There are some realities of business that a lot of people don’t share.
My guess, is that they want to be the pristine example of what’s possible or the gleaming role model who has been there in the trenches (but not lately, of course).
So here’s the thing.
I’m actually still in the trenches … standing waist deep in the muck and mud too.
I don’t pretend otherwise. And like you, I’m looking forward to the day that these earlier stages of business are behind me.
I might be a few steps ahead or have a different skillset or insights to share with you but I’m feeling it – I’m living it – every day!
Last week is what I can only describe as complete shit. You can probably relate.
I was in the midst of finishing the project that I planned to launched over the summer. While catching up with one of my biz friends last Tuesday she asked me what I was working on. As I explained it to her I found myself full of questions:
- “Does this really meet a need?”
- “Is it enough for people to buy?”
- “Wait! I was planning on creating X but instead I built Y?”
- “Have I completely gone off track?”
On my Thursday Mastermind call as I shared my concerns and through thoughtful questions and careful examination from my best biz pals, I came to the conclusion that I did indeed go way off track.
It was as though I had planned a trip to NYC but somehow ended up in Phoenix.
SHITTTTT!
I spent that afternoon in bed. I even laughed that I was being so dramatic as to have the covers over my head. I gave myself one day in Pity Party mode.
Instead of turning Friday into a massive strategy day full of doing, figuring, salvaging and planning I did something very different – very un-me.
I did nothing.
I told my biz friends I was offline. I didn’t open my computer. I stayed off of social. I didn’t read any business books. I didn’t even THINK about my business.
Instead, I just stopped and was still.
Surrender!
I’ve been talking and advising about the benefits of surrender for sometime. I’m 130% aware that it is so freaking hard to do. It’s a practice for sure and one that I find myself called to do when things really begin to unravel.
So, I took the weekend off from the business which we all know is so hard when you think about it all the time when not busy working. I spent time with my family, I painted with my son, I had friends over for a BBQ and even played old school videos at an arcade.
What I didn’t do is stew or strategize.
I pulled out Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better by Pema Chodron and read:
“Can you allow yourself to feel what you feel when things don’t go the way you want them to? When things don’t go the way you hoped and wished for and longed for them to go?… You’ll remember that you never know where something will lead.”
I woke up Monday with a clear head and no expectations. I cleaned my desk. I filed papers away and lit a candle to clear the air.
I had my Monday Savvy Circles call which instantly brightened my whole day. This is the work I enjoy doing. This is how I enjoy serving. This is what I’m meant to be doing … right now, today.
We often get caught up in the next shiny thing.
The next course, product, service, offering because we’re creative types and we love to create!
But we also need to stop and return to doing the work that is in front of us. The work the energizes us. The work that lights us up from within and behind our eyes.
There doesn’t need to be the “next thing” or something “in addition to”.
It can be simply more of what’s working and asking yourself, “How can I create, foster and nourish more of that with ease and joy?”
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