Recently a leader that I coach shared with me four kinds of things that we do in life. He learned this from Steve Stroop, pastor of Lakepoint Church in Rockwall, Texas. It is SO good that I have been thinking it through for the past couple of weeks and decided to write on it. It goes like this.
There are Four Kinds of Things that We can do in Life.
1. Things that you are BAD at and no one will pay you to do.
We all have things that we simply aren’t gifted to do. Administration, Golf, Counseling, Singing?
2. Things that you are OK at but no one will pay you to do.
Some things we do well but no one would ever pay us to do them. Another word for this category is Hobbies. We all hoped at one time to be a professional athlete, musician, or artist, but few of us are good enough to get paid to do these things.
3. Things that you are GOOD at and people will pay you to do. (DANGER)
This is where things start to get interesting as this the category that is fraught with danger. Read on to see why.
4. Things that you are uniquely GIFTED and CALLED to do.
Most of us don’t expect to get paid to do things from the above statements 1 and 2. But many of us spend the bulk of our work time in group 3. In fact, you could spend your whole work life doing things that you are fairly good at and getting paid to do them. But in doing so you might miss out on what you are UNIQUELY Called and Gifted to do. Have you considered what you are uniquely called and gifted to do? What can you and only you can do?
As a Pastor: What are the things that you and only you can do? Train other people to do everything else. John Maxwell once said “You can never overestimate the under-importance of nearly everything.” Did you go to Seminary to design bulletins, put together web pages, and do power point presentations? What can you and only you do? Different pastors have different gift sets so this answer is not the same for every pastor. Spend your time in the areas where you are most gifted and find someone else to do everything else. Not sure where to start? READ THIS.
Also Read: Stop doing everything yourself
In Business: What are the things that you and only you can do? What can you delegate? Are you investing time in working on the company rather than only in the company? Are you training the next generation of leaders? Are you delegating everything you can to stay in category four as much as possible?
In Choosing a Career: Perhaps there are many things that you could do. But what are you uniquely called and gifted to do? Look back at your experiences. Ask those around you and then LISTEN to what they say.
Wherever you are in life, Don’t spend your whole life in Category 3 only to miss out on where you will make your greatest impact. What changes do you need to make today?
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