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Tomorrow can be different from today.
Our lives often leave us feeling hopeless—like nothing will ever change. But perspective is everything. When you know where to look, hope can be found in the spaces and places you least expect.
Join Jason Gore (Lead Pastor of Hope Community Church) for a fresh perspective, practical steps, and weekly encouragement that hope really is possible… even in real life.
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Let's get the conversation started.
What's going on? Hope in Real life family.
We are here on this episode to talk about a topic
that I know all of us could use a little bit more
of in the area of self-control.
Mm. And so I thought it would be a great idea
to bring on the show this week.
Uh, my co-host, uh, David Goggins. So David, welcome.
So glad. Okay, so David. David. Alright.
You shave my hair. And every other word needs
to be a cuss word and I need to look like, I hate everybody.
David couldn't make it.
Apparently he hasn't watched the podcast yet.
And so, uh, we're stuck. Just kidding.
We are here with, uh, my good friend Bradford Mitchell.
Bradford. Hey, we're talking about self-control, huh?
I know. I don't know if I should be able
to talk about this to be honest.
Oh, come on. You got plenty of SelfControl.
Look, look, I'll start out. I'll ask you. You can ask me.
No. You know what? I'm a Yeah. I'll ask you SelfControl.
What, what, what do you, what is self-control?
Man? Uh, I I, we, we were talking beforehand,
so I looked it up 'cause I was a little confused myself.
'cause like you, it seems like it's kind of like a, uh,
like a self-help kind of thing, you know,
like it's like a new year practice.
Self-control. I don't know.
I think, uh, self-control, I looked,
looked this up like I said
and it's like, it's more like in the moment,
like the ability to not react in a way
that is not favorable.
It's kind of vague, but that's kind of the point. Right.
So like dessert, like past, like if you're trying
to not eat a lot of bad things Yeah.
Self-control is in the moment.
You're like, I'm not gonna touch that. Yeah.
And I do not exercise that. Yeah.
You put a pint of Jerry's pint
of Ben and Jerry's in my freezer.
It's gone. Yeah.
Big ice cream fan. Oh yeah. Yeah.
You know, I remember one time on the show,
Lance Crump was stating that Chick-fil-A
dumps all of their chicken into vanilla ice
cream before they fry it.
He was so confident they do that.
I've never heard of it before. Never heard of it since.
Who knows. But I mean, Ben and Jerry's is good.
Ice cream is, yeah.
I think with self-control, what you gotta realize is it's
not a thing that like you can expect someone
to have if they've never thought about
the specific situation that they find themselves in.
Like for example, yeah.
Uh, if someone doesn't know ice cream is bad
for them, you can't expect them.
You can't actually exhibit self-control against the ice
cream that you might be doing something that's bad.
Hmm. Um, but if somebody's driving a car
and they were speeding, but they didn't know they were
speeding, that's not necessarily a self-control issue.
Yeah. Self-control comes into play.
Like when we've already done the work
or someone has communicated to us, Hey, this is a decision
that you should make or should not make.
That's good. And then you get in that situation
and then you got a decision to make.
Are you going to exhibit self-control? Yeah. Or not.
But you, I think there's also, there's like,
there's the continuum of, or
or the, the, the axis line of knowing what you should do
and then there's also this other axis
of the environment that you're in.
Mm-hmm. Because the more difficult the environment you find
yourself in, the harder it is to exhibit self-control.
And so Yeah. Um, for example, uh,
say hypothetically I had children
that were obeying everything that I asked them to do.
Is this actually not hypothetical?
The it, you know, it, it takes a little bit
of self-control to not raise my voice.
Sure. Right. Yeah. You know,
especially if they only do one thing wrong
or even two things wrong.
But if the environment changes,
and if all three kids have not gone to bed 45 minutes
after I've asked them to go to bed, it'd be hard.
My environment changes uhhuh
and so now my need for self-control actually increases.
Yeah. And so I think in, in a situation where, you know,
your desired outcome in a specific environment mm-hmm.
Is kind of the realm where this idea
of self-control is necessary.
You mentioned your kids and they're all teenagers, right?
I had to think about Yes. 16, 16 and 13. That's right.
So my son is, is four.
And this is kind of like you were talking about,
like if you don't know, is it self-control?
So my son is four right.
And he, he like,
he'll just throw his toys sometimes and he's having fun.
Right. He doesn't, I have to teach him that. Right.
So that's, that's what made me think about it.
'cause it's like I have to teach him,
Hey, we don't throw toys.
Like you're gonna break something.
You're gonna destroy the house.
You may hurt your little sister
because he doesn't know his like four month old sister is
like, you know, just on the other side of the room with him.
Like he could hurt her. Right.
And so it's, it's, it's a di
that's that's exactly what I thought of.
It's like we have to, certain things you have to be taught
or like explained.
Right? Yeah. That's a whole nother
layer to this conversation too.
It's just like, well, so how do you get to the point
where you understand where self-control is needed?
Yeah. Is that's a wow. Yeah.
Yeah. I think, um, you know,
just being honest in my own life, this is something that
I think by a lot of measures, self-control, discipline,
we can talk about that in a minute and
how those, how those play out.
But yeah, I just, I wanna recognize right outta the gate,
it's not, uh, it's not something that comes natural
and easy all the time.
Uh, I mean, I know for me in my life,
if things are going well, it's much easier
to remain self-control.
Mm-hmm. Uh, to remain self controlled to, to,
to love my wife well, to, to talked about my kids,
interact in a healthy way with my kids to, to stay on a,
in a healthy pattern of working out eating the right foods.
But man, I mean, you go through a tough week, a tough day,
a tough week, tough couple months, tough few years.
Um, that's self-control.
I mean my, my personal,
I can tell you from learned experience,
my self-control drops.
You go through a season where, hey, leading in the context
of the church where I serve and lead
and, um, you throw in your, your dad getting sick
and then him passing away
and then like, I have found more difficulty in those
environments actually sticking to my self-control.
Um, which then I think leads to, uh,
what you would say disciplined or undisciplined.
And it's a fight. Yeah.
I mean it really is depending on
the environment you find yourself in. Yeah.
It's like I, there's a difference between, for me,
like self-control, like I mentioned Ben and Jerry's.
It's like, that's a small thing.
It's like self-control is like if it's in the house,
then like I have to exercise more self-control then
if I just don't buy it.
And it's easier to not buy it
because if you're not,
if you're not like having Walmart deliver your groceries
to you in 2025, you're missing out.
'cause my wife and I gained so much time back
because we don't have to go to the grocery store.
You guys don't just like, enjoy going to Walmart
and walking around and I do not
sitting the registrar That does
Shocking. Absolutely
Shocking. But,
but you see, here's the thing.
This is like a little hack. Like we think, what do we need?
And like, this is really minor
'cause ice, enjoy yourself
every once in a while have ice cream.
But like the principal overarching thing, unless
You're lactose intolerant, I
Guess they're, they have lactose free ice cream.
I don't think it tastes very good though. Okay.
Alright. But you could
I cut you off? Go
Ahead. No, that's alright.
But like,
don't put yourself in an environment.
There are certain things you can do and you can avoid.
Don't put yourself, put yourself in an environment
where you would have to practice self-control.
You could just avoid those areas.
The way I avoid it is just my wife
and I discuss what we need.
She puts in the grocery order and I don't say ice cream.
And if I do, she looks at me.
'cause she's like, she knows I've asked her
to help me not buy ice cream.
Right. I do not. If it's there, it's gone. Yep.
So, I mean, we're talking about
something stupid like ice cream.
But I think overall the, the principle holds true.
It's like if there's an area in your life where you need
to practice self-control, what can you do
to not put yourself in a situation where you don't have
to find that?
You're like, now I have to maintain self-control.
Like if certain things send you off,
what can you do to avoid those things? Right. I,
And I think, I think that's that axis of environment.
