Extensive research among Olympians has identified seven common personality traits of most elite athletes (high performance-type people). High organizational ability is one of them. It gives them structure and helps them figure out what needs to be done when.

“W.I.N.” (What’s Important Now) shapes their thinking. And good self-reminders populate all the time.

How do you create structure in your day (or do you simply let others structure the majority of it for you)? How do you remind yourself of what’s important, of what must be done today?

One crucial but oft overlooked way is to let God’s Word remind and stimulate you. Its prompts are amazingly valuable and beneficial, insightful and wise. The more often Scripture is deeply, daily read, the better.

And what happens if you and I don’t? 2 Peter 3 gives us some clues, a “nasty nine.”

• Doubt will start to dominate (2 Peter 3:3-7).
• Coming consequences (judgment) will seem imaginary, not inevitable (2 Peter 3:7,10-12).
• Overall perspective will get wacky (2 Peter 3:8,10-13, 15).
• God will seem distant and slow (2 Peter 3:9).
• God’s promises will be forgotten, sidelined, benched (2 Peter 3:10,13).
• Living life with a good sense of urgency will be lost (2 Peter 3:14).
• Living in right relationship with God will seem irrelevant (2 Peter 3:14).
• Playing good defense, being vigilant and always on guard, will seem pointless (2 Peter 3:17).
• Insecurity in life will rise (2 Peter 3:17).

Reflect: Are you being routinely stimulated to wholesome thinking? Are you getting enough Bible intake to live wisely, with the end in mind? Are you suffering from any of the “nasty nine”? What mental or organizational adjustment(s) need to be made in order to get more daily wins?

A prayer to consider: LORD, fill my days with great thoughts and sound structure. Don’t let me succumb to the “nasty nine.” Your Word Is such a good gift. Keep feeding me the truth and reminding me by your Spirit of the wholesome thinking I need in order to get wins every day.