We continue to count down the Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs with…

It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work

by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Long hours, an excessive workload, and a lack of sleep have become a badge of honor for modern professionals. But it should be a mark of stupidity, the authors argue. Sadly, this isn’t just a problem for large organizations—individuals, contractors, and solopreneurs are burning themselves out the same way. The answer to better productivity isn’t more hours—it’s less waste and fewer things that induce distraction and persistent stress.

It’s time to stop celebrating Crazy, and start celebrating Calm, Fried and Hansson assert.

Fried and Hansson have the proof to back up their argument. “Calm” has been the cornerstone of their company’s culture since Basecamp began twenty years ago. Destined to become the management guide for the next generation, It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work is a practical and inspiring distillation of their insights and experiences. It isn’t a book telling you what to do. It’s a book showing you what they’ve done—and how any manager or executive no matter the industry or size of the company, can do it too.

Click on the book cover to check out the Reviews and Purchase at Amazon

This content was originally published here out of Seattle Pacific University’s Initiative called Faith & Co. This is the one of many that we share as their business documentaries are world-class! Beyond videos, they also offer an open online course and a group study guide.

— by Faith & Co.

How do you meld the messy lives of real people with the exacting precision of highly-automated manufacturing?

Camcraft is a family-owned, precision-manufacturing company in Chicago with a mission “to glorify God.” They have learned to thrive in a competitive market by using automation to grow the company AND enlarge and improve people’s jobs.  Their commitment to people is reinforced by involving them in decision-making and their holistic approach to supporting employees’ lives.

Watch their film, People Can, filmed by Untamed, below!

— by Katie Adkins

Faith does more than just intersect with work. Faith fuels our work. Work is meaningless without faith because God created work and allows us to be His instruments in this world. He continuously reminds me that I cannot work without Him. 

God has given me a passion for His work in our work. I love using the knowledge and skills that God gives me to help others discover their God-given talents, passion, and purpose. As a coach, I have the pleasure of seeing God work in and through my clients’ work and lives. 

I recently had the pleasure of coaching a talented, driven woman who has a goal of becoming a lawyer. She was stuck and needed help processing in order to move forward towards her goal. I asked her questions to help her better understand her passions and circumstances. After we processed through her values and goals, she was re-energized and came up with a next step to move her towards her goal. She realized that she needed a reminder of why she desired to become an attorney. At the end of our call, she committed to writing out her “why reminder” and reads it when she gets stuck. This reminder would motivate her to continue to study for the LSAT. 

I was blown away when she sent me her “why reminder” two hours after our coaching call. Below is part of her “why” reminder.

“When things get hard, remember how much you value justice. Remember that feeling you get when you see a wrong made right. Remember the joy that fills your belly when you remember how much God is a God of justice. Remember how many people you would be reflecting Christ to in the future. Think about how much glory God will get from your life in your work. Although you are not your future career, God can use your future career to bring people to Him through you. He can use you to be a light…Christ is a mediator, counselor, helper, intercessor, and an advocate! This is a good and godly career. God is honored by it. Keep going.”

Her “why reminder” motivated me to write my reminder below:

“When things get hard, remember God is with you and equips you to work. Remember that He calls you to ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (Joshua 1:9). Remember the joy you feel when you see others realize that their work has dignity because God allows us to be His representatives. Remember God has given you unique talents and opportunities to build a business that honors Him. Remember God is using Adkins Talent Solutions now to draw you to trust Him more and more. Although you will have challenges and hard days, you can ‘take heart because Jesus has overcome this world’ (John 16:33). Christ is a mediator, counselor, helper, intercessor, and an advocate! God is honored when you trust Him fully with work and life. Keep praying. Keep seeking Him. Keep going Katie.”

Sign up for a complimentary coaching call with Adkins Talent Solutions here or contact them for a list of their coaching and consulting offerings including team, manager, and leadership development.

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[Special thanks to Timon Studler for the cover photo]

This content was originally published here by Wired.

— by Kathryn Joyce

In 2012, Chad Reynolds found himself on a South Carolina beach at midnight. He was there for a destination wedding, sitting on the sand with friends, when he decided to wade into the ocean alone. As he floated in the dark water, he had what he describes as his first real conversation with God. What was he doing with his life? he asked. Why wasn’t he with someone? Why did he feel so empty?