Yeah, exactly. And we, we,
there are some environments that we can control.
Mm-hmm. You know, if you're an alcoholic, like, hey,
here's a good way to, to not have
to worry about your self control.
Don't go hang out at bars, don't go to a bar. Right.
And so, um, the problem is we don't always get
to control our environment.
No. There are definitely
Areas. Right. Sometimes things happen to
us. Yeah.
And, but I do think it's worth noting.
Um, neuroscientists would tell you,
and I'm not gonna remember the, the, the part of the brain,
but there is a part of our brain
that when we exhibit self-control, when we do hard things
that we don't necessarily want to do when we resist things
or when we do things that we want to do, that part
of the brain, it, it's, it operates like a muscle.
It actually gets stronger. Wow.
Like, so the more hard things you do
or the more self-control you exhibit, the easier it is
to exhibit self-control the next time.
And the opposite is true.
The more you give into the hard things. Yeah.
The more times you go to the freezer for that ice cream,
the more that you give into raising your voice at your kids
or whatever it is that we're talking.
I mean, alcoholism, pornography, I mean, you name it,
not not going to the gym.
The, the more days you have in between of not going
to the gym, the harder it's going to be.
And so controlling your environment
and getting the small wind is actually a big step to getting
to a healthy place when these hard things do happen
and you can't control the environment anymore.
Now you have the ability to remain self-control,
at least a higher likelihood of being remained,
of remaining, uh, in control remaining having self control,
having SelfControl Yeah.
Exhibiting self-control, uh, in the moment. Yeah.
No, that's that I, we've talked about, um, like back
before Christmas and Thanksgiving we talked about like
if you're in an environment you can't change, for example,
like you have to spend time with family sometimes.
Right. You gotta exhibit self-control. Yep.
That's gonna be hard.
That's, that's exact first thing it makes.
So if you're interested in something like that,
that episode, uh,
we talked about like making it through the holidays.
Yeah. It's a little dif it's a different topic,
but this is like kind of broaching in.
That's just something I thought of. Yeah,
Yeah. You've gotta break it
down. And I would say,
if somebody were to say, so what are, what are some
of the keys to growing in self-control?
You gotta look at it like, how do I win the small battles?
Mm-hmm. You know, how do,
because those small battles stack up over time
and then again you get stronger.
So it, you know, I don't even know that I would say
to someone, you should decide I'm never going
to have ice cream ever again in my life.
Well, that's great. Yeah.
But, uh, what happens when your environment changes?
You get a little depressed. You know, some people love
to go shopping, uh, for a dopamine rush.
Some people are gonna turn to food. We all have our vices.
Right? Yeah. And so, but if you can decide, no, no, no,
I'm just gonna win this small battle
and I'll fight the next battle the next time it comes up
again, that's gonna increase your strength.
And then, you know, we were even talking
before the show about how, what's the difference in,
in self-control and discipline.
Discipline is really more of a, a lifestyle.
Like you can't, um, you can say I exhibited self-control.
If you are one who exhibits continuous self-control over a
consistent period of time, that's really starting
to get closer to your definition of discipline.
Yeah. You know, there's, there's a pattern there.
And so that's why like, I think self-control over time is
what leads to, to actual true discipline.
Mm-hmm. And that's why we gotta focus on
how do we win the small battles Yeah. Along
The way. Yeah. I,
I did a couple things in my life and if any,
but any of my like friends who are listening may be like,
Bradford, we've heard this, this is annoying.
But at one point I was like, I needed to figure out how
to have my life a little more structured.
And I didn't know. I was just like,
just something just felt off
and I just didn't feel like I,
like I felt like I was constantly reacting.
Yeah. Uh, and I did two things at one point.
I said, I'm going to floss every single night
because I I people be like,
'cause you're eating ice cream. You
Have to. Yeah. Well people
could be judging me right now,
but if everybody's honest, I think we, I think most people
go several days, weeks without flossing.
