Wealth Requires Work!

If you want to be poor for the rest of your life, go ahead and close this blog post now!

Still here? You’re not alone! Most people want to be wealthy or at least have the freedom and power that comes with being financially rich. Social media is packed with memes that tell us in no uncertain terms to “name it and claim it” but nothing more – not even a down payment! In other words, people want the wealth but they don’t want the work.

This mindset is troubling to me, especially among the religiously emphatic. It outright denotes a spirit of laziness, and laziness produces poverty not wealth. Faith without works is…what? Dead.

Wealth is an outcome of work. Even if you’re a trust-fund baby, the wealth you inherited was a result of someone else’s hard work and excellent stewardship. But it can be yours to squander if you don’t apply the planning, discipline and focus—i.e. the work—to sustain and grow it. Think about all the lottery winners who lost their unearned wealth before their reality series even aired. Why? Probably because they didn’t possess a mindset of work in the first place.

Think about many of the classic songwriters and artists the world celebrates who are wealthy. Most of them followed their passions and made it their career. They didn’t become wealthy overnight. They worked. They were in the studios at 3:00am, burning both ends of the candle writing lyrics and developing their craft. They identified and developed their gifts and committed to the process of creating their product and shared it with the world.

Sadly, many people today work a job that doesn’t even utilize their gifts. As a result, they spend no less than a third of their day unfulfilled. Why only live a fraction of your existence?

I believe God has given us all the ability to obtain wealth. I also believe God placed that ability inside each of us and connected it to our inherent, natural gifts. If you commit to developing and deploying your gifts—i.e. work your gifts—the money will eventually follow.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, one of the keys to owning your opportunities is to start somewhere. If you want to become wealthy, start by identifying your God-given gifts. No doubt, there are several other steps to building wealth—it is a process that includes effective planning and management—but I believe this fundamental step of identifying your gifts is crucial.

So how do you identify your God-given gifts? If you don’t already know, here are some questions for you to ponder:

• What do you do that feels natural to you, almost like an extension of you?
• What do others say you do well and ask more of from you?
• What energizes you and makes you feel strong?
• What is something you love to do for others, even if they don’t pay you?
• What do you do when no one is watching?
• What do you think about doing, or how do you see yourself, in your quiet moments of solitude?
• What did you always enjoy doing as a child?

There are many other questions you could ask yourself, but start with these. Make 2020 your year of owning your opportunities. Leave a comment below and let’s start a chat! CLICK HERE to join our #OYO Community and be sure to follow me on social media for daily inspirations.

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