A restrained life

“Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained…” PROVERBS‬ ‭29:18‬ ‭NASB‬‬

For the past two weeks, we have looked at the subject matter on vision. We have defined it and looked at the nature of vision. Today, we want to turn our thoughts on how a vision lets you live a restrained life. I know the title doesn’t sound too appealing, but let us dig deeper.

When we talk of a restrained life, it is very different from a restricted life. A restrained life is not a restricted life. A restrained life has more to do with narrowing your options and living a focused life in attainment of a mission. The restricted life, on the other hand, has more to do with barriers or impediments that halts your progress.

To live an unrestrained life is to live a disorderly life with no boundaries- a misdirected life. Living a life without restraints has temporary pleasure, but a permanent sense of defeat and regret which sometimes becomes difficult to get over. I want to share my thoughts on why a restrained life is not a restricted one

1. A restrained life keeps you focused on what you are good at

The mirage is we can be good at anything. The bottom line is that is not always the case. I think we can be exceptionally good at some things but not good at everything. When you are restrained in your passions, thoughts and dreams concerning a task, it helps you to focus on that particular thing that needs to be done. With that, you channel all your energies into developing the strengths for that particular task you are doing. Life is too expensive to spread yourself too thin- jack of all trades, master at nothing. It is better to attempt two things where you score 9 out of 10 than to to do ten things, where your highest score in all ten is 4.5 out of 10. Maximize your strengths by cutting down the number of tasks and focus on a few to hit peak performance

2. A restrained life keeps you from having a roving eye

Some people’s attention span is short. All it takes for their plans to change is talk to a friend or go on social media. A life without restraints believes life is too short and one needs to be adventurous. That is not adventure, but misdirected energy. People who easily change on their task easily gas out! Changing upon changing of things can be energy draining and time wasting. I will liken that to moving houses. If you have been involved in this, you can bear me witness that it’s time consuming and energy draining. Can you imagine doing that every two weeks? I believe in adventure and taking chances, but do that in the venture you are called to do and once that is completed, move on to the next one. There are times when life will demand you do two or three things at a go, because you are good at it. The general rule is not many are good at multi tasking, so take your time and tackle one venture after the other. Without a burning desire for your vision, chances are you can live a very unrestrained life seizing everything as an opportunity, realizing later down the road you were only in a fool’s paradise. That is a painful awakening

3. A restrained life highlights your weaknesses

How? By doing what you are doing shows what you are also not good at. A good lawyer may perhaps be a bad medical doctor. Many law students have a glaring weakness in Mathematics. Medical students are considered to be among the brainiest of the bunch, but will have weaknesses in many fields which they don’t study like English Literature, History, Political Science and the like. Most medics don’t like too much reading, they prefer calculations and analysis. A vision highlights your strengths, but also your weaknesses. It protects you to play according to your strengths and reject any “opportunities” which will expose your weakness. Your weakness is there to build on and helps in character building. Your weakness should not be exhibited on a platform to serve others because it helps nobody. There are some people who live in “La-La Land” deceiving themselves and their audience that they are cut out for EVERY job, but the scores tell a different story. A vision helps narrow that perspective

I trust you got something out of today’s read? A blessed week to you all. Keep winning!

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Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love