Author: Marek

Do you set goals for your business, projects, or personal development? It should not be any different when it comes to your spirituality. Your spiritual energy is an important part of your professional success. Although realizing the connection between spirituality and business can sometimes be a little too abstract. That’s why I put together a few spiritual goals, examples, and action items to help get you on your way.

Before we get started, let’s take on how to effectively set spiritual goals.

Setting spiritual goals

The benefits of setting spiritual goals – and achieving them – go beyond the direct tangible results. By including spirituality in the workplace, you not only increase your own productivity but also business profitability, employee loyalty, customer retention, and brand reputation.

So, if you’re trying to find your purpose and want to lead a more meaningful life. A life rich with spiritual energy that will allow you to achieve business success, you should consider focusing on your own spiritual goals. Regardless of whether you adhere to a religion, spirituality is a part of who you are and not just something you believe in.

By setting appropriate spiritual goals, you allow yourself the possibility of greater efficiency and self-awareness. You give yourself the ability to break bad habits, view things more clearly and from a different perspective and understand your action-reaction cycle while making decisions. All of these things are extremely important in harnessing your own spiritual energy and can lead to greater business success.

When setting spiritual goals, I recommend you follow the same process that you use to set goals for your business and personal development.

How to get started with spiritual goals

Make sure your spiritual objectives at work are reasonable, attainable, time-bound, positive, and shareable with your co-workers. This will get you started on the right foot, and you will be better placed to be successful in achieving your goals. Remember, when setting spiritual goals, make sure they are positive and of course, don’t be too hard on yourself.

The process of setting spiritual goals consists of 6 steps:

1. Analyze your spiritual values and beliefs

To get started, you must first analyze your values and beliefs. It is important to note that spiritual values should not pertain to money or material things. Nor should they be about power or being famous either.

Spiritual values are human and non-material. They are driven by compassion and wisdom.

To help get you started, Larry Cullidord in “Psychology Today” and Dr Saju Skaria on Linkedin listed the following spiritual values:

Spiritual Values
General (Larry Cullidorf)	Business Context (Dr Saju Skaria)
Honesty	Honesty
Trust	Integrity
Kindness	Accountability
Generosity	Quality
Tolerance	Cooperation
Patience	Service
Perseverance	Intuition
Discernment	Trustworthiness
Humility	Respect
Courage	Justice
Beauty
Hope

After looking at this list, you might be asking yourself how these values apply to business. Isn´t business fundamentally concerned with earning money?

Yes, it is, but by doing so in a spiritual way and exercising spiritual values, you earn money in an honest, ethical way. Businesses should serve humanity and not the other way around.

Find a quiet place, close your eyes, and reflect on your own values and those of your company.

Which values are most important for you, for your team, or for your colleagues?

What would you like to have written on your grave?

If your company were a person, which human spiritual values would it have?

2. Define your purpose and who you want to become

Having defined your values, you can now investigate what your motivation is. Your motivation will essentially be your purpose or your driving force. That’s why it is so important to establish at the onset. Without a strong driving force, you are more likely to flail along the way and abandon your goals. Goals that are embedded with strong foundations are more likely to stand the test of time.

With your purpose in mind, you can research the spiritual options that apply to your circumstances. Consider options that serve both your purpose and your overall values.

Think about how you want to benefit from spirituality. Do you want to become a better person or a better leader?

Are you looking to define spiritual objectives for your business or your department?

Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to become a calmer, more stress-resilient person?

3. Visualize the results

Now, visualize yourself a year from now. By visualizing your goals, you make them more tangible and also more achievable. After all, “you can’t be what you can’t see”.

By visualizing your goals, you better position yourself to be able to achieve them.

Consider what kind of spiritual person you want to be. Be as specific as possible.

Then, choose your strategy.

Do you want to follow the religious path to spirituality? Or maybe you want to connect to the deeper “inner you”?

4. Choose your favorite spiritual practice

There is an unlimited list of potential spiritual practices, and fundamentally which one you choose is a very personal decision. It will also depend on whether your spiritual goals and objectives are related to your personal development, your team or your company.

