Having an “I Get To” Mentality

Your life and my life are full of choices. When I wake up, I make the very first choice: am I going to push snooze, or am I going to wake up? From the very minute you wake up to that alarm clock, the very second, you are making choices. You make choices all through the morning, all through the afternoon, all through the evening. Those choices really impact your mindset, the path of your day, your week, your month, and your life. 

So much of life is about making the right choices and having the right attitude or mindset. Think about this for a minute: what if you woke up everyday and instead of having an “I have to mentality,” you had an “I get to mentality.” So, instead of “I have to go to work today,” what if you thought “I get to go to work today,” or what about instead of “I have to meet with my pastor again” or “I have to meet with my boss today,” you think “I get to meet with my pastor today”, “I get to meet with my boss today?” Instead of thinking, “I have to go work out again,” or “I have to eat that because I want to stay healthy,” what if you think “I get to go workout today, I get to eat that today?” I think your life would change and my life would change if we would replace the “I have to” mentality with an “I get to” mindset. 

We have so many opportunities; we wake up everyday with opportunities to make our life better, to make a difference in the life of those around us, to love people, to make a difference, to help someone. God has given us the ability to get out of bed, be productive, and make a difference for the kingdom. He has given us His word; He's told us we can pray and come boldly before the throne of grace. God has put relationships in our life; people that we can bless and people that God puts in our life to bless us. What would happen if I chose everyday to think, “I'm going to bag the ‘I have to attitude’ and I’m going to think ‘I get to’”?

Here's the frog I want you to eat today: you hear me talking a lot about eating the frog first. Mark Twain said that if you eat a live frog first thing every day, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. I want you to start your day by thinking about the “I get to” instead of the “I have to.” Write a post-it note and put it on your computer, or on your car, or on your bathroom vanity mirror, or on your desk. Find five or six places that you see throughout the day and write on there “I get to” and whenever you see that, remind yourself that: that's your mindset; you’re not going to get brought down, you’re not going to get smashed down, you’re not going to get weighed down with the thought that “I've got to do this; I have to do this.” Instead, focus on the positives: God, you have given me these opportunities; God you have opened these doors. God, you have placed this person in my life; God you have given me this job. God, you have given me these finances; they may not be what I think they should be or what I want, but you've given them to me. I'm going to steward them well. You’ve given me this ministry; I'm going to do it with all of my heart. If you and I would get in the habit of replacing “I have to” with “I get to,” not only will our world be a better place, but the world of everybody around us would as well.