Do you ever look around you and feel you are not as good as others? Does that feeling nag you to the point of negatively affecting your actions?

You’re not alone.

This is a feeling David had his entire life, but this last year has learned a few key lessons to free him from that inferiority mind trap.

Listen today as David walks through the journey of what trapped him in an inferiority loop and what the turning point was that allowed him to break free.

Your past should not define you. Your future should not define you. What others think and believe about you should not define you. Comparing yourself against the success of others should not define you.

There is only one person that defines you that really matters, and it’s not you. It’s God.

You are created by God, as His masterpiece, for good works. He has already laid them out before you, you just need to do them.

If you have struggled with feeling inferior to others in the past, tune in and find hope, peace, and the courage to move forward boldly in your life.

David has gone through that transformation, and you can as well.

Verses mentioned in episode:

• Ephesians 2:10 – God created you for good works
• 2 Timothy 2:20-21 – God uses countless people for His work, not just a few
• 2 Corinthians 10:12 – Don’t compare yourself with others
• Exodus 6:1, 12 – Success is determined on God, not you

Other takeaways:

1. Advice is not as good as counsel
2. The Clarity—Confidence—Actions—Results improvement cycle
3. Results belong to God

More About David Schmidt

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[0:01] Welcome to Redeeming Business Today. This episode marks the one-year anniversary

[0:05] of the release of the first episode of this podcast. Super cool. I'm really excited. It's been a year, been a trip, and learned a lot. And so this episode, what I like to do is talk to you about a couple of things that I've learned that really super helped me, that I believe will also help you as well. And I want to dedicate this episode to one of my guests, Amanda Johnson, who is a story article whom God has used greatly to free me from the inferiority mind trap. A little background on myself. I was, I was, I still am the youngest of seven. And the story goes is when I was a baby, I would go around and my older brother, who's a year and a half older than me, would keep me out of trouble. And if I ever started doing things that I wasn't supposed to do, he would lightly tap my hand and say, no baby, no baby, no baby. And he wouldn't allow me to get into trouble and all that stuff. So that was a funny story, but I see that it's carried on throughout life because anytime I start to do things that I don't need to do or that other people are doing better, I just stop.

[1:22] And so the other thing is is that I love excellence I love doing things with excellence I don't like to waste time and I like to do things right the first time and so all these things play into my life because I'm searching and shooting to be the best at what I can do and I found that early on in my business coaching career when I would meet with successful business owners, after talking with them a little bit, I'd be like, hmm.

[1:50] How am I going to help this person? I can't help this person. And I would mentally crash and say, how can I do this? Because I'm here supposed to be a good business coach. And I don't think I can help this guy because they have their business in order. And so that, again, was that inferiority mind trap. Later on, I transferred and did a weekly blog for a while trying to work with busy dads who need more time because I'm a productivity guy. And that didn't go very well. That didn't go very far. And so I started this Redeeming Business Today podcast. I started this podcast in order to teach, encourage, equip business owners to run their business in a godly way, in a way that glorifies God. The question early on was how do we operate a profitable business and yet advance God's kingdom? I wanted to show people that it's not just good business principles, but it's also God's blessing, his relationship with God, those united make a profitable business.

[2:55] I thought I was doing something cool and unique. To me, it was. But as I was going, I started meeting these people. I started meeting these business owners who were Christians, operating their business to the glory of God, people coming to know Christ in the business, people being built up in Christ. They're advancing God's kingdom in their business. And I'm like, oh, I guess my thought wasn't so new after all. Look at all these people that are doing this. And then I meet people who are having businesses, and that's exactly what they do. They teach other people how to run a godly business. There's podcasts out there to many, many, over 100, 150 or more podcasts, Christian business podcasts out there trying to do the same thing. And so I used to crash because when I look at other people who are doing things so much better than I am doing it, have been doing it perhaps maybe 10, 15, 20 years, I say, why am I trying to do the same thing? Who am I? Why am I trying to reinvent the wheel and doing what they already do so well? I should go work for them. I'm not worthy. I basically am inferior. I'm a nobody. I'll just submit and take my place as a servant, as an employee, and just deal with it and live with it. That was the attitude I used to have.

