Introduction:
What IS the difference? In my opinion, there’s not much of a difference. Both are interchangeable, or better yet, the two could be an example of causation.
So what is causation?
It’s when one event causes another event to happen, for this instance we may say, it’s when personal growth causes business growth to occur, vice versa.
Explanation extended:
Sometimes for business growth to occur, personal growth needs to have taken place too.
What happened to me?
I paused business relations due to my personal growth taking precedent over my life, it was then that I realised that my business relations were taking a knock due to my underdeveloped personal growth because both are interchangeable when in use.
For example: If we struggle to trust, this not only bleeds out onto our personal relations but also onto our business relations; in simple, if we have trust issues, the lack of trust not only affects a particular area in our lives, it affects us in everything we do including our business and personal aspects.
What does the Bible say?
“Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.” (Proverbs 4:23 ERV)
- It’s important to understand that every action or emotion begins with a thought and our thinking reflects what’s in our hearts (or our emotional nature)
So what may affect our hearts/thoughts?
- Daily interactions with people
- Trauma
- Daily events
- Music and more
Let’s use daily interactions with people as an example. How people treat us matters and affects how we interact not only with them but also other people.
My personal experience:
There was a time when someone congratulated me on my second newly born child which was a great time in my life, they also happened to mention how my house was now ‘tiny’, as a result I subconsciously felt ‘tiny;’ I started questioning my worth and felt unworthy; my interaction with my friends the following day was not as enjoyable according to me. I spent most of the time with them trying to elevate myself with different stories in my life.
A day which was supposed to be a day filled with memories and laughter turned into a day I tried proving myself.
Upon digging further I realised that the comment caused for me to doubt, I wanted to fight doubt with stories, which didn’t work, I needed to get to the word and remind myself of what God says about me. Needless to say I called back my friends and apologised for my behaviour.
‘…for everything you do flows from it’ (Proverbs 4:23b NIV). What happened affected my thoughts and emotions which in turn affected an aspect of my life.
After that, I learnt how to be more aware of what I allow to grow in my mind and what I allow to affect me emotionally. I learnt to interrogate my thoughts and emotions.
Ways we may use to become more aware of and/or interrogate our thoughts?
- Write down your thoughts
- Take time to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any thoughts affecting you which you may not immediately be aware of
- Learn where the thoughts stem from, it could be fear, doubt, comparison, discontentment (these are just examples)
- Watch what and who you listen to
- Replace discovered thoughts with the word of God
How to replace discovered thoughts with the word?
- Identify the feeling or thought, for this example I’ll continue using the feeling of being unworthy
- We will then find Bible verses which deal with feeling unworthy (we can Google this), for this example we will use Ephesians 2:8-10
- Now I will declare the verse in my life, whenever the thought of feeling unworthy comes, I will counter the thought with Ephesians 2:8-10
What I’ve recently come to terms with is that many thoughts can come forth, we cannot control that, but we can control which thoughts get watered by us and grow to impact our lives.
In retrospect, when we suspect that our business(es) or personal lives are not performing as best as they could be or we feel stuck, it’s always best to take a look at what’s going on in our minds and acknowledge that personal growth in Christ may be required. (Side note: In my opinion, growth in Christ is always required).
From your view: What methods do you use to interrogate your thoughts?
Conclusion:
It’s important to remember that personal and business growth are an example of causation.
When we understand that our personal relations and/or lives may affect our business and vice versa we stand the chance to not only concentrate on a single aspect of our lives but move into looking at a more wholistic aspect of what affects us.
Our personal growth is important to our business growth and vice versa, so let us not forget to recharge our personal/business growth with the Word of the Lord and note that sometimes it may not be circumstances which are in our way. Sometimes we are in our way, and in this post I have iterated how personal growth in the way of how we are thinking may be in the way of our business conduct.
I hope that the above information is informative and helpful as it has been to me.