More Like Jesus or More Impressive? Over the Influence Ep. 3 [Podcast Transcript]

Title: More Like Jesus or More Impressive? How to Set Goals that Keep the Focus on Jesus (Over the Influence Ep. 3)

Podcast Date: October 27, 2026

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Description

How can you tell if your pursuit of a better body, better schedule, better finances, or better life is quietly pulling your focus away from Jesus? As the "Over the Influence" series continues, this episode features host Heather Creekmore discussing the differences between self-improvement, self-optimization, and scripture's self-improvement plan: sanctification.

The conversation examines the Christian messages that add Bible verses to familiar self-help promises, from “become your best self” to “invest in yourself,” and asks what those goals are really producing.

You’ll hear why Jesus isn’t a self-improvement hack, why transformation means becoming new rather than simply polishing the old self, and how goals can lead either toward Christlikeness or deeper self-focus. The episode also offers five practical questions to help you evaluate your goals, including:

• Who is the source of this improvement?
  
  
• What is the real goal?
  
  
• How are you measuring success?
  
  
• What results are your goals producing?
  
  
• Is your focus turning inward or overflowing into love for others?
  
  

Listen for a fresh perspective on body image, productivity, discipline, and the pressure to become an ideal version of yourself. You’ll leave with a clearer way to recognize whether your growth plan is producing pride and burnout or humility, freedom, and greater dependence on Jesus.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is AI-generated and has not been edited for accuracy or clarity.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:03]:

Hey friend, Heather Creekmore here. Thanks for listening to the Compared To podcast today. Okay, you've seen the memes, you've watched the reels. You know, there's the guy who wakes up at 3:47 AM before the sun to get a head start on the competition, and he drinks a gallon of water and he takes an ice bath and he posts about it before anyone else is awake to see it. Or then there's the biohackers that have their red light therapy and mouth tape removal and 14 supplements. A tablespoon of raw butter in their coffee. Beef. I mean, there's so many different ways that you can self-optimize or life optimize now, right? Maybe you've heard you're in the main character era where you are supposed to be all about you getting it done, making life happen, making life great.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:55]:

And it isn't all Culture. I mean, there's Christian influencers selling you the planner on how to make your life better and how to work out better and do it all for Jesus. I mean, we just kind of add a Bible verse to it. Friends, this language, this concept, this pressure, let's just call it that, is everywhere. And we're in a series called Over the Influence. And today I want us to ask a question. Is it actually possible to be focused on self-optimization and still focused on Jesus? Can I grow in ways that look great and still be fully centered on Christ? Or does great-looking growth tend to quietly drift me away from Jesus? That's where we're going today. We've been talking about how we're influenced.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:52]:

We talked about last time how to be Spirit-led. Today we're asking, what that influence is actually doing to us. I'm glad you're here for it. I hope you are too. Hey, if you've not been to our site yet, go visit improvebodyimage.com and you can find out all about the great resources we have, from YouVersion free Bible reading plans to books to programs and coaching. I love working with women. We love encouraging women to find freedom in body image and food and Marriage struggles, you name it, we can be a support for you. So learn everything we have available to you at improvebodyimage.com.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:32]:

Now let's get to today's show. Okay, so we're in this series called Over the Influence, and we've talked about— let's just be real, we're all influenced. We talked about how we're influenced Really from childhood, and now we're influenced by our peers and social media. I mean, influences are everywhere. And then last week we talked about the difference between being influenced, living a life under the influence, if you will, and being Spirit-led. And we talked also about what that even means to be Spirit-led, how you can live a Spirit-led life. So if you missed either of those 2 episodes, go back, check 'em out, the last 2 episodes. And Then you'll be ready for where we're going today.

Heather Creekmore [00:03:22]:

And today we're talking about what are these messages that we are absorbing? What are they subtly or even overtly doing to us? Like, there's a Christian twist that's so nuanced and so confusing here. And this is something that kept me stuck for a long time because I really believed it. I don't know that I heard it taught anywhere. Maybe I did. But I don't specifically remember hearing it taught anywhere. But I felt like it was my responsibility as a Christian woman to make sure that I had a better body, to make sure that I looked good for Jesus. Now, it wasn't really looking good for Jesus. I knew that's not actually what he expected of me, but I needed to look good for Jesus to be a good witness and example of him.

