No More Dreaded Mondays

Appropriate, I guess, that it happened to be a Monday that I post this! At the recommendation from a good friend, bass player and entrepreneur, Doug Price, I read this book.



Dan Miller is a speaker, career coach and successful businessman who shares his philosophy and thoughts on finding personal fulfillment in your work. He came from an ultra-conservative background and has experienced life with very little and learned how to cultivate wealth. I enjoyed reading and learning about financial success from a Biblical perspective which I feel is rare. (Apart from Dave Ramsey who's main push is getting out of debt). I agree with Dan:

A lot of us hold on to the primitive religious belief that poverty and self-sacrifice are pleasing to God. And many of the nonreligious among us as well have fallen victim to the belief that poverty is inevitable because there's not enough to go around. Too many good people are ashamed of wanting much for fear they may deprive others of having their needs met. But as I see it, the reverse is true. The best way to help the poor is to reduce their numbers by not being one of them.

He reminds Christians that it's not money that is evil, it's the LOVE of money that is evil and serving money instead of Christ is wrong. His biggest push throughout the book is to change people's thinking and help them see that they aren't trapped. I can definitely relate to being in a job that I felt trapped in because it was provision, and a means to an end. He says that America is full of opportunity for passionate, talented individuals who are doing their jobs well. By finding and doing what you're passionate about, provision and wealth will simply follow because people are always willing to invest and partner with individuals who are passionate about their jobs. This is convicting. He asks the question,

Who really is the slave of money, the person who is doing something he or she loves and in the process making $250,000 a year? No, it's the person who, each day, goes to a job he or she hates, just for the money - there's the person who has made money his or her god. There's the person who focuses on and loves money.

His point is not that all of us should be rich and make fortune finding our life goal, His encouragement is that we can find fulfillment, joy and passion in our jobs by using the gifts and talents He's already given us. He promises provision for His children already, we just need to have the faith that the provision comes from Him and not stay in a situation because of perceived job security. Doing what we're passionate about that consequently makes money and trusting the Lord for His provision is the only real job security.

In today's traditional workplace, security is an illusion. when you are working for a company, your fate is in the hands of one person - your boss (or, even worse, the shareholders and executives who see you as fixed overhead, not a person). A decision by one person, one who might not even know your name, can put you out on the street. But in your own business, if you are selling hot dogs on the street corner, everyone of your customers would have to fire you before you're out of business. If you are selling products on eBay, you have 222 million potential customers from all over the world - having one who doesn't like you or your product does not put you out of business.

As General Douglas MacArthur said, "Security is the ability to produce." Your security is in knowing clearly what it is that you do well and then doing that with excellence.

I feel like this is a boring blog post, I do apologize for that. This book is $7 on Amazon and I think you'll really be inspired by it. I appreciate having my mind opened and my perspective widened, I also like knowing that I'm not trapped and that I always have options, it's my choice!