If you prefer to immerse in spirituality on your own, then maybe a morning prayer or meditation before going to work is the best option for you.

If, on the other hand, you prefer to be with a group of people, then maybe you should consider community religious services, volunteering in a local charity, or mindfulness activities organized by your company.

I personally enjoy the combination of individual and group activities. I pray in the morning before heading for the office, participate in the religious activities of my congregation and enjoy mindfulness classes at work.

5. Develop a plan

To develop an effective plan, you first need to summarize the conclusions of the first four steps. You will list all your values, spiritual goals and objectives and selected spiritual practices.

You now need to set your timeframe and specify how long you expect it will take you to achieve your new spiritual goals.

Annual goals are great, but it might be easier to start with smaller monthly goals and work up to the larger annual goals. For example, this month I would like to practice more empathy at work on a daily basis.

The plan should include a list of actions that you will undertake to reach your spiritual goals.

6. Act

In this last, but perhaps the most important step, you take your plan and turn it into action. After all, it’s one thing to write down what you want, but another to actually start doing.

As Peter Reason said: “Action without reflection is meaningless activity. Reflection without action is mere academia.”

It’s okay to start small: just one action in the first week will get you on your way. Then, slowly build on that. You will become a new spiritual person in no time.

Examples of spiritual goals

Spiritual Goal 1 – Be Grateful

Be more appreciative of your privileges. Be grateful for what you have and be grateful for the things in your life that offer you joy. Grateful people are more likely to experience happy feelings, appreciate pleasant experiences, boost their health, and cope better with adversity.

And gratitude in the workplace can lead to deeper connections amongst co-workers as well as your own relationship with the work you’re doing each and every day.

Example Goal: For ten minutes at the end of each day I will take the time to journal all of the things in the day that I am grateful for.

Spiritual Goal 2 – Be Inclusive

Promote diversity, and equity and cultivate inclusion. In the workplace, diversity and inclusion represent embracing and welcoming people from all backgrounds of life.

In terms of business, having a wide range of viewpoints on a subject can lead to greater problem-solving abilities and improved employee engagement and productivity.

Example Goal: Each week I will talk to my employees on a rotating basis to hear their pain points. I will keep a journal of these conversations to follow up with conversations to address said pain points.

Spiritual Goal 3 – Boost Empathy

Boost your empathy at work. By perceiving what other people may be feeling, you are better placed to make well-thought-out decisions. Empathy generates a new level of understanding and compassion for your co-workers or customers.

Empathy at work generates more proactive support and punitiveness as well as enhanced efficiency.

And empathetic bosses lead to more empathetic employees. After all, employees are unlikely to display empathy if they don’t feel their bosses have empathy for them. Empathy starts at the top.

Example Goal: Each day I will make a conscious effort to practice active listening: make eye contact, listen intently, not interrupt with my own thoughts, and not offer to fix others’ problems. When I have successfully taken part in a conversation where I actively listened, I will add it to my journal. I aim to engage in daily active listening.

Spiritual Goal 4 – Break Bad Habits

Break your bad habits. Identify what triggers them and try to change the patterns. Let go of things you don’t want and become mentally stronger. It’s normal to have habits, and generally, there’s nothing wrong with them. But keep in mind, that some can be helpful and others more destructive.

On the one hand, making a “to-do list” every week or setting the tone for a productive day by performing a routine first thing in the morning like jogging, yoga or meditation, can be extremely beneficial habits. But drinking too much coffee, not finishing your work task in time (procrastinating), showing up late for meetings or drinking alcohol every night, on the other hand, are not.

Distractions from bad habits can disrupt your workflow and can negatively impact your ability to manage your time. If you have a problem with distractions, identify the main cause and rectify it. For example, if you constantly check your mobile phone, turn the phone off.

To change your bad habits, you need to create good habits that will replace them. This may become an overwhelming task if you try to do too much all at once. To make it easier to succeed, break big goals down into smaller goals. Take smaller steps toward your goals instead of a giant leap. For example, if turning your phone off for a couple of hours is difficult, start with at least 5 minutes a day.

Example Goal: I will reduce my reliance on caffeine by first reducing my intake to one a day, then three a week, with the aim of only one a week by the end of the month.