Heather Creekmore [00:04:10]:

Like, how could I be a great testimony for Jesus if I didn't look Great. And so if you've heard self-improvement messages with a little twist of Jesus, like, you're not alone. They're everywhere. We've been told over and over again that we should be better so that we can be a better Christian or a better witness. Like, it's like getting every— all of my ducks in a row, getting everything in order, making my life better will make me a better Christian. But my question for you today is, is this: does all this focus on ourselves actually lead us into the holy work of sanctification, which I would argue is the Bible's self-improvement plan? Or does it trap us somewhere else? The confusing thing, frankly, is these aren't bad things, and that's where it's so tricky. If the messages were leading us to do clearly evil things, clear things that are in opposition to God's word, then we wouldn't even be tempted by it. Most likely it would be super obvious that these are bad things and these will take us off track and they will lead us away from Jesus.

Heather Creekmore [00:05:33]:

But here's the thing, they're good things by and large, and culture tells us improving these things will have a great payoff, right? Culture says things like you're gonna be happier, you'll have fulfillment and peace once you get your life in order and once you get your schedule in order and your money in order and just get the right routine and the right mindset. And there is some truth there. It's not all a lie. There's some truth there. Or maybe you've heard this one, you owe it to yourself, right? Invest in yourself. You deserve your best life. And it's like, well, I don't know. Do I deserve my best life? Huh? That kind of sounds reasonable.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:18]:

It sounds appealing. Invest in myself. Well, I mean, I don't know. Does What else should I invest in that kind of makes sense to me? Or become your best self. Or this one, oh goodness, inside of you there's a better version of you, you just haven't found it yet or gotten it to come out. But if you could just get this better you to come out, then you'd be your best self and then life would be awesome. The messages are about like your success depending on you getting better and outworking everyone and leveling up. And if you could just be admired, then, whoo, then you'd have like the status and attention to make you feel happier, and you'd be in control.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:00]:

Oh, we love control. If we optimize enough, then we can manage our anxiety, we can avoid regret, we can engineer outcomes in any area of life as long as we stay in enough control. Or maybe you've heard this one: you'll attract the right people if you become the kind of person that you to be with, then you will attract that kind of person. I remember that one from my single days, right? There's so many of these mantras going around where we can create for ourselves a pretty compelling case that it is really important that I work on being a better me. That should be my goal. But notice Almost every reason that I just rattled through for self-improvement has something in common, right? It's my happiness, my worth, my success, my image, my control. Or the Christian version just often adds like, so I can be a better Christian. But in reality, we're kind of chasing the same things the world is chasing.

Heather Creekmore [00:08:09]:

It's self-improvement for the sake of Self, for the sake of my— fill in your favorite word here. And let's contrast that with scripture's reasons for growth. Okay, so scripture instructs us to grow through a process called sanctification, and we can talk about that more in just a minute. But the reason for the growth is to become like Jesus. It's Christ-likeness. Check out Romans 8:29. Or we're to grow to become more like Jesus. Why? Not for my own glory, but for God's glory.

Heather Creekmore [00:08:46]:

Matthew 5:16. I am to become more like Jesus. I'm to become more Christlike so that I can love and serve others better. From Ephesians 4:11-16. And so that I can be useful to God. 2 Timothy 2:21. Culture's list points inward so I can have a better me, but the Bible's list points outward and ends with me doing what scripture calls me to do, which is loving God and loving others well. You see, the Bible doesn't talk about self-improvement in the same way culture does.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:26]:

But before we get to that, like, if you're like, but yes it does, Heather, like, I know the verses, I've heard it. You're, you're right. I have seen Christians twist the message of scripture into a self-improvement message over and over again. In fact, that's kind of why I started doing this in the first place, is because I saw a popular— I don't really feel like I need the word or air quotes around the word Christian here, but I saw a popular air quote Christian teacher on church stages telling women that they needed more pride to feel better about their bodies. And it drove me nuts because I thought, that is not the answer to Christians who struggle with body image issues. Having more pride is never the way out. I write about this in my 40-Day Body Image Workbook if you're interested in learning more. But pride is sin, and there is no possible way that getting better at sin is going to lead to freedom.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:30]:

We know that sin leads to— Well, Death is what scripture says. Not life, not joy, not peace, not rest. And so one of these Christian reasons for self-improvement is really what led me to write my first book, Compared to Who, and to do this podcast. So if you're saying, Heather, I've seen these out there, yes, I've seen them too. But Jesus didn't come to make us better people. The Bible talks about us being transformed, renewed, sanctified. Conformed to the image of Christ, it never frames ourselves or our bodies as a project to polish or finish or improve. In fact, scripture talks about the old self being put away, like put to death, and we're getting a brand new self.

