Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind.

There are two areas in my entrepreneurial walk that still trip me up sometimes and I’m constantly having to work on: worry and envy. The envy creeps in when I check out social media and start to see others doing cooler things than me or advancing their businesses further than mine. The worry shows up sometimes as a result of the envy, but mostly when I’m overloaded with ideas, responsibilities and tasks to take care of. We all worry and envy sometimes, especially in business and entrepreneurship. God wants us to walk in His peace having faith that He is in control. When we do not surrender our business desires to God, worry and jealousy creep in. This threatens to damage our relationship with God because we’re removing Him from the equation. You go from being a Godpreneur back to Me-preneur. In owning a business, God allows us to experience various situations that provoke both worry (such as worrying about where the next client will come from) and envy (when we are jealous of the accomplishment of other people in our field). But, entrepreneurship also provides many exciting opportunities to submit ourselves (and employees if you have) to God and to grow in our relationship with Christ. When we do that, we are freed from the burdens of worry and jealousy! Here is a very practical way to get rid of worry, and it comes from the bible. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Every morning the first thoughts in my mind are to name 3 things I’m thankful for. It has to be the first thoughts. You’ll be half asleep but do it. And every day I try to remember to pray that I would submit my business to God and walk in His peace. #WheretoStartFirst #WorkLifeBalance

Past experiences will make us feel doubt and anxiety, holding us back from experiencing more out of our

Whenever I’m launching a new event, product, service, or marketing campaign, I get anxiety because I of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve had in business and marriage was the ability to remove stress and anxiety Look, anxiety and stress are bad for the heart – science has already concluded this. Do you want to remove the anxiety behind product launches, new hires, new ventures, and all the awesome

I’ll admit that I live with a restlessness that cripples me with fear, anxiety, and frustration.

Your anxiety has taken complete control. What does all this anxiety mean to a business owner? Christian entrepreneurs battle anxiety. Jesus did. Jesus battled anxiety. Anxiety did not win, and this is God's plan for you too!

It’s kinda tough for an entrepreneur to admit weaknesses. I’m supposed to be this renegade innovator that doesn’t play by the rules, able to withstand a storm of issues, and at the front line of any business battle. I’m used to fixing everything, doing everything, being everything. It’s my business, after all. In becoming more aware of my work addiction, I’ve come to terms with the good and bad news:  this isn’t something I can fix. The reality is that us entrepreneurs are addicted to working. We’re looking to fill an empty space that can only be filled by God. Left to ourselves and our own efforts, we feel empty and lacking in our business. The bad news that we must come to terms with is that it’s impossible for us to find complete peace and wholeness….on our own. So where do we go from here?  Just live with it for the rest of our lives? The bible says "For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin." Psalms 32 3-5 Like the bible verse about notes, there’s bad news…but there’s also good news! The bad news is that we’re all dry bones, wasting away….until we actually acknowledge that we have an addiction and that we want to turn away from it!. And God didn’t design it for us to do it alone. God has given us Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God has weakened the grip of all our work addictions. And as we recognize what Jesus has done for us, our addition to working so much gradually loses its power with the help of the Holy Spirit. We’ve recognized our work addiction and patterns and objects around it!  Now let that lead us to God’s perspective. 4 Questions That Lead to God’s Perspective What business and work related situations cause me to be uncomfortable? This is the trigger that causes feelings of discomfort or stress. These situations lead us to seek out working more to make us feel better. In running my business, what emotions or feelings are the most uncomfortable for me to sit with? The role of the addiction and your work addiction object would be to soothe this discomfort. We each have certain feelings that scare us or make us feel exposed to more potential hurt in our businesses. We want to soothe it and get immediate relief ASAP. Our addiction object is our quick fix. What wrong decisions would I like to hit a rewind button and do all over again? These are our addiction objects. They could be cell phone use, staying up late to do more work, launching a product, starting a totally new business, missing dinner with the family to work, isolation at the office, controlling behavior over employees or contractors, verbal manipulation of clients, and so many more. What would a godly perspective of your stressful situation look like, or what would God say to me to help me? This helps us step back and evaluate the stressful situation knowing God is in control, loves us, and has a loving purpose for the particular stress in our life. I see it like a “check engine” light, an opportunity to grow!  He will also provide peace, soothing, relief from our burden, and power over temptation. Recognizing easy things we turn to at work to soothe our work addiction is easy. Uncovering behavioral addiction objects (like snapping at employees or manipulating clients) can be a bit trickier.  Knowing that God wants to take us through it, that’s amazing!. Imagine a world where, through intentional self-reflection, using these tips, we all see God’s loving purpose while accessing His deep healing for our entrepreneurial life. Godpreneur Rule #59: Godpreneurs self-reflect to uncover areas where God wants to break us…to heal us back stronger. #BecomeDisciplined #EnhanceFocus #GodpreneurAcademy

Body — Consequences from our poor decisions cause stress and anxiety.

