_edited.jpg)
A few Sundays ago, Chuck Mingo, a pastor from our church, Crossroads, gave a great teaching on the verse ‘for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also‘ (Matthew [6:21]). Most often when that verse is unpacked it has to do with money versus God. The idea if we value clothes, new cars, fancy (or my new favorite word ‘boujee’) things, then in time that is where our heart will be. Our heart drives our mindset and motives. Instead of valuing temporary things, we need to value and invest in God, eternal, and life-giving ideas and activities.
When working with a client recently, I was reminded of how this principle applies to our business as well. When we look at our business calendar and where we focus our time, we see where our treasure is. If we stay there too long, that is where our heart will be, good or bad.
My client was headed in the wrong direction
Recently, I challenged a client where his heart was because of how he was spending his time and answering my questions.
Two calls in a row I asked him ‘what were the greatest wins from last week?’ In both instances he gave me a win in the ‘future’ business.
Like most of us, this client has a ‘current’ business that is not as sexy and exciting as the ‘future’ business. In this client’s case, the current business generates revenue, whereas the future business is at least six months away from producing revenue.
However, this client needs revenue now to meet not only his goals but his obligations.
He has been in an unhealthy routine of only thinking and working on the ‘future’ part of the business. If he kept this up, then eventually the ‘current’ business would have ‘no business’ because he would not have any projects to work on.
We had to recalibrate his efforts.
The good news is, this is not an either/or, but instead a both/and situation.
Time needs to be proportionally spent on both. Developing and delivering the current business for immediate revenue. As well as necessary time to develop and strategize on the ‘future’ business.
I called my client out on it. I told him he hired me to help increase current revenue as well as position the future business for success. I can’t help with current revenue if he doesn’t focus on it.
His treasure and heart are on the ‘future’ business. I get it. I can do the same thing. I want to build the next coaching module. I want to write the next book. However, we all must steward this season well.
So we have started to shift his focus back to the ‘current’ business. Reviewing his actions going into each day to make sure his priorities are represented well between the ‘current’ and ‘future’ business.
What about you?
Review your calendar. Is your calendar reflective of where you need to be spending your time? Review your meeting topics and conversations. Are they positioning you for success now, as well as the future? What about any other time you are working? Would a coach or wise counsel tell you to spend your time differently?
If you have a boring ‘current’ business, you still need to attend to it, otherwise, it will dry up. If you have an interesting ‘future’ business, make sure you spend some time on it to help ensure it is where you need it to be in a few months. However, don’t let the fun of the future business distract you too much from the needs of today.
Thank you for reading. Please subscribe here if you want weekly leadership updates: https://www.corymcarlson.com/join-me/