At times I get fixated on a theme or concept that I’m wrestling with. For the past couple of days, I’ve been wrestling with this theme of doing hard things versus doing easy things.

When asked the question, “Do you want to do hard things or easy things?” The answer appears to be a no brainer. OF COURSE we want to do the easy thing – it’s EASY. Why wouldn’t we? But then we remember that all of the leadership books tell us to do HARD things and since everyone wants to be a leader, our answer changes from doing the easy things to doing hard things.

I think when we say that we want to do the easy things, we are afraid that will be interpreted as being lazy or selfish, basically we have a lack of initiative or motivation. Conversely, when we say we want to do the hard things, that seems to reinforce the idea that we are selfless in someway and that our motivation is pure.

What if we have this backwards?

What if the easy way is exactly what God wants for us because it forces us to deny our human nature and become fully dependent and trust Him? What if the hard way is actually a manifestation of independence on God and a our desire to work WITH God instead of allowing God to work IN us?

Let me see if I can give you an example:

It would appear HARD to have to go to prison for our faith. But what if that is actually the EASY way because we are forced into a situation where we are fully dependent on God? It seems EASY to not draw attention to ourselves, but what if that is actually the HARD way because it’s not what God wants for us?

What if we have EASY and HARD confused? What if EASY is God’s way – no matter the difficulties we encounter? What if HARD is OUR way – no matter how comfortable that life is?

I often run into individuals who have incredible dreams and passion but no sense of urgency. They love to talk about things, but the actual doing of said things is a foreign concept. They have no urgency and as a result often end up being complacent.

Here’s the thing – having a sense of urgency is not normal – it must be created and recreated. The problem comes when we create a sense of false urgency out of anxiety or frustration that manifests itself in a flurry of unproductive behavior.

When urgency is understood both intellectually and emotionally, it always results in productive, daily behaviors that move us closer to our target.

There’s a couple of things we can do to move towards creating a mindset of urgency

1. We can look outside of what we are currently doing.
   If we want to change something, then we have to move from an internal perspective to an external perspective.
2. We have to act like we have a sense of urgency every day.
   This means we are ruthless in removing obstacles and challenges that keep us from our mission. This means we speak passionately about what we are working towards. This means we walk the talk at all times.
3. We have to find opportunities in the midst of the chaos and crisis.
   When we have a sense of urgency, we can’t focus on damage control. We recognize there are going to be some casualties along the way, but the greater purpose is what drives us. Sometimes damage control makes us cautious and complacent and as individuals driven by a sense of urgency, we cannot afford to be cautious or complacent because there’s too much at stake.
4. We have to eliminate the idea that things are fine.
   If you look at a situation and think to yourself, “It’s fine as it is”, chances are you are not looking at that situation with a sense of urgency. That means you’re not seeing all the problems or challenges associated with that situation. What follows is the inability to know when to act.

Bottom line is that we have to act with a sense of urgency if we want to achieve what God has placed in our hearts. Acting urgently is the what allows us to move through complacency.