Financial management is a SLOOOOOW game. Maybe that’s why I get frustrated with it at times. I’m supposed to add a little into my savings account and watch the interest grow…over years!. Savings for a goal, budgeting, or investing in the stock market are slow as well. I say slowly because I’ve been conditioned to get everything NOW that I see financial management as slow. But that’s just how God designed it. Financial management is about planting a seed, letting go, and letting God grow it and produce fruit over time. But when we get frustrated and try to inject hormones to grow bigger and faster, or we pick the fruit prematurely and spray it with gasses to ripen faster, we don’t get what God intended for us, we get our creation – which will always fall short of God’s best for us. The Bible says: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9 NIV) In business, you’ll always experience a delay once you invest. When you put out a proposal, there’s a delay between your proposal and its acceptance. The same is true in our financial management – once you begin the journey of budgeting, paying off debt, and accumulating wealth, there’s a delay between when you began stewarding money correctly and reaping the benefits of your obedience. Solomon, the richest man that ever lived, said this in the Bible: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV) I know it’s irritating for us Godpreneurs to make a deposit into something and not have it instantly return a reward. We pour time into employees, systems, and processes, only to see the investments bear fruit in a different quarter. But when we make the investments, and let God do His thing in His timing, we let go of the stress, and we embrace the peace of God that will build our faith and make the time we spend in waiting a joyful time. When it comes to managing money, we’ll always see the fruit of our efforts in a different season. We need to stop trying to pick stocks that we pray will skyrocket overnight so we can be instant millionaires. We need to be willing to make investments that, in the long run, are guaranteed to perform well and return ripened fruit, good to eat. When we Godpreneurs start following God’s plan for us managing our money in our businesses correctly, we aren’t going to see all of our debt paid off overnight and see tons of cash all of a sudden pour into our bank accounts. Things will come in God’s Timing. We’ll get a small client or a short order, and then we’ll get a bigger one, and it will grow. I know because I’ve experienced this phenomenon myself. We simply need to learn how to wait for our due season. And while we’re waiting, keep on working and grinding and giving value to our customers and doing excellent, above-and-beyond work. We may not see anything happening right away, but there is a God orchestrating things in our favor. We don’t see the pilot of the airplane, but we know someone is up there in the cockpit, and we know the pilot has a whole bunch of help guiding him, which gives me comfort in knowing I’ll get to my destination safely. I may not see the airport in front of me, but that plane will land, and I will reach my destination, as God as my pilot. One day our efforts will pay off. The little seeds of proper financial management will pay off, and we will see what God had planned all along. Godpreneur Money Rule #10: Godpreneurs plant seeds, let go, and trust God has good plans for us – plans for us to prosper! #BusinessBibleStudy #FindingMyPurpose #GainConfidence #EnhanceFocus The 19 Rules of Money Management for Christian Entrepreneurs This course will help you develop a better sense of money management God’s way. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

Back then, when fear, anxiety, and doubt ruled my thoughts, I thought self-control and “positive thinking ponder and plan in 2020 was a gift for some, but for many, including myself, the space to think led to anxiety

The danger here is that when the going gets tough, being alone can lead to depression, anxiety, and making

I’m addicted to my cell phone. If I’m in the car, waiting for the doctor, in line at the grocery store, or during TV commercials, I’m checking my phone. I’ve created a whole bunch of ‘triggers’ in my life that are associated with me checking my cell phone. At this point I have no control over this habit. That’s scary!  Especially while I’m driving!  It’s terrible. Checking our cell phones is pretty harmless (unless we’re driving), but what if the thing we turned to was much more serious. The same way we turn to our phones when we hit a trigger, we turn to work when we hit other triggers. Have you ever found yourself in a situation in your business where you felt out of control so you turn to working more? We entrepreneurs have many things that trigger our sense to need to do more! We turn to many things to relieve that stress. But what are those triggers?  What are those things we turn towards? What brings us comfort? Do we even know and fully understand this?. The Bible says “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 NIV I believe this bible verse had the two steps to help us identify and overcome the triggers of our work addiction.  I like the watch and pray parts.  Those are 2 actionable steps. First, watch. We must know and understand these triggers.  Watch out for them.  Avoid them. If debt is a trigger, then you need to focus on getting our of debt. If marital problems are the trigger, then focus on doing the little things in your marriage to make it right.  If clients send you into a stressful situation, then dump the bad clients. Let’s point out some potential triggers that send us back into work mode Bank account low Sales numbers down Launch went wrong Conflict with client, vendor, employee, or contractor Home issues Competition envy: seeing them win a contract or launch a new service Nothing better to do at home Thinking of your long to do list Our addiction to working has 4 major parts Trigger – the situation that triggers you to want to work Role – work promises to escape, relive or fix that stressful situation Object – the ‘gring mode’ that we turn to instead of God to meet our needs in the moment Goal – comfort, because we don’t like feeling the pressure or stresses that triggered us to work So now that we know and understand these triggers that send us into work mode, how do we break the cypher? Then, Pray. The second part of that bible verse, Jesus has us pray. What does it cost you to associate a stressful trigger to a quick little prayer? Maybe at first it will see disingenuous because you know that immediately following the prayer you’re still going to fall into the addiction. But over time, any small prayers in sincerity start to have an effect over the work addiction and you’ll catch yourself sooner or get yourself our of grind mode faster. You are addicted to working or you wouldn’t be reading this blog post. You’re addicted to comfort and you and I find things that will silence our pain and bring us peace. But the peace you’re searching for in work is a fake, a fraud, an imposter. The real peace is found by seeking Jesus more. In him you will find purpose and passion, which will then give you a Godly understanding of what your vocational identity really is, which then will put your work into its rightful place in your heart. We often don’t rank work addiction as “bad” because we see people overdose on heroin and thing “well, at least I’m not shooting up, instead I’m working more.” The only problem is that God sees all addictions the same: competition to Him and imposter solutions for something He can only truly provide. Godpreneur Rule #86: Godpreneurs find releif and comfort in God during stressful times in their businesses. #WheretoStartFirst #WorkLifeBalance #EnhanceFocus

And for the last 2 years, I’ve had a rock in my shoe, a thorn in my side, an anxiety and frustration

Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs trust God in our business and marriage and surrender every anxiety and worry

(Psalms 37:3‭-‬6 NIV) The anxiety caused by not launching the thing God’s calling you to will set your are in a complete place of trust and security in God within our businesses, we won’t be experiencing anxiety