How to succeed in business and happiness using an Amish example

We are using the Amish people as an example because for the most part these are the happiest people you could ever meet. They are passionate about what they believe. With large families to support they have also learned to use this passion in business. If they choose to run a business they are successful because they learn well knowing their families depend on them. Community to them is important, each are raised as part of a tightly knit one. Keeping their geographic world unspoiled ranks high on their list.

Babies and toddlers can teach us that we are born passionate enough to make our world better. From the time children are born they automatically let us know what they don’t like and more often than not let us know non verbally what they do like. During the terrible two’s they become verbally passionate about their likes and dislikes, and let us know in no uncertain terms what they are. At this time they believe they are the center of their universe. None of these things are bad as long as they learn to temper their thoughts and actions.

When we become older many of us forget to pay attention to what makes us tick. We know what we like but won’t pursue it like we did as a child. Everyone who has remained passionate in my experience is either happy, successful, or both.

The structure of Amish life is different than that of others. They don't have toys which do everything for them. There is no television to give attention to. Time has to be filled with something so they learn to create their own games. Creating requires innovation. Children learn to use this part of their brain more effectively than many who are raised in "the modern society." Where modern parents use the word no constantly the Amish unless a child is breaking religious rules hear it much less. They are encouraged to create about anything their heart desires. Amish children are taught to be subservient. This helps them later serve their customers if they go into business.

Following their beliefs keep them off the grid, which translates to they have no electric lines, telephone lines, or natural gas lines running to their houses or schools. If they want or feel they need something the grid provides the rest of the world they find a way. They do this however within the confines of their beliefs, making it happen without disobeying religious rules.

What lets them achieve is passion. When they figure out what they want, they passionately pursue whatever it is until they make it work. What they don’t know they learn from others in the community. The people of the community and the person who is doing the innovating make time without taking from other things which they feel are required of, or otherwise important to them.

Their formal education setting by America’s standards today is about a hundred years outdated, and end at grade eight. Yet some of these people become millionaires and many others have a standard of living which in ways exceed the bulk of the American population. If they realize they are teaching their children both at school and at home to be business people is unknown. What a person needs to succeed in business is in reality taught Amish children starting at age two. Without their passion these people would have mainstreamed into the American culture years ago.

All Amish children are given the freedom to choose their own future. This also is something important to business people. Mainstreamed Americans take this for granted. Amish children are trained that they will be given a choice. The training to make this choice starts around age eight. They know their future will be based on choices they make as teens. By the time they are teens they have already learned the values they need to succeed no matter what choice they make. There is also a price to be paid for some choices which they are well aware of before they are given the freedom to choose.

Happiness comes into play by our choices. It is possible to be in business and still have time for the things which make us happy. A business choice based on a passion in our lives increases our chances of happiness. The ability to truly succeed is often helped by the community we choose to associate with. Each day in business give us new choices which can either enhance our business or hurt it. Customer service goes further to cut the cost of running a business than about anything else we can do.

© Revised April 20, 2012 Dennis Thorgesen for Lisech eMarketing, All rights reserved.