1. Feature Article: "Knowledge Does NOT Equal Power"
Today's article comes from the Renewed Man Boot Camp. Renewed Man is a systematic teaching and coaching series designed to help men grow emotionally, relationally, and spiritually ... developing the essential character quality of "self-mastery." Even though this community is created for men, the principles
are universal -- women will benefit from these insights as well.
We build this teaching around 12 Keys, and this week we focus on the first key. Here's
how we state it:
1. Commitment - We are developing a vision for sexual vitality and
self-mastery -- in an out-of-control world -- and a plan for getting there. We daily seek to control, not suppress, our sexual drive.
Here's one of the daily messages from this week's teaching series. I hope this will help you:
************
There’s a persistent myth that knowledge equals power, and that with an addiction or struggle with bad habits, the key will be learning some new insight or strategy. That learning this new info will initiate a breakthrough that will help you find
success.
This is just another version of magical thinking. Let me prove it to you.
In the US, the diet and fitness industry is a $60
billion industry. Every year, new businesses are formed, new diet books are written, and countless videos and podcasts are created, all of which teach strategies and info about fitness and weight loss. (Right now, for example, a search for “diet books” brings up almost 46,000 titles.)
Yet … Americans continue to be overweight and obese. And in rapidly increasing numbers. In fact, around 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese, and the percentage keeps
growing.
If there was a “secret” to weight loss and fitness, we’d know it by now. If there was a key or new information that people need to have to fix this issue … it would be clear,
and we’d see progress. But we’re not.
That is because the problem is not lack of knowledge — it’s people’s inability to put into consistent action the things they
know.
In an environment as unhealthy as ours — people sitting all day for their jobs, food supply messed up with so much artificial and non-nutritious food — people are not
willing or able to do what they need to be doing to lose weight and stay fit. They KNOW what to do … they just don’t do it.
This is precisely the issue we’re all needing to face when it
comes to dealing with any and all addictions, including the spectrum of struggle with our sex drive. There’s not some secret piece of information out there that, when we discover it, will make our struggle either easy, or completely go away. It doesn’t work like that.
That’s why we have this program. We need to find ways to turn our knowledge into SUSTAINED, CHANGED ACTION. That’s why we need regular
reminders. That’s why we need to keep after it.
Your focus this week is to COMMIT. To commit to paying attention to whatever area of your life has brought you here -- the need for growth in
relational health, emotional health, spiritual health, or moral health. Whatever the struggle is, I can almost guarantee that your problem is not going to be solved by some new information. Only sustained, changed action will do that.
NEXT ACTION
Ask yourself this morning, and then sit quietly for a second, breathe deeply, and then write down the first thing that comes to your mind in response to the following:
- What is something you KNOW you should be doing, but are not doing right now?
- After you’ve got something written down … when will you do it?
************
Would you like to go "all in" and join the Renewed Man Boot Camp? It's a 12 Week Immersion in these principles. You'll get these daily teachings, a weekly video on one of the 12 Keys of Being a
Renewed Man, and access to a support group and/or a coaching group that I lead.
Find out more about the Renewed Man Program here.
