This is the third and final part in the series on the Christian entrepreneur by successful author and business mentor, Michael R. Davis. Michael—a graduate of Harvard Business School—is the author of two earlier books, "The Secret of FirstFruits" and "Witty Inventions". These Breakthrough Word articles are based on his newest book, "The Christian Entrepreneur", published by Evergreen Press, Mobile, AL. Of The Christian Entrepreneur, Dr. Oral Roberts has this to say: "It will be a great help for people who have ideas but don't know what to do about them."


Be Proactive

What is the next important step for you to take? Is there something that you can do this afternoon, and move you closer to your goal? Is there something you could do early next week?

For your next step, let me make one suggestion: DO SOMETHING ... DO ANYTHING!

That next step can be to create, to innovate, to write, to paint, or to build a new business. Go out and start something new! We are on a journey, and I want to encourage you to take that next bold step into the unknown.

Try placing a pad and pencil next to your bed at night, and see what happens. Who knows what you might come up with in the middle of the night?

You must believe and expect that powerful new idea to hit you—if not tomorrow, then this year, and if not this year, then next. I pray that it is so strong that it literally hits and stuns you with its power, intensity and force.

Case Study: Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein came from a poor Jewish family. He did not perform well at school, but at age 26 he got an idea that is now called the Theory of Relativity.

He finished last in his college class in physics, and no one wanted to hire him as a junior professor intern or even sign off on his doctoral thesis. Einstein was so desperate he even considered an alternative career in insurance.

When he finally got a teaching position, he was fired from it after only four months. Through the help of a good friend, he was reluctantly given a lowly clerical job in the Swiss Patent Office.

Was Einstein a good patent clerk? Although his mind was elsewhere, preoccupied on solving the theoretical questions dogging him day and night, Einstein did execute his duties as a patent clerk in a competent manner. He was able to more quickly figure out the novelty of a patent application more quickly than colleagues, and as a result, his boss gave him a nice raise and overlooked some of his imperfections.

The lowly clerk opportunity was only a temporary foundation from which he built and published his theories while supporting a young family.

Lessons we can learn from the life of Albert Einstein include the following:

Moving Ahead

Which of these five lessons from the life of Einstein can help you this coming week in moving your idea forward? Do you have several friends to encourage you to be your best? Why not form your equivalent of the "Olympia Academy", discussing ideas and project over coffee or lunch? If you could modify your present position or situation to give you several more hours per week, what would you do differently?

A recent, new development in the field of physics actually says: "If you expect to see a particle, then you will. But you will not see it if you are not expecting to see it!" So, in a similar vein, I say to you: "If you expect to receive a new idea and receive a new way of accomplishing something, then you will!" I receive too many emails and verbal confirmations of this truth to tell you otherwise.

If you have not already done so, then one day soon you will receive a "mother lode" idea. Then it will be time to review again the many ways and steps that you can take to develop your new idea. You will find as you take those baby steps, you will begin to receive even more new ideas!

A man called James wrote the following: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let the brother of low degree rejoice that he is exalted" (James 1:5, 6 and 9).

If you will ask God right now for the kind of wisdom that leads to valuable "witty inventions", you can be confident that He will answer you in rich and surprising ways. Be ready for an adventure, and God speed!