FEBRUARY 18 • TRUE LEADERSHIP
Mental Idling
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ… 2 Corinthians 10:5
Mentally Idling — how you spend your time thinking when you’re not working on something that requires thought process. Like during lunch or a coffee break. When our gas powered car is idling, it’s still on, just not moving. It’s the same for us. There’s a place for listening to music and winding down, but the idea is that we waste an enormous amount of time drifting in our thoughts or daydreaming heroic escapades… or worse. How do we take every thought captive?
What if we used that time to bring a thought to the forefront of our mind and meditate on it during that down time? Maybe a concept we’ve been thinking about. Maybe how to deal with a situation. Maybe a bible verse or quote we’ve been reading and spend time thinking about the deeper meaning and how we can apply it to our lives… what action can we take to make it real to us and those around us. How much time do we waste every day on mindless or useless thoughts? And if we’re addicted to something not good, how much harmful time do we spend filling our minds with waste? Are we so materialistic that all we can think about in our spare time is getting something new? How do we use our time best?
Build a system for Mentally Idling. Make it part of your plan for the day. When setting up your daily plan the night before, decide what you are going to be thinking about when you have free time tomorrow… memorize a scripture or quote, plan a child’s/wife’s birthday party, assess the personality of a person for communicating better, write a song, define how to lead someone better — the key is to have it at the ready when you are breaking from a normal routine that uses your frontal lobe (thinking area). High Inspiring personalities will struggle with this because you are totally spontaneous and want to think about fun—you’re also typically the ones that are AD(H)D. Build a system. Some call this mindfulness. We have about 6,000 thoughts per day — use them wisely!
Pray: Lord, may I not over-think or under-think, be positive, and use my thoughts to grow, help others, and love you more!
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