The 5 P’s of success

Find Your Purpose

What could be more important in this life than for you to find and live out your purpose?

Brian Tracy says, “Decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all of your activities around it.”

Your God-given purpose is as much a part of you as is your personality. You have been given attributes that are inherent to you alone. And you have been put on this earth to impact others in a way that no one else can. God had a special purpose for your life when He created you!

So Whatever you do, don’t miss your moment!

In his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God’s What If Possibilities Mark Batterson makes reference to the scripture in Jeremiah 46:17.

Jeremiah says “Give Pharaoh of Egypt the title King Bombast, the man who missed his moment.”

How sad is that? Can you imagine being named the “man who missed his moment?!”
How would you like to gain eternal notoriety by failing so horribly at life that you are known as the man/woman who missed your moment? To be known as someone who missed the reason they were put here on this earth in the first place? I can’t imagine a sadder statement to describe a person’s life.

Fortunately, you can make a decision to not let that happen.

God moments

For God tugs at your heart regularly. Some of the things He nudges you to do will be small and will seem insignificant. Other things will be life-changing.

Where would you be, for example, if you had chosen a completely different career path? Where would you be if you had not met and married your spouse?

We’ve all watched those movies where discontented people get to see what happens when they make completely different life choices that alter the direction and the outcome of their lives completely.

(Que- A Wonderful Life).

…And, just like Bill Bailey, by the end of the movie, they all realize they already have everything they’ve always wanted. They come to see their lives already matter.

For those of us who won’t get hit in the head or have an angel grant our desire to have never been born and have the opportunity to live a completely different life, we have to figure out our intrinsic value on this earth on our own.

We are here on this earth, placed in the families we are in, living in the neighborhood we live in and working in the profession we have chosen, all for a reason.

Every moment we are alive is a God moment, a moment to follow God’s will and His purpose and to do what he has called us to do.

Now back to King Bombast, the man who missed his moment. None of us want to be known for what we did not do. We don’t want to be known for completely missing our purpose.

How do you make sure that doesn’t happen to you?
As vague and ethereal as it sounds, your purpose is not so difficult to figure out.

Pay attention to your gifts and talents

Just like we all have our own individual fingerprints, we all have our own unique calling. As we said earlier, God places within each of us gifts and talents.

Perhaps He has blessed you will a gift of cooking for and serving others. Perhaps he has given you a gift for taking things apart and fixing them or for painting beautiful pictures or building beautiful homes. Whatever your talent is it is given to you to bless others.

God doesn’t want you to be miserable by working at something that is contrary to what you’re gifted to do. So first of all, look at the gifts God has placed on your life. Stay true to what you are gifted at doing, Let that be a guide to your major definite purpose.

Be led by Peace

Secondly, God will lead you by His peace. He will guide you into circumstances, job opportunities, and into relationships with people where you can use those gifts and talents to help others. If you don’t feel at peace when considering an employment opportunity, a volunteer position, a friendship or a relationship then most likely that is not the path you need to take. It may look like the perfect choice, but if you have no peace it’s a road to avoid at all costs.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses

Third, God often brings witnesses into your lives to substantiate your plans or to voice concerns. Those close to us, who truly love us and are looking out for our good, will encourage us to take advantage of opportunities or will lovingly warn us against taking the wrong path. Plunging headlong into situations that others warn us against can have long-lasting negative effects on our lives equally as devastating, if not more so than ignoring a calling on our lives and missing our moment.

On the flip side, those who love us can see what are gifts are and where our talents lie. Sometimes they see our strengths more clearly than we do!

We are all called

And finally, we are all called to a ministry whether we are chosen to be teachers, salesmen, and saleswomen, plumbers, technicians, computer geeks, restaurant owners, or pizza delivery drivers. We may not be called to stand in the pulpit on Sunday mornings, but we all have a calling. So,whatever you do in this life, strive with all your might to live out your moment!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

prioritize

Seeking the will of God in everything you do is your highest priority. Keep the objective to seek God daily at the top of your to-do list.

The most important things you can do is to start your day with prayer and devotions. In those moments, you will be given guidance, and encouragement. You will be given insights into the paths you should pursue. You will give you wisdom for inventions that only you can create.

Organize your day around seeking and following His wisdom.

Just like Steven Covey teaches in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as shown in this video, always schedule the important things first.
If you truly want to be a person of purpose, make it a habit to focus on the important and work at not letting the distractions and interruptions take you off your path.

• 

Spend your hours working on what you are led to do and make it a daily priority to work on the important tasks that support what God has called you to do and make it a habit to avoid distractions.

when your job is not your highest purpose

Of course, there are times when our primary income source is not the thing you feel you are ultimately called to do. In cases like that, prioritizing is even more important.

You will need to make it a priority to work on your calling in the morning, at night, on the weekends or on your days off.

For instance, if you ultimately want to have a cupcake shop, you may have to bake cupcakes out of your home at night and on the weekends until your business and income grow big enough to support you full time.

Or perhaps you are a youth minister and you want to be in full time ministry some day. You may have to start off putting in hundred of volunteer hours being faithful to your calling until the opportunity for a full time position opens up.

