I stink at drinking enough water each day. On the flip side, if there was a paid competition for who could regularly consume the most Dr. Pepper, I’d need to quit my day job. A common refrain on daily water consumption is that you need eight, eight-ounce glasses. Every. Single. day. That’s sixty-four ounces of tasteless torture. Like anything with our health, there are also people who argue for more than that. But here’s the point: I’m never the guy in danger of hitting my daily water quota. So I decided to buy a big ole water bottle that could hold my daily volume (See pic above. The Dr. Pepper can is just for scale. And for sadness). That bad boy holds sixty-four ounces and even keeps it chilled for me. More importantly, it serves as a visual reminder for me each day of what I need to get done for my health. After using this bottle for a little while I’ve noticed two conclusions:

1. It causes plenty of jokes at my expense. To be fair, it looks absurdly large and is borderline impossible to hold with one hand, especially when it’s full.
2. It’s caused me to increase dramatically the amount of water I drink. I don’t finish it every day, but I usually can at least get close.

I’ve been thinking more about these two outcomes, and I’ve realized how much of life is like this. There are plenty of things you wish you were better at, but you don’t know how to arrive at a different result. Maybe you’ve thought of a way to do it, but you’re unsure the reaction you’ll get when people see what you’re endeavoring. If you set an audacious goal for yourself and then have the audacity to develop an out-of-the-box way to undertake that goal, you’ll hear plenty about it. As a result, most of us don’t actually give our best effort to accomplish the things we want to, primarily out of fear of social pushback. It’s the proverbial crabs pulling each other down when one tries to escape a bucket. We try to accomplish that thing off the record where nobody is watching and there’s no commitment on the line for us. Think I’m exaggerating? I don’t, and I believe this applies to all sorts of unrelated areas.

• Like the exercise goal you have but don’t tell anyone because you’re not sure you can hit it.
• Like the theology you ascribe to based on who agrees with it, or who it does or doesn’t offend.
• Like the hobby you love spending time doing, but that would surprise most people who know you.
• Like the job you really would love to do but you can logically argue your way out of it.
• Like your passion for doing something crazy in your pursuit of Jesus that you know your friends or family won’t understand.

The primary factor in accomplishing an audacious challenge is a willingness to stand out. The pressure of the crowd is a powerful narcotic. What’s that one thing on your mind as you read this right now? It may be something small and silly like a water bottle. Or maybe it’s a God-given burden and you’re not sure what to do with it. Instead of trying to get there immediately, or discreetly, think of a step of commitment you can make that boldly states your intent to you and to others. And if you’ve fallen in love with my water bottle and want your own, here’s where I got it (evidently the black one is out of stock and is priced way higher now).

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