Business Secrets from the Bible: Spiritual Success Strategies for Financial Abundance

Secret #11

In Order to Achieve Success, We Must and Can Build Up Our Self-Discipline, Integrity, and Character Strength

Let's consider weight loss. Why can't we just decide to lose weight and then simply do so? Because there is very real pain involved in adopting a new lifestyle that holds more sway over us than the imagined—the visualized—gain of future health, vitality, and improved appearance. We all want to be these things, but we cannot feel them. We must imagine them. On the other hand, we can feel the actual pain of turning down dessert. You cannot pit real pain against imagined gain. Real pain wins every time. You are setting yourself up for failure by ignoring the way the human mind works. We have to find other motivators—imagined gain isn't going to deter us when we face immediate pain.

We encounter a similar dilemma when we try to understand the process of making money. There can be very real pain involved in earning money. It requires us to go to work every day. We know that going into work is what delivers us a paycheck and allows us to build out our savings and create the lives for ourselves that we want. But the promise of accomplishing future financial goals is more distant than the fact that I have to wake up when my alarm goes off, get dressed, and spend the day at work. The payoff is distant and gradual and requires our imagination. On the other hand, the television is right in front of us. Turning it off to do something more productive causes real and immediate ...