Wherever you are in life and whatever season you might be in, be faithful to what God has called you to do and thank God for where you are. Ask Him to help you be a blessing where you are now in this time and place.

And in the meantime, with Divine guidance, create a plan to move forward with the goals God is giving you.

Plan

Once you know your purpose, you now need a plan to help you live it out. Everyone needs a life plan.

Jim Rohn once said, “When you look at successful people, you will almost always discover a plan behind their success. They know what they want, they work out a plan that will get them where they want to go, and they work their plan. It is the foundation for success.”

A plan is like a road map. It shows you where you are going and how to get there. Without setting goals and developing a life map, you will never reach the level of success you are created to reach. You’ll just be spinning your wheels and never get where you ultimately want to go.

break down big goals

To create your plan, sit down at least every six months and spend the significant part of a day, if you can, writing out all of the goals you have for the different areas of your life such as the following: physical goals, spiritual goals, career goals, goals for your family, and social goals.

Write out at least 50 of your biggest goals and things you would like to accomplish. Write them out as quickly as you can.

Try to identify goals in all of the categories listed above that you want to work on over the several months, the next year or over the next several years.

Then break down the big goals into small goals or steps that can be compiled as monthly, weekly and daily goals. Each step no matter how small will move you in a direction of success.

Keep your goals in a system that is easily accessible and easy for you to use. Your system can be a paper planner if you like to write things out by hand or you can organize all of your goals an online calendar.

Keeping your goals continuously before your eyes will remind you that you do have a purpose and you can make the impact you believe you are supposed to be making in this life.

Ask God to show you where you can make changes or to lead you to resources to help you reach your goals and make note of those things.

create your own road map

Your plan should be a written document. Keep it in a journal or a notebook that you can refer to often. Make a weekly appointment with yourself to identify a doable list of tasks that can be completed over the coming week to move the needle closer to the completion of the big goal.
Take a few minutes to identify 3 small steps that you can complete each day that week that will bring you closer to the completion of one or two of your big goals.

Review those daily goals in the morning before you start your day. Then at the end of the day, move anything that didn’t get done to the next day’s to-do list.

Back to our example of opening a cupcake shop. Part of what you have to figure out is how much money and manpower would you need for your business. Are you going to apply for a bank loan to get funding? Are you going to set aside money from your current income sources to start your venture?

Some of your weekly goals could be to research funding sources, to save a certain amount of money each week out of your paycheck. You could gain support and manpower from your social circles, your church or other organizations. Offer to bake all of the treats for the next Women’s meeting or your child’s school event. Use delivery boxes that have your logo and phone number on them. Each step you take will move you closer to your goals. So make a plan. I have created a goal sheet for you to help you work on those things you have identified as important to you. Download it and your calendar pages for the year below.

Download the corresponding Goal Journal page and
5 P’s Calendar Pages!
Click Below-

• 

• 

• 

Persevere

Living out our purpose and maintaining a plan to move closer to what you feel you are called to do is not always easy. It’s easy to get excited about your dreams and goals but as challenges and distractions come your way, it’s also easy to give up on what we believe you are called to do.

Make it a habit to remind yourself to not despise the day of small beginnings. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day.

All dreams take time to build. Each step is a lesson to be learned that will help you remain faithful to your calling.

I recently read an article in Fast Company regarding Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule. the article said, ‘In the morning he asked himself, “What good shall I do this day?” And he ended the day by asking himself, “What good have I done today?” ‘

As we live out our purpose, many days will seem mundane and we may feel like we are achieving very little toward our goals. But make a resolute decision that you will live out what God has called you to do even if it seems at times you are making little progress.

Make it your focus to help others. Take the advice of Benjamin Franklin and ask yourself, what good did I do today? But in addition to that also ask yourself, what did I do today to honor my purpose?

Whatever you do, don’t give up. The daughter of the evangelist, Jerry Savelle, Terri Savelle Foy says, “Resistance prepares you, it strengthens you and enables you to go to the next level.”

I read once, it’s not what’s easy that makes you great but it’s what you overcome that makes you great.

Success always takes time. Be patient and whatever you do, don’t give up!

• 

• 

• 

Have patience

Patience is ultimately the key to fulfilling what God has called you to do.
The dream inside of you needs time to grow. When you become impatient and when you expect immediate results, it will be easy to become disappointed and quit your goals.

Remember…

” the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

Habukkuk 2:3

Ultimately, we want to hear, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.’ Matthew 25:21.

How much better will it be to hear those words rather then to hear ‘Give {insert your name here}, the name King Bombast, the man who missed his moment’.

Patiently pursue what you are called to do.

Someday you will be able to say, I lived my life well. I didn’t give up. I lived out my purpose.

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.

Review

• Identify your purpose.

• Make seeking God for daily guidance, your priority.

• Pray and make a plan to create the things God has called you to create.

• Persevere. Never give up in the face of adversity.
• “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” C.S. Lewis

• Be patient. Though the vision has a delay, wait for it. It will surely come.

God speed. Leave a comment and let me know what you have identified as your purpose and where you are on the road to achieving your goals.