What comes to mind when you hear the phrase greatest contribution? Well, like most of us, you probably think it's related to a life achievement. But what if you can offer your greatest contribution every single day? That's what we're going to talk about today on the Resilient Faith Online Show. Welcome. I'm Arissa Shadwick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change online. To connect with me in my private Facebook group, go to marissahrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello. How is everyone doing today? At the time of this recording, we are kicking off the new year. Happy New Year. But the content I'm going to share today is relevant all throughout the year. And it's really something we need to be mindful of continuously. We're going to be talking a little bit about productivity and really understanding where our greatest contribution is so that we can keep our business moving forward. I'm going to kick off this podcast with a quote. Imagination will take you everywhere. Isn't that good? That's from Albert Einstein. I love that. And I'm going to encourage you today to tap into your imagination a little bit and begin to think outside the box when it comes to those things that we call challenges or problems that come up. Because most likely, if you've been online for any length of time, you know there's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of things that come easily to us and other things that we just don't look forward to at all. So today I'm going to help you by just taking a good look at where your strengths are. Now keep in mind, we all have strengths, we all have talents and abilities, and we all have deficiencies. Now, what happens is many people begin to just focus on the deficiencies and they begin to think that maybe they shouldn't be on the online space, that they don't have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and they focus just on the problems, the challenges, the deficiencies. And you shouldn't do that because all of us have deficiencies. We all have strengths, we all have talents and abilities, and we all have deficiencies. So if there's a deficiency, we have to consider well, do I need to outsource this or do I need to educate myself or get a course and learn more about this specific topic? And if we have talents and abilities, that doesn't necessarily mean we need to camp there. Now, I also talked about strengths. And for this podcast, strengths is indicative of your greatest contribution. It's what moves the needle, it's what moves your business forward. It's the things that only you can do and you do it well. The abilities and the talents, you may be able to do a lot of things that you would normally not think of outsourcing, but it's not to your best interest to continue to do those things. For example, I have a really strong administrative background. I can handle spreadsheets, I can organize teams, I can do a lot of back end, and I'm not scared of technology either. But is it to my best interest now as an entrepreneur to live there, to stay in that lane? Not at all. I need to be more on the creative side. I need to be more on the planning side. And that's where my strength is. That's my sweet spot. That's where my greatest contribution is. So hopefully that's clear to you. And we're going to break this down so you can discover what your sweet spot is. Understanding how we're wired will help us make better decisions and have fewer regrets. So, really, what we're talking about today is managing our resources, all of our resources. But it begins with really identifying who you are. So at the time of this recording, it is the beginning of the new year. But as I said, you can implement this every quarter. You can assess where you are and whether you're operating in the area of your greatest contribution, staying in that lane. And then as things come up, looking at it not so much as a problem or challenge, but a question. And a question usually commands an answer. And you begin to use your imagination to formulate the answer and try to think outside the box on how you can solve the particular challenge that you're facing. So one of the things that really helps for me to assess and review is just to kind of look back at either the year or the quarter or the month, whatever the case might be. And of course, look to see what's working well, what things I need to change, or what things I need to eliminate, or what things I need to add. And it's good to look back and see where and when you operated in your strengths, where you really felt in your zone, where you felt that you were really providing your greatest contribution. And think about how that felt. And could you do more of that? And did you get paid for that? And you begin to see discomfort that you might have had during that period of time as a means of growth. Growth does not come without discomfort. There's always discomfort connected with growth. So if you're feeling uncomfortable, well, chances are you are growing, my friend. And as you grow, you discover more about yourself. You realize that some of the things that you've at the time maybe felt like you were taking a risk really went well. And you realize that you like what you were doing, or you liked the opportunity that you had. Maybe it was an opportunity to speak, or maybe it was an opportunity to launch a new product. And you're looking back now thinking, you know what? I was a little nervous about that. It felt a little risky, but doggone it, I can do that again. And you begin to discover more about yourself. And that is truly rewarding. So the second thing you can do after you've looked back and kind of assessed how your past month, quarter, or year has gone, you look ahead. And you look ahead not just to the month ahead, but think about the next three years. Dream about the story that you want to live. And without any limiting beliefs, what would a typical day look like for you? What would you be doing? And how many hours would you work? And how much revenue would you be bringing in? Do you have a team? Are you still working on your own? What kind of philanthropic work would you do? How can you improve your life or the life of your family members? Think about that life. What does that story look like? And again, your future casting, what it's going to feel like and look like in three years. Then the third step is to review your present business status. Where are you right now? So you looked back, you looked forward, now you're going to look presently. It's the sobering reality of where you are, not to freak you out, but to really see what needs to get tweaked. So you look at the type of work that you're doing and how many hours you're working. And are you working in your strengths, your greatest contribution? Are you doing a lot of admin work that somebody else could do? Do you need a new tool? Do you need to buy a course? Is there something that you need to learn and really begin to look at your present state? Are there any bottlenecks or circumstances that are delaying business growth? So you look at all of this and you're trying to figure out what do you need to do and try to limit it. Don't