I’ve been writing about Eliminating the Unnecessary this week. You can read Part 1 here.

Last year, just for fun I tried for a few days to write down every thought that I had each day. I failed miserably!  It’s no wonder!  According to the UCLA, we have about 70,000 thoughts per day.

ThinkingAs I went back to look at my notes, my thoughts were all over the place.  I had great thoughts, visionary thoughts, dark thoughts, relational thoughts, thoughts about my past, thoughts about awkward relationships, thoughts about God’s Word, thoughts about my health, thoughts about my family, unhealthy thoughts, thoughts about my future, thoughts about regrets, thoughts about technology, thoughts about the news (you know that was bad!), thoughts the church, thoughts about culture, thoughts about that ants, thoughts about cars, and on and on…

Fortunately, I didn’t “waste” time on this exercise.  I did during a time where I wasn’t under any clock or had any tight schedules to keep.  I had some free time to just play around.  These times are rare.  In most cases, probably like you, I’ve got a schedule to keep, goals to reach, calls to return, people to assist, books to read, meetings to plan for, attend, and follow-up on, and so on.  In other words, my time is very precious.  And while I work with all kinds of tools to help me with my time, I hadn’t ever really considered how much time I waste with my thoughts.  How do I keep my thoughts focused to not waste time mentally? What thoughts do I keep rehearsing that may be unnecessary?  What thoughts pop up that need to be thrown into the garbage can?

Philippians 4: 8-9 sheds some light on this.  It reads,

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (The Message, 1)

So very practically for me, what this meant was:

  1. I needed to be disciplined to put in more good news than I allowed bad news.  Every thought comes from a seed planted in my mind.  And I then realized that the bad news shows up without invitation.  I also realized that it is totally up to me to realize that I must purposefully bring the good news.  That could come through reading good books, watching good videos and sermons and talks, listening to healthy podcast like Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast.  I could come from being intentional about where I spend my time (I’ll talk about that in Part 3 of this series).  You get the idea.  I’ve got to put in more good news!
  2. I need to practice how I respond to all of the thoughts that come up.  Have you ever thought about how quick thoughts come and go?  That exercise last year helped me to see that clearly.  That’s why I couldn’t keep up with all of them.  They were coming so fast that I just couldn’t keep up.  I also found that the more rested I was the more clear the thoughts were! (I guess that’s another subject).  But, what I did notice was that the mind is VERY powerful and I could actually choose or decide what I could focus on.  If I didn’t want to focus on that thought, I would have to have something to replace it with or I’d have to redirect my focus and attention.  The more of a habit that I’d make of that, the easier it became to make the switch. I wish I learned this earlier!  There were times where I’d spend days rehearsing bad thoughts.  The thought would come up, “You missed it again! You’ll never get it right. You might as well quit trying!”  I’d replace this thought over and over in my mind.  Not even realizing this focusing on this thought doesn’t bring any solutions or any good news.  I’m glad I know now.  So when I do miss, I have quickly learned to ask the right questions, so that I can learn the right thing, and then move on.  This is thinking on the right things!
  3. Finally, have an example to follow.  I have become a student of people who are great thinkers.  This book has helped some (How Successful People Think). When you take time to talk less (read more here) and pay attention to some of the intelligent people around, you’ll start to see patterns in behavior AND thinking that you can implement into your own life.  And in many cases, this hasn’t always been only from those that know Jesus Christ as their Savior.  In many cases, I’ve learned from some brilliant people who have never set foot in a church.  Learning from them didn’t mean that I’ve had to abandon my faith.  It has simply meant that I am wise enough and confident enough in my faith to “eat the meat and spit out the bone”.

Every day, you and I, have thoughts that arise that are totally unnecessary to our progress, growth, development, and purpose.  Let’s eliminate those unnecessary thoughts and replace them with the necessary.  Don’t think about it too long, you’ll miss the point.  Happy practicing! What would you add to this list?

Come back on Friday, I’m going to talk about Eliminate the Unnecessary – Part 3, Our Time

1. Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: The Bible in contemporary language (Php 4:8–9). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

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