Income or Outcome? You Decide!

"Your job is where you earn an income. Your calling is where you cultivate an outcome."

My pastor, Cori Cangelosi, made this interesting statement a couple of weeks ago. It stuck with me, and as I've pondered this simple but profound statement, I wanted to take a few minutes and flesh this out today.

What's SO meaningful about this statement?

It speaks to priorities.

The dictionary defines priorities as the fact or condition of being treated as more important, a thing that is regarded as more important than another. Our lives are shaped by the things we deem important, as well as those things we deem inconsequential or unimportant.

I recently heard a statistic shared during an interview that only 1% of people have taken the time to map out their lives. 99% of people living today have never taken the time to define what's important to them, what they want to accomplish in life, and given themselves a timeline to make these things happen for them.

The same interview pointed out that 8 in 10 people cannot name a single goal, outcome, or objective they would like to accomplish or achieve.

Now think about that in terms of Cory's statement above. People have accepted the status quo belief that you go to work to earn a living so you can pay your bills, have a little bit of fun, and repeat this process week after week for the rest of your life.

How sad is that to go aimlessly through life without direction, purpose, or the discovery and fulfillment of your calling?

Society has accepted mediocrity, simply being OK with average, as the norm.

This is a failure of self-leadership.

Our current education system is focused on teaching children what to think or how to think in a certain way rather than teaching them how to think for themselves, discover their passion and calling, and pursue it with abandon.

They are teaching successive generations to be good followers, but not good leaders. It's been that way for decades.

People who are taught what to think and are dissuaded from thinking for themselves are easily controlled. They never step into their greatness.

That's why only 1% have taken the time to map out their lives.

Black Belt Leaders are in this 1%. They have taken the time to look deeply within themselves, to realize they were put on this earth ON purpose, FOR a purpose. Having discovered their Black Belt Purpose, they engage in an endless quest of personal and professional development to develop themselves to achieve and fulfill this purpose.

They don't just earn an income. They cultivate an outcome.

Remember, "Your job is where you earn an income. Your calling is where you cultivate an outcome."

The entrepreneur being interviewed shared how, when young people come into his employ, the first thing he does is walk them through an exercise, helping them map out a plan for their lives. What do they want to accomplish? Where do they want to live? What do they want to drive? What does their dream home look like? Where do they want to vacation? What type of pet would they like to have? How much money would they like to save for retirement?

He's asking very specific, practical questions that take each of these young lives, most for the very first time, into an introspective look at themselves, discover what's truly important to them, and uncover what their passion and calling really look like.

It's about prioritizing their life for significance, not just success.

Now don't get me wrong. Having an income is important. What separates the 1% from the 99% is the latter see themselves as an employee giving their time and talent in exchange for a wage. While there's nothing wrong with this, how many of the 99% are selling themselves short by not developing their own talent, gifts, and belief in themselves to venture out on their own and find a way to make their passion project their life's work?

The great innovators and change agents of the past did this. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, George Washington Carver, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandella, and Mother Teresa. All of these, and others like them, found and pursued their calling and made it their life's work.

It's about priorities, and what you prioritize. It's about embracing and pursuing YOUR passion or simply settling to help someone else achieve theirs while yours never sees the light of day.

In speaking to a number of audiences and working with numerous organizations over the years, I've found that there are far too people are content simply to work for money. It's an exchange of time, energy, and resources.

The Top 1% realize their work is not for money, but for what money can provide for them. The lives it can influence, help, or change for the better. The causes it can champion and make a difference in the lives of others. The outcomes it can create in one's own personal life. The realization of goals, aspirations, and dreams for the future.

The 99% see money as the end. It's about having enough to survive and get through another day, week, month, or year.

The 1% see money a means to an end.

It's a subtle difference, but one that transforms how they see and live life.

What about you? Are you one of the 99% or the 1%?

When it comes to the life you're living today, are you OK with simply earning an income, or is there something stirring within you, a restlessness, because you know there is more for you? A sense of a calling that there's more for you to do than simply punch a clock five or six days a week? A passionate desire to make a difference in a time that makes a difference with people who need a difference made in their lives?

Ask yourself these seven questions:

• Do you know what you have been put on this earth to do?
• If yes, are you actively pursuing that?
• Do you have clearly defined goals? Both personal and professional?
• If yes, do you have timelines set to reach and achieve them?
• If yes, are you making and tracking your progress?
• Are you working for money, or for what money can do for you?
• Do you have a clearly outlined personal growth plan for your life?

If you answered YES to these, you're in the 1%. If you're not there yet, today's the day you stop settling as one of the 99% and you commit to discovering, developing, and deploying your own unique Black Belt Leader within and start living life ON purpose FOR a purpose.

It's about becoming a Black Belt Master of who you are and what you've been called to do to make an impact in this world and a positive, transformational difference in the lives of others.

My mentor, Dr. John Maxwell, says, "Once you've tasted significance, success will never satisfy you." You can be successful in your job, which is admirable, but it's not the same as living a life of significance. When you pursue your calling, you have the opportunity to create significant outcomes that change the lives of others for the better, and it changes you as well.

Remember, successful people do daily what unsuccessful people do sometimes, or not at all. What are you doing, starting today, to embrace your calling so you can cultivate the outcome that will bring you fulfillment?

P.S. Need some help with this? Check out the Goal Setting resources on the courses section of my website, BeABlackBeltLeader.com .