“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

Colossians 3:23

 

How to have it all while being personally and professionally satisfied, if that’s even possible for those of us who are driven.

When things are scary, just do it!

Before we dive into today’s thought, I want to share a little about myself.

I’m from Southwest Colorado & we live on my great-grandfather’s homestead. My kids are the 5th generation to grow up on the same chunk of dirt.  There’s not too many people who can say that.

Now that’s a blessing and also some days a curse depending on how you look at it. But for the most part, it’s a blessing to live around family.

You can see more of my life on my socials – where I tend to go a little deeper. My handle is @therealdangreer on Instagram for those of you on there.

Okay, let’s dive in!

It is possible to truly have it all when we choose to relentlessly pursue our calling.

The first thing we need to understand is that we all have a calling in our lives. Everyone is called to do something. I am called to be a father, husband, believer, to start a business and help others.

Working in the trucking and regulation space, the whole DOT side of things is a calling God placed in my life. I know that DOT Regulations are like speaking Greek for most people out there, but that is my calling.

This has led me to start a business and even start a non-profit, doing weekly devotionals, and so many other things because I chose to pursue it because of the callings God placed in my life.

I’m not sharing any of this to brag, but I want to show you guys what is possible.

My son is super hard headed, and he absolutely loves animals. He’s into falconry and is such a smart kid, he got his falconry license when he turned 16.

He is one of the youngest in the country to do that.

I have a son who wants to be a voice actor, and my daughter loves to teach, that’s her calling, and my youngest, bless him, wants to be like me someday. And I really hope he realizes just how much of an imperfect person I am.

I digress.

Part of having it all is listening to that calling. This brings us to our first step in the framework.

1. Acknowledging that we are called for something.

Many of us are called for things we are not ready to do. Part of my calling personally is to share my love of God with others. Part of it is being a loving husband.

The goal is to acknowledge that we have a calling placed on our lives and work out our path to relentlessly pursue it.

2. Accept our calling.

Starting Eclipse DOT was something I put off for years. I personally denied starting a business and wasn’t willing to accept my calling.

The truth is that I used to say, I will never own a business because I do not want the stress that comes with it!

But when I finally accepted it, my life changed.

We recently watched the movie ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and in it we see Jane Foster, Thor’s girlfriend, accepting that Thor’s old hammer was calling her. She makes her way to the place where the hammer is kept, and she picks it up even though Thor was the only person who was worthy to lift it in the past.

When she gets there, walks over to this shattered hammer and all of the pieces magically come back together and float into her hand.

Now that might not be the best analogy but acknowledging and accepting our calling is crucial to living a life where we can have it all.

3. Take Action.

Start putting yourself out there. It doesn’t have to be huge steps but moving the needle is important to pursue our calling.

Let’s take a moment to look at architects. Now I’m quite sure, but I don’t know of any architect who starts off their career by designing a skyscraper. They probably started off by building a small house or shed, then they designed a bigger house, then maybe a mansion, then maybe a story building. Then they moved up to a 10-story building.

Likewise, you don’t want to start by trying to run a billion-dollar company if you have never ran a $100,000 company. The things you learn at each phase are extremely important.

4. Pursue our calling, relentlessly.

Let’s start with what relentless means.

Dan’s definition is: Never Giving Up. Fighting until you win. Finding a way to make it happen no matter what.

That is Relentless to me.

So far there have been tons of times while I have been going after my calling when I felt unbalanced.

This isn’t a BAD thing.

Here is the thing when you get relentless you get unbalanced, for a short period of time.

Let’s look at when I built our home.

I would get up early and be at work before the sun came up. Work a 10+ hour day at work.  Then as soon as I got home I started building our home.

Every hour of the weekend and every hour I was awake was spent on pursuing that dream.

It took me just 14 months to complete our house. And we built it by ourselves, with help from family. But I literally troweled every inch of concrete, laid every hose for the heating and plumbing, hung every sheet of drywall, screwed down every piece of tin on the roof, wired every single light switch in our whole house, and nailed every stud in every wall.

This was a season in my life where I was radically imbalanced and relentless. But as I accomplished my dream my life started to become even more balanced than it was before.

Now I am in much of the same state again because we are building this business.

And like the house, I am driving every Nail throughout the business.

But in the end, I know that my relentless pursuit will have amazing rewards.

In the relentless pursuit of our calling, being unbalanced is unavoidable, but focusing on the right thing helps us move toward our calling.

I want to leave you with this thought. NEVER GIVE UP. Pursue your calling, relentlessly with passion, even when you can’t see it.