The power of imaginary hula hoops

The Health Growth Letters is a weekly publication of tips, frameworks, and lessons to help you build a more balanced life based on faith, health, and wellness. If you’ve been forwarded this email, you can subscribe here.

What’s on the agenda:

• A Verse

• A Lesson

• A Puzzle

A verse:

After years of being led by judges and prophets, people chosen and empowered by God to do miraculous things, the Israelites request a king.

This wasn’t just about government. It was about identity. What they were really saying was “we’re tired of waiting on God”, “we want to look like everyone else”, and “we’d rather follow strength we can see than faith we can’t”.

It was a rejection of God as their king and leader.

God warned them that there would be a cost to having a physical king. That the king would take their sons for war, their daughters for labor, their fields and flocks for food, and their freedom

But they didn’t care. Fear and comparison shouted louder than wisdom and trust.

This story isn’t just about Israel—it’s about us.

The Israelites' fatal mistake wasn't just asking for a king—it was why they wanted one. They wanted a king because it’s what everyone else had. This desire rose from a fear and insecurity, comparison, and a broken vision of what really mattered.

In seasons of uncertainty, we do the same thing: we look for objectives, targets, and “kings” who are ruling over the people around us and often want those same things to be a part of our lives.

“If only I had a successful career like him.”

“If only I had a spouse or a family like them.”

“If only I had the financial support they had, I’d be better off now.”

We look at the things that rule over, or are the guiding force over others’ lives, we see the benefits, and we want it for ourselves.

These aren’t “bad” desires, but they’re bad if they become rulers over your life.

What “King” are you serving or desiring?

There are many “kings” in the world that we get caught up serving. The “king” of wealth, status, comfort… We look at these things as the things that, if we put our trust in, will eventually give us the life, protection, and fulfillment we want, but they ultimately cost us our peace and fulfillment.

My question to you today is, what ruler, or authority, are you serving or chasing after simply because others do it and say it’s valuable?

A lesson: the imaginary hula hoop

You may or may not know this about me, but I was a relatively good tennis player. I started playing as a little kid and continued through college, where I played at Palm Beach Atlantic, where we won the NCCAA D2 National Championship.

My tennis career ended when I transferred schools, and the program I was joining didn’t have any scholarship money left for the year (transferred mid-year).

In response, I transitioned to coaching and took the principles I learned and helped kids apply them on the court and in life.

One of those lessons came back to mind yesterday as I played for the first time in a while.

The hula hoop target.

What is the hula hoop target?

Regardless of how good you are or how specific it is, you have a target, a place you are trying to hit the ball.

That target is pretty far away! A tennis court is 78 feet long, so your target is anywhere from 60-90 feet away, and you’re trying to hit a moving ball to that location.

Accuracy can be challenging.

But the trick I was taught early on was “hit the ball through an imaginary hula hoop over the net.”

This imaginary hula hoop does a few things:

1. It makes you visualize a target rather than just thinking about one

2. It brings your target closer to you, so you’re less likely to miss

The result: more accurate shots

The benefits of using the hula hoop strategy in real life

Imagining a hula hoop to hit through in tennis improves accuracy and forces you to create specificity around your goals. The same is true in life.

1) Defining ambitious targets

We often think we have big dreams and goals, but we can’t define them to anyone.

“I want to make a lot of money” isn’t a goal.

“I want to make X amount of money, so that I can comfortably do X, Y, and Z in my free time without worrying about money” is a goal.

The first is a directional goal. It clearly defines which side of the court you want to hit the ball towards, but the second is a “distinct goal” or target. It clearly defines whether you hit your target or missed.

I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish in life. Maybe you’re trying to save for retirement, or build a business, or maybe you’re just trying to create more free time. Regardless of your goal, think about what trying to accomplish, and then pick a closer point that leads to that outcome (the hula hoop).

2) Consistent success creates momentum

When the target is closer, it’s easier to hit.

Here is a non-tennis example that might help. Have you ever been out for a long run, struggled, and told yourself, “if I just get to that tree ahead, then I can walk”, only to get there and continue to set new, closer targets.

This “hula hoop strategy” breaks big problems into small achievable goals, and as a result, you end up being able to run the whole time.

This works in real life, too.

We often look at our goals, know the steps, but don’t find “hula hoops” to shoot through.

We want to make $250K a year, but we don’t outline ways to get from $100k to $125K.

As a result, the journey gets long, more vague, and less likely to be achieved.

Building Hula Hoop Targets

I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, but maybe you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My action for you is to stop looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and turn on a flashlight instead. Identify the next steps in front of you, and make progress through that step.

By hitting short-term goals that align with your longer-term goals and targets, you’ll be both more accurate and get there more quickly.

A Puzzle:

A rebus is a puzzle that uses pictures, symbols, and/or letters to represent words or parts of words. The challenge of the puzzle is to decipher the hidden meaning behind the symbols and solve the puzzle.

Here’s this week’s puzzle:

The answer will be given in next week’s letter.

The answer to last week’s puzzle was “Against all odds”.