Heather Creekmore [00:11:21]:

It's not about making the old self spiffied up. And that's in Ephesians 4, if you're interested. But I know you've heard it. I know you've heard verses like Paul says, press toward the goal, from Philippians 3:12-14, as like Paul says we should have goals and look at your goal and just press towards your weight loss goal or press toward your time management or financial or career goal. But friend, like, that's not what Paul's talking about in Philippians 3:12-14. He's not talking about self-improvement goals. He's talking about responding to the call of Christ, not chasing an ideal. Look at the goal.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:00]:

The goal is becoming like Jesus. We're already held by Jesus. We're supposed to press into him. It's not about self-improvement. There's another popular one. I've heard this one recently, even 2 Peter 1:5-8. And Peter says, he says these words, make every effort. And, oh, maybe you've heard this as like a whole teaching on you should make every effort.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:22]:

You should work hard. You've got to work hard at being the best stew and doing all the things. But really, if you read the rest of that, like, little passage there, Peter's telling us, like, to add virtue to our faith. He's talking about growing in spiritual maturity. But then what's so interesting here is if you go back to verse 3, oh, he adds additional context. It's actually not our effort. It's that God's power has already granted what we need, and any effort we give is just a response to his grace. It's not about trying Really, really, really hard to be a better person.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:01]:

In fact, I'd say like there's a Christian version of self-focus too. Self-focus can just wear spiritual clothes. Like, God wants you to be happy and successful. Like, having a better quiet time is a productivity hack because if you have good quiet time, then the whole rest of your day is gonna go smoother. Or boundaries. Oh goodness. Like, uh, maybe no is my best Yes, I think that's the way it is, right? But boundaries used as a license to avoid sacrifice, like, well, I can't do that because that will cost me something. And without the added element of being Spirit-led, right, like, that's where we're gonna default.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:45]:

Of course. Christian books Or self— they can be self-help. Here's how to get skinny and just throw a couple Bible verses in there. They've got a Christian veneer. It seems legit. But in just a minute, we're going to talk through like how you can decide whether or not the way you're being influenced is leading you towards becoming more like Jesus, towards sanctification, or towards self-improvement. Because remember, Matthew 16:24-25 gives us this paradox that if we really want to find life, we lose it. And boundaries and exercise and weight loss, they're like, no, there's nothing wrong with any of those things, right? Jesus withdrew to rest and pray.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:35]:

And 1 Timothy 4:7-8 tells us like bodily training is of some value, but we have to be careful not to take these verses out of context and make them a justification for being influenced by the world instead of transformed by God's word. So in just a minute, I'm going to give you a list, and it's a filter of sorts for you to run your goals and self-improvement projects through so you can just be clear about what they are and who they're serving. Again, I'm not saying they're all bad, but I just don't want us to miss the meat here. And the meat here is that what Jesus does in our lives is he transforms us. And friend, I was following Jesus, or thought I was following Jesus, for, let's call it, 30 years before this concept became really clear to me. And once it did, I felt like God kind of gave me this illustration, and that helped solidify it even more. I wrote a blog post on it, oh, probably 12 or 15 years ago, but I called it a coffee meat Christian because that's who I was. I believed that I was kind of the dark coffee, right? Like my depravity, my humanness was the dark coffee.

Heather Creekmore [00:16:08]:

And what I needed to make the dark coffee better was Jesus, right? Of course. Like, that's what we believe. Mm-hmm. But I'm a bleh, dark, unsweet person. And Jesus comes along as this sweet cream or salted caramel, delicious liquid. I'm making some of you thirsty right now, I know. But you add the Jesus cream to my black coffee and I become a delicious new drink. I am a coffee that is sweeter and tastier and better.

Heather Creekmore [00:16:42]:

And now I'm delicious. It's bleh me plus Jesus. As if Jesus was kind of a self-improvement hack. Jesus made me better. That's probably what I would have told you if you asked for my testimony. Jesus made me better. I was okay, but then Jesus made me great. And I lived my life in a way that reflected that.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:06]:

It was compartmentalized. It was, I have my regular life and then I have the Christian things that I do. And that was kind of how I lived. There wasn't really this wholeheartedness to my life. It wasn't that Jesus had taken the old and put it to death and transformed me. It was just me with some Jesus sprinkled on top. But friend, that's not the gospel, because like I said, the gospel completely transforms us. The old man is Dead.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:42]:

Like dead. The dead man isn't like doing a whole lot, right? He's dead. Or she's dead. The old is dead and we become new. Instead of adding Jesus like a bit of delicious creamer or cold foam, what Jesus does is he takes our dark coffee and he turns it into something that you can't even recognize, like orange juice or red wine or, or something that coffee could just never become by adding an ingredient. He completely Changes us. The old man, the sin flesh nature must die. That's the black coffee.

