Operate Your Life Like a Business
My Story
I grew into adulthood kind of taking things as they come. I just tried to flow with it, imitate those around me, and make choices that seemed right. I didn’t have goals for where I wanted to go, a plan for how to get there, or even a blueprint for where I was at that time. I just showed up into adulthood and figured it out as I went. As a result, I ended up in a lot of situations.
Now I can see that my life …my personal business, was a business- it is a business. Even more so, my personal business is business; and so is yours.
It’s Business
Just a like a business, our life doesn’t operate hands off. There are day-to-day operations that have to be attended to. Even small businesses have an owner/manager and laborers. Someone has to oversee the operations to ensure things get done and someone has to do the grunt work. Sometimes it’s the same person. Your life is a micro-business. You are the owner/manager and the laborer. You may work alongside other people, but your life is your business. You can’t hire someone into that role; you have to own it. And you have to put the grunt work in, too. You’ll work alongside vested partners for the sake of common goals. You’ll hire out or delegate tasks as appropriate; consult advisors and mentors to grow you; etc. But stay connected. This is your life…your business.
What Does the Bible Say?
Be “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord (Romans 12:11). For decades, I thought this verse said, Be fervent in business.” I guess it still does; at least the sentiment is the same. Here, Paul is saying, not to be slothful in business. That means don’t be lazy in business, but fervent in spirit, working as unto the Lord and not man (Colossians 2:3), for God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). These verses tell us to handle our business and to handle it in a right way.
You will need to educate yourself on how to run it properly. Most of us weren’t talk these things when were growing up. We weren’t even taught to budget. Know your purpose. Every successful business serves a purpose and makes a contribution to society in some regard. You do, too. Know what your goals are, develop a plan, and then micro-goals to move you towards those goals.
Operate on a budget. No successful business continues to run on more than it brings in.
Even investors/shareholders, aren’t going to continue to feed money into a company that’s continuing operating on a deficit and causing them to lose money. So, you can’t continue to operate on a deficit, either. Debt, borrowing money, and living on credit cards will tell on you. Your credit score, for example, will tell people you don’t do so well keeping your word; paying what you owe. Relationships aren’t as obvious, but they suffer to, as you continue to take more than you deposit.
Get Ahead of Things
Ever heard the quote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” It means, be proactive in handling your business and you’ll enjoy the reward versus having to suffer headaches trying to clean it up, on the backside. It means, a little effort in advance, can save you a lot of time on the back end.
I work for a large government agency. People call all the time, about having received a letter warning them of particular action to take, but the caller never did anything. Sometimes they say they forgot, they misplaced the letter, or they didn’t understand. Sometimes they say, they never even read the letter. They end up spending hours, over the course of days sometimes, trying to call in to fix whatever happened. Sometimes they have to take off work. Sometimes they call and can’t get through, or get through and their call gets dropped and they have to call back. It’s always harder to fix stuff on the back end. And all they had to do, was attend to the action identified in the letter the month prior. Someone, at my former employer, used to say, “Procrastination on your part, does not constitute an emergency on our part.” She was right. You don’t handle your business and now expect or want immediate provisions to fix it—except it doesn’t work that way.
Don’t be that way. When you get notices to attend to something, go ahead and do it. If something comes to mind, attend to it- even if it’s not due immediately. At the least write it down, put it where you can see it, or schedule it in your calendar reminders. I put things in my calendar and also schedule an alarm to go off if it’s something I really need to attend to by a certain time. Do what works for you, but do something. Even if there is no immediate due date, when the reminder comes up, you can reschedule it if you need to; or if time permits, you can just go ahead and attend to it at that time. You may have to tweak your system, but it’s worth the effort to find something that works for you and build on it.
Conclusion
Operate your life like a business. Your actions contribute to your success or failure.