And I, I'm was one of those people
and I was like, I'm going to dedicate
and be intentional about it.
And it's crazy how when I did it every single night,
I didn't realize this, but like how my,
like making the bed every single morning,
how like those small things that take like 30 seconds,
five minutes, whatever, how
that really helped shift my thought process
on achieving other things.
Like if you're trying to make this goal to be disciplined
or maintain self-control
and like these really big things, like you're kind
of like diets for example.
Like you're kind of setting yourself up for failure. Yeah.
But the other thing I did though was like, I committed
to going to the gym every day.
I woke up at 5:00 AM
and I started my day that way
for two weeks even when I didn't want to.
Mm-hmm. So the first thing I did
was every morning it was exhibiting self-control to not
hit snooze and just be like, I'll go after work.
'cause I knew I'd get done with work
and I'd be like, it's five 30,
there's a million people here.
I just drove 45 minutes home. I just had a long day.
Like I'm not on the right mindset. Yeah. All this stuff.
So in those moments I was exhibiting self-control,
but then I found it, which kind of crazy,
and this may work for other people
'cause like maybe not everyone.
I found like after two weeks of committing, I was like,
I'm going to do this.
Like I'm going to do it.
And that's not, I'm not normally that like self-motivated.
And it was crazy how that really changed my perspective.
'cause now I'll wake up at four if I need to.
I wake up at five and like I start my day that way.
And it helps, it helps me
because then I'm not reacting a little different like, like
path we could go down.
But I felt like when I was waking up at like the last
possible minute to get to ready to go to work,
I was like all flustered and I was showing up
and I just was not in the right mindset.
And so putting like discipline in some area
that wasn't like, like go working out at five in the morning
is not something that will really alter
the big scope of my life.
It was like, it was more for me. Right? Yeah.
But then it helped me in areas like interacting
with other people when I worked,
like interacting with my wife.
Uh, and now we have our two kids.
And so it's like, it helped me
to maintain discipline and self-control.
Like in some area that was more personal.
If I can do that first.
It helped me when I interacted with others.
And I don't think people always think about that.
They're like, other people are more
important and I would agree with that.
But like, you need to have your life in order
because then you can actually be,
you're talking about your environment with your kids,
you know, asking four and five times or whatever.
So I dunno, that was just like a small thing
that really helped me a lot
Hope in real life family.
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Remember, tomorrow can be better than today
and hope is possible even in real life.
Yeah. The um, I think we want to pay attention here too to
like, okay, so what if I've thought about it, uh,
what if I have practiced some self-discipline?
I've, I've done some small wins,
but then I do find myself in a situation
where I'm still tempted.
Right. And,
and the hard part is, we live in a world right now
that tells us you do.
You, we live in a world right now that says, Hey,
if you think ice cream's good for you.
And again, we're clearly using ice cream as a metaphor here,
but yes, if you think this is good for you, why not do it?
It's for, it's, it's, it's your life.
You do you whatever's true for you is true for.
And the reality is like, it's not really the case.
I mean, decisions that we make have consequences. Mm.
And so if we go in the area of ice cream, if, if we decide
to eat ice cream, that that's
on a regular basis ongoing, not knocking ice cream.
Uh, we'd love to have a sponsorship
by Ben and Jerry's, oh man.
And Breyers. And tonight
Though, please Lord Jesus,
But man, you've gotta spend time thinking through
what are the consequences of going down this road.
Mm-hmm. And I mean, you even deal with this.
I mean, you, you read scripture, you read the Bible.
Like there are consequences to the actions that we take.
And so pausing in a moment, in an environment or even
before you go into an environment
and thinking through, okay, I do know this is
what I wanna commit to, but this is what's gonna happen if I
don't, if I don't go to the gym,
this is what's gonna happen if I,
if I don't exhibit self-control and I do yell at my kids.
I mean, all kinds of studies, the likelihood of them,
uh, raising their voice at their kids, uh, for my daughter,
the, um, learned behavior of, Hey, uh,
a man should yell at me if he loves me.
