Inspiration, now in session. Inspire guys, people, the packet. My dreams, I want to inspire you to live in yours. Cause I know that your dreams, that's what love is.
That's what life is. That's where I feel the most creative. That's where I feel the most successful. What I'm doing exactly what I was created to do.
Alright, I'm ready. My dreams line up with guys' dreams. Now you know exactly what I mean. But this stays off the record.
Let's talk off the record. This is off the record. Let's get off the record. Yeah.
Guys, people, what up? I'm your host, Jay Will. Welcome to Inspire Guys, people. Episode 1.5, off the record.
You're asking yourself right now, what is a .5 in the episode? Well, it's the episode that comes between one and two. It's also .5 because it's not going to be a full length episode, like the episodes you'll get on every other week. So episode one, episode two, three, and four, and so on.
Right? When I decide to do a .5 episode, it is an off the record, meaning a little more candid approach to certain aspects of the conversation. I've listened back to the podcast. I've also gotten feedback from the podcast.
So this is my opportunity to maybe talk about some things or, you know, in this case today, I want to talk about depth to laziness. And as I listen back to the podcast, the number one thing for me as we go through this process together is, when we talk about depth to laziness, one of the things you have to be careful with, and when you're, quote unquote, grinding and, you know, going after things is, don't forsake rest. Rest is so important that you actually need to plan for it. It needs to be part of what you're doing.
But I'll make it plain and simple this way. Rest is earned. You get what I'm saying? I think I might do a podcast about that.
We'll talk more about that whole concept of rest is earned. But it's not that you don't rest, right? When I'm talking depth to laziness, I don't want you to go out here and lose your mind. But it's saying that you're not just sitting around resting and you haven't done any work.
The work comes first. What did God do? In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, right? And, you know, in the seventh day he rested.
That's one of those things people get to argue into the bacon about, listen, people. We're not doing that today. Saturday, Sunday, it don't matter to me right now. That's not the point.
The point is God rested. This is off the record. You see what I'm saying? I'm not about to even go there with y'all right now.
I'ma just go past that for the people who mad about that. I love you anyway. Here's another thing that I wanted to kind of bring up because I think it's dangerous to take one scripture, right? So in episode one, I talk about Proverbs 12 and 24 and how that scripture changed my life.
I didn't just take that one scripture and run with it. First, I started looking at laziness in the Bible as a whole and I started figuring out what does that look like? What are the other scriptures? Because some people can take one scripture, create a whole new sector of a religion and, you know, be way off in context.
One of the things I wanted to do was just kind of go through some of the scriptures that I came across about laziness. And I'ma kind of breeze through these. The idea here is just so you know, there are other scriptures and this is a well-rounded philosophy. It is not just taking one scripture and running with it and jumping off of a bridge.
It is really taking a lot of scripture, all of scripture, comparing and contrasting things in context and saying, you know what? Yeah, laziness is a sin. Laziness is something that we need to get rid of. So I want to be clear about that.
So let's do this. Colossians 3 and 17 and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So this is saying, whatever you do, right? So don't be a lazy superhero.
Don't be at work thinking that just because I'm a waitress. I don't have to give him my all because they say what I'm gonna be doing the rest of my life. No, man, that's not what we got to do. We got to go in and say, listen, I'm going to be the best waitress because I do things as unto the Lord.
I'm not lazy with anything that I do because I do it unto the Lord. Now, that's not telling you to be self-righteous because at the end of the day, as I said in the podcast, laziness is a battle for everyone, every day, including me. It's not something that you just beat one time and you're done with it. You have days where you lose you.
It's like a fighter being in a fight like some days, my brother, that that that not on your forehead is going to be there. Like there are fighters. If you ever watch a fight, like you got people like Floyd Mayweather who have been able to be in a fight and be a defensive fighter and not look like it, but most people look like they've been in the fight, right? So if you fight in laziness, just be prepared that there are going to be some days where you actually look like you've been in a fight, right?
And that's cool, right? We good. You know, working on it. You're still planning and trying to read the word and praying and giving things your best.
