Showing Evidence of a Mission: The Fifth Virtue of Maat

The Fifth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is showing evidence of a mission. There is more to the Virtuous Entrepreneur than merely earning a living or creating wealth for the family. There must be a sense of mission that is evidenced in the passion one exhibits about what one does. Passion is feeling; it is emotional involvement in the work undertaken. It is not cold-blooded, but warm-blooded engagement in providing the goods and/or services that one provides.

In a court of law, every fact must be proved by evidence that goes well beyond the mere speaking or articulation of a particular fact. There must be something more than talk, more than promise, more than the usual hype that accompanies all good advertisement. So, too, the Virtuous Entrepreneur must demonstrate evidence of a mission that grounds, rationalizes and supports her or his business activities.

True wealth, in all its aspects, precedes and follows the Virtuous Entrepreneur. That is why the committed entrepreneur who is seeking more than mere financial wealth must develop her or his character to such an extent that the passion for excellence, dependability and service to others becomes the evidence of a mission that envelops and consumes her or his life.

We exist for much more than eating, sleeping, working, having fun, and then getting up and doing that all over again. Each of us is here for a purpose—a purpose that makes life worth living for not only ourselves, but also for everyone with whom we have the privilege to influence.

The secret to showing evidence of a mission is to find your purpose. When you have found your purpose, you will find your passion. And when you have found your passion, you will be the evidence that you have a mission.

My mission is to add value to everyone with whom I come in contact, and to serve my clients by maximizing my own personal development, my highest and best use, and that of the resources I receive and create. Accordingly, I am passionate about preparing my clients to succeed to the point of being able to create true wealth for themselves and their families. That is why my commitment to speaking, teaching, training, supporting and coaching clients—and adding value to them—is my evidence of a mission as a Virtuous Entrepreneur who continues to invest in true wealth for myself and each of my clients.

Identify with Higher Ideals: The 4th Virtue Of Maat

The fourth virtue of Maat is the ability to identify with higher ideals. This is an important virtue for aspiring entrepreneurs because it underscores the reality that true success in business is geared to a higher standard than just making a profit. Although making a profit—and a substantial one—must be the financial goal of the entrepreneur, he or she must resonate with and have an affinity for identifying with higher ideals.

To provide people with goods and/or services that add value to their lives is a higher ideal than just making a profit. When an entrepreneur can serve people in a way that enriches their lives, then he or she can experience the satisfaction that comes with rendering such service. This behavior over a consistent period of time is the basis for referrals of business customers from already satisfied consumers. Advertising is necessary and good, but referrals are much better and their results last much longer.

When an entrepreneur chooses to run a business from the place of identifying with higher ideals, she or he is investing in people in a way that will come back in ways even more valuable than the money earned through the business transaction. A reputation for excellence, attention to detail, thoroughness or dependability reflects an entrepreneur’s functioning with the higher ideals of exceptional service and value to the customer regardless of compensation.

One’s ability to identify with higher ideals sets one apart as virtuous—a status that is in scarce supply in the marketplace. Consequently, such a virtuous business person has little, if any, competition because consumers care about price, but they care more about the business experience. A customer’s good business experience with you will speak more volumes than all the ads or commercials you will ever buy.

Steadfastness: The Third Virtue of Maat

The third virtue of Maat is steadfastness—sticking with someone or something until it’s completed. You can control your thought and your action, but if you have no steadfastness—stick-to-it-iveness—you will never fulfill your destiny as a successful entrepreneur.

Steadfastness is the stuff of character that refuses to quit, become discouraged, or otherwise abandon the dream of succeeding in whatever business you have chosen. Life is hard and business is harder. There are no quick fixes or easy roads to the kind of success that lasts over a long period of time.

Just as studies have shown that people who win big lottery amounts are broke within a year after, in the same way, a quick business financial gain—with no more effort put into it than the “luck of the draw”—will always end in business failure. Any business you enter must be nurtured over the long haul by your attention to detail, excellent customer relations and provision of superior goods and/or services.

Another element of steadfastness is planning beyond the moment to the future. While you are delivering excellence to your customers today, you must study today how you will exceed your customers’ expectations tomorrow. You must constantly improve your product or service and consider your customers’ needs past the particular product or service you are currently offering. Thus, steadfastness is not only “hanging in there” for today, but also planning improvements and upgrades for tomorrow.

The same steadfastness that keeps you from quitting when times are difficult must keep you motivated to never stop improving yourself and the goods or services that your business offers.

I’m looking for hard-working, forward-thinking people of character who have the courage to see their business goals through to the end. If you can control your thought, control your action and have a tenacity that won’t allow you to quit, then contact me: you’re the kind of person I’m looking to help! 

  

Control of Thought: The First Virtue of Maat

Long years before the Torah was written, Maat was the moral and ethical system used in ancient Kemet (Egypt) more than 4,000 years ago. Maat has multiple meanings, but according to The Husia, its sacred text, it essentially means moral and spiritual rightness in relation to the Divine, nature, and other humans. It is also an interrelated order of rightness which requires right relations with and right behaviors toward the Divine, nature and other humans.

According to Maat, there are 10 Virtues that define an ethical person, the first of which is control of thought. This ancient virtue is especially important for people today who seek to be more, do more, and have more, because what one thinks determined what one does. In accord with the ancient Kemetic understanding of the importance of controlling one’s thoughts, modern business leaders and coaches stress the importance of a successful person’s control of thought as the key to business and personal success. Modern business leaders are not alone in their urging the necessity of a person’s control of thought.

Quantum physicists have shown that thoughts are the creative force in the universe. In other words, all created things were once conceived in thought before their appearance in material form. So, if one’s thoughts are negative, the universal Law of Attraction will draw negative created things, persons and circumstances to that one. On the contrary, if one’s thoughts are positive, serving the needs of others and tend toward doing right, then that same universal Law of Attraction will draw positive created things, persons and situations into that one’s orbit.

The first leadership lesson for the aspiring entrepreneur to learn here is that all thoughts of impossibility, doubt and failure with respect to starting a business—whether starting from scratch or buying a franchise or license—must be eliminated from your mind. You create your own success or failure by what thoughts you allow to stay in your head.

The second leadership lesson you must learn is that you must compete against yourself. Your true opponent does not exist outside yourself. You are the only one who can be your worst enemy by failing to believe in yourself and your capacity to succeed. Fight every thought that comes to you saying, “you can’t,” “you don’t have what it takes,” and “don’t take the risk.”

Dare to control your thoughts and you will control your world!