Hello and good day!
Did you ever hear the expression "when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail"?
Well, when you are a business owner, you almost can't help but look at the world as if it were one big profit and loss statement. There are inputs and there are outputs. If you are skillful and thoughtful, the outputs should be worth more than the inputs.
By the way, in this simple statement lies the entire ethical defense of capitalism. Businesses exist to transform resources from less valuable states into more valuable states. When they do that, they get profits as their reward.
For example, the metal in cars is worth more to most people as part of car than mixed in with dust in a hill somewhere. So mining and car manufacturing makes a profit. But their profit is nothing more than a sign that they did something good for the world.
This gets all mixed up of course when lobbying and politics get involved, but at a fundamental level, business profit is very fair under the right circumstances.
All that being said, there are some other types of profit that we shouldn't forget about. These profits aren't calculated in dollars and cents. They are more subjective and each individual must determine for themselves whether or not these profits have actually been created.
I am talking about psychological, emotional, and spiritual profits.
As with business profits, there are inputs and outputs, and when done right, the outputs are worth more than inputs. However, the main input in these cases tends to be time and effort, not money.
For example. With a unit of time, one could do just about anything.
You could go out and garden.
You could take a bike ride.
You could pray.
You could read.
You could meditate.
You could pig out on junk food.
You could volunteer.
You could go out preaching or do some missionary work.
You could fix up your house.
You could binge on Netflix.
Obviously, this list could go on forever.
After you finish each of these activities, you can ask yourself what the outcome of it was on your emotions and on the world around you. If you feel you are a better person and that you have left the world a better place, then there is a profit in your actions.
If you feel that you haven't made any difference at all, then it is a wash, you broke even. If you have made yourself worse or the world worse, then you have an operating loss, just like in business. And just like in business, too many emotional losses will send you into emotional bankruptcy.
You'll have nothing left to give. You'll fall into depression and a feeling of worthlessness.
Likewise, if you constantly produce spiritual and emotional profits, you will build up a fat spiritual bank account. You'll be deeply happy and satisfied with your life.
What got me thinking about this is the fact that I was bone tired yesterday. I don't know why, but I was just totally worn out. Between the business and writing a book and family and walking around in the rain getting wet promoting our chocolate shops, I was just sapped.
I almost fell asleep at my desk while I was doing admin work in the morning. But I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to fight through it. And that got me to thinking about why I should fight through it.
Why not just lay on the couch for a day? I've earned that right?
Here's why.
Laying on the couch is a spiritual loss. Time is a scarce resource, more scarce than money. Would you take $100 and throw it in the trash? No, you never would and neither would I.
For me, laying on the couch felt akin to that. It would be a spiritual loss and I wasn't willing to take an easy loss. I might take a loss if it is forced on me, but I don't want to be a willing participant in it.
So I went and splashed some cold water on my face and did some push ups. I did a few jumping jacks and I powered through. A few hours later, I found myself walking around in the rain and feeling very alive and very strong.
One of the chocolate shops was totally full. Kids were smiling. Several people had whipped cream on their nose from the free hot chocolates, which I love to see. It cracks me up when somebody has whipped cream on their nose and they don't realize it.
I'll usually let them talk for about 30 seconds before I give them a napkin. Sometimes in business there are times when spiritual and emotional profits dovetail with money profits.
Sometimes you do something good for the world with no ulterior motives and it ends up benefiting you financially. It is very sweet when that happens.
Anyhow, I hope that you are able to rack up some psychological and spiritual profits today and I thank you so much for your time.
I hope that you have a truly blessed day!
