An "inventive inclination" is simply creativity combined with resourcefulness. Unleashing your inventive powers, she claims, involves asking "what," not "how." It's being open to possibilities.
Once we open our mind to creative possibilities, it's necessary then to focus authentically on who we are at heart. "Authentic people are activated by their inner truths," she writes. "When we're authentic," she claims, "others usually perceive us as such and will often go to great lengths to help us succeed ... When we're real, we're believable, credible." Authentic focus also requires focusing on our energy. "What good is it to identify your fascinations and goals if you're too tired or stressed out to pursue them? ... Vitality also translates into widened opportunities. People like to be around us when we're centered and enthused." By focusing on their own needs, Sinetar writes, entrepreneurs find ways to address others' needs and thereby profit.
"Meaningful purpose" delves deeper into the spiritual dimension of entrepreneuring. It involves both posing and answering the question, "What exactly do you want out of life?" "No one can tell you what your purposes are," Sinetar writes. It involves moving slowly, gaining balance, poise, and self-understanding. "This is a spiritual stance," she writes. She encourages her readers to grow in their "down" times and to develop discernment, which involves strict self-discipline. She also warns that "conscious choices are often costly ones." It is in delving into meaningful purpose that a rich personal transformation can take place. It involves making honest self-assessments.
By "figuring-out" skills, Sinetar implies that "entrepreneurs trust the mystery of the unknown. Rather than accepting imprisonment by what they don't understand, entrepreneurs strive to transcend their questions and limits." This is where a genuine love of learning is required. "Figuring out involves eliminating illusions." It involves expanding on what we want by answering the questions of where, when, for whom, and why, and listing the steps you're willing to take to explore the territory you want to inhabit.
"Part of creating work involves establishing a solid foundation of chance-taking skills," Sinetar writes. Wisely, she advises practicing in low risks before undertaking high risks. She writes about creating spaces in which to fail safely, to monitor our performance, to correct and improve ourselves. She then illustrates a stepladder of risk-taking skills, and differentiates risk-taking from impulsivity. "Begin small. Go slow. Build skill," she says. "Prudent risk-taking involves making contingency plans, asking 'what if?' and assessing the probability of failure." By taking small, calculated risks, she says, discernment grows.
In exploring what a strategic outlook is, Sinetar writes that it involves first elevating oneself to the point of feeling entitled to have the life and work one enjoys. Strategy transcends a mere business plan, she writes. Eventually, our strategies ask us to think about where we'll find supportive, affordable resources for our objectives. Your decision to study whatever you don't understand becomes part of your strategy. She encourages her readers to research specific ways to add value to customers and clients and to consider how to position your product or service in the niche you hope to enter.
Finally, "discovering and creating vocation requires discernment," Sinetar writes. Once the above six skills have been considered, "our job is to unfold." A high spiritual intelligence recognizes that "we ourselves are the work." It involves accepting that we must change. A high spiritual intelligence realizes that "vocation comes as you discover and express your own identify." It views work as art, recognizing that we learn best when we're learning about ourselves. "Almost all gifted artists strive to mesh inner feelings or vision with marketplace realities," she writes. "Only actualizing adults find enough personal reward in such risks to accept the turmoil involved," including family and inner conflict, struggle, and doubts. Vocation is neither about career nor money, Sinetar writes; "it's doing God's will."
I'm happy to say that I'm well on my way. I highly recommend this book as a light for your spiritual path.