A light-hearted survey which will reveal to you whether you think of your work as a job, career, or calling - and what that says about your likely satisfaction with life.

Job, Career or Calling?

How would you describe the way you earn a living? Research by Amy Wrzensniewski, Professor of Management and Organizational Behavior at New York University, shows that most people view their work either as a job, a career, or a calling.

I’ve drawn inspiration from her questionnaire to offer you a light-hearted version of the test below. Answer the questions and add up your scores to find out which category you belong to - and what that says about your satisfaction with life!

Do you know that your thoughts shape your reality?

What goes in your mind has the power to shape your entire present and future.

That is why it is very important that you take care of the ideas that you feed your mind with.

The quality of your life is shaped by the quality of your thoughts.

But how do your thoughts get shaped? There are unlimited factors that shape your thoughts.

One of the most powerful ways to control the quality of your thoughts is by reading high quality books.

The Law of Attraction seems to carry a puzzling aura to most people, who are not able to decipher the significance of how powerful the mind can be to their lives. Most of us are stuck on the previous beliefs that have invaded our brain and allowed us to be conformed to what someone else thinks and feels about life in general.

It is certainly hard to shake off those sticky convictions that have been laid down for us to grasp as soon as we are born. It is then that we seem to drift along in life wondering how to differentiate our forced beliefs and what our feelings dictate to us.

While in college in New Orleans, I lived with my best friend, Mike Burnett, in a basement apartment. One night before drifting off to sleep, I heard the rain outside coming down in sheets. I felt very happy to be in a dry and comfortable bed.

My next conscious thoughts were of my bed shaking. Upon opening my eyes, I saw Mike standing at the foot of my bed and heard his voice, “Bill, wake up, wake up!”

“Okay — what’s going on?” I groggily replied. Mike then said the most confusing thing to me, “Can I get on the bed with you?” I was fully awake now.

In the book of Acts in the New Testament at Chapter 18 and verse 7, when serious trouble broke out yet again in the city of Corinth, this man of God, Paul, left the synagogue and went into the home of a man who lived next door - Titius Justus - a man who was truly sincere in his worship.

Something rather wonderful happened. Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and so did all who lived in his home.

There has been a myth floating around for a number of years that’s says, “if you act enthusiastic you will be come enthusiastic”. Yes and no.

If you tend to be enthusiastic when things age going well let me ask you – do you act just as enthusiastic when you are going down in flames and life is filled with problem after problem?

Last time, I talked about creativity in general,
discussed creative ‘blocks’ and provided strategies for Generation as a
way of being more creative.

This month, I’d like to focus on the second broad area I identified in the field of creativity – Synthesis.

The word ’synthesis’ is derived from the ancient Greek and
describes an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which
results in a new creation.

Using the creative process of Synthesis results in
modular thinking – “What if I took a feature from this thing and
added it to that one?” The process is one of breaking something down
into its component parts or features and then combining some of those
with elements from elsewhere.

What we think and believe will inevitably come out in our actions. In one-way or another a negative attitude can make or break a relationship. The power of your mind is a strong force and can be used to do good with or can be used to do damage with. What do you watch on TV? Who do you hang out with in your spare time? What kind of people do you work with on any given day?

So many of us wander through life thinking we have everything together. I have a fool proof way to see if you really do have it together. You will be able to tell with one question.

Are you successful with money?

I don’t mean are you wealthy beyond belief. I’m talking about are you drowning in debt? (You may be and not even know it.) A good way to tell if you are in over your head is to list all your debts in a column and then all your assets and/or things that actually go up in value (like a house or an investment) in another column.

What are you to do after difficult challenging imprisoning times, especially when the imprisonment has been unfair and unjust?

Two leading disciples of Jesus Christ, Peter and John, who have just experienced such a scenario, were released from prison and they continued preaching and teaching and healing in the Name of Jesus. We read about this in Acts Chapter 4 in the New Testament, and it is wise to check it out. It is always good to check out what any preacher or teacher says.

Jesus teaches us through the Scriptures to continue the work and allow the ministry of the Gospel to flow from age to age, until Jesus comes again.