“A stumbling block can be anything that distracts us from achieving righteous goals.”

Elder Quentin L. Cook

You might be wondering why I’m talking about stumbling blocks today. I’ve spent a great deal of time studying the words of our livings apostles and this quote stood out to me. There have been a lot of things going on in my life that have kept me from achieving righteous goals. The amazing thing about this quote is that it applies to not only things of a spiritual nature, but also of things of a secular nature. That is the amazing thing about truths; they often have multiple applications. So, you might ask yourself, what stumbling blocks am I facing now? Let me share with you some of mine.

Stumbling Block # 1 – Distractions

Every day we experience distractions. They are all around us vying for our attention. Most of these distractions can be huge time wasters if we don’t manage them properly. This is perhaps my biggest stumbling block and in a way ties into the blocks I’ll mention below. I currently use a program called Scrivener to do all my writing! What I love most about this program is its composition mode. This allows me to focus entirely on my writing and will completely black out all distractions from my view. This includes other great features of Scrivener itself! For writers, just about anything can be distracting. I couple this with some brown noise and over the ear headphones and, alas, I have the perfect writing studio! Now what happens between the moment I enter composition mode and put on my headphones isn’t always pretty. My first instinct is to check my email, then Facebook, then my website, and so on. I can easily spend an hour or more on each of these activities. Before you know it, these distractions have kept me from my primary goals. Now I’m not saying these tools are bad! I love Facebook, email, and the internet! I couldn’t be doing this today without them. Unfortunately, anything taken to an extreme can be a stumbling block. My solution? Simply do my writing first and set a timer so I don’t spend too long on any of these given activities.

Stumbling Block #2 – Not Enough Time

On too many occasions, I’ve talked myself out of writing because things did not go according to plan. I am an avid planner, and when I fail to wake up on time my day often feels like a train-wreck. More often than not, I’ll put easy, but unimportant tasks as my priority and tell myself that these things must be done first. Before you know it, work starts in an hour and again I convince myself that there is no time to write.“There’s not enough time!” I say. “I will write tomorrow.”I tell myself these words because it reassures me that everything will be ok. But ultimately, it’s lie and it does more harm than good. At the end of the week, or in this case after several months of following this pattern, I became so paralyzed with fear that I had stopped writing completely. Regardless of what you are passionate about, the worst possible decision you can make is to stop making time for it. It is too easy to rationalize that you don’t have enough time. Stop telling yourself this lie! You do have time. Start today!

Stumbling Block # 3 – Not Good Enough

On too many occasions, I’ve talked myself out of writing because things did not go according to plan. I am an avid planner, and when I fail to wake up on time my day often feels like a train-wreck. More often than not, I’ll put easy, but unimportant tasks as my priority and tell myself that these things must be done first. Before you know it, work starts in an hour and again I convince myself that there is no time to write.“There’s not enough time!” I say. “I will write tomorrow.”I tell myself these words because it reassures

Stumbling Block # 4 – Excessive Entertainment

This is where I take distractions to an extreme. There are two things that I find extremely comforting in life: entertainment and food. Both of which when taken in excess can leave you feeling sick and tired. I tell you today, I was really tempted to go play Call of Duty before I did any writing. This is a mistake that I have made frequently in the past. I’ve come to realize that I rarely have enough time to do both my writing and play video games. Instead, I’ve started to use it as an encouragement to write. Once I’ve met or exceeded my daily word goal, I allow myself to play a game or watch a movie or TV Show. Sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day to do both. On those days I find that it really doesn’t matter that I was able to watch T.V. or play a video game. Instead, I have discovered that I still feel very accomplished and happy having spent my day improving my passion.

Elder Cook said, “One writer suggests that stumbling blocks may be made into steppingstones to a noble character and to heaven.”

When we take our blocks, and reveal them for what they really are, we can turn those blocks into steppingstones that will help us become the best versions of ourselves. I’d like to challenge each of you to watch carefully for any stumbling blocks that are threatening to make you fall. Examine them and then turn your blocks into powerful steppingstones.

Sources: Quotes by Elder Quentin L. Cook of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles pulled from his October 2016 LDS Conference Talk, “Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus.”

Photo Credit: Bridget Kwakye Evensen