Over the course of my career in
management, I learned that many of the same principles important to a rich
spiritual life, apply equally well in the secular world. The old adage that “nice guys always finish last”
is quite false. Cultivating positive
habits at work, such as being courteous, respectful of others, and listening
carefully, increase the likelihood of a successful career. Being generous with one’s time and talent
also breeds success. These ideas were
captured by Dr. Stephen Covey in his wildly popular book, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, which took the business
world by storm in the 1990s. In his book,
Covey promotes the idea that personal development should include developing habits
like, “Seek first to understand,” sounding more like the Prayer of Saint
Francis than a book on management. Covey’s books helped millions of people in
business rethink their priorities and improve the likelihood of success by
becoming better team players and less cut-throat in their approach to work.
One of Covey’s Seven Habits is to
develop an “Abundance Mentality,” in
which the person sincerely believes that there are plenty of resources and
successes for everyone. This leads to
celebrating the success of others, rather than always competing. By contrast, a “scarcity mindset” is one in
which the person believes that if someone else succeeds, it means you lose. This can be destructive and result in
non-productive competition, lack of cooperation, and even back-stabbing. By adopting an abundance mentality, one
celebrates the success of others rather than feeling threatened by it, and in
doing so earns trust and respect.
Although Covey was among the first to
bring ancient wisdom to bear on work life, these concepts have been around for millennia.
Sunday’s first reading from Genesis
recounts God’s test of Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his beloved only
son. Because Abraham trusted in God’s
abundance, he was willing to make even this tremendous sacrifice. In doing so, Abraham received much more than
just a son, he became the patriarch of a great nation. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only
son prefigures God’s sacrifice of His one and only Son Jesus, whose trust in
God Our Father enabled Him to sacrifice His life, so that all of us would receive
eternal life. By making a sacrificial
gift of Himself, Jesus conquered sin and death for all humanity. This is referred to as “The Law of the Gift,”
which states that the more we give, the more we receive in return. It is also the basis of Jesus’ statement that
“Whoever would save his life will lose it, and he whoever loses his life for my
sake will save it.” (Luke 9:24)
Sunday’s gospel about the
Transfiguration continues this theme in that Peter, James and John wanted to
capture and extend the moment of the transfiguration by building tents, but
this was not God’s plan, nor Jesus’ intention.
Instead, Jesus explains that He must suffer, die, and rise again on the
third day. Jesus was describing the “law
of the gift,” in that the gift of His life would make possible the much greater
accomplishment of our salvation and opportunity for eternal life. The more we give, the more we receive. It should be obvious to anyone who has
invested time and energy into studying, that those sacrifices bring the rewards
of success. Learning a skill, such as
playing a musical instrument requires sacrifice, but yields the freedom and joy
of music once the skills have been honed.
The law of the gift means that the more you give yourself away, the more
your being increases. At first glance
this may seem paradoxical, and even counter-intuitive. By giving up some of our freedom, we become
freer. Mastering a skill makes us free
to enjoy the exercise of that skill, whether it be a sport or a musical
instrument. Unless we are willing to
make the initial sacrifice required, we will never enjoy the freedom to
exercise our skills and participate more fully in life and all it has to offer.
In contrast, the more you cling to your
being, the more your being decreases. Being
stingy with our time and talent only narrows the scope of our life and our
relationships, just as being envious only leads to sadness and
disappointment. Refusing to sacrifice
time and attention to study, or to learning a skill, limits us and curbs our
potential. A corollary to this mistake
is to assume a victim mentality, asserting that no matter what happens, it is
not your fault, but rather bad luck or lack of opportunity. Personally, I believe the definition I once
heard: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” Making sacrifices is a necessary antecedent
to personal, professional, and even spiritual fulfillment.
The scarcity mentality is destructive
and counter-productive. Nowhere is this more
evident than American politics. Each
party does everything it can to prevent the other from accomplishing anything
whatsoever, but instead, constantly looks for ways to undercut their
adversaries. The ‘occupy Wall Street’ mindset
and the recent flare up over civil rights violations are also part of this attitude,
which asserts that people who have achieved success should be punished and
their money taken away, in deference to the poor and the underprivileged. This is done under the mantra of requiring
everyong to pay their “fair share” of taxes, when in truth the top 10% of
income earners pay already about 90% of all taxes already, while the bottom 50%
pay none at all.
The scarcity mentality also fuels the
liberal notion that government needs to take care of everyone, with the result
that we have created a nanny state and welfare trap. Millions have become ensnared in the cycle of
poverty and are led to believe they are hapless victims of “income inequality.” Rather than creating incentives to complete
school, learn skills, and work, our welfare system discourages marriage, and
grants so many welfare benefits that unskilled workers would have to find jobs
paying in excess of $50,000 a year to be any better off financially.
Lent is a great time to reflect on our
mindset and consciously attempt to adopt an abundance
mentality. The Law of the Gift is God’s law, as described and demonstrated by
Jesus Himself. What better example could
we have to model our lives after?
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