Welcome to the first edition of my newsletter!
It’ll show up once a week on Tuesday mornings, with three thoughts from me and one long quote from a favorite book.
I’ll write about the calling we have from God, how we can set good goals and as the title suggests how we can put on good habits.
We need to hear our call to order our goals. We need to set goals to orient habits. We need habits to achieve goals. Good habits become virtues, which opens our heart even more to hear our call. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Nate’s thoughts
I run a small business called CappaWork, which has released a planner designed to help structure this virtuous cycle. I use it all the time. I set goals in 90 day increments, use the journal I created to help me hit it and Q3 of 2021 was the first time I used it.I missed my Q3 goal everyone! I missed it. I shot and I missed.
“Nate, should you really be sharing this? Didn’t you *just* sell a planner to a bunch of folks that is supposed to help them hit their goals?”
Yes, yes I did. But here is the great thing. Just as Bear Rinehart sings in I Am Yours “I’m a man whose one ambition is to dance with my divine. Cause I am yours and you are mine.” We don’t earn grace. We don’t earn love. It’s freely given. And because it’s given it cannot be achieved. The game has already been won. My achievements are insignificant, in a wonderful way, because they never needed to be significant.
So then why act? Because in acting we do two things. We serve and we learn. Those two things are necessary for drawing closer to Christ, for opening our attention to His presence.
I missed my “10x online audience goal” but for the last three months I’ve been intensely focused on acting on my callings. I have served my family and many new friends, and I learned a ton. It has been exceptionally fulfilling. THAT friends, is the real goal of CappaWork. That you can do focused, diligent work on your callings, draw closer to Christ in that work and receive the grace He wants to pour into you. That you may be fulfilled by Him. The achievements of your goals are just nice side effects.
I’m going to do a longer breakdown of my Q3 goals and set Q4 goals in another email, but here are some of the key things I learned.
Things I learned.
In this last quarter I wrote out my calling as – “Right now, I understand I’m being called to: Be a guide for guys 10 years younger.”
When I put this line in the planner I was particular about words. “Right now, I understand I’m being called to be.” It is not “I am called to be”. Your understanding will change as you act and reflect and act and reflect. In talking to customers of CappaWork and looking at Facebook ads (of all things) I am realizing it’s not only guys 10 years younger than me. I’m just called to be a guide. To share what I’ve learned with others. (75% of the people that clicked ads for The CappaWork Planner were women aged 26-44, so my theory kind of went out the window. That’s fine.)
There are many ways to increase distribution. Having an audience online is one way, but not the only way. This realization has turned into a program that I’m really excited to share with you all. It’s almost ready!
I worked a ton in Q3, but I feel rested. I feel secure in what I’m doing. I’m headed in the right direction. To share some wins, because wins need to be celebrated, here are a few from the last 13 weeks of my life. I share these not to brag but to show that looking forward, 13 weeks seems short. But when you look back, you can achieve A LOT. I can’t wait to hear yours!
· As of July 6, 2021 there was only one printed copy of CappaWork planner and no sales. The CappaWork Instagram page had about 60 followers and posts routinely reached ~20 people. I was working full time at a startup selling enterprise software.
· Today (10/5/21): 51 people are currently using the planner to act on their calling. I managed to get 500 printed and 50 sold and shipped. I’m very happy with that.
· Instagram is way up. It’s not up 10x, but it’s way up. Total followers increased by 93% and accounts reached grew by 38,000% to over 30k accounts. Huge win! (Isn’t that 10x or over 1? I’m not counting it because I intended the 10x as followers, not just interactions.) It’s the reels people. That’s it.
So, friends you might not hit your goal. I want you to hit your goal! I think you can! But you might not and that could still be incredible, because we’ve aimed high. A miss can still be significant progress.
A long quote from a book
A quote from a book
The main beef I have with people like me who champion goals and goal setting is that you can tend toward always striving for some endpoint and forget to marvel in the moment. I have to remind myself to do that. Today’s quote is from someone who did that well. Brother Lawrence of Resurrection, a friar who lived in the 1600’s wrote a series of letters that are collected in a book titled “The Practice of the Presence of God.” I couldn’t find my copy of the book because all our books are still in boxes from the move last year (oops) so I’m going with the GoodReads quote.
“We can do little things for GOD; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of Him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before Him, Who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of GOD.”
― Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
Until soon,
-Nate