Yes, the title sounds very social-media-y, but the concept has been percolating with me for a while.
This whole thought process started with a talk I attended, where the speaker was the founder of Farmer’s Fridge. Farmer’s Fridge is a local (Chicago-based) innovative company that provides ready-to-eat salads and healthy food in jars, delivered in vending machines. If that sounds like a shark tank contestant, it turns out that the shark tank contestant was actually someone who was literally copying Farmer’s Fridge’s business model.
The difference, is that the founder had started Farmer’s Fridge as a response to his search for and ultimately inability to find good nutritious food choices. This was true especially in small cities while he was on the road as a traveling salesman. The company has a mission to provide nutritious, healthy, affordable food options in places where there typically are none (think of a hospital after the cafeteria has closed). Contrast this with the shark tank contestant, who appears to be just focused on making money.
I asked him about whether, along his journey, he had been forced to choose between the mission and success. His is that every founder must keep their vision front and center, so the choices are clear. This is the only way to differentiate yourself against copy-cats, because they will never have your passion, your mission. I’ve tried to do the same, writing a vision statement that should serve as our North Star for the business.
This conversation also got me thinking about the mission of this blog. I am aware that it seems like a bit of virtue signaling. It seems like a bit of “look at me, I’m fasting” (which is the exact opposite of the intent behind fasting!). However, the mission was to connect with others who want to make an impact, and together have a greater impact on the world around us. It’s the infamous “network effect”.
As people, we desire to do good, to make an impact. That is admirable, but it is important that we check our hearts in this. Too often, in the midst of the work of doing good, the intent gets lost in the doing. People who don’t remind themselves the why of doing good, will ultimately burn out.
Me and my wife have signed on to do a lot in this season of life. We got close to being overwhelmed and letting things drop, or doing good with a bad attitude. As I tell my children, attitude matters. It is better not to do the work, than to do it with a bad attitude.
A friend of mine re-posted the following story from twitter.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2460139877401936&id=435917046490906
It is worth a read. I hate forwards for the most part, but this story teaches us that every so often, we need to be reminded of why we are living the life that we live. We’ve made choices in career and life in order that we could have an impact. But let’s re-discover that reason, so that we can have joy in the every day, even in the difficult and overwhelming parts of those choices.
People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7b
So my friends, lets check out our motives, lets remind ourselves of why we are doing the things we do, and let’s find joy in doing good.