Connecting Your Business Plan with Your Purpose
We don’t have a personal life and a professional life; we have ONE life and we have to make it count!
Are you doing what you love for a living? Do your professional endeavors and entrepreneurial ventures reflect God’s purpose for your life? How do the mission and vision for your business align with God’s mission and vision for your life?
In the Western world, we spend most of our time at work. Our careers consume over half of our lives! We spend too much time at work not to enjoy it. So, it’s critical that what we spend most of our waking hours doing, for most of our lives, is also spiritually edifying.
But, most of us have heard the unfortunate results of studies from Harvard Business School, The Gallup Poll, and other leading research organizations, reporting that Americans are consistently dissatisfied with their jobs and careers. The Gallup Poll’s recent studies have found that 70 percent of those who participated described themselves as “disengaged” from their work. This is unacceptable - - particularly for those of us who are ambassadors for Christ.
We don’t have a personal life and a professional life; we have ONE life and we have to make it count. So, how do we make our lives count through our entrepreneurial pursuits? As always, the answer is found in the Word of God. The Bible says “where there is no revelation, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18; AMP). One revelation is the importance of having a Biblical foundation for your professional and commercial endeavors.
Business people don’t plan to fail; they simply fail to follow God’s Plan
I am a planner at heart. I grew up in Dayton, Ohio in a Christian household and in my uncle’s church. I also grew up hearing the mantra of “Go to school to get a good job.” And, so I began developing and executing my educational pursuits and career plan. My plans. I have had the pleasure of serving in leadership roles with Fortune 500 companies and esteemed academic institutions and I am also blessed to be an entrepreneur. I have often served in a strategic planning capacity in my career and my firm develops business plans to help companies and non-profits pivot and thrive during these unprecedented times. Business Plans. But, along the way, God has taught me that my professional endeavors are not about me; they are all about Him and His sovereign Kingdom Agenda. His Plans.
Now, you might be saying: Well, Shelette, that all sounds good, but I’m not even sure of what my purpose is, let alone, how to align it with my profession! Good point. Read on for a few ways to uncover your God-given purpose and connect it with your profession.
Steps for Connecting Your Business Plan With Your Purpose
You are never too young, nor too old, to identify and pursue your God-given purpose. Following are a few practical suggestion and pragmatic ways to uncover your purpose and align it with your business imperatives:
Begin from Within: Pray to the God and ask Him for wisdom to understand the purpose and plan He has for you and your business plans (James 1:5; Jeremiah 29:11).
Recognize the Clues: The Bible says that we are all blessed with gifts (Romans 12:4-8) and that we are to stir up the gifts that are within us (2 Timothy 1:6)! What is it that you do so well that you are always getting complimented on? What are your passions? The goal is to make sure that you are incorporating your natural skill sets, talents, interests, and abilities into your entrepreneurial ventures.
Quench Your Thirst: Jesus says: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink (John 7:37, NKJV). What do you thirst for spiritually? Intellectually? Creatively? That thirst is not to be ignored. Identify your areas of thirst and make sure that you are quenching them through your business endeavors.
Leave a Positive Lasting Legacy: Corrie ten Boom, the late Christian Holocaust survivor, said: The measure of a life is not its duration, but its donation. Aligning your business plan with your purpose positions you to leave a positive lasting donation, or legacy, in your family, in the community, and in the world. Now, my friend, go forth and connect your business plan with your purpose and enjoy the journey!
Related articles
——
[ Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash ]