Why Entrepreneurs Need a Dose of Spirituality

It’s not about religion. It’s not about surrendering. It’s about rediscovering

Entrepreneurs are different from businessmen.

You can be an entrepreneur, but not a businessman and vice-versa.

Entrepreneurship is related to revenue generation, but more prominently it’s about logical and pragmatic problem solving.

As more and people embark on their voyage of entrepreneurship, they are constantly in search of high quality and relevant content that can both help them in theory as well as in practice.

But how does spirituality relate to entrepreneurship? Is it only about clarity or there is something else too?

Here is it how spirituality helps one embrace entrepreneurship, and that in a more balanced and rational perspective.

1. Not making Conclusions

The basic idea that most of the spiritual gurus agree with is the idea that a spiritual being is someone who looks for constant self-discovery and does not accept conclusions easily. They read, value and learn from scriptures, but at the same time makes sure that they pay due attention towards testing and learning from his experiences. It’s more like an active learning approach where one amalgamates age-old scriptures, but at the same time tests the knowledge through his own active experience.

Judgement-Yes, but conclusions- No. It’s not breaking rules, but rather taking a closer glance at them by being more mindful of them during their practice.

And in the real world too, entrepreneurship largely seems to revolve around this idea: learn, test and reflect. First, an entrepreneur constructs his solutions based on proven business models, tries the assumptions in the practice, gets the feedback and finally improves. This continuous process of learning, testing and reflecting is the mindset that has been distinguishing entrepreneurs from the rest. And spirituality is one of the most powerful ways to embrace and strengthen this thought process.

Spirituality helps an individual prepare and program that self-development loop where they become more inclusive to constructive criticisms, feedback and a wide variety of innovative solutions.

2. Leadership Begins with Self-Reflection

Motivating. Understanding. And visionary.

These are some of the qualities people look for in leaders. Someone who can acknowledge his/her mistakes, present clear goals and helps his team through the process. Someone who can set realistic expectations from the team. Someone who can accept responsibility.

And that someone is the person who possesses the single most valuable skill in this world- listening. Listening not only to others, but also to himself.

Listening and figuring out what actually is pragmatic and best for him/her to peruse. Getting a bit deeper to diagnose where the real problem lies. Rethinking once again whether the issue that’s bothering him is the real problem or a mere symptom.

And digging this bit deep is what spirituality assists an individual with. A few minutes of silence daily, meditation, prayer- they all are more, but in one form a type of self-reflection for better clarity, understanding and vision.

Although empirical evidence in this regard is not yet available, but according to Tim Ferris, who has interviewed more than 200 world-class performers in his weekly podcast “The Ferris Show”, the number 1 common thread more of than 80% of these top performers shared was some form of daily meditation.

Leadership begins with self-reflection, the core basis of spirituality. Meditation drives self-reflection, self-reflection drives spiritual thoughts and spiritual thoughts a better and clearer vision.

3. Balance between Being Detailed Oriented and Focusing on the Big Picture

Life is full of dilemmas. Sometimes we want to take things lightly, while at certain instances we feel that we are underestimating the details.

Entrepreneurs not only have to deal, but they need to survive and thrive growing up through this dilemma. Sometimes you need to be result oriented, while in certain days you let go off small things by focusing on the big picture. And striking the balance is what that’s both hard as well as immensely essential.

Between balance sheets and big dreams. Between scalability and sustainability. Between profitability and liquidity.

These decisions, what to ignore and what to focus on. What, when, where. This is the core, but the very factor that determine whether an entrepreneur shall succeed in his endeavors, attempts and voyages.

Most people regard emotional intelligence to be the prime determinant behind taking these effective decisions. However, studies have now been revealing that there is a different dimension to this called Spiritual Intelligence.

“SQ is the intelligence to face and solve the problem of meaning and value, the intelligence to put the behavior and life in the context of a broader meaning and rich, intelligence to judge that the action or the way a person’s life is more meaningful than others. SQ is a necessary basis for the proper functioning effectively IQ and EQ. Even SQ is the highest human intelligence.” (Kurniawan and Syakur, 2017, International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences.)

This study and a host of others have now been identifying that it is this level of awareness that spirituality brings that helps other to better manage our emotions and ultimately important life decisions. As more and more qualitative and quantitative research piles in, now one thing is getting clearer and clearer: spiritual awareness is the highest form of human intelligence.

4. Connecting and Giving Back

Policy makers draft plans, analyst prospect, but its entrepreneurs who implement them and bring the real impact in the lives of people. It’s not only essential from a business perspective, but also for the greater social well-being that entrepreneurs engage at a deeper level to connect and give back to communities. Without this, both entrepreneurship as well as humanity cannot thrive and prosper. As inequality seems to be rising more than ever, and nations and governments struggling to manage resources, it’s entrepreneurs that have a larger role in helping communities grow along with them.

As much as revenues are an integral component of entrepreneurship so are solving the plights and problems of people, and if entrepreneurs succeed in this, they shall not only be a part of history, but shall become the ones to shape them.

As one begins to self-reflect and try to reach beyond oneself, they also begin to accept and acknowledge that the universe is far more complex, intricate and beyond one’s comprehension. They learn to acknowledge that their existence is still minute in comparison to the larger ecosystem, simply like a speck of dust. More or less, as this sense of awareness grows, it is believed that people learn to be humbler, connect to their roots and to others in a deeper level.

Spirituality helps ones understand oneself and world, to connect, understand and give back until and even after our last day on earth.

Hope you found this article useful. Wish you a great day ahead. Thank you for reading this article.