Well that's not really true. Yeah. No.
And so, but if I think through those implications,
well now it's a little easier
to have the self-control than I need in my moment.
Yeah. And so recognizing just
'cause the world tells us, Hey, you can do your own thing.
Like you can, but there are gonna be consequences. Yeah.
And so if you're looking to grow in self-control, find a way
to win the small battles and then think
through the implications
of actually not being self controlled in the moment.
Yeah. I mean, for me, getting up and going Yep.
I don't always feel self controlled to do that,
but I also know I wanna walk my daughter
down the aisle one day.
I also know that I don't want to be 55, 65, 75 years old
and not be able to play
around on the ground with my grandkids.
And so I think through that stuff, I mean,
and seriously it's legitimately for me, like, Hey,
you don't wanna be fat and outta shape.
Get up and be self-disciplined. Go to the gym. Well,
So, and what you're saying is, is also like you're not,
your decisions never only affect you.
Like the only way that's gonna happen is if you live on an
island isolated by yourself.
Right. Everything you do plays into
how you interact with other people.
Yeah. But come on Brad, you have to admit though, in order
for that to even matter, you gotta care about other people.
There's That too. Which is my point.
I think like, we're not even really told we need
to be mindful of other people.
It's more like, what is your truth?
And then you go live that out.
And then social media and like,
it puts us in these microcosms
where we just all really like the same things
and we can say that we care about other people
in our unity together.
But at the end of the day, I'm just telling you when I
listen to most arguments on that
stuff, I have no idea what we got here.
It just sounds like you got a bunch of people
that care more about a unified personal preference
than a unified outcome.
Mm-hmm. And, um, so anyways, you're exactly right.
We do need to think through that. But
that's another piece at the beginning.
Like self-discipline means you've actually thought through
the impact of the decision that you make.
And so that means one of the like, areas of impact is I care
how this is gonna impact other people.
Yeah. So you do gotta think about that. Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely. How about instant gratification?
Um, I gotta, you know,
making this decision is not going to give me the joy,
the pleasure, the dopamine rush
that I know I can receive right now.
How do you deal with that?
To go back to the ice cream analogy, I'll go and I eat it
and I feel like I eat the whole thing
and I'm like, I feel good.
But then the next morning I do not. Yeah.
So it goes back to what you were just saying, like
thinking about things before, thinking through things
before you make a decision.
Yeah. Or you react and it's not,
it's not something people want to hear.
And I'm realizing I'm 35
and I still don't feel like I should be.
Like we had my kids, my son, I still remember the day,
the day we walked outta the hospital was the day
North Carolina went on lockdown in 2020.
Yeah. Cops everywhere.
We were like, we were at Duke
and so we couldn't, uh, you know, if people know that area.
We were sitting in the front with my truck
and I was trying to get the car seat in
and like, like they were just wanting us
out of the parking lot.
And I was like, do you not care that I'm trying
to put a kid in a car seat for the very first time Yeah.
In my life. Yeah. He's like three days old.
And I'm like, so I like I say that to say like,
I was, how old was I then?
31. 31. And I was like, nobody cares to like, nobody.
One wants to check in to make sure I'm capable
of caring for a child.
Yeah. Like you, you,
the cop didn't care anything about the fact that, you know,
so I still have a hard time getting my mind wrapped
around the fact that I'm an adult
and like my parents, when they come to my house,
my mom opens the freezer
and sees like, Bradford, why are there four pints
of ice cream in the, like that would be
what my mom would say when I was 10.
You're not eating four pints of ice cream. Right.
Like, that's what she does. But now it's all on me. Yeah.
And so you need people in your life also.
That's what I'm getting at. Like, when you're young,
it's like your parents or your, your parental figure,
something like that when you're older.
That's why it's important
to have people in your life to speak into you.
'cause you need to work on yourself,
but like, you need people who call you on your stuff.
Right. And if like, hey, you, that wasn't the best reaction
to that person that you just, that bumped into on accident.
