How to Plan for Peace and Joy

Do you have a plan for your peace and joy? 

Most people don’t.
They hope it will show up someday.
But someday never comes.

High achievers are great at grit.
Great at pushing through.
Great at delaying gratification.

The problem is that the delay stays in delay.
We never get the gratification part.
We just keep chasing more achievement and more goals.

And because we rarely slow down to celebrate, we never feel like we are doing enough.
We feel pressure.
We feel stress.
We feel the weight of constantly moving.
And none of that leads to peace or joy.

Let me tell you a quick story.

A few years ago I was in a meeting. Someone asked me how I was doing.
I didn’t look good.
I told them, “Honestly, I don’t feel very good at all.”

They looked at me and said,
“What is going on with your face? That looks like shingles.”

That shocked me.
I thought shingles was something I would get when I was eighty.
Not in my early thirties.

So I met with a doctor.
The doctor looked at me for two seconds and said,
“Yep. That is shingles. And it is near your eye. You need to address this right now.”

I am grateful that person pointed it out.
Because the real issue was much deeper than a stress rash.
The real issue was this:
How did I not know how I was doing?
Where was the peace in my life?
Where was the joy?

On paper my life looked great.
But physically I was not well.
Mentally and emotionally I was barely holding things together.
I was burnt out.
I was distracted.
I was grinding so hard that I didn’t even notice I was falling apart.

So I had to redefine what winning looks like.

I still wanted to achieve.
I still wanted to push hard.
I still wanted grit and determination.
But I realized something important:
Peace and joy are not in competition with achievement. 

They belong together.
They work together.

So I started planning for peace and joy the same way I planned my goals.
That looked practical.

What am I carrying that I don’t need to carry?
What actually restores me?
What recharges me?
Why am I not doing those things?
When could I do them?

I started scheduling them.
I put them on my calendar.
And honestly, it was way harder than it should have been.

I felt guilty.
I felt selfish.
I felt like I was wasting time that I should use to be more productive.

But if any of this sounds familiar, let me say this clearly:
Those thoughts are lies.

You are not lazy for resting.
You are not selfish for restoring your soul.
And you are not failing for needing a break.

When I started actually scheduling joy and peace, something amazing happened.

I felt better.
I had more energy.
I had more joy.
I had more peace.
And I actually won more.
I made more progress.
I was more productive.
I was more fun to be around.

So here is my challenge for you:
Schedule something just for you.
Just because.
Just for fun.

And if that feels hard, that is your sign that you need it now more than ever.
Do it.
You will be glad you did.

Now let’s go win the week!

Watch this week’s Pep Talk video below to hear the full message and join the huddle.

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