So I just want you to understand that this concept of deaf to laziness is not a cliche. It is a well thought out real thing. Okay. Let's see.
Ecclesiastes. No, let's not do that. Let's do Genesis 2 and 15. I like this one.
There's a lot of scriptures. If you don't know, there's a lot of scriptures about laziness. So Genesis 2 and 15 says, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. So think about this.
Adam being the first human being that God created and God, look, this is what we want to think. Adam was on vacation. The garden that Eden, he was in the Bahamas and didn't know that's not what the Bible said. The Bible said the Lord God took him and put him in the garden to work.
So I want to say this for people who don't like the idea of working or you think, you know, what's the point? It's literally one of the things God created us to do. Like, imagine being Adam, you ain't feel a lot of job application. You ain't ask if nobody was hiring.
You just was God created you and he gave you a job, right? So unemployment rate from day one was 100% employment. Like it was like no unemployment. Everybody had a job because it was only one person.
Okay. You feel what I'm saying? Let's look at a couple of Proverbs because I know I picked one out of Proverbs, but Proverbs in particular has quite a few. Let's see, Proverbs 10 and 4.
Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10 and 5. He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son. The he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
All right. Notice how laziness is so many times in the word attached to disgrace. Like, ah, yikes. Like who wants to be disgraceful?
It's like just because I'm sleeping during harvest, son. Like it's like that. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not, I got to be a disgrace to you.
You know what I'm saying? But that's how God looks at it. And so there's this idea of death to laziness. Now, one of the other things about laziness that I wanted to talk about was how fear burfs laziness, right?
So there are a lot of times where people don't necessarily consider themselves lazy just because they're afraid, right? So there's something that you want to do and you're like, I want to, you know, go after this job where I want to, you know, create this podcast, but I'm afraid of what people will say about me. And what ends up happening is fear cripples you. It literally makes it to where you can't move.
That's why this is important to have the word and to be praying through these things, seeking God for your purpose. We talked a lot about purpose in episode one. It's important to seek God for your purpose because you're going to need his word, his peace, and his guidance to overcome fear so that you don't become lazy because we know that God didn't give us the spirit of fear. So whenever I get fearful, I literally tell myself, like, yo, you know that didn't come from God.
God doesn't give that spirit. So I can be confident 100% of the time if I'm fearful that that's not coming from the Lord. If I'm fearful to step into something, especially if I know that God caught me to it. Like so many times we like, oh, I know I'm called to this.
Oh, I know God caught me to that. And then you're afraid and then that cripples you and makes you lazy. Well, it's like if God caught me to it, what am I afraid of? This also makes me think about patience and how the Bible calls the work of patience perfect.
If you're lazy, it's hard to be patient because fear and laziness stop you from ever starting a process. When I think of patience, I think about actually enduring and being okay with the process. But if you're lazy, then you're not even giving patience and opportunity because it's like the longer you're lazy, the longer it takes to ever start something. And again, episode one, we talked about starting something.
We talked about finding your purpose and how that plays into starting something. The reason this is important for your life is because life is a gift and time is a gift. And when you're lazy, you're wasting something that you can never get back and you're trying to finish the story before it ever starts. Well, God is the author and the finisher of our faith.
You get what I'm saying? And so there's all these dynamics of fear and lack of patience and laziness that are crippling you from ever getting started in your purpose. And that's why you have to just take the first step. By faith, we walk by faith and not by sight.
Stop trying to see the first step and take the first step. You get what I'm saying? Because a lot of times the first step activates the next step. And there are things that you're trying to figure out what's on step five and it hasn't been activated yet because you haven't taken step one.
All right, so look, another thing, I was kicking it with some family members the other day and a question came up. It was a great question. Why do we think that some people struggle with finding their purpose, starting their purpose where you could even say activating their purpose? An example is like you talk to someone who is far within their purpose and they typically will go back to one day or one moment or something that happened that activated their faith or activated their passion, right?