Like, Hey man, I thought you were trying
to be on a diet pound, an ice cream,
All the more reason Right.
In life to make sure.
And that's probably another, um, you know, another variable
to add to the question which accountability?
Like, who do we have in our lives?
Well, that's a whole nother episode.
You know, 'cause you got, you got parents, like you said,
you got parents when you're younger.
Maybe you got, uh, teachers, maybe you got coaches. Yeah.
Who largely those people go into those professions
because they care about the development of young people.
Mm-hmm. You get older
and you know, maybe you have a spouse,
um, or you have a boss.
But if we're honest, you know,
most bosses are more concerned with the bottom line.
Not necessarily people development.
It shouldn't be that way, but
that's kind of the way it works out.
And so another thing you can do if you wanna increase your
likelihood of having self-control is checking in
and making sure that you're putting people
around you in your life that are actually going
to encourage you in the directions that you,
um, want to go in.
I mean, I'm, I don't know who said it
and if I even say it the right way,
but it has been said, as I've said many times, uh,
the people, uh, you're gonna be some degree of summation
of the top five people
that you spend the most amount of time with in your life.
And so the, are they holding you accountable?
Are they encouraging you in the right direction?
Is that that Carnegie guy? I have no idea.
What is it, how to win fla and influence people?
Is that him? That sounds, that sounds right.
That sounds right. That sounds smart. Sure.
He can get credit, credit for it. But I mean,
I've always said too, so I don't know since I've
heard it, I've always said it.
The, uh, here, here's why this is important.
Why, why is we told, we probably
should have said this up at the top.
Um, and a lot
of people have said a different version of this.
I think the most recent version I heard was from Joe Rogan.
Um, but we, we live in a world right now
because of the you do you thing, which sounds so strong.
I'm gonna make my own decision for me
and I know best for myself.
Um, but the reality is when we start leaning into that,
that self-control muscle gets weaker
and we start thinking things like, well,
I don't even think I need to work as hard
as somebody else thinks I need to work.
Um, I've worked hard for a while.
I deserve, I can slack a little bit. I can take some time.
And in today's world right now,
and again, I, Joe Rogan said some version of this, like you
all you really gotta do to be better than probably
the average person around you is just show up every day
and put in the bare minimum.
I mean, that's a, if you do that, you're going to be
above average, uh, in today's world.
And like even with our kids, man, we, I, my wife
and I talk about it like we work so hard
to instill discipline, uh,
to instill self-control in their lives.
Help them understand, um, hey, here's
how small wins every day stack up.
This is how it makes it easier for you long term
to live a disciplined life.
Because we know in today's world,
like if you can take a highly motivated,
highly disciplined person, man, it's not that hard to,
I wanna be careful what I say,
but we're not trying to kick other people's butts,
but to kick most people's butts around you when it comes
to being productive and adding value to, to wherever it is
that, that God's placed you.
And so mm-hmm. Not that it's about kicking somebody else's
butt, but but to achieve the things
that you're actually capable of in your life
and help other people, um, rise
and experience what it is, um, that's the best for them.
Yeah. And so there's just so few people
that really get this right.
And I think a lot of it has to do with, like I said,
the culture of, hey, do whatever feels best for you.
And it's like, well, that's probably not what's best
for you over the long haul. Oh
Yeah. Yeah. That's
good.
The, so on our run sheet here, it it has a little space
to talk about, like how wisdom
and self-control isn't necessarily something
that we can do on our own.
Relying on God's strength.
Um, you know, in the Bible, self-control is talked about
as one of the fruits of the spirit,
a part of the fruit of the spirit.
Right. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And you know what, what this is referencing is when we, um,
when we may, if we get to a place in our lives
where we decide to follow Jesus, um, the Bible tells us
that we are then in dwelt with the Holy Spirit.
Mm-hmm. Um, so that means
by the spirit's power we should have the ability,
we would have the ability to actually
live out those areas is a part of our lifestyle
that changes though, based on like
how we're filled with the spirit.
