It seemed I was in a never ending funk. It was now almost 16 years of owning my business. Nothing seemed new again. The roaring fire that was when I started my business was now a smolder. The problem is I never saw it coming. It started years earlier like a cancer to my soul. I was running a successful business and income was going well. There was a steady stream of clients, competition was kept at bay and out of necessity I reduced my overhead. Then little by little, I started to slip into complcacency.
Looking back I realized it started with a thought, a belief. It had been almost 10 years and for some reason I thought I needed to take a “break”. So much of my time, effort and money had gone to building this business up. I thought to myself it was time to reap the rewards. It started off small. I started handing off work because I knew others would do it better. I mistakenly started relying on a single source of new business I had spent time developing. This in addition to streamlining production to increase profits.
In time however, the business started to shrink. When business starts to shrink little by little, you adjust and accommodate. It stings less. To reconcile the pain of loss, I started to make excuses. I blamed the economy, the clients, the lack of leads, etc. Eventually there’s no more you can cut out. The bills will start to stack-up, the leads will dwindle and the stress will increase. The psychological burden will be the only thing that increases. The mind will start to betray you.
Your brain will do what it can to avoid the painful reminder of loss and start to “check-out”. The result is a self fulfilling prophesy of self-destruction. No desire to work, no income, more pain and eventually slothfulness. Proverbs 12:24 tells us the diligent shall rule but the slothful will become slaves. What’s more, we sin because we are stealing from our employers. clients and loved ones ( 1 Timothy 5:8 ).
Encouragement:
We must chose to be diligent. It takes conviction and personal will. It also requires for us to ask God to give us a vision and a purpose for our work. Ephesians 2:10
Challenge:
What is an area in your work / life which you are slothful in?
What will it take for you to stop being slothful and start being diligent in your work?
