Rules and Discipline in Our Work - 2
We'll continue discussing rules in both our work lives and our spiritual lives. These can and should work together. One reinforces the other.
Last time we looked at some examples from both. Today we'll start with work examples and finish with examples of spiritual discipline. For work examples, I'll reference some additional rules my small business follows.
We always take notes when we talk to clients. Those notes aren't a transcript of the conversation. They're intended to capture the relevant points of our conversations that might prove valuable in the future, as well as record important points that need to be archived for reference and compliance purposes. At the end of every quarter, we collect the notes from the previous quarter in a pdf document followed by review and notation of highlights. Some of these make their way into a checklist of items we need to keep track of and/or follow up on. If necessary, we create reminders and tasks for the coming weeks in our database. Otherwise, our record is referenced at least every quarter to see if we're on track with our clients' needs.
The primary rule here: Always keep notes of every conversation. Do so as we're speaking or as close to the conversation as possible if for some reason we can't write our notes contemporaneous with the call (a rare event). The rest of the steps are a process that requires discipline. It's not always easy to follow through as described. But "easy" isn't always a characteristic of discipline. It's akin to physical exercise that's beneficial but not necessarily fun. We're not always up for the exertion. But if we want that benefit, we've got to impose discipline on ourselves.
It helps to observe rules when you don't treat them as mere obligations. In the case of the notes, I know how critical they are to successfully address client needs and the projects they generate. My work helps people in many ways. I enjoy helping people. Yes, I make money helping people. But the helping part is the reason I always wanted to have my own business. Because I connect the notes with the helping, taking the notes, and processing them isn't merely an obligation.
I've even managed to connect my business bookkeeping and business review with my desire to help people. We have a set time for bookkeeping and business review each week. It took some years before we realized that committing to a set time on a specific day was the only way to assure the job got done correctly in a timely fashion. Now it's a rule that we always - except in very rare emergencies - perform those tasks on the appointed day and time.
For a while, it was a tough, even distasteful grind to stick to the rule. But eventually, I reminded myself that I won't be much use to people if I run my business into the ground by not keeping balanced books, watching my income and expenses, assuring an adequate profit such that the business can continue. While discipline is needed to assure compliance with the rule, that connection has made observing the rule so much more satisfying - if not easier.
I think our spiritual lives can function in a similar manner. If we're serious about striving for holiness, we've got to have certain actions we perform daily that help us grow closer to God. The rosary can serve as a good example. The decision to say it every day is a kind of rule we observe. Nothing wrong with that, unless that's all it is. If saying the rosary remains a mere obligation, one we fulfill in a rote manner just to "get it out of the way," we're not doing it justice. Merely repeating Paters and Aves isn't the point. The repetition, left to itself, can become almost inhumanly mechanical. But when we connect each decade to the appropriate mystery associated with it, the repetition helps us to dwell on that mystery for some length of time. Praying the rosary now becomes an instrument of prayer and meditation.
One more step here: All our prayers, our reading, our study - every sort of pious action we perform - need to connect with the desire to grow closer to God. We're not just following rules we set up for an ordered spiritual life. Order serves the purpose of assuring that our desire to grow closer to God doesn't fall by the wayside because of the busyness of our lives or the myriad distractions the world throws at us.
We need discipline to stick to our rules in our work and in our spiritual lives. If we connect those rules with a higher purpose each will reinforce the other. In my work that higher purpose is helping others. In our spiritual lives, it should be growing closer to God.
Can you see how each of these naturally works with the other, reinforcing the discipline we need to follow our rules?
Conclusion: Know your higher purpose and consistently connect it to your work and your spiritual life. If you do this, over time you'll find yourself sticking to the rules more often, maybe even perfectly. You'll find the discipline won't be as hard to practice as it once was. Even if that takes many years - as it has for me - it will be well worth the effort and the wait.
Last time we looked at some examples from both. Today we'll start with work examples and finish with examples of spiritual discipline. For work examples, I'll reference some additional rules my small business follows.
We always take notes when we talk to clients. Those notes aren't a transcript of the conversation. They're intended to capture the relevant points of our conversations that might prove valuable in the future, as well as record important points that need to be archived for reference and compliance purposes. At the end of every quarter, we collect the notes from the previous quarter in a pdf document followed by review and notation of highlights. Some of these make their way into a checklist of items we need to keep track of and/or follow up on. If necessary, we create reminders and tasks for the coming weeks in our database. Otherwise, our record is referenced at least every quarter to see if we're on track with our clients' needs.
The primary rule here: Always keep notes of every conversation. Do so as we're speaking or as close to the conversation as possible if for some reason we can't write our notes contemporaneous with the call (a rare event). The rest of the steps are a process that requires discipline. It's not always easy to follow through as described. But "easy" isn't always a characteristic of discipline. It's akin to physical exercise that's beneficial but not necessarily fun. We're not always up for the exertion. But if we want that benefit, we've got to impose discipline on ourselves.
It helps to observe rules when you don't treat them as mere obligations. In the case of the notes, I know how critical they are to successfully address client needs and the projects they generate. My work helps people in many ways. I enjoy helping people. Yes, I make money helping people. But the helping part is the reason I always wanted to have my own business. Because I connect the notes with the helping, taking the notes, and processing them isn't merely an obligation.
I've even managed to connect my business bookkeeping and business review with my desire to help people. We have a set time for bookkeeping and business review each week. It took some years before we realized that committing to a set time on a specific day was the only way to assure the job got done correctly in a timely fashion. Now it's a rule that we always - except in very rare emergencies - perform those tasks on the appointed day and time.
For a while, it was a tough, even distasteful grind to stick to the rule. But eventually, I reminded myself that I won't be much use to people if I run my business into the ground by not keeping balanced books, watching my income and expenses, assuring an adequate profit such that the business can continue. While discipline is needed to assure compliance with the rule, that connection has made observing the rule so much more satisfying - if not easier.
I think our spiritual lives can function in a similar manner. If we're serious about striving for holiness, we've got to have certain actions we perform daily that help us grow closer to God. The rosary can serve as a good example. The decision to say it every day is a kind of rule we observe. Nothing wrong with that, unless that's all it is. If saying the rosary remains a mere obligation, one we fulfill in a rote manner just to "get it out of the way," we're not doing it justice. Merely repeating Paters and Aves isn't the point. The repetition, left to itself, can become almost inhumanly mechanical. But when we connect each decade to the appropriate mystery associated with it, the repetition helps us to dwell on that mystery for some length of time. Praying the rosary now becomes an instrument of prayer and meditation.
One more step here: All our prayers, our reading, our study - every sort of pious action we perform - need to connect with the desire to grow closer to God. We're not just following rules we set up for an ordered spiritual life. Order serves the purpose of assuring that our desire to grow closer to God doesn't fall by the wayside because of the busyness of our lives or the myriad distractions the world throws at us.
We need discipline to stick to our rules in our work and in our spiritual lives. If we connect those rules with a higher purpose each will reinforce the other. In my work that higher purpose is helping others. In our spiritual lives, it should be growing closer to God.
Can you see how each of these naturally works with the other, reinforcing the discipline we need to follow our rules?
Conclusion: Know your higher purpose and consistently connect it to your work and your spiritual life. If you do this, over time you'll find yourself sticking to the rules more often, maybe even perfectly. You'll find the discipline won't be as hard to practice as it once was. Even if that takes many years - as it has for me - it will be well worth the effort and the wait.
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