Church provides comfort, spiritual renewal and guidance. But I’ve also learned a few lessons from my pastor that you can apply to your daily communication and decision-making – no matter your denomination, faith or employer:
- Make the main thing the main thing. From the pulpit, my pastor has talked about not letting disagreements about smaller issues on beliefs get in the way of the shared belief in God, which is – and should be – the main focus. Likewise, overarching goals and principles of your organization should be your main focus. Too often, co-workers, bosses and strategic planning get bogged down in smaller details, which are important, but should never get in the way of your main organizational goals.
- Stick with three points: Every good Baptist (and even most bad ones) knows that the preacher will deliver three points in his sermon, close with a prayer and sit down. If you only have two points, you probably don’t have a full sermon – or speech. If you have more than three points, people probably won’t remember them. Three is a manageable number for speaking and remembering. So next time you’re delivering a speech or working on a presentation, stick with the number three.
- If it’s such a good decision, you won’t mind sharing it with your spouse/parent/pastor. Think about your daily activities, priorities and decisions. Are they ones you feel comfortable talking about in public with those that mean the most to you? If not, then they’re probably things you shouldn’t be doing. It’s a good philosophy not just in your personal life but in the business world. If you lose the faith and respect of your co-workers and customers, success will be beyond your grasp.
If I could have a fourth point, which I can’t (see No. 2), I would add “Always end on time.” You don’t want to keep people from their lunch. Food is important.