“You’re not leaving any room for me!”

That’s what the Holy Spirit suddenly said to me while I was praying with a friend a while ago. That little statement has changed my mindset about success.

At that time, I was very focused on being consistent with habits that would bring me success. Things like journaling, doing cold showers, drinking a certain amount of water each day, and reading non-fiction books. And while all of those things were very good to be thinking about, I was focusing too hard on them. 

My mindset was basically that the more good habits I had and the harder I worked on them, the more successful I would be. As you can imagine, for an ambitious, motivated person like myself, such a mindset can easily be exaggerated past its usefulness. That’s what I did with it anyway. 

It’s not bad to care about your habits—habits are crucial to success—but it’s not good to put the most of your daily energy towards them, as I did, and expect that they, and they alone, will bring you success. 

Obviously, I started to feel a little burned out from all the pressure I was putting on myself. And that’s why what the Holy Spirit told me while I was praying impacted me so much. 

He said, “You’re not leaving any room for me in your journey to success!” And I immediately knew he was right. 

I was so focused on what I was doing, the habits I was being consistent with, the things I was learning, that I left out God’s part in my journey. 

I had very effectively left the one who was most capable of changing me out of my process of change. 

The problem with doing it on your own

It’s so easy to think that if you just do one more habit, get up 30 minutes earlier, or work just a little harder that you’ll get the results you want. And sometimes all that is very true. But like I said before, when that mindset is taken too far, when your whole life becomes trying to do a little more so that you can reach your success, you may start to get results opposite to what you want. 

When this happened to me, I started to burn out. Life became heavier than it was supposed to. Growth became heavier than it was supposed to. And it was all because I was trying to fill God’s place as well as my own in my journey of growth.

You aren’t the only one wanting your success

When you have a vision for your future, it’s easy to feel like if you don’t put in a ton of time and work it won’t happen. But the reason you can afford to relax a little and let God have some of the work is that you aren’t the only one wanting your success. God wants it too! 

It’s true, no one is going to accomplish your goals for you, you have to do it yourself, but I think we forget sometimes that we don’t have to be the only one working on our goals. Whether we realize it or not, God is already working on them with us. 

You see, he’s not going to write that book for you, he’s not going to do the course for you, he’s not going to start the youtube channel for you, but he has promised to give you the strength and power you need. (Psalm 18:32, Psalm 68:35) He is working a good work in you and it’s through the knowledge of him that he gives you everything you need for life and godliness. (Philippians 1:6, 2 Peter 1:3) 

And by success, I mean you can have a relationship with his son, which I believe is where true success starts, because it’s through Christ that we have everlasting life (John 3:16). 

Becoming successful is not all up to you and the irony is that when we let go and let God have some of the “work,” life becomes easier, more enjoyable, and less stressful, because Jesus says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

And you know what’s really mind blowing? God wants your success—meaning your freedom, abundance, and joy, the feelings people associate with success—even more than you do.

Let me ask you a question: you wouldn’t sacrifice your child’s life so that you could succeed, right? Okay, but just so you know, God sacrificed his son so you could have a relationship with Jesus, which, like I said, is true success (John 3:16).

And you thought you wanted to be successful. 

Well, God wants it even more. And that’s why you don’t have to feel like it’s all on you. It never was all on you, God already did most of the work before you were even born.

Success comes from God, not just work

I believe that success comes from God, not just hard work. At least, the kind of success that I want to have. Yes, it’s possible to build profitable businesses, write bestselling books, and have a large social platform without God, but to me, all of that doesn’t equal true success. 

The true success that I want only comes from God. 

Peace that passes understanding only comes from God (Philippians 4:6-8)

Faith that overcomes the world only comes from God (1 John 5:4).

Love that is so big it reaches me no matter where I am only comes from God (Romans 8:35-39).

The ability to defeat terrifying fear only comes from God (Psalm 118: 10-12).
Yes, I’d also like to have the business, the books, and the social platform, but for me, those achievements are not valuable if I don’t have them with Jesus. So why would I try to get them without him? 

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for pointing that out! 

And you know what? God says in Joshua 1:8 that when we meditate on his word day and night, to observe to do what is written there, we will have good success. 

So that’s how it works! No more burning out, no more striving and trying and feeling like a failure. When God’s word is our priority, God will give us good success. 

Moving forward

I’m operating out of a more peaceful state now. I’m still learning, growing, and trying to be consistent with habits, but I know that it’s not all on me. My job is to do my best, but not push myself over my limit so that I’m tired and burned out. I had to push myself too far when it was just me, because I wasn’t enough. But with God working with me, I can be okay with my own levels of energy. 

And sometimes I forget that it isn’t all on me. But I hope and believe that as I learn and grow, I’ll get better at leaving God’s job to him. 

If your desire for achievement and success has been feeling heavy lately, try letting God do what he said he would do. Remember, he said his yoke is easy and his burden is light. 

Remember, he wants your success even more than you do and he proved that he was willing to make success possible for you thousands of years before you were born. He proved it by giving up his only son. But he didn’t stop there. He still wants to help you. 

Don’t forget to let him.