Finding the Sweet Spot

"What do people really want? They want to find work they're passionate about. Offering benefits and incentives are mere compromises. Educating people is important but not enough. We need to encourage people to find their sweet spot. Productivity explodes when people love what they do." -Pat Bronson, What Should I Do With My Life?

When I mentioned some "life changes" a few posts ago, this is a lot of what it had to do with. Many of us fail to ask the question: what am I-uniquely I-called to do, gifted to do, excited to do, equipped to do? In America, many of us have the opportunity to choose a fair degree of what our careers and broader vocations look like. And so, as the privileged few, i'd suggest there are some questions we should ask ourselves.

Why do we do what we do? How should what we do relate to what we care most deeply about. Many talk about coherent living these days, the idea of connecting head, heart and action; but I want to take the discussion a step further. How do we bring passion, gifting, and opportunity to a point of synthesis?

So many businesses (and causes, honestly) flounder because they don't get that certain people have certain gifts and simply cannot flourish in functions outside their gifting and passions; sure for a while they may be able to do the job, but eventually they'll burn out and move on or crash. Part of the West's current economic problem, i'd argue, is that we've failed to recognize our own strengths and function within them. Businesses are firing great employees because they need to cut costs, but many are failing to see what is best for their organizations in the long term by focusing so exclusively on financial bottom lines.

How many businesses, I wonder, are asking themselves: how can we build the kind of team necessary to carry out our vision, values, and mission? America is still trying to compete, compete, compete in the global marketplace on so many levels, but in a world that is globalized, for better or worse, the winners will be those who find their strengths and know how to use them. That's why, in the end, many democratic countries flourish financially, because people are freed to do things not because their parents did them, but because they actually have the talents and abilities to carry them out. Who wants to see a boy with two broken arms pushing a plow all day long in the field? Who wants to see the computer whiz/tech geek trying to pitch business plans to investors on a consistent basis?

People of religious faith may think that what i'm talking about is unbiblical. If so, i'd suggest that you go read the parable of the talents. Interestingly, the man with the least talents went and buried his in the ground, only to later receive reprimand from his master for not trying to invest his talents in something to achieve a return. The man with five used his talents well and saw fruit from his labors. We see here that fruitfullness and talents really do go together.

Now this isn't some "get rich quick" scheme. Many of the most fruitful people, who were so faithful in cultivating their talents didn't see the fruits of their labors in their lifetimes. Take for instance MLK, whose work has literally changed the course of American history. Much of the "consequence" from his sermons, speeches, and demonstrations, has come since his passing. What does this teach us, then?: that we must be faithful to our calling, whether we can see the fruit or not. It will eventually come, it just might not be in our lifetime.

The video below captures much of what i'm discussing, and may push us all in an interesting direction:




"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." -Eric Liddell