Why is religion often cited as a cornerstone for some people’s success?
Many Christians recently embarked on their own annual pilgrimage this year, with the celebration of Lent kicking off on Ash Wednesday. While there can be many things learned from every religion, this 40-day long pilgrimage of the Christian faith holds a few keys to the vault of success.
Those keys, the ones we’re all searching for, are Reflection, and Sacrifice.
Reflection
One of the powers of religion is the consistent self-evaluation. A part of the Lenten process is reflecting on your life. Putting careful consideration into how you are living helps you make the necessary adjustments to keep you on the right path.
Of course, this habit of reflection is more frequent than once a year. Religions are remarkably effective for reinforcing such positive behaviors. Whether that’s Sunday Communion, observing the Sabbath, or Al-Jumah, all religions have days dedicated to rest and reflection.
Irrespective of your attitudes towards religion, this self-evaluation process is an important one. Each week and month, make sure you check in with Number One, you, and make sure you’re on the right path.
Sacrifice
While reflection helps you re-calibrate your compass, the next essential key to success that religion can give us is through sacrifice. Certainly, in observance of lent, sacrifice is an essential element. For 40 days, Christian practitioners commonly either give up something, or make an effort to change in some positive way.
This is the single most important key to success. If you want to be successful, you must make sacrifices.
Sacrifice who you are for who you can be.
Success takes commitment, and endless hours of effort. It’s picking up a book rather than the TV remote. Jumping into some joggers rather than hit snooze. Investing some cash rather than spending it all.
Take a few moments and evaluate your day, your week, your month. What change can you make for the next 40 days that would put you back on track? What are you willing to give up to achieve more with your life?