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Quote of the Week
"You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems."
-James Clear, Atomic Habits
There’s a story in 2 Kings 4 that says everything we need to know about how preparation and faith work together.
A widow, desperate and out of options, comes to the prophet Elisha. Creditors are threatening to take her sons, and she has nothing left but a small jar of oil. Elisha tells her to borrow some vessels and jars from her neighbors and to start pouring.
So she does. And miraculously, the oil keeps flowing until every jar is full. The moment she runs out of jars, the oil stops.
Yes, this is a story about miraculous faith, but this is also a lesson about capacity. The oil was never the limitation. The jars were. That image has been living rent-free in my head lately as I think about what it means to prepare for increase and not just pray for it.
EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW BEFORE PREMIERING TONIGHT:
Making Room for What’s Next
We all pray for growth—more opportunities, more visibility, more income. But lately I’ve been wondering: what if the next level isn’t waiting on more effort, but on more capacity?
The thing is, I’ve never suffered from a shortage of ideas. My problem has always been figuring out which ones to pursue. It’s what some call shiny object syndrome—that restless curiosity that tricks us into believing every new idea deserves our immediate attention.
Years ago, when I worked under an executive at a nonprofit, he had a practice that changed how I manage creative distraction. Every meeting agenda included a small section called The Parking Lot. It was the designated space for good ideas that didn’t belong in the current conversation.
Now, I keep my own version of that parking lot in the notes and voice memos on my phone as a practice. It’s where I can honor ideas without letting them hijack my focus.
Building Systems
Bear in mind, this week I took a hard look at how I create content. Between running a blog, writing a weekly newsletter, and posting daily for my Remarkable 45 challenge, I realized consistency without structure is a recipe for burnout and a practice that had me running low on capacity.
That realization pushed me to develop a workflow that streamlines my efforts. The cornerstone of this workflow is automation. Now, I have deployed a chatbot to help convert social media followers and comments into email subscribers for this newsletter. Second is my content pipeline: blog first, newsletter second, social distribution third. It’s not perfect, but it’s scalable.
And you wanna know the funny thing about systems? Instead of stifling creativity, they give your ideas somewhere to land so your mind doesn’t have to carry them all at once.
The Takeaway
When we clear the clutter, park our distractions, and build the infrastructure to sustain our next season, we stop hustling for the miracle and start partnering with it. Because sometimes, God isn’t withholding the blessing. He’s waiting for us to bring enough jars
Until next time,
If you’re reading this far… I hope this message finds you well. I’m sharing from my heart in hopes that you will be inspired to unearth and live out your God-given purpose. Hopefully, something I said resonated. I would love to hear from you if so. Please feel free to reach out to me on social media.
FYI: I’m mostly active on LinkedIn these days. If you were forwarded this message, you can subscribe here to receive thoughts like this directly in your inbox. And don’t forget to check out the latest episode of my podcast, ConvoRoom with Mark Allen Patterson.