And that's the moment that they got to where they are today. And the reason the question was brought up is because then there are other people who can go through the same type of situation and that doesn't speak to them the same way. And it's like, why do certain situations activate faith in some and not others? I think another example is when you look at how some people are the best parents ever to their children because they didn't have a parent in their life.
And then others literally become the bad parent. Like, oh, his dad was never in his life. So he went out and had five kids and he's never in their life. And it's just interesting to me how that same situation happens to people and people choose different routes.
Okay, now let me try to make all of that make sense. Specifically in thinking about your purpose, let's talk about music, right? I'm sorry to always use music. I guess because I'm an artist, it's an easy example.
I'll try to get better. I'll try to use examples outside of music so I don't lose the people who don't do music. But think of it this way for someone who wants to be an artist, you know, in 2018. One of the major mistakes they make is they think about the opportunity.
So people become artists because they want to get something out of music. I want to be an artist so I can go on a TV show and win the contest and get a record deal. I want to be an artist because I want to get a major award on TV or I want to perform here or there. And so what happens is the opportunity becomes greater than the purpose for a lot of people.
And I think that's dangerous especially for Christians because what happens for so many people is that if they don't reach that opportunity, then they bury their gift and their gift becomes null and void because they didn't reach some opportunity and they feel like a failure. And God's purpose, God's dream for your life is so much bigger than these superficial opportunities. I would even urge you to make sure that the opportunity you're chasing is actually what God wants you to be chasing. You get what I'm saying?
It's like some of these opportunities we're going after isn't even really what God wants. But the thing is we don't all have the same exact purpose and calling even if we have the same gift, right? We can both be singers and God has a different purpose for everyone. So here's the problem when you see a famous singer and you just say, I want that.
Some of our dreams and goals are just selfish and have nothing to do with the calling and purpose of God. And there's a difference. You get what I'm saying? As a true artist, I don't believe you do art for opportunities.
I believe I do art because God put it in me. So I'm just doing. I'm not worried about where it'll take me or what it'll do. I'm not doing it to get something.
I'm doing it because this is what God put in me. I'm a biblical standpoint. I see it this way. Some people are called to be Samuel.
Samuel anoints the king. Some are called to be David. David is the king. You feel me?
And I think what happens is everybody wants to be the king. So then if you're a purpose and you're calling is to be Samuel, you end up missing out on being Samuel because you were too busy trying to be David and that wasn't what you were called to do. You were looking at David like, I mean, I could see him just as good as him. I don't know what the problem is.
I mean, he don't sound that good. You get what I'm saying? Well, I hear the king. You know, and so we lose track of our purpose because we focus too much on opportunity.
I often think about Scottie Pippin, right? The basketball player, former basketball player. He was alongside Michael Jordan. Everyone wants to be the next Michael Jordan, right?
Everyone wants to be the jump man, the next person to have the biggest shoe deal or the next billionaire business person. But you will never see another Michael Jordan until you see another Scottie Pippin. And so that's the whole thing. I look at Kyrie Irving was playing alongside LeBron James.
You could have been Scottie Pippin, but you want to be Jordan. You want to be LeBron. You want to be Kobe. Everyone wants to be that major player.
And in order for that major player to flourish, there has to be a Scottie Pippin that's happy being Scottie Pippin that even may suppress their game for the greater good. And I think one of the issues is that we overlook the greatness and the purpose of being a Scottie Pippin because in our selfish ambition, we're thinking, well, I'm just as good as Jordan. I'm tall as him. I can dribble and shoot and you want to be him, but neither of you can be who you need to be without each other.
And so if you are a painter, just paint, that's the gift that God put into you. Don't worry about where it goes or what you can get out of what God put in you. He gave it to you as a gift. Now you give it.
You go if you're a photographer, take pictures. I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way because it's nothing wrong with getting a payment if you've built your portfolio that way, but I really want to help you guys reach your potential. So I want to tell you the story of Cassie Athena. This is a young lady that I was watching on NBA The Jump last year on ESPN.
And then I went and found her article written by Grady Diaz on ESPNW.com. And I thought it was just too good not to share. Cassie was a community college basketball player. She's six feet and she was an athlete.
