Can Your Current Habits Carry You To Your Desired Future?
“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.”
"Ideas alone don’t change our world for the better. Ideas that inspire action do. When we share the ideas that inspire us in a way that inspires others to take action, we can build the world we imagine." When Simon Sinek shared this thought, I believe he was hinting at the power of people engaging in conversation. It's in these moments of shared experience where we get to learn and grow from the ideas that shape our community.
I had the pleasure of attending one such event today. I was asked to be part of a wellness panel as part of a local organization called YEP (Young Entrepreneurs and Professionals). I spoke about finding balance in entrepreneurship, my struggle with mental health, and finding inspiration when life knocks you down.
These areas of entrepreneurship live in the shadow of hustle, grind and growth. They don't have the same sex appeal of hearing YouTube personality Gary Vaynerchuk proclaim "The answer is simple: you need to work harder. And faster. There’s really nothing else to it. I’m exhausted every day, but I’m making all sorts of things happen in my eighteen hours. Not only am I working eighteen hours, I’m working fast as hell in this eighteen hours."
When people like this have the loudest megaphone, you can't help but feel lazy. You question whether you're even cut out for entrepreneurship.
I think a better question to ask yourself is, can your current habits carry you to your desired future?
The questions posed to me in the panel act as perfect reflection points for any entrepreneur who believes there's a more fulfilling way of running a business.
You’re an entrepreneur - how do you find a semblance of balance and resolve the anxieties that can exist for someone running their own business?
Are you able to prevent your professional life from bleeding too much into your personal life? If so, how? If not, why not?
Where do you find inspiration when you hit the professional lull that we are all so familiar with?
When I reflected on each of these questions, I kept coming back to the word clarity. My life is the way it is because I designed it that way.
Every day is a chance to get clear on who you are as a person, what you want to accomplish in your life, and why that's important to you.
There is no single book, podcast, course or guru who has all the answers. The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see.
It may not feel like you're at a place where you can answer those questions with clarity.
Check out my piece What are the five most important things in your life? I invite you to write down your answers. And ask yourself, what do you do in your day to get the most out of each of these?
It could be creating balance, reducing anxiety, being present with loved ones, or finding inspiration when you hit a professional lull. Prioritizing the five most important things in your life as the foundation of your day is how you design a life from which you don't need to escape.
Actress Diane Kruger talks to Sam Jones about being unprepared to deal with the both positive and negative attention that came with her first major American role in 2004's 'Troy.'
Why do we put off decisions that could give us a better future? I've been at that crossroads many times in my life. Whether it was a decision to start my own business, launch a podcast or even ask my partner to marry me. I knew all three of these decisions would give me a better life. But in the back of my head, all I could think about is what if I ended up being a colossal failure?