Heather Creekmore [00:18:19]:

Black coffee gone so that the new self, our new creation, our new creature in Christ is completely new, not just a pretty, prettied up version of the old us. And I think this is especially hard for anyone who was raised in a Christian home, raised around church a lot. It feels It feels like it's easier, and I could be wrong on this, but it feels like it's easier for those who maybe have a really distinct line in their story where I was like this before and I'm like this now since I've met Jesus. That was my husband's story. He met Jesus in the Marine Corps, over in a tent in the desert. And I remember after we got married, one of the wives of someone that was in his squadron stopped me at the commissary, the grocery store on base, and told me, she's like, your husband is a completely different person than the person we knew 5 years ago. Like, I can tell that he is just not the same anymore. And I thought that was so cool.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:38]:

I mean, honestly, it scared me a little bit. I was like, ooh, I wonder who he was before. Because I didn't know him then. but a completely new person. Whereas for me, growing up in church and Christian schools, and I didn't really have this time and space where I could say like, oh, I was like this before and now I'm like this after. And I think that created a sort of complacency in my life around my spiritual walk. It was just to make me better. It was a self-improvement hack.

Heather Creekmore [00:20:09]:

And that's not what the gospel is. And like I said, it wasn't until I was in my 30s that I really recognized, no, no, no, that is not what the Bible teaches. I have to be completely transformed, completely made new. And so I hope that's helpful to you as you think about anything you are influenced to try in the self-improvement realm. I want you to think about what real transformation is, because we talk about idolatry a lot on this show. But I feel like the promise of so many of these hacks and tricks and products that we are influenced to try or buy, the promise is that they will transform us, right? I can try this weight loss plan, it will transform my body, and therefore it will transform my life. Now again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with weight loss, and you might feel better, there might be some benefit, you might feel Some transformation. What I'm saying is it's not going to be the deep spiritual transformation, first of all, that we all long for and need, but it's not going to be as comprehensive as the marketing promises it will be.

Heather Creekmore [00:21:21]:

It just can't be. That is reserved for what Jesus alone does in our lives. And like we said at the beginning, it does become confusing because we think, well, Jesus wants me to be better in all of these areas. Like maybe it's God's will that I put a lot of effort into changing my body and changing my time management and changing my financial status and changing the way my house is organized. Because again, those aren't bad things. But I think the problem is for us is we lose our focus. We forget which change will actually bring us life and which change will, you know, perhaps make our schedules or days a little easier. We confuse God's holy work of sanctification and transformation with our own goals of just being better, building a better life for ourselves here on the earth.

Heather Creekmore [00:22:22]:

So how do I tell the difference between God's version of self-improvement and the world's version of self-improvement? Well, I'm going to give you a framework here. There are some questions that you can ask so that you can tell who is behind this initiative. Let's put it like that. Okay, first question is this: who is the source of this improvement? Who am I depending on to get it done? Is it my own willpower and self-discipline, or Is this me daily asking the Holy Spirit to work in my life to develop or cultivate this in my life? Because remember, the fruit of the Spirit is that list of things that every believer can and should exhibit because of the way the Spirit is working on us. So if the main source of your self-improvement is you, friend, God wants to do more than that. Let him work. Question 2, what is the goal of my self-improvement? Is the goal so that I can be optimized and impressive, or more comfortable? Or is the goal Christlikeness? And back to that fruit, do I even care about having the fruit of the Spirit? Am I going to be more loving of my neighbor? Will I love God more if I accomplish this goal? Or is this goal going to really subtly, probably, make me more proud, perhaps even less loving to my neighbor? Because now I've got that thing that I wanted and I've made myself better, and so now I'm just better. Ah! Question 3: How am I measuring my success? The world's self-improvement goals are often measured In comparison.

Heather Creekmore [00:24:19]:

I'm doing better than her. Oh, still have some room to grow so I can do better than her. Or maybe in metrics that I created, like, well, my goal is I should weigh this much and my children should accomplish this much and my title should be this and I should make this much money. Like, it's this list of things that I need and, and measuring myself against. But God's sanctification Oh goodness, it's so intangible because it's measured in how my faith grows. Am I becoming more faithful? Am I becoming more trusting of him? Am I leaning on him more? Am I growing in obedience to him? Am I becoming faster at letting the Holy Spirit lead me when he prompts me? Am I listening to that still small voice and doing as he says? That is God's measure of success as he sanctifies us. Number 4, what are the results of my goals? Am I looking for self-improvement, self-optimization goals that often lead to pride or even burnout? Like, honestly, I think this is why we go on and off of weight loss plans, because too often they're just self-improvement goals. We're doing it for us.

