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Four Pillars Every Entrepreneur Should Balance To Help Find Purpose

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By Bryan Citrin, CEO of Chiropractic Advertising. Expert digital marketer, John C. Maxwell certified coach, speaker and international philanthropist.

Countless entrepreneurs hustle hard every day with the aspiration of finally achieving the lifestyle of the rich and famous or the business mogul. Unfortunately, this mindset can often lead to a squandered life void of true meaning or purpose. I’m not advocating against nice things, vacations and having fun but instead challenging entrepreneurs to balance their aspirations for pleasure with compassion, selflessness and sacrifice. This will help maximize one’s self-esteem, social impact and legacy. I’ve provided meaningful pillars every entrepreneur should strive to balance to find fulfillment, regardless of their level of success.

1. Focus On Spiritual Growth

It’s important to not neglect spirituality, and it’s even been proven to be good for your health. I believe this can sometimes be overlooked because it can seem intangible at times and hard to quantify. Though people practice spirituality in a variety of different ways, there are universal principles that can be learned, regardless of belief.

For example, the often-quoted Golden Rule was taught by Jesus Christ. Attributing this principle to one’s business can provide higher success and fulfillment. Countless people over the years have looked to the teachings of Jesus for spirituality and success in business, with more accounts of Jesus’s life having been sold than any other book ever printed.

The historical nature of Jesus as a significant figure in history is undisputed. Because of this, I believe every entrepreneur should read for themselves what this man taught about business, life and purpose.

One of the ways I practice this is by reading the book of John from the Bible. It’s not just a biography of Jesus, but exemplifies the love of God for humanity and a practical approach to spirituality.

Kanye West, who recently did this, quoted this book of the Bible in his album Jesus Is King. He even attributes his spirituality to the turnaround of his career and a $68 million tax return after being $35 million in debt the year previous.

2. Be Unexpectedly Generous With Your Resources

Another often-quoted proverb from Jesus is “It is better to give than receive.” When was the last time you were generous toward a stranger? This may look like buying a homeless person a meal, donating to humanitarian causes with your company’s resources, or financially supporting your church or favorite charity.

The reason I say unexpectedly generous is you could give generously at times it doesn’t necessarily make sense for your business or family. Try practicing generosity not just as a monetary amount, but as a percentage of income. If you start early on, it will be easy to continue this discipline as your success increases.

I remember times before I had started my business when I would empty my bank account as I traveled to an impoverished village in Haiti — not to cover my expenses, but to maximize my impact once I arrived in the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.

3. Focus On Giving Back With Your Time

One limited resource every human has in life is time. When each of us comes to the end of our life, it is likely that we will desire more time rather than more money. Regardless of success, everyone is limited to just 24 hours a day.

Entrepreneurs are encouraged to leverage their time to make a true impact. As a person begins to discover their purpose, they must strive to spend time to help fulfill it, not just with resources, but time, even when it doesn’t make financial or logical sense. This may be done through volunteering to help those who are underprivileged, advocating to end human rights injustices or simply taking time out to help those one encounters on a daily basis.

For me, I make time to travel abroad to help underserved communities: I have taken 23 humanitarian mission trips to a rural village in Haiti, six trips to Vietnam and other trips around the world with the purpose of making life better for others, encouraging them both practically and spiritually.

4. Leverage Your Influence For Good

As one’s business grows, so does their influence in the community and throughout the world. By living a life of purpose, you can use your influence to impact others to do the same. You can encourage people to make ethical decisions with their company, take care of their employees better and even use their money to help others instead of just themselves.

One of the ways I practice this principle is by encouraging entrepreneurs within my network to help invest in a rural village my company supports in Haiti. Often, before I leave, I will reach out and invite them to be a part of the positive impact we are making.

Conclusion

If you want to know what matters most to a person, just look at how they spend their time and their money. Regardless of how successful a person is or how much money they make as an entrepreneur, their time on this earth is limited. There has never been a generation that has not passed away, so it’s important to think about long-term impact and legacy with your business.

I believe that as entrepreneurs, it’s our obligation to humanity to be as successful as possible because this will enable us to maximize our impact while we are alive. By finding the right balancing of these pillars, we entrepreneurs will likely experience greater fulfillment and truly leave a lasting legacy not only with our customers, but with society as a whole.