Spiritual Goal 5 – Practice Self-Refection

Personal or self-reflection or even introspection refers to how you think about yourself. Consider your actions and decisions as a spiritual practice every day. Make an impartial assessment of what you could have done better. Keep a clear head and avoid getting caught up in the day’s events or feelings. In other words, self-reflection is the act of taking the time to contemplate, assess, and give serious consideration to your own ideas and actions.

Finding out why you’re doing what you’re doing is an important part of the process of self-exploration. Introspection, or self-reflection, is an essential psychological practice that helps you learn and benefit from your mistakes. People have around 50,000 thoughts daily, more than half of those are negative and over 90% are repetitions from the day before. It’s impossible to grow and develop if you don’t spend time and effort refocusing your thoughts on the good through introspection. Learning more about our own values and understanding our own reasons for our actions allows us to break away from the distractions of our fast-paced daily lives.

Example Goal: At the end of each day, I will use a journal to write down my thoughts on my actions throughout the day. I will identify the actions that I want to change, identify my triggers and develop an action plan to change my response.

Using spiritual goals to become a better business leader

If you want to flourish spiritually, emotionally, and mentally start with the spiritual goals I have covered in this article. Both you and your business will benefit.

Spiritual people are better leaders. If you read my blog, you already know this. But what do you do after you come to accept this realization? You will likely be confronted with a series of questions on how you can move from the theory of spirituality to its practical application through spiritual activities. You know you want to become more spiritual, but what spiritual practices will allow you to tap into your greater spiritual potential.

But before we dive into spiritual activities, let’s quickly cover why spiritual practices are important to you as a business leader. It’s simple. Spiritual leaders and employees are more productive, create more cohesive teams and are more stress-resilient. And it has been proven time and time again by various research.

For more information on how spirituality and your spiritual energy are an integral part of your business success, I have written a post on what is spirituality in business.

Now, let’s move on to spiritual practices and how we can harness the power of spiritual activities to achieve our spiritual goals. I have even put together a spiritual practice list to help you achieve your goals.

What are spiritual practices?

Spiritual practices are activities that increase and harness your spiritual energy. During spiritual practice, you either connect with the Higher Power (whom religious people call G-d) or with your inner self.  Spiritual practices can be performed alone or in a community. Prayer and meditation are the two most common practices, but they are not the only ones.

In the past, spiritual practices were the domain of religious people, who devoted their private time to following their spiritual routines. There was hardly any space for spirituality in the secular business environment. But recently, I have observed that this is gradually changing. Various companies, either religious or non-religious, are showing a growing interest in the implementation of spiritual practices in their business activities. The inclusion of prayer rooms, meditation and mindfulness, and team-building activities dedicated to the search for one’s purpose have become a new standard across the corporate world.

What are the benefits of spiritual practices?

People involved in spiritual practices tend to make better decisions, are more emotionally stable, and are better team players. If spiritual activities are performed in a team, it can also improve team efficiency. It helps by clarifying the purpose of the company and the contribution of each person.

As I mentioned, prayer and meditation are the two most common and most researched spiritual practices.

For example, in one of the most notable workplace-related studies on meditation, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology discovered participants, that were taught to meditate over a series of months, were more likely to feel happiness, gratitude, hope, amusement, and awe.

And over time, the new positive emotions translated into enhanced levels of attention, self-acceptance, physical health, and better relationships.

A comparable study at the University of Washington also found that employees that had taken part in meditation training had improved concentration and memory. They also reported fewer negative emotions.

Similarly, studies that focused on the benefits of prayer also showed similar benefits to meditation. Finding participants could calm their nervous system by shutting down their fight or flight response. Participants were found to be less reactive to negative emotions and less angry.

Spiritual practices you can use every day

Now that we have established the benefits, we are ready to answer how we can harness the power of spiritual energy through spiritual activities. My spiritual activities list will start with the most common practices and then delve into the less researched, but equally beneficial activities.

The list of possible spiritual practices is unlimited, so I will focus on the most popular ones (but not only) among businesspeople. All of these activities can be practiced individually, in a spiritual community or together with your business team. Most importantly, to fully benefit from them, I recommend you incorporate them into your daily business routine.