Unfortunately in 2009, she got a brain tumor. Now let's stop right there just for one second. She's a basketball player out of community college. I'm pointing this out because no matter where you are, no matter where you're from, your purpose could be greater than what it looks like.
And you can't get caught up in the superficial things. We sometimes judge people and we judge ourselves so much based on superficial things that we miss the opportunities and possibilities that can happen in life. If we just live our life in our reality, if you're a community college student, just be proud of that. It doesn't mean you'll always be that.
Where I am is not a reflection of where I'll always be. That's my own little quote that I threw in there. So you know, show me some love on that if you like that. Anyway, 2009 she gets a brain tumor.
So we all have issues in life, right? And I love these stories where someone had something happened to them that should have stopped them, that could have stopped them, that, you know, and I'm not saying she wasn't afraid, but this is me kind of inserting a brain tumor sounds pretty serious, right? So she gets this surgery. She didn't even walk for three months.
So what happened is fast forward to 2011. This was the NBA lockout season. So there were a lot of NBA players at the Drue League. You don't know about the Drue League is basically a summer league out in California that draws a lot of NBA stars.
Well, in particular, if you have a summer where the NBA isn't a lockout, then the players are going to be looking for somewhere to play that's competitive. So I'm assuming there were a lot more than usual NBA stars at this Drue League. So Cassie notices that they don't have a photographer. So she goes to the game and she says she didn't even have the greatest photography equipment or anything.
She was just someone who had a passion for photography, had tried fashion photography, but that didn't work out for her, right? So she had some failures in there didn't necessarily come from, you know, the greatest school or whatever, at least from an athletics standpoint, but she loves sports. She loves photography. Well, she goes to this Drue League game and takes pictures.
She realizes, look, she saw a knee. She saw a void. That sometimes all our gift is about is seeing where there's a need for us, not about capitalizing on an opportunity and, you know, seeing what it can do for us, but just first doing. And then, yeah, maybe there will be doors that open.
Don't be afraid of an opportunity that is in God's will for you, but we can't be so opportunistic that we just miss the grassroots, like, don't miss of just being a creative and doing something because you love it and there's a need for it. Cassie takes pictures at the game and then she goes on Twitter later, posts the pictures and then tags the Drue League in the pictures. She said they hired her immediately. What I love about this is that first she just did first she created the opportunity did not come before the work.
First, she just went out there and did what she loved to do. And then yes, she had, you know, the boldness and the foresight and the creativeness to say, I'm going to post these pictures and tag them in it and immediately was hired. But here's the crazy thing about it. It's not just about that being hired as the Drue League photographer.
It's the doors that that opened for her. She's literally now like a renowned photographer within the NBA community. For All Star Weekend in 2017, Steph Curry hired her and had her with him the entire weekend. So everywhere Steph Curry went last year, All Star Break, she was his personal photographer.
Many NBA players, Chris Paul, Wes Brooke, James Harden, you know, I've seen her post pictures of everyone and they bring her into like private gyms where they're playing because they trust her. So now she's literally this NBA photographer and she can go watch our favorite players play off camera and she has the camera. And to me, it's a beautiful story because she didn't let a brain tumor stop her. She kept fighting, right?
She kept living. She didn't let the fact that she was from a community college stop her, right? She didn't let the fact that she didn't have the best camera equipment stop her from taking the pictures. She didn't go and try to charge the Drue League before she took that first batch of pictures.
And because she did those pictures free, it turned into a job. What am I telling you? Don't be a lazy superhero. We still own that.
What I'm telling you is you have to get up and just do look for opportunities where your gift is needed within God's will, right? Don't go out here doing crazy stuff. I'm not trying to encourage y'all to start tagging celebrities and stuff and be concerned or consumed with blowing up. What I'm telling you is that just look or the need and the doors will open.
You might not be the next Michael Jordan. You might not be the next LeBron James, but maybe you're the next Scottie Pippin. Maybe your purpose is different and you can't be so focused on celebrities and Hollywood and be limited to the world's way of thinking about your future. So look, that's off the record.
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