Pushing?

So I’m a little torn… Conflicted…

Last week I wrote a bit about personal development. Always growing. Always learning. (I’ll be starting Chalene Johnson’s FREE 30 Day Push video series TODAY if you want to go through it together.)

But there’s that word. Push. How do we know when we’re going too far and we’re “pushing” too hard?

I’m an oldest child with high expectations for myself. My parents always expected me to do well, but I don’t feel like they ever pushed me to inappropriate extremes.

But I’m very sensitive to the possibility of pushing kids too far.

We decided against our 5-year-old playing a team sport at the Y for now.  Obviously teamwork and sportsmanship are important qualities to learn and experience, but it seems kids are burning out more and more from having done the same thing for too long.

If he starts playing baseball now, will he hate it by the time he’s 16?

 

“Serious” Athlete at 7?

This summer, a new D1 Sports facility opened here in Winston-Salem.

It’s an AMAZING set-up.

A fitness-fanatic’s dream.

(And we happen to have an inside connection because my husband sees patients there now a couple times a month.)

Thank you Chris Paul, for investing in your hometown!

The concept is to offer training programs for the “serious athlete” – people wanting to play in college, as a professional, etc.

But here’s the kicker…  they have “Rookie” programs starting at 7 years old! Can you even imagine? That’s forever down the road from 7!

Which also begs the question – do the kids REALLY even WANT to do be doing that? Do they even understand?

I absolutely love the idea of instilling a passion for healthy living and physical fitness at an early age, but as I was drawn into the surroundings and the gushing motivational speech of Chris Paul himself, I couldn’t help but wonder how many parents were going to be “forcing” their kids to come here with high hopes for the NBA.

There’s a statistic out there that says it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve expertise in a  given area. (That’s like 20 hours a week for 10 years!) So I guess there’s perhaps the logic in starting at the age of 7!

But then I have to ask what’s the purpose of having expertise? I think it probably depends on how you use your God-given talents.

 

Talent vs. Practice?

Which leads me to another interesting concept I’ve been thinking about recently… How much of what we do is talent compared to this expertise from practice?

Since reading Mindset, by Carol Dweck, I’ve become so attuned to human performance and motivation.  She talks about whether we see less-than-perfect experiences as  failures or learning opportunities. If we have a “growth mindset,” we continually appreciate losses or failures simply as opportunities for growth.

If we believe that God either gave us a specific talent or didn’t, then we risk not trying to learn something new or hard because we think that’s just not how we were made.

 

Push or Pull?

Do we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to learn new things? Do we push our kids too far too soon?

Pushing seems so forced.

So self-centered.

My hope is that instead of pushing anything in any direction, perhaps we sit back and allow God to pull us where He wants us to go.

 

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

 

May we be willing to learn and grow, but not be so focused on our selfish ideas that we push aside His blessings in the process.

Where do you see yourself more? Pushing too hard? Or not pushing yourself outside of your comfort zones enough?