have you ever started a new job because of what it means you can give to others? Not sure I have!…I mean, I have had support style roles and worked for charities etc but I was making decisions about those jobs through whether my skills and their hours / pay suited me well rather than how amazing it would be for me to be serving everyone there.
‘Proverbs 16:3 commit your work to the lord and your plans will be established’
When did you last commit your work to the Lord? If I really think about it I think I commit things to God and then almost straight away, take them back again. This was a great reminder that my plans are not His plans but also that everything is smoother when I hand it over to God.
So I’ll leave you with this. This book pleasantly surprised me and has made me think through a few things differently even when this is something I talk and think about all the time. What if we were all to go into this week wanting to know more about:
‘What am I passionate about?
What gifts has God given me?
Where do I have the best opportunity to glorify God and serve others?’
It’s going to be an exciting journey. Ill hopefully see you along the way.
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