When people aren’t living according to their divine purpose, they are less likely to be committed to a plan. On other hand when they are living in purpose they will be committed. Another important factor is when you know your purpose and are driven by it, you will only align yourself with endeavors that fit within the scope of your purpose. Otherwise, it will be like having soccer shoes on a basketball court. Yes, you have on sports attire, but does it fit within the scope of what you have aligned yourself with?
How can we be properly committed to anything if we don’t know our purpose or life’s assignment?
One thing you’ll find amongst people who aren’t aware of their divine purpose is instability. When I say instability, I mean jumping from one thing to another. One of the biggest reasons is the desire to find success or be successful at something primarily for financial reasons. You often find this a lot when it comes to network marketing also called multi-level marketing. It appeals to the emotions of those, who are for the most part struggling or challenged financially.
Guess what? Most fail at these endeavors miserably. Take a look at this.
That 99 percent number isn’t coming to you courtesy of some jilted former LuLaRoe consultant — it’s from a report done for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by Jon M. Taylor, MBA, Ph.D., of the Consumer Awareness Institute. The infuriating part of this statistic is the bill of goods sold to potential consultants in order to convince them to set their (very well-founded) fears of losing money aside and dive into the LuLa (or whatever product is popular) pool.
According to Taylor’s report, when MLM leaders are trying to onboard a new consultant in their “downline,” they often use a misleading statistic to soothe fears of failure and losing money. “MLM promoters often claim that the failure rate of small businesses is in the range of 90- 95%. They say this to excuse the widely recognized failure rate in MLMs. What they fail to do is quote statistics from reliable organizations not affiliated in any way with MLM,” the report reads.
The Small Business Association (SBA) found that 44 percent of small businesses survive at least four years, and 31 percent at least seven years. The NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) found in a recent survey of small businesses that over the lifetime of a business, 39 percent are profitable, 30 percent break even, and 30 percent lose money.
Cumulatively, that’s a 64 percent success rate. A far cry from 90-95. There is one number in the 90s that holds water when it comes to MLMs. “The loss rate for MLMs is at least 99%. This means that less than one in 100 MLM participants make a clear profit, and at least 99 out of 100 participants actually lose money,” Taylor reports.
Less than one in one hundred. Your odds of sleeping through the night with three-month-old triplets are higher. As Taylor notes, you’d literally have a better chance at making money by gambling. “One can do much better at the gaming tables in Las Vegas. And a person need not risk his or her social capital – treasured relationships with friends and family one has spent a lifetime cultivating.”
This is why purpose is so important in our lives.
Think about all the time and resources wasted jumping from one endeavor to the next. Think about how our reputations are often tarnished by always seeming to want to peddle a new thing every other month to the same people. I recall seeing folk and literally want to duck and hide from them thinking they are only calling or trying to see me to present to me another “get rich quick scheme”.
Consider something else relating to business. You may often ask others about their potential business endeavors, or you may even be guilty of this yourself.
You ask them specifically about the kind of business they want to go into. Many people, unfortunately, pick something based upon someone else’s seemingly successes. Or they pick something that seems to be the popular trend of the time. They look at how things seem so easy for the person they are observing. And they think because it’s easy for another person that it will be easy for them so they can also do it.
I remember when I was a pastor/leader how I could command an audience, interject humor, graphics, and relatable stories to my teachings.
Certain individuals thought that because I did it so easily that it must be easy. They didn’t know that I was an extremely shy kid. They didn’t know how nervous I got before each time I spoke. They didn’t understand the level of preparation I had to do prior to each lesson. They didn’t know I had teachers and mentors who encouraged me and helped me to develop that skill set. That was until they tried it.
I recall one brother, who thought my assignment was so easy, he could do it. I gave him a shot on a Wednesday night. I tell you, this skinny dude sweated like he was 450 pounds. You could hear crickets especially when he tried to inject humor. One of the biggest reasons for his failure was that many could see clearly that he was outside of his element and the fact that he wasn’t being himself. Rather, he was trying to be a mini me.