try to add too many things. Sometimes, depending on what it is, it might be one thing that you're going to add. And I like to work in quarters. It might be one thing that you want to add in the quarter. It might be no more than three things. It depends on the size of the project. But you can then realistically see what you need to implement to move forward. So you can go from the past to the future pacing that you did about your business and implement change today to get there. Then once you do that, you begin to plan and execute. Once you know what it is that you need to do today in this season, and sometimes it's related to building habits. Sometimes we have to build the habits to be able to execute and to be able to get the results we want to see in the future. And I am a big believer of journaling and having a good calendar and being able to check off areas that I want to develop and make sure that I'm developing a habit and I have a time either in the morning or in the evening. I have a routine to be able to implement those things. And it seems so small when we do it each day. It doesn't seem like it would make a difference. But the compound effect of doing certain things, whether it's reading a book or listening to a podcast or having your Bible study time or going for a walk or whatever it might be, the compound effect is phenomenal. You will see so much growth in a short amount of time. So while you're creating your plan, you might consider what helps me do my best. Do I need a quiet space? Do I need white noise in the background? Kind of figure out what helps me do my best. Do I need to get up earlier? Do I need to go to bed earlier? And you might even want to consider a one word for the year or a one word for the month or focus on a quote. I do this as well. Every month I have a quote that I write in my planner, and that quote is a way to remind me of something that's important. It's usually connected to my values. And my planner has all kinds of highlights and stickers and quotes on it. And I've got the key things that I need to do that particular month. And of course, with a great monthly plan, you want to break it down and you want to break it down not just weekly but daily. Again, you want to develop the habits that you need to be able to execute the plan that you've created. So I have one free tool that I'm going to refer you to that is really going to be helpful to see where your greatest contribution lies. But first, I want to review what we went over. Now, the first section was to look at the past, whether you work in quarters or whether you're reviewing the year, whatever it might be, review and consider, you know, what went well, what needs to change, what do you need to add, what do you need to get rid of? Do all of those things. And if you look at analytics, you can do all of that as well. And then you continue to look forward. Because when you look forward, you are reconnecting with your why. And that's really, really important to keep you motivated to just refresh your soul to look forward and say, this is what I'm working toward. Because sometimes we lose sight of it in the day-to-day work. So you dream of the story you want to live. That is step two. Step three is to take a sobering look at where you are today and figure out what you can do differently or what you need to do more of or less of to be able to achieve those goals. And then the last step is to plan and then execute. And the best way to plan is to have a good journal and be able to implement those habits that are going to help you execute. Now, there's a great tool that has been used in the past, and many churches use it, and I've used it, and I really enjoy it because of all the assessments, this one only has six questions. And it's very telling as far as where your greatest contribution is. And it's really intended for like a team environment, but it gives you a lot of information about you. And it's called the Patterson Thinking Wavelength. It's just six questions, and I'm going to put a link in the show notes so that you can go to it. And there's a couple of short videos that kind of walks you through what you're going to experience. And then there's a downloadable PDF. And when you've completed the questions, there's a page on the PDF that says thinking wavelength. And it looks like a scale from zero to 10. And it's divided up in sections. And the different sections are grinder. You can be a grinder, a minder, a keeper, a finder, and a conceiver. And it gives an explanation of what that means. For example, if you scored somewhere around three and you're a minder, you're one person that can mind the store, can take care of the day-to-day operation, but you might need a business coach to help you scale your business and give you a vision of what you can potentially do in the future. Now, if you're a conceiver, you might be a visionary, but you would need someone to help you implement all the ideas that you come up with. But it helps you see where you fall and really help you stay in your lane where your greatest contribution is and where you're really going to be able to see your business grow because you are staying in your lane of power. And then you'll be able to outsource or partner or maybe get an intern that you can train and give them maybe coaching in exchange for some of the work that might do for you. So there's different ways to go about it. But the main thing is to understand your strengths and understand that strengths and your talents and abilities are two separate things. Just because you have an ability in an area, maybe to keep books and you're good with numbers, maybe you shouldn't do that. Maybe you should pass that on to a bookkeeper. So you begin to eliminate some things to give you space and room to work in the areas that are really going to help you scale. I hope that was helpful today. I think it's really important to understand how God has made us and really be good stewards of all the resources. And again, everything that we do, we do it with integrity and we want to be able to do it with excellence. And that takes time. So we obviously can't do everything. And honestly, we're not good at everything. And I feel that the areas that you outsource, you're really helping the economy because you're you're helping by paying someone to do something, you're creating a job for someone that really would be very helpful for their family as well. So in this podcast, I just want you to understand that just because you see a deficit or you see a challenge, it's not indicative of your capability to run an online business. You can do this, you just don't have to do everything. And that's something that I had to learn the hard way. I thought I had to do everything, and you can quickly burn out. And God doesn't want that for you, and I don't want that for you either. So I hope that was helpful, and I'll be talking to you soon. So until next time, take care. Wait, before you go, if you found this podcast helpful, subscribe so you never miss an episode. Every subscription, review, or rating means so much to me. Remember, cultivate resilient faith online to create positive change in the world.