1. Prayer

Prayer is the connection to the source of your spiritual energy. Whether it is G-d or any other force (external or internal) which is the foundation of your faith. Above all, prayer is probably the most common spiritual practice among businesspeople.

If you are already practicing prayer daily, then prayer in the office can be particularly beneficial to help you achieve your spiritual goals. After all, spirituality does not end when we enter the office. And if you want to be more spiritual at work, prayer can be a great way to help you achieve your goals.

2. Meditation

Meditation is the practice of internally focusing the mind. You can either focus on an object, a thought, or an activity – for example, breathing. By focusing your mind, you can achieve mental clarity, emotional calmness and stability.

Contrary to popular belief, meditation can be as simple as paying attention to your breath. Meditation has been shown to increase awareness, happiness, memory, self-control, academic achievement, and many other cognitive advantages. Taking the time to meditate will provide you with a clear mind that better places you to achieve your spiritual goals.

Meditation does not need to take a long time. It can take as little as 5 minutes a day – or less if you are pushed for time. When you meditate, focus your thoughts on your breathing. Begin with two minutes each day and gradually increase to five, seven, or ten.

2. Mindfulness

What Is Mindfulness: Here are 5 Keys to Answer the Question

Mindfulness is being aware of the present moment, both the internal and the external experience, in a non-judgmental way.

You can practice mindfulness through meditation. Through mindfulness meditation, you shift your mind to calmly think about a current experience (like a sudden emotion) and not the distressing everyday work-related clutter. By focusing your mind on the present moment in this way you bring about a raised state of self-awareness, focus, and attention.

4. Spiritual team activities

Teams that bond on a higher level work better together and exhibit greater respect and cohesion. Strong positive values can translate into healthier team morale demonstrated through greater trust and gratitude amongst team members.

Team activities that include volunteering can be particularly helpful spiritual team activities. Not only do they boost team morale, but they also feed the spiritual energy of each individual team member. For example, volunteer at a soup kitchen for the day or take part in a tree-planting activity.

5. Religious services

There is a growing pool of research that links regular attendance at religious services to better overall health and wellbeing. Of course, you can’t attend religious services while you are at work but attending religious services outside of work will indirectly benefit you at work.

You could even consider spiritually inspiring motivational speakers to attend staff events at work that can speak to your employees on a more holistic level.

6. Expressing gratitude

As businesspeople, we tend to have a good, above-average level of life which contrasts significantly with the harsh life experiences of our forefathers. It is extremely important to reflect on our fortunate circumstances. Expressing gratitude daily for the things we are grateful for is a great way to reflect on what we have and to bring awareness to the things that make us happy and successful.

By being more grateful, you are enabled to connect with and enjoy positive emotions and good experiences. This translates into improved health and a better ability to handle adversity.

7. Serving others

By serving others, you can realize your own life satisfaction. You can also build important self-confidence skills.

Serving others is as simple as being helpful to others. You can do this in or out of the office. Commit to completing one good deed each week. You can donate your time, knowledge or expertise to others that can benefit from what you have or know. In the office, this might be taking part in a mentorship program.

Alternatively, as mentioned above, you can volunteer for a local charity. This can be done individually or as part of a team-building event.

8. Immersing in nature

Connecting with nature allows you to identify with the world on a spiritual level. You will enjoy more positive emotions and greater concentration. It can also help you manage your mental health. People with greater connectedness to nature exhibit lower levels of depression and anxiety.

To connect with nature, you can simply take a walk in the park or a hike in a nearby national reserve. Free yourself from the restrictions of corporate life by switching off and immersing yourself in nature. For example, if you work close to a park or garden, take a lunchtime stroll.

9. Yoga

By practicing yoga, you train yourself to concentrate on your breathing and how to stay calm. You also learn to maintain calm while engaging in difficult poses. As a result, you retrain your brain to deal with feelings of stress and anxiety much more effectively.

When establishing your yoga routine, consistency is the key. Schedule just 10-15 minutes a day to get started. You can practice yoga at your office, gym, yoga studio, or even in a hotel room when you are traveling for business purposes.

