When I was growing up, I learned one success principle that literally changed my entire life. The Peter Principle is a concept coined by Laurence J. Peter, who stated, in essence, that we will progress in life to the level of our incompetence. This means you can’t succeed past your current competency level in any area of your life. We haven’t accomplished more in our lives because we don’t have the understanding to get us there. The reason I’m not more successful in my marriage, parenting, finances, health, career, and relationship with God is because my competency is lacking somewhere in these areas.
So – what to do about it? Raise your level of competence! Look for opportunities to increase your abilities. Is an organization or your church offering a class in an area where you need to progress? Then sign up! Maybe you will need to enroll in college or a Bible school. Whatever you need to do to increase your abilities, go after it. It will be worth it. Our growth is entirely up to each one of us. We can raise proficiency and knowledge by taking classes, listening to audios and podcasts, reading, going to seminars, taking webinars, and a host of other things. Yet, competency is not just about what you know; it is about applying it.
Increasing our competency will not only increase our success on earth, but it is the key to hearing, “Well done,” at the end of our lives. Regardless of how many or how few talents we were given, the way we hear those joyous words is by actively investing in and increasing our abilities to bring a greater return for the Kingdom of God.
So – what are you going to do today to put the Peter Principle to work for you?