High energy equals high performance. How do you increase performance at work?
● People who are energetic and enthusiastic are in high demand in the marketplace.
● High-energy individuals spread positivity among others and motivate others.
● High-energy individuals do not let problems in their personal life affect their work-life.
● High performers look at every problem as a challenge and think of ways to overcome them objectively.
And all of this starts with having high energy levels.
What is the source of high energy? What factors can help you perform at a higher level? How does one stay positive in the midst of work challenges?
The Bible has some interesting answers to these questions. The following scripture verse has hidden in it the 3 secrets for a successful high-performing work-life. Let us look at each of them in details.
We give thanks to God… recalling unceasingly before our God and Father your work energized by faith, and your service motivated by love and unwavering hope in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Thessalonians 1:2,3 (Amplified Bible)
3 Secrets of a high performing and high energy work life
Secret 1: Work Energised by Faith
High energy has to come from within, not from external sources.
Sometimes we find that we get energised by external sources or events (like a football game, a motivational speech or a rock concert), but it is short-lived and we fall back to normal when the trigger stops. But when the energy comes from within, it lasts longer and the since the source is accessible internally, you can tap into that source whenever you need energy to perform well.
In this scripture, the Bible give us a clue for where that energy comes from. The verse says, ‘work energised by faith’. Faith is the inner source that supplies this energy.
What is Faith? – It is simply having an inner assurance of the things that have not happened yet, but you are hoping will happen. If you read the book of Hebrews in the bible, faith is defined like this: Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1)
Usually in workplaces we find that high-energy, positive people are the ones who have lots of faith. For example, consider high performing sales professionals (I managed 100s of them in my corporate life); they are usually high-energy individuals who believe at all times that their sales target can be achieved. Even in the middle of the month, when they may not have closed all the deals, they remain positive and filled with faith. This is a good example of faith in a work-related context. Even though the application of faith differs for departments and roles, the principle remains the same. Being confident of the end result and taking positive action to make it happen.
But the foundation of all this operational faith is the faith that you have in the unfailing love of God. Let me explain: When you know that God loves you and he will help you succeed in your work-life no matter what the challenges are, it gives you faith to perform at a higher level. This is the faith that you should learn to build. And this is the faith that will energise your work. You will start looking at work as a platform that God has given you, and in which He will help you succeed. When you have this outlook and attitude, you will not be worried or concerned about challenges. You will stay positive and have faith that all things will work together for your good. This will help you energise your work-life, there by making you a high-performer.
Secret 2: Service motivated by Love
In our earlier blog, I showed you how God created ‘work’ in the Garden of Eden and that the chief purpose of work is to ‘Serve’. All high performers in business and work are people who know how to serve others. That is why ‘service levels’ are always a good indication of a company’s performance. And for a working professional an attitude of service can be a key factor in career growth.
To ‘serve’ is ‘to meet another person’s need’. When you meet the needs of your customer, you serve your customer. When you meet the need of your employer, you serve the company. The more you serve, the more successful you will be.
But the bible goes one step further and gives us an important tip for keeping this attitude of ‘service’ alive. It says our ‘service’ should be motivated by ‘love’.
Usually we do not associate the words ‘love’ and ‘work’ together. Somehow we all have an opinion that workplaces are all about being tough, aggressive and firm. We think ‘love’ and ‘kindness’ are words meant only for non-profits and religious institutions. While, it is true that we cannot get ‘too soft’ and ‘too nice’ in a work environment trying to be ‘loving’ to others, it is also true that we need an ‘attitude of love’ to serve others in our workplace. While we need to be professional in our approach, we also need to have enough ‘love’ to convert that professional approach into helpful actions and meaningful service.
For example, let us look at ‘customer care’ policy of a company. If the company really ‘loves’ their customers, they will produce good quality products to help them. They will attend to their support queries quickly without delays. They will go out of the way to make sure the customers are happy with the purchase process, interactions, experience, etc.
So the root and motivation of service should be ‘love’. When this motivation is missing, then customer care becomes an obligation and companies do it just as a part of the business process. This motivating factor makes all the difference in performance. So, if you want to be a high-performer, you must have ‘love’ as the motivating factor for your service. Whether you serve your co-workers, company, customers or vendors, do it with love.
Secret 3: Unwavering Hope in the Return of our Lord Jesus Christ
On the first look, this statement might look a bit religious and you wonder what it has to do with high-performance at work. But this is an important statement in the bible that gives us the ultimate reason that we all go to work for.
To work is to serve: I explained in an earlier blog post that the real reason we go to work is not just to make money, but to serve God. This verse talks about the day when, as people who serve God, we give account of our accomplishment to Him. When Jesus Christ comes back, that is the day when all of us will be reporting to him about the effort, impact and accomplishments of our work-life.
This is not a meant to put ‘fear’ into ours hearts. We are not school children who are afraid of facing the teacher while receiving the mark sheet. We are God’s partners in this world. We have been given the responsibility of creating a difference in this world through our work and personal life. The way we conduct our business and work is an important part of that partnership. By creating good products and services, we partner with God and help him establish his Kingdom of love by creating value to each other. So the ‘unwavering hope’ in the return of Jesus is meant to give meaning and purpose to our work-life. We now have a good reason to be high-performers in all areas of life. The thought of one day standing in front of Him, proudly knowing that you have accomplished what He sent you to do, using the gifts and talents that He Himself put inside of you should be a great motivation for better performance.
So, let us work harder (and smarter) helping more people, giving more to society, increasing our creative contribution to this world with better products and services using the uncommon wisdom that comes from God. All the best!