Heather Creekmore [00:25:35]:

And then we burn out, we run out of steam, we get frustrated and we can't make it happen. But if our goals are Christ-centered and in pursuit of making me a holier woman who looks like Jesus— now hear me, I'm not saying, oh, okay, well, I'm just gonna go on a diet and I'm gonna call it Christ-centered. That's, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying God's sanctification process in me is my goal. Weight loss, body transformation, all these other things are secondary to that goal. And as I pursue Christ, as I pursue him making me a holier woman, I can lean into, okay, Jesus, you're developing the fruit of the Spirit in my life. You are making me more loving. You are cultivating a holiness in me.

Heather Creekmore [00:26:21]:

Now help all these other messy areas of my life. Help my time management. Help my money management. Help me to know how to rightly handle food and exercise. And as I am completely surrendered to him with the primary goal of becoming more like him, all those secondary goals— Should result in humility, not in pride, right? Even if I reach my weight loss goal and I'm the most organized person on the planet, I will be humble in the results because it was Jesus that did the work in and through me. It wasn't my effort. It wasn't my white-knuckling, my discipline, my willpower. You should see how many things I turned down and said no to so that I could make this body happen.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:10]:

Friend, that is That's not Christlikeness. And it's actually not where freedom is because, oh goodness, when it all depends on me, I can be crushed under the pressure of that. I am stressed about that. And then I ask, I have to hold onto it, right? And that's a lot of pressure too. Like I made this thing happen and now I've gotta keep this high-powered job. I've gotta keep this amount of money in my bank account. I gotta keep this weight. Stress, stress, stress.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:36]:

It's all on me. It's all on me. Instead of, no, I am surrendered. I am trusting God with every step here. This is work he's doing in and through me. It's a lifelong process and I can rest in him. And then number 5, what direction is this goal taking me in? My self-improvement goals, if they're of the world, are going to push my focus inward. And all you have to do is just be honest with your friend, with yourself, friend.

Heather Creekmore [00:28:04]:

Like, do you stop and spiral into thoughts about yourself and how you look and what others think about how you look and what you're doing, and if you're doing good or if you're doing bad, or how well you're doing or how you should do better. Oh friend, that was my internal dialogue forever, so I know it, I get it. But that's the trap of self-improvement, right? It's not freedom. Or do my goals have an outward overflow? In the sanctification process, we are learning more to become like Jesus, which is to become more loving. And the growth that happens to us through sanctification makes me more available to others instead of less available to others. And I mean mentally, like I'm actually able to show up in a room, ask people questions about themselves, and care. And that sounds cold, but some of you, you know exactly what I mean. Oh friend, we're so self-focused, it's hard to care.

Heather Creekmore [00:29:03]:

And that's the trap of self-improvement, whereas sanctification has the opposite goal: to make me think about and love others more. And finally, the big question is, is this goal about trying to look more like Jesus or trying to look more like the ideal me? I mean, we're all shaping ourselves toward some picture of who we want to be. But the question for the Christian woman is, who drew that picture? Is that picture about being more like Jesus, or is that picture about being more like someone whose body or life you admire? And we do an exercise in the 40-Day Body Image Workbook about ideal image. I talk a lot about that. I also talk about these ideals in my book called The Comparison-Free Life, which really— it was called The Burden of Better first when it was first published, and fits perfectly with what we're talking about today. But you can go check out the book The Comparison-Free Life, and in that book I talk about how our ideals always become our idols. Anything that you long for is going to demand affection, attention, and worship. And so, friend, if your growth plan is about this ideal you— oh, that's the work we do in coaching all the time, is helping you see that ideal you as the idol that it is and really find freedom in putting those ideals to death so that you can become who Jesus has created you to be and wants you to be and find the freedom and rest.

Heather Creekmore [00:30:53]:

just there, of thriving as the person that he created you to be and taking the pressure off from trying to be this ideal self. I mean, friends, I work with women ages 50 and up. I work with women of all ages, but it, it's just especially compelling when I talk to women who are in their 60s or 70s. And they come to me because they've been chasing this thing for 30, 40, 50, even 60 years trying to be the ideal them. And they're getting on the other side of, do we call it a hill? I don't know. That doesn't sound very nice. or polite, but they're getting past midlife towards their final seasons. And they're saying, I've been chasing this thing for so long and I can't catch it.

