Think impact not income

One's profession takes up a very big chunk of his/her life. Most professionals spend eight hours or more of their day, five days of their week, all around the calendar for up to about forty years of their life. Everyone might like the idea of taking a permanent vacation, but in reality, work has been part of God's plan for mankind from the beginning.

The important question we should ask ourselves is are we making the most of all that limited God-given time that we have? A job is often viewed as a set of tasks we engage in to do to get a reward in form of payment either as a fixed monthly payout, weekly, daily or as the case maybe. As accurate as these definitions are, these are not the only ways that we are to view work. Work is a privilege and a blessing that God has given to us. From the very beginning of time, God meant for man to work.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT)?God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Now, God first of all made man in His own image and afterwards He instilled purpose in him and blessed him to be fruitful, multiply, replenish and the have dominion. The practicality of purpose encapsulates the understanding of Dominion.

That’s why after the blessing upon man, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to” work it” and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden." (Gen. 2:15–16)

This interaction between God and the first man took place before sin entered the earth. The Lord has always intended for us to work and eat the fruit of our labors. Idleness has never been part of his will. In fact, "having nothing to do" is part of the fall of man. We know that Jesus came to save us from sin and bring us into the Kingdom of God. In?Matthew 20, he tells a parable that illustrates his call for us:

He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went. (verses 2–5)

God is calling us to labor in His vineyard. He wants to rescue us from idleness by calling us to work, and he has enough going on to keep all of us busy. Not only that, he has also promised to reward us for our labor. It is easy to imagine that we are laboring in God's vineyard when we volunteer for our church or do other ministry work. Yet God intends that the marketplace jobs we do every day be set apart for his glory just as much as if we were pastoring a church or traveling as an evangelist. God wants us to be able to see all the work we do as a holy calling. Paul said it this way: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Col. 3:23). Work is a blessing. We won’t be able to comprehend this until we are out of a job and need to get employed in order to keep the bills paid. Yet God's purpose for our work greatly exceeds meeting our financial needs but making impact, fulfilling purpose, and getting fulfilled in return. Each job or "assignment" we receive from Him is part of His divine plan to expand His Kingdom. Unfortunately, there are still people (some whom are believers) who stand idle in the marketplace just like the men in the parable above. Alot simply do not understand why they are there because they do not know God's plan for work. God’s intention is to make sure we are fulfilling the roles he prepared for us before we were born. The Bible teaches us that God judges us based on our stewardship of what He entrusts to us in this life. When it comes to our professional lives, we know He is interested in how we spend the money we earn, the quality of the work we do, and most importantly, how we treat the people we meet.

Hence, we must passionately pursue the purpose of God for us with regards to our work to ensure greater productivity and self-fulfillment. Roy T. Bennett says “If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.” ?But how can we do this at work place?

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Think impact not income?

Money is important, and by all means it's God's will for you to earn as much as you can to live a good and pleasant life (3 John 1:2). But nowadays, there has been a shift from the right focus such that the emphasis is too much on the monetary returns and people than impact on people, and they also expend lots of energy into thinking about how much or how little they earn. Hence, they become more money focused than impact focused not knowing that the money they seek is encapsulated in the impact they make. Actions begets reactions, but in this scenario, I would like to say impact begets rewards. Inasmuch as rewards are certain when impact is put in place, the focus should always be on impact. Understanding your purpose while at work, draws the focus on impact, as provision always follows the purpose you want to fulfil.

Focus on people?

Beyond generating profits or values, purpose is the net positive outcome of the work you are doing. What problem are you solving? How does it benefit your customers, or the society at large?

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When we think too much about what we get out of our jobs, it will always be inadequate. There will always either be someone willing to pay more or somewhere with a better office space, hence, the lack of contentment, fulfilment and inadequacies. There is nothing fulfilling about pursuing our own gains, but when we make our careers about meeting needs and solving problems thereby creating a platform that advances others such as our employers, our colleagues, our clients or even our family, therein lies our fulfilment.

This ensures that you first love yourself, believe in your capacities, and understand that every assignment given to you at work is actually an opportunity to meet a need with the abilities embedded in you by God. It makes you love every minute at work because it engages your inherent potentials and births maximum productivity while enhancing personal fulfilment which makes you don’t just work to pass time but work to fulfil time. Regardless of the stress and labour involved at work, an overwhelming joy and peace that comes from the fulfilment of purpose while doing that work, overcomes the pain that may lie therein.

Align your Purpose with your Organizations purpose.

You purpose is your “why”. i.e why I’m I here or why I’m I working here which is classically hinged to the impact you are to make in and through the company that is tied to your personal purpose. Your company’s purpose is why the company, i.e the solution the company is going to bring based on what they offer or deal on. The company’s purpose is predicative on its vision, mission, dogma, work ethics, and principles that will command her anticipated or expected result.

Aligning your purpose with that of the company will ensure productivity, and fulfilment.? But when this is not done, your quest for fulfilment will be placed upon certain extrinsic factors like having opportunities for professional growth within the organization, receiving recognition from colleagues, receiving awards and promotions, and feeling like an integral part of a team. Inasmuch as these extrinsic factors are dependent on outwards sources or men that are subject to fail by nature, the unavailability of these factors will remain a norm and this will in turn, become demotivating, demoralizing, hinder the flow of productivity, fulfilment and commitment ???

Fulfilment and joy works in tandem with each other, and because joy is a fruit of the Spirit, it is not dependent on physical factors but upon the Spirit of God. And this is where your purpose which is spiritually given by God comes in. You realize that regardless of the lack of awards, promotions, recognitions and the likes, the practicality of purpose still showcases the effulgence of Gods glory upon the life of the person walking with purpose because it is a function of the Spirit and is not focused upon those extrinsic factors. Though, this doesn’t mean that these extrinsic factors are wrong or shouldn’t be in place but what I’m trying to say in essence is that, no matter how much we achieve and how many awards we get, it will never deeply satisfy us unless it is tied to Gods work and His purpose for us.

Hence when your purpose is aligned with your organizations purpose, your focus will shift from meeting targets to solving problems (apparently two different perspectives). This will trigger the increase in commitment, morale and fulfilment in your work place. ??