10. Spiritual Education

To become truly spiritual, you need to learn how to create a connection with a higher force or the “inner you”.

There are many excellent books and YouTube videos on the market that can help you become more spiritual. If you are religious, start reading your holy book: the Christian bible, the Jewish Torah or the Muslim Quran. Similarly, you can find many books on Buddhism and business spirituality too. These books will help you develop a strong connection to your spirit with the guidance of renowned spiritual masters.

Reading books in the office might be difficult, but you can always apply the lessons from the books you have read in the evening in your daily activities.

11. Journaling

I recommend keeping a journal of your spiritual goals, including the actions you will take to help you reach them. Write down your spiritual practices and make sure you include your expected result. And remember, if you cannot envision the outcome, it is not likely going to make for an achievable goal.

Set a specific time aside each day to write in your journal.

How to implement spiritual practices in your business life

To be effective and ongoing, you need to convert spiritual practices into a habit. And any habit needs rituals. If you want to grow stronger muscles, you need to exercise regularly. The same applies to spirituality. Therefore, you need to get involved in regular spiritual practices to steadily grow your spiritual energy.

They can be as simple as a 5-minute prayer in the morning. Or a 10-minute daily meditation. You can practice meditation or prayer from practically anywhere. You can meditate or pray while you are commuting in a car or on a train or even at your work desk. Choose a time of day, such as morning, midday, or afternoon, find a peaceful place, sit comfortably, and start…

You can also attend regular religious services at least once a week. Or you can start your self-reflection process by journaling each day at the same hour.

Maintaining your energy levels is essential for success, especially in business, and this includes your spiritual energy levels.

In part 1 of this article, I discussed spiritual energy in general and how it can be used in the business world.

In this article, however, I want to talk about how you can increase your spiritual energy levels and how you can harness this energy to improve business and career outcomes.

Let’s take a look at some proven ways to increase your spiritual energy levels.

How to increase spiritual energy levels

1. Be Grateful

It is simple, the more grateful you are, the more spiritual energy you have.

There are likely many things in your life to be grateful for. Do you have a good job and a beautiful family? Are you in good health? You need to stop taking these things for granted and practice being grateful for them.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life… It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity… It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  (Melody Beattie).

You can also focus on the beauty of simple things. Enjoy the view of the sunrise when you leave for work each morning. When at the office, appreciate your ability to see, talk and think. When you are at home, be grateful for the miracle of life and your family members.

There is a surprising correlation between the feeling of gratitude and mental health. Therefore, foster your internal sense of gratitude to increase your spiritual level and protect yourself from anxiety and depression.

2. Pray

You do not have to be religious to pray. Prayers do not have to be addressed to God. They may simply contain an earnest wish.

Prayer is probably the most powerful way to increase spiritual energy. It is like opening a door to a higher force or the inner “you”. Through the act of prayer, you attract the energy you desire.

I am religious myself, and one of my life objectives is to increase my spirituality and make a positive contribution to the world. I believe that you increase your spiritual energy by following God’s commandments and praying. The more you pray, the stronger the link to the higher force. And the more your spiritual energy levels will grow.

3. Reflect on Yourself

Spiritual energy comes from two main sources: a higher force and your inner self (the soul). That is why it is essential to find time and space for personal reflection. Self-awareness is the basis of solid spirituality.

Talk to your inner self and search for calmness and positive thoughts. Clarify your dreams and imagine your future. Set up your life objectives. Look for the meaning of existence. This is one of the best ways to find personal happiness.

It does not mean that you should not be critical of your actions. Self-reflection is an effective way to learn from your mistakes. But you can increase your spiritual energy if you think positively about yourself. You can talk to yourself by closing your eyes and freeing your thoughts, or alternatively, through journaling.

When you journal, follow all the rules I have listed above. Don’t overthink it. Just put down the words as they occur.

4. Meditation

You can only connect to your spiritual energy when your mind is calm and decluttered. That is precisely what meditation is for.

Meditation takes you away from your hectic surroundings. It allows you to focus on yourself instead. Meditation can be a good starting point for self-reflection or prayer.

