What role does spirituality play in business success?

Let me share a story.

Last year I was meeting with a client and we were discussing the strategy for her upcoming quarter. She was up for an award at her company and while she was honored to be considered and very much wanted to win this award she was not confident it would happen for her and her team.

We talked through the details; what needed to be done to have a chance of winning, how she would know if she was the winner through the quarter so that she could make adjustments based on what the other contestants were doing, etc.

At some point in the conversation she looked at me and said. “But that’s not the way I work. It feels overwhelming to think that I will be pushing my team and checking to see if we were runner up as the weeks go by. Almost like running a race with your eyes constantly on the other runners instead of the finish line.”

I asked. “What would be YOUR way of winning this award? What would winning the award mean to you?”

“I know what we can accomplish if we set our minds to it. I can work with my team to set clear goals for the quarter and I can keep them motivated to accomplish those goals. But I can’t imagine pushing them hard just for winning. This is bigger than the award, it’s a challenge as a team weather we win or not.”

Now this resembles what Eckhart Tolle talks about in his book "The power of now". In this book he states how the only thing we have is the present moment. Nothing else. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here yet.

There is a freedom and abundance in being in the present moment. It makes us aware and alive to live that moment for what it is, all that we have.

When you apply Tolle’s approach to this particular scenario you are no longer working today for the win tomorrow. But you are working today for the pure joy of showing up for a challenge that is won in the present moment; with every action my client’s team would take.

But what about the award you would say?

Well, my dear readers, winning the award is a combination of three things:

• GOAL SETTING: Setting clear goals and striving each day to achieve them. Goals that are attainable but just a bit of stretch.
• BEING PRESENT: Being in the present moment at every moment of our day, experiencing the present for what it is, not a future win.
• TRUST: Letting go of the manipulation and giving it all that YOU have. Not comparing yourself to others, trusting that you are enough and if the award, the job, the client is the right one for you to move you forward in your journey then it will come to you. Bringing into the recipe the side of you that is beyond metrics and logic, your spiritual side.

Aliza Sherma explores the role of spirituality in business, in her article for Entrepreneur Magazine, The Spiritual Successful Business, and finds that many successful entrepreneurs bring a conversation of spirituality into their business that is defined by their own beliefs. They all have in common a layer that is beyond metrics and logic and that gives space to a side of us that is many times left out of the business environment.

I believe that we are part of a bigger world, a world where we each of us play an important role. A world that when we let go of anxiety, judgment and fear and we have the courage to show up for who we are and what we stand for; doors open and we feel propelled forward towards the biggest expression of ourselves and serving the world at our highest level.

Dolores is a Life & Business Strategist. She works with high achievers and helps them define the strategies they need to succeed in life & business. What separates her services from other coaches is that she only works with high achievers and professionals looking to reach their next level and because of this, she is very focused on her services and leads her clients out of the fog and into the clarity where they co-create their unstoppable, clear strategy and lay the groundwork for their measurable success in 100 days. Her platform word is CLARITY from where she leads her clients into the crafting and implementation of their winning strategy.

Would you like to learn more? Please visit www.doloreshirschmann.com or schedule a FREE Strategy session with Dolores.