Like whether we're walking with the Lord or not.
And so it, it is worth recognizing, um,
if you are a follower of Christ
or if you are trying to grow in these areas, a lot of,
I mean, in our own strength, we ain't gonna get it done.
No. Like the idea of I know how people
Who don't follow Jesus exhibit those things.
Yeah. And, and so like, there is a nature of,
there is an aspect of this that, that has
some dependency on God.
And so recognizing that, um,
and turning to him for self-control.
Mm-hmm. Man, if there's an area in our lives
where we're struggling, like we have a loving father
that wants us to go to him, just like I want my kids to come
to me and say, dad, I'm struggling in this area.
Yeah. I need help.
I need accountability, I need encouragement.
And we have a loving father who longs for us to go to them.
And the truth is, when my kid comes to me, it's,
I don't necessarily tell him anything
that he doesn't already know.
Yeah. I just put my arms around him. I say, I love you.
I remind him of the trade offs that he might be facing,
and I encourage him and I remind him, like,
just like God would say, no, no, no, you're filled
with the spirit of God.
You can do that. I would say, Hey,
you're a strong young man.
You're a strong young woman. You can do this. Yeah.
We can do this together. And that's, it's like,
that's really, you're not waving a magic wand over somebody
and now giving them a superpower,
but man, going to God with that.
It's, it's in his presence.
It's, it's in this desiring to be filled with the spirit
of God and recognizing, no, no, no.
We do have the spirit of God inside us.
We do have the ability to make the
decisions that we need to make in our lives. Yeah.
You said this is, this is what I've likened it to too.
And you've brought this up, you're the sum
of the five people you spend the most time with.
Right. Is one of those people Jesus. Right.
And I don't like, I don't mean to get cheesy with it
'cause so many people, like we think that's the direction,
but it's like we make time for
and spend money on the things that are important to us.
Yeah. If you're, if you're having a hard time
with self-control cheat code,
you don't have to worry about it.
If you are seeking Jesus daily
and you're trying to replace fleshly desires,
worldly things, the things that the world says are important
or that matter if you're replacing them
and you're replacing those thoughts with
what the, the Bible says.
Yeah. Uh, and it's kind of like
that's a good place to start.
Like if you don't know where to start trying
to gain self-control, I'd say stop eating ice cream.
Does anybody else think that we need
to get Bradford in a rehab facility?
Anybody, anybody else?
I'm probably gonna stop Walmart
Now. Dust protest too
much.
I'm gonna stop by Walmart in the way home.
Grab a few pints, but spend time with God.
Make that your first thing. Yeah. So
Yeah. So look,
I probably need to wrap this thing up here.
Here's what I would say. Um, self-control is a cheat code
to ending up where we want to end up in life.
Yeah. Period. Point blank.
If we can, if we can have self-control,
we're gonna move in the direction that we wanna move.
If we can't, we're probably not.
Um, you're leaving a lot up to luck and chance.
And to be honest, that's not a great investment strategy.
And so, uh, out of all the things we've talked about,
I think one, and we've gotta watch our environment.
Okay. The environment
that we put ourselves in is gonna make having self-control
easier or more difficult.
Uh, we gotta focus on winning the small
battles along the way.
Uh, that is going to, uh, strengthen our ability
and our confidence in ourselves
to make the right decisions when we get in those moments.
Uh, we've gotta stay consistent over time. Mm-hmm.
We win the small battles and then stay consistent over time.
That's what's gonna over, uh, over time lead us
to a life of discipline.
And then look, it gets tough.
We, we need to turn to our loving father.
We need to have other people
around us in our lives along the way.
And I think if we can just get our hearts
and our minds set on those things,
I think we're well on our way
to living a more self-disciplined life.
Yeah. That's good. This was good.
Yeah. Good talk.
I'm motivated. I'm not gonna stop by Walmart
to get ice cream on the way home.
Uh, I hope life family, thank you so much
for tuning in to this episode.
Uh, look forward to seeing you on the next, uh,
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