It may take you some time before you learn to meditate effectively. But be patient if you are new to the meditation world.

5. Become Involved in Religious Activities

I am by no means suggesting you adopt a new religion. But I believe that religion can provide you with a helpful framework and excellent tools to increase your spirituality.

If you are already religious but non-practicing, then maybe you should consider returning to your congregation for the sake of your own spirituality.

Institutionalized religion is not just a great way to connect to God, but it also provides you with social support when you need it.

Praying together with your co-believers may amplify your spiritual energy in a way that is difficult to achieve on your own.

6. Get Involved in Charitable Activities

Part of being spiritual is about taking care of the needs of others. My readers generally have good jobs and reasonable (or high) incomes. Approximately one billion people in the world live in extreme poverty. But we do not need to travel to Africa or Asia to see it. There are people in need closer to your home than you might think.

One of the best ways to grow your spiritual energy is to make the world a better place. You can start by helping people in your community or poor children in third-world countries.  

Even small, regular contributions will have a big effect on your spirituality.

7. Be Good to People Close To You

Studies show that spiritual people are kind to those around them. Kindness is very spiritual. Small gestures to friends, coworkers or absolute strangers send very powerful spiritual messages.

Obviously, it is very challenging to be nice to people who are rude to you. But do not forget that your objective is to create positive vibrations and increase your spiritual power rather than argue or fight.

Although it is difficult, please try to rationalize why rude people are behaving in this way. Maybe they are having a bad day, are under work pressure, or have a health problem. If you find the behavior regularly repeats itself, it may indicate a toxic personality. The best thing you can do is to avoid such people.

8. Quit a Toxic Job and End a Toxic Relationship

Often, spiritual energy is drained by one’s life partner, friends or the work environment. If you are treated disrespectfully, the inner “you” suffers, and your spirituality may end up at rock bottom.

Dishonesty, unfairness or even abuse are practices that do a lot of harm to one’s self-esteem.

You should not tolerate it in your personal life or your professional life. If your attempts fail and the situation becomes unbearable, leave the toxic environment.

People who did so report that they recovered their true selves and their energy increased significantly. They also say that such bad experiences should be treated as valuable life lessons for the future.

9. Control Your Thoughts

Thoughts are a powerful tool to increase spiritual energy. It is important to be conscious of our thoughts, values, and beliefs. The wonderful (and scary) thing is that our thoughts are our road map to our spirituality and our future.

What you focus on grows, what you think about expands, and what you dwell upon determines your destiny. – Robin S. Sharma

10. Set Your Spiritual Goals

Set spiritual goals for yourself as you would for your business, projects, and personal development. By having goals, you will be well-positioned to increase spiritual energy.

Start by analyzing your values and beliefs. Then do some research on the spiritual options that may fit you. First, think about how you want to benefit from spirituality. Then consider, do you want to become a better person or a better leader. Are you looking to define spiritual objectives for your business or your department? Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to become a calmer, more stress-resilient person? 

There are so many options.

Then visualize yourself a year from now. What kind of spiritual person do you want to be? Then, choose your strategy. Do you want to follow the religious path to spirituality? Or maybe you want to connect to the deeper “inner you”. 

It is okay to start small. You can try just one action the first week and then slowly build on that. You will become a new person soon!

11. Follow Spiritual Rituals

Any habit needs rituals. If you want to grow stronger muscles, you need to exercise regularly. The same applies to spirituality. You need regular spiritual rituals to steadily grow your spiritual energy.

They can be as simple as a 5-minute prayer in the morning. Or a 10-minute meditation.

You can attend regular religious services once a week. Or you can start your self-reflection process by journaling each day at the same hour.

12. Read Spiritual Books

We hope that this post has been a good inspiration for you. However, to really become spiritual, you need to learn how to create a connection with a higher force and the “inner you”.

There is a wide selection of books available that can help you become more spiritual.

If you are religious, start reading your holy book. For example, the Christian bible, the Jewish Torah or the Muslim Quran. There are plenty of books on Buddhism, too.

There are also plenty of books on business spirituality. We will soon write another post suggesting some specific titles.