Discover your “why” – it’s a phrase made popular by Simon Senek.
His TED talk on the subject has over 1,000,000 views as of the day I’m writing this post.
It’s an important idea. Here it is in a nutshell:
[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#STARTWITHWHY”]Do YOU know WHY you do what you do as a #Christianbusiness person?[/tweetthis]Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows WHAT they do…. some know HOW they do it… but very, very few people or organizations know WHY they do what they do.
As Simon says (oh, that’s bad)…
Why do you get out of bed in the morning, and why should anyone care?
Your WHY will determine the HOW and WHAT of your business. It will also determine how you COMMUNICATE about your business.
As a Christ-follower, you have the MOST INCREDIBLE WHY IN THE UNIVERSE
Did you know that?
Did you know that your calling in BUSINESS should flow out of the WHY God has given you?
It has very little to do with…
- products
- profit
- clients or customers
- services
- marketing
- sales
- provision for your family
It has to do with God’s purpose for you, in the specific context in which He’s placed you.
So what is your why? What is your purpose?
Consider this:
Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart – Psalm 37:4
I recorded and publicized that video first off in the Christians in Business Community over on Google Plus. (You are welcome to ask for an invite if you’d like).
My desire is to see us Christ-followers who happen to be in business, keeping in step with our KING first of all.
Our main WHY in business is to delight ourselves in God.
Only THEN does our business purpose come into play. And when it does, it comes with much greater clarity than ever before.
As we delight ourselves in GOD, HE GIVES US the desires HE intends for us to have.
It’s not the “easy” way or the “natural” way to go about it.
Our human nature wants to envision a great outcome and deconstruct it so that we can organize steps toward getting there.
But that’s not God’s way. His way begins with deep relationship WITH HIM.
What’s holding you back from discovering your why?
- Are you too busy doing business to build a relationship with the one who GAVE YOU the business?
- Are you too steeped in secular business thinking to be able to even consider the Psalm 37:4 route?
- Are you fearful of stepping outside what you know, to attempt something God-sized?
- Is the relational aspect of what I’m saying just too stinking hard?
Do some self-examination to see what is keeping you from discovering the “why” God has in mind for you – deep relationship with Him as the first priority.
Take the time. You need to. You must.
If you don’t, you’ll end your business ventures with possible treasures on earth but very few laid up in heaven.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:33