[4:19] Amanda Johnson came along when I interviewed her about halfway through the year and she talked about in a story there is the narrator and there's the character and the character lives their story and they don't really have much in saying what's going on and they just the narrator writes what they do and the character lives however things go and I'll see you next time. She encouraged me and encouraged my audience to don't just be the narrator and mindlessly write your script. Don't be the character and just mindlessly take what's coming to you. But to be a co-author where you decide what's going to happen in your life or you decide how things are going to be re-scripted in your life. And when I looked at this and I looked at how this could apply to my life, I'm looking at this inferiority mindset, this mind trap, that whenever I see somebody doing something great, I immediately say, why should I do that? I'm not as good as they are. I'll just stop. And that's an inferiority mind trap.

[5:30] So that was the start. That was the start. But then I ran across two verses, not for the first time, but looked at them again. First of all, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, which says, you are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. Essentially, I am God's masterpiece. I am God's craftsmanship. God made me for a special purpose to do some good work, And it doesn't matter what anybody else is doing. He made me for a specific purpose. I am God's masterpiece. I am not inferior to anyone. I am not inferior to anyone because God made me exactly the way he made me, exactly the way he wanted me to be. Even if I look completely different or the same, it doesn't matter because I am God's masterpiece. I'm not my own masterpiece. piece. I'm not trying to make myself into something incredibly good.

[6:35] The second piece of the puzzle there was 2 Timothy 2, 20 and 21, which says that in a great house there are many vessels. There are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, some to honor and some are to dishonor. And he says, therefore, if a man purge himself from these, he should be a vessel unto honor, sanctified meat for the master's use, prepared unto every good work. And when I looked at that, I'm like, you know what? God doesn't just have one gold vessel, one silver vessel. He has many, many vessels. He has hundreds of vessels. He probably has thousands and millions of vessels doing similar things. I looked at also my wife. My lovely wife loves coffee mugs, and she's been collecting coffee mugs for many years right now. And she has, well, getting close to about 40 of them. And she continues to collect them. And she doesn't need any more, but she continues to get them. And even what did I get her for Mother's Day last year? I got her a coffee mug, a unique one with a unique saying on there that she never had before. And she loved it.

[7:53] In the same way, God has many vessels. I am just one of them. And he has many vessels and perhaps doing the same thing. My wife can only drink coffee out of one mug at a time, but she can drink coffee out of all of them. But when I look at my life, the things that I am doing, the things I believe God wants me to do, God has many vessels and I am just one of them. And it doesn't matter if I'm trying to reach business owners for Jesus Christ and help them live their, use their business in a profitable way, in a way that glorifies God, in a way that advances God's kingdom, even if 50 or 100 other people are doing that, that's fine. I'm doing what God wants me to do. I am not inferior to them because I'm doing what God wants me to do. Great paradigm shift in my thinking, in my life. And so that was the big lesson there.

[8:52] But then the testing came. The testing came. That mindset shift happened. And then I continued to meet these great guests, these great guests who have been doing these great works for 10, 15, 20 years. And I look at what they're doing. It's like, you know what? I really want to do that someday.

[9:11] I look at myself. I'm like, you know what? I'm doing a similar thing. Not the exact same thing, but God has me and chosen me and made me as his craftsmanship for a particular purpose, and I'm going down this route, and even if it's the exact same thing, it's okay. It's okay because I'm not trying to make myself. God is making me. This is God's work, not my own, and if other people are doing the similar thing, that's great. That shouldn't be deterrent to me, and I am not to look at myself anymore and say, woe is me. I am inferior. I can't do this. I'll just stop. That is not what God wants you to do. You are God's workmanship, and God has many vessels, and he may just have a hundred or a thousand vessels doing the exact same thing because we're all heading down a similar road.