Heather Creekmore [00:31:39]:

I can't reach it. And I'm wondering, have I missed it? Was there more to life all this time? And we go through a process, right? Because it's hard to come to that place and feel like you wasted time or feel just discouraged that you've been doing something so long and it hasn't worked, of course. And so we go through how to, you know, God is so gracious to redeem those years the locust has eaten is what scripture says. But we talk about what to do with those feelings, but then also that it's never too late to start chasing him. I was just reading this morning the parable of the folks who were hired to tend the garden or tend the vineyard, I guess it was. And remember Remember, Jesus pays those workers that were hired last the same as he pays the workers that were hired first, right? It's never, ever too late to start walking in grace and trying to become more like him. Whatever amount of life you have left, he wants to use it. And self-optimization, self-improvement culture's way, again, There's some healthy, helpful things tucked in there, but we are so influenced to make that the main thing.

Heather Creekmore [00:33:04]:

We are so influenced to let those goals and principles and rules lead us instead of allowing Jesus and what he wants to do in and through us to be the main thing. And so today, as we close, the question I want to leave you with is, Which path are you on? Are you on the world's self-improvement path, believing the lie that you can hack everything, you can self-optimize, you can create for yourself a life you will love that will satisfy you? Or do you believe that God's kingdom— upside-down kingdom, remember— you believe that God's sanctification is really where rest and freedom are found, that becoming more like Jesus is where you are gonna find more peace and joy, and that's where you're gonna find life. When you lay down your life, that's when you're going to find life. Let me leave you with a couple questions here. Ask yourself about your goals. Could I achieve this goal without Jesus? If you can achieve it without Jesus, friend, it's self-improvement the world's way. Where did my picture of better come from? Did it come from my feed? Oh, or does my picture of better come from the Bible? Oh, here's a hard one. If God asked me to give this up, or if giving this up made me look worse by the world's standards, would I still pursue it? Oh, that's a hard one, friend.

Heather Creekmore [00:34:40]:

One more. Is this goal making me more loving and humble, or is this self-improvement goal making me more impressed with myself? And then finally, who gets the credit when it works, and who do I blame when it doesn't? I'm going to put all these questions in the show notes so you can go back and reflect on them later, but friend, this is your homework for the week. Spend some time journaling if you're a journaler, or just even writing out the answers to these questions. Now, here's what I say all the time in coaching. A lot of us don't like to write things out. We'd rather just sit with them in our heads, stir it in our heads. Like, I'll just think about it in my head and that'll count. But friend, there is something powerful that happens when you write down your answer.

Heather Creekmore [00:35:33]:

It's like it commits it to being true and you have to go back and read it and you're like, oh, that's what I actually think. That's what I actually believe. And that's when more change can happen. So friend, I'm gonna put these questions in the show notes again. Print it out and journal, sit with them, write your answers out this week. Just thinking about these things isn't how you change. You actually have to act. And if you wanna work with someone, reach out, uh, improvebodyimage.com.

Heather Creekmore [00:36:03]:

Go to the Work With Me page. I have space for maybe one more client this month. Um, Tara is working with clients. She's fantastic. She was once Just like you listening to the podcast. And she and I have been working together for years, and now she's been coaching for a few years, and she does a great job. So go to improvebodyimage.com, and we're happy to walk through this with you too. Hey, thanks for listening today.

Heather Creekmore [00:36:29]:

Next time is going to be our last episode in this Over the Influence series, and we're going to talk about wisdom versus knowledge. We've got so much knowledge, right? I mean, oh goodness, anything you want to know at the tip of your finger. But what does scripture tell us about wisdom, and how are those 2 things different? That's where we're going next week. I am so glad that you were here today. If this was helpful to you, will you share it with a friend or even leave us a review? Those encourage us. They help Apple and Spotify know which episodes and which shows to show to people that are just searching around for something to listen to. That would just be a great encouragement if you would. Throw us a like, make sure you follow, uh, make sure you star depending on what app you're on.

Heather Creekmore [00:37:12]:

Um, but leave a review, even a written review, that would be really encouraging to us. Thanks again for listening today. I hope something today has helped you stop comparing and start living. Bye-bye. The Compared To Podcast is proud to be part of the Life Audio Podcast Network. For more great Christian podcasts, go to lifeaudio.com.