Reynolds, a 36-year-old designer and startup founder from Cincinnati, Ohio, had been fending off burnout, in fits and starts, for years. He’d started a company designing websites for movies and other products right out of college, and managed to land big clients like Warner Bros. But he worked relentlessly, rarely taking vacations, ignoring his health, and neglecting his family and friends.

In 2008, as he was contemplating leaving his first company, Reynolds set aside a few months “to sit still.” During his hiatus, he went with a friend to a Sunday service at Cincinnati’s Crossroads Church—which was, at the time, a megachurch of about 9,000 members. Sitting in the back row of the cavernous auditorium, Reynolds felt something igniting inside him. “You could tell there was something extremely creative and entrepreneurial happening in that church,” he remembers. It occurred to him that if he could somehow incorporate his budding faith into his next venture, “it could be different.”

But after starting a second company, in 2009, he found himself slipping back into a familiar pattern: maintaining a frenetic pace, traveling to multiple cities per week, constantly doing more. By the time he ended up on the beach at night in South Carolina, he was feeling lost, unable to enjoy the quiet of the barrier island, fretting about Wi-Fi signals and missed work appointments, and wondering what was wrong with him.

As he bobbed in the dark Atlantic, Reynolds says, he heard a message in reply: that God had given him talents and gifts so they could be put to use helping other people, and that he needed to be more aggressive about doing so—that, in effect, he had to take a leap of faith. God’s side of that midnight conversation was half encouragement, half dare: “Even though you can’t see the bottom, I’ve got you; I’m going to protect you; I’m going to help you.”

Read the rest of this article here!

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[Special thanks to MICHELLE GROSKOPF on Wired for the cover photo]

At the end of every podcast, we like to ask our guests to share what God has been teaching them in this season of life. This week’s guest is Greg Leith , the CEO of Convene. He was born in Canada and lived in all four corners of North America. His career spans over 35 years of senior leadership roles in corporate, non-profit and academic sectors.

Psalm 119:7-8

I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.

Somebody challenged me in the last week to hang out in Psalm 119. And right away I was like, oh, that’s the long one. And I read it before and I don’t think I’m going to go for it. And then I was sitting there real early the other day and I said, you know what? Let’s tackle that thing. And I circled every time it said, Obey.

And I was circling like there was no tomorrow. The word obey, obey, obey, obey, obey, obey. And I just thought, holy smokes. God keeps saying in this song, you should hang out in my word. You should learn from my words. Your life should reflect my decrees. And this writer keeps saying. Teach me, teach me, teach me, teach me.

So, I opened my eyes and then it keeps saying, and I want to obey. I want to obey. I want to obey. I want to obey. And I just kind of thought, oh, that’s pretty basic, isn’t it? It’s getting in the word, stay in the word and obey it. And so many of us, me included, can pick up the iPad and look at, you know, Fox versus CNN versus NBC or whatever the heck you read. And then we can read a book about leadership and then we can say, oh, too late. Gotta go. No time for the Bible. 

And yet here Psalm 119 says my word really matters. Get in it. And when you’re done reading it, do what it says. So in the end, it says, I have not forgotten your commands. And after all is said and done, when all the dust is settled. When we’re all not living on earth anymore. If the earth is still here, we want to say that we honored God in everything that we did and that we made a difference for the kingdom of God.

Because our company is not going to heaven. Newsflash whatever company you run, including a nonprofit. The company entity is not going to pass through the pearly gates. You, and anyone you invite to join you, are the only people going through.

It’s Tuesday. Which means it’s time to gather. Or, as you might say, it’s time to Convene. And that’s exactly what we’re talking about today. Our guest, Greg Leith is from the greater Los Angeles area, and he leads a ministry to Christian CEOs and Entrepreneurs called Convene.

His work there has taught him what it means to be a healthy leader, as well as what we as entrepreneurs can do to foster and encourage our growth as both leaders and people.

Listen in to catch the wisdom and insight Greg shared with us…

Useful Links:

Convene

Greg Leith Website