Importance and owning used to go hand in hand. There was no real way of being the most important person in the company, church, non-profit, school without being at the top of the pyramid. I'm the owner, I'm the most important.
I was sitting down for breakfast with an x-CEO. He had retired a year previously and was enjoying his mid seven figure buy-out he had received. He told me that during his two decade tenure he had never once been late to a meeting. I told him I understood that punctuality was important. He laughed and said no he wasn't always on time, it just so happened that every time he walked in the room the meeting started. He then looked down at his bacon and eggs and sighed, "nobody waits for me to do anything anymore" he said.
Have you ever seen a babies face when you walk in the room and the meeting suddenly starts. Or your dogs sheer excitement at your newfound presence after a day of work. Importance is, as it turns out, very important.
So one way we strive to fill our importance tank is by owning things. If I'm at the top of the pyramid than I am important, even if I really don't want (or am incapable) of filling that position.
Wanting to own a business without wanting to run a business is foolishness. When you say things like "I could hire somebody to do that part!" what you are really saying is "I want the position without the responsibility".
The oddity is that importance is available. Go be a big brother or a big sister and become the most important person in somebodies life. Go work in a shelter where you know the work you do matters.
But most of all, get into a relationship with God, it turns out that it feels pretty important to be important to the most important person in the universe.
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