What Trappist Monks can teach us about business.

Given that the majority of people in this world have to work for a large part of their life, it is interesting to think that most people try and separate their work lives from their personal lives. This is understandable as anyone who has worked a day in their life knows how great it feels to leave your office at the end of a work day and forget about all of the stresses or responsibilities you have to deal with. Generally speaking, when people leave their workplace they spend most of their free time working on personal development, on fulfilling their real purpose in life. Whether it be focusing time on relationships with family or friends, travelling and learning about the world, helping others in need or just enjoying some quiet time alone to take it all in. This free time is important for every individual and there is only so much work that can be done in a day but when it comes to separating work and your personal life perhaps we can learn something from trying to integrate the two. This does not mean working outside of business hours but instead using your job as a way to work on personal development. Entrepreneur and author August Turak came to this conclusion while studying the business ethics of Trappist Monks. These monks believe strongly that every single thing that you do in life should be a way to personally develop. They do not view work as a way to just make money, they view it as a learning experience, a way to develop in a skill set that will only open your mind to new things. Instead of mentally checking out when arriving at their place of work they are continuing their lifelong endeavour of growing and becoming the best person they can be. This being said it is so important that you challenge yourself with your work, if you are not being challenged and are aware that you could be successful doing something different then you should do it! To allow your job to suppress your personal development is just a waste of time, it is so important to do something that you can enjoy and that you can use as a means to develop personally.
If you are interested in learning about the unique ways that Trappist Monks approach business check out August Turak’s website HERE.