Knowing and articulating your purpose is not enough. Mastery and intentional sharpening of your skills are needed for you to make an impact.

Paul writes to Timothy, “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6, NASB). 

In Ecclesiastes 10:10, the preacher writes, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success” (NIV).

The pandemic has changed many things in our world. Notwithstanding the devastating impact of COVID-19 and the loss of life globally, the world of work is changing, and many people are re-thinking their purpose and their priorities.

You may be among those who are in the process of re-evaluating your purpose and working to clarify your “why.”  If you are, I commend you on working to clarify your pathway to your purpose.  If you are not, it may be time to become intentional and proactive to re-evaluate where you are in terms of fulfilling your purpose.

Christina Pazzaanese of The Harvard Gazette observes, “The pandemic has sped up macro trends in consumer behavior, business management, and hiring. That, along with insights gained by months of adjustments to work roles, schedules, routines, and priorities, have prompted employers and employees to reconsider many default assumptions about what they do along with how and why they do it” [1]

The business world is not the only place experiencing changes because of the pandemic. Churches and ministries have also been impacted and are also challenged to adjust for impact.  Laura Archambault of Start Church says it best: 

“The post-pandemic Church needs a clear renewal of purpose. That’s why we started with needs. Once you research the needs in your community, you’ll find yourself compelled by purpose. If you were complacent, you might have found yourself daydreaming (like me) about the wonderful comfort of returning to normal. Don’t be so eager for things to go “back to normal” that you miss that God was trying to wake you up all along. He is fiercely trying to grab our attention to join in the urgent work He is doing. “[2]

In a blog I wrote entitled, The Six Essentials Questions You Need to Ask Yourself to Get Clear on Purpose, one of the six questions is related to equipping yourself to fulfill your purpose:  What are you doing about it? (Equipping). I also stated that you should be working on equipping yourself to be skilled to fulfill your assignment.  Then I followed up with these additional questions:  Do you have goals? Do you have a plan to grow? Are you developing mastery?

So how do you upskill on purpose?  You will need to S.W.O.T. it out.  Upskilling is evaluating your current skills and identifying gaps and areas that need to be improved to make you successful and to also meet the demand of what is changing in your area.  It mitigates you becoming irrelevant.

S.W.O.T. is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

• Strengths: Get clear on your gifts, abilities, talents, and skills and work to develop mastery around them.   You should do this as you keep your “mountain” or area of influence in focus.  I have used the book Strengths Finder 2.0 to specifically identify my top 5 strengths. I highly recommend that resource.

• Weaknesses: What is that that you don’t do well?  This is where you will identify your skills gap and where your need to level up. 

• Opportunities: This is where you need to do a deep analysis of your area and discern the opportunities for impact once you sharpen your skills.  For more info on this, check out the blog.

• Threats:  Threat are also external.  These are forces that can impact you as you work to level up. Threat tends to be beyond your control; so, you will need to work or plan for contingencies.  Often, when you decide to level up and grow, competing priorities will emerge that will slow down your development momentum.  Work to have a plan. Be flexible. But stay on course!

What skill or skills do you need to level up on purpose?  When you do, how will it enable you to impact your mountain or area of influence where God has placed you?

[1] Pazzanese, C. (2021, February 9). How COVID experiences will reshape the workplace. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/02/how-covid-experiences-will-reshape-the-workplace/

[2] Archambault, L. (2021, April 8). StartCHURCH Blog – How to Thrive as a Post-Pandemic Church. Start Church. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.startchurch.com/blog/view/name/how-to-thrive-as-a-post-pandemic-church

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