He wasn’t the only one who failed miserably in his effort to do what he deemed easy because it was easy for me. A few others tried only concluding that it’s harder than it appeared. What they also didn’t comprehend prior to their attempt to walk in my shoes is understanding some basic components of leaders and teachers.
Even though I’m no longer a pastor/leader I’m still a teacher at heart. That’s because teaching and inspiring others is my purpose in life.
My other skills and attributes are simply enhancers. They enhance my unique ability to do what I do the way I do it. I always say just because you are a teacher doesn’t necessarily make you a leader. But every leader should be able to teach. Why? Even if a leader isn’t the most skilled person in any particular area, they should be people-people, team builders and know how to inspire individuals and groups to be their authentic selves and surpass them if possible. They should have other innate abilities to enhance their ability to teach.
I recall another situation with another brother. He was all over the place with what he considered his passion.
One minute he was making sheets and blankets. Another time it was different MLMs. Then he was an exterminator, selling carpet, and hair and skin products, driving a delivery truck, opening a hair salon. I could go on and on. The major contributing factor to all these different endeavors was that he didn’t really know who he was. Everything he did was based on his perception of others and seeing them as successful.
He saw himself in other people’s pants, so to speak. He saw how others were achieving success in what they were doing and concluded he could do the same thing. What he grossly missed was it wasn’t about doing what they were doing. It was more about using the tools that motivated them to help motivate him to do what he was created to do. These other people were doing something they really wanted to do and had dedication and passion. They became the best they could be at whatever endeavor they embarked upon. They studied their competition and refined the skills needed to be the best they could be.
No two people are exactly alike. Even identical twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc. aren’t exactly alike.
They may resemble each other but they are uniquely different. They may even share some of the same DNA, but they are still individuals. This is why I cannot express enough why purpose should not be dismissed or passed over as if it’s some afterthought or some faddish topic. It should be taught at the earliest stage in life when children can begin to comprehend the basics of life. From there they should be encouraged and supported to pursue it while still being allowed to be a child.
If a child has tremendous artistic skills and loves crafts, painting, drawing, sewing etc., encourage them.
Don’t just automatically put a football, basketball, soccer ball or baseball in their face. They may also like sports, but don’t assume a child, especially a male child, is somehow weak or less masculine because they aren’t interested in sports as much as you or others may think they should be.
I think of a young man I knew who was a phenomenal athlete in high school who went on to play football at division 1 university and was later drafted in the NFL. His NFL career was short-lived. However, it did bless him financially and allowed him to pursue what I believe to be his real passion which is art and inspiring and empowering youth. He does that now, tremendously and is making a huge impact.
The 3 D’s Desire, Dedication and Discipline are essential parts of commitment.
Desire can be seen as a craving, longing, yearning suggesting feelings that impel one to the attainment or possession of something. Desire is a strong feeling, worthy or unworthy, that impels the attainment or possession of something that is (in reality or imagination) within reach like a desire for success.
Dedication can be defined as a feeling of very strong support for or loyalty to someone or something: the quality or state of being dedicated to a person, group, cause, etc. Here is something else to consider in the relationship between commitment and dedication. Commitment is about one’s obligation while dedication is about one’s passion in the performance of the obligation. Another way of looking at it is that dedication is being committing yourself to something.
One definition of the discipline is to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control. I cannot express why discipline is so important. It has to be valued in every aspect of our lives for us to be successful and free. It allows us to have power and control in life. Can you see a pattern here of how these areas are all related in one way or another? It took me some time to understand how it was important to be disciplined in all areas of life, not just one or two or even a few. A disciplined person also has good behavior, and that leads to a better society.
Discipline helps you not to deviate from your goals. Whereas an undisciplined person not only deviates from their goals but often acts impulsive and impatient leading to works that are unfinished, unrefined business wise, in and out of relationships, especially with the opposite sex personally. They have an extremely difficult time committing themselves to one person or one thing. Again, I ask, do you see a pattern here?