The War Your Heart can Win for Your Business
by Mark Silver
Published on this site: May 24th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
I remember when I was in another business, and as part of my support
network we were dreaming up vision statements. I don't exactly remember
what I came up with, but something that included words like "huge,"
"global," "number one," "best-known."
It was fun to dream that big for a little while. But... we're only
a year or so from finally clearing the debt from that failed business.
Something didn't work.
I've read numerous times where small business owners are encouraged
to "dream big." To come up with huge mission statements
that include dominating your industry, or becoming the premier or
best-known at whatever you do.
These mission statements are killing your heart and your business.
Why are these mission statements so deadly? To understand, you only
need to see where the spotlight is shining. Statements like "best-known,"
"premier," and the like means the spotlight is on you
and your business. You're trying to put yourself into the limelight.
The Sufis teach that the ego tries to own things, while the heart
knows it owns nothing. The ego is concerned primarily with external
things: money and possessions, recognition and fame. Your heart,
in contrast, was designed to be in service. Your heart is filled
up by giving, your ego is puffed up by grabbing.
This isn't to say that it's bad to receive money and recognition.
These things are not inherently evil in any sense of the word. The
Divine is present in all things, physical and non-physical, even
money. However, they aren't inherently fulfilling, either. No matter
how much the ego grabs, it's hungry for more. That hunger cannot
be satiated through more stuff.
The tension between these two- the ego-self wanting to take more
and the heart wanting to serve more- creates a struggle, a war in
your being.
Only your heart can win this war and save your business.
The irony is that your heart is a much stronger attractor than your
ego, and by letting go of big ego-dreams, your business actually
has a better chance of actually arriving at that kind of bigness.
Think of Martin Luther King, Jr, or Nelson Mandela, or Mother Theresa.
They all achieved global fame through heart-service, not ego-aggrandizement.
But, does this mean you can never dream big? Of course not. Because
your heart is actually much bigger than your ego, it's natural to
dream big. So- how do you dream big without inflating your ego?
Keys to Dreaming Big
- Feed your heart, starve your ego.
Feeding your heart strengthens it to continue serving. You
can feed your heart in any number of ways, including: rest and
care, regular spiritual practice, giving and receiving love with
friends and family, performing service without any expectation
of receiving back.
Starving your ego clears the path for the heart to be bigger,
and frees you from having to chase after things that don't nourish
you. Some things that starve your ego are: Delaying gratification
of desires- such as fasting from food and resisting impulse purchases;
regular spiritual practice; undermining inflated pride and acknowledging
your humility and need for help.
It's a funny thing, but starving your ego can sometimes seem as
if you are losing something- and you can hurt yourself if taken
to extremes. But, if you feed your heart at the same time, you'll
find that what your ego wants so badly isn't as necessary or nourishing
as you originally thought.
- Keep the vision simple.
When Martin Luther King, Jr was faced with the horrible problem
of racism in the US, he dreamed big. But, he dreamed not of becoming
a world-renowned peace activist, but of simpler things: "I
have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons
of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able
to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." To attain
that simple vision- a meal shared by people who would ordinarily
be enemies- required huge change.
But the vision itself was simple, simple, simple. One Opening
the Money Flow class participant has a vision of parents who know
how to cherish and love their child to grow up unwounded. A simple
vision, but one that requires huge change in how many people raise
children. What's your simple vision?
- Start small- then scale up.
A simple vision can be very fulfilling even in a single instance.
The first time a mother who, when her child is screaming, reacts
with love and compassion instead of the anger and resentment she
experienced from her own parents. If you helped a mother achieve
that, hearing about it would make your whole day, and fuel you
to do more for your business. This remains true for me no matter
how many business owners I've helped- the stories still really
feed.
As you see your vision come to pass in small ways, then you can
start to scale up. Your full heart will fuel your business and
increase the scale at which you are working, even if the vision
remains very simple. And your business can then potentially be
a mission that fulfills you at the same time that it grows surprisingly
large.
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart,
Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped
hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business
without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book
online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
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