I’m always leery when someone comes back from a conference and starts to change everything. Once upon a time I was that guy who heard a powerful speaker and came back to try to do much of what the other person did. But that’s just not a good idea. It’s not healthy at all! And there’s a much better way.

You see just because it worked for that other person doesn’t mean it will work for you. Just because that other organization or church can make this big thing happen doesn’t mean that you should take it on. Just because the church down the road is experiencing exponential growth because of a new ministry they started, doesn’t mean you should start the same ministry. Just because your friend is losing tons of weight or gaining tons of muscle doing a specific diet or exercise routine, doesn’t mean you should do that same routine. We need to ask questions.

The challenge we face is that we don’t stop long enough to ask questions. And when we do ask questions, we tend to ask the wrong ones. Instead of asking what did you do to pull that off? We should be asking Why did that change make the impact it made?

You see there are tons of variables that feed into every outcome. It’s easy to get trapped in the surface change.

  • But what led to that change?
  • What was it that made the outcome what it was?
  • What other things affected the outcome?
  • What hindrances will you have to making this change?
  • Is this change a good fit for you?
  • What negative things could happen if I did this?

These, and honestly many more, questions should be asked before you make a big shift in what you do or how you do what you do. Just because it worked for someone else does not mean it should work for you! The most dangerous game we play in life is the comparison game! We compare ourselves to others but also to a different version of ourselves, but we’ll talk about these in a later post. For now just remember not everything that’s possible is actually beneficial. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.