Notes from the Founder: “Are you living in your sweet spot?”

If you haven’t already read Max Lucado’s book, “A Cure for the Common Life”, I would highly recommend it. It drives home the point that God has clearly designed each and every one of us in a very unique and special way to accomplish specific tasks for Him during our time on this side of Heaven. Recognizing that point is often easier than trying to figure out what those specific tasks are, and this is what this book helps you do.

By reflecting back on very specific occasions during your life where you felt like you were doing something you were very good at, and you loved every second of it, you are given clues as to what God wants you to do with your life. When forced to go through this exercise, and physically write out the story with every detail you can remember, certain themes and common threads will run throughout the stories that will lead you to the answer to the often sought after question, “What does God want me to do with my life?”

When you are in these moments where you love what you are doing, and you are very good at it, you are living in your “sweet spot”. The goal is to get yourself there more often, because this is where God wants you to be, and therefore where you can make the biggest difference for God. Since we spend much of our waking time in our vocation, having this time spent in your sweet spot will make an incredible difference in your attitude, your energy level, and your impact.

My prayer is that what you do from 8-5 (or 8-8 or later in many cases) is exactly what God has designed you to do, and that your affiliation with Christian Business Network is helping you reach many new people with your product, service, or message.

I know that many of you were designed to be leaders, which is why you lead your own business, or serve in a leadership role at work, at church, and for other organizations. The Christian Business Network is in need of new, passionate leaders at the chapter, regional, and executive levels. If the Holy Spirit is tugging on your heart to get involved with Christian Business Network in a leadership role, please notify any of the current leadership team, and we will get you plugged in.

Have a red-letter day!
Brian Benson
Founder and Executive Committee Chairperson

Networking Tip - “All men are created equal”
by John Kocher

In the eyes of the Law “all men are created equal”. This is a good and trustworthy saying. However, the plain truth is all people are “not created equal” when it comes to networking. Social scientists tell us we are each six steps away from knowing any other person on the face of the planet. Each step is defined as a relationship between two people. While this cannot be proven beyond doubt, let us accept it as fact for now. Another interesting idea which social scientists also show us is that while everyone knows someone, there are some people that are extremely gifted at making and maintaining a multitude of friendships, often in a variety of different circles. I call these people networking “hubs”. As an illustration, consider Delta Airlines’ Cincinnati-based regional hub. Flying on Delta from Columbus, I can generally only fly to Cincinnati or Atlanta, but from those cities I can go to every place Delta operates. So just like all cites are not equally connected to all other cites (in terms of air transportation), it is the same for people. Most people you meet will be glad to help you if they can. However, some are particularly adept at doing so. Since it is a given that we are all to be wise stewards of our time, logic suggests the following: we should focus more of our networking efforts on the people we meet -- who seem to be widely connected -- while always making referrals every chance we get.