This is it – all you have to do is to STRIVE to make a BETTER VERSION of it
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Often when I see people really striving for that thing they really want or want to be I see such angst. I see someone looking over their shoulder at someone else, envying them or competing ferociously with them in the same game to be bigger and better than them or to be something different from them, and I feel disturbed by this behavior. The reason being that if there is anything that I have learned on this journey in life, that thing we are today – this is it – this is you, deep down you will not be any different from this, your business will be no different from this – simply put – this thing you see before you today - is all there is. However!!! Your role in life is to make a better version of this.
To compare ourselves to others constantly is a very dangerous slippery slope. There are no fast tracks, there are no ultimate winners and losers in life, there are only people following their own paths. If you can understand this principle very early on, you are off to a great start. Once you have this clear in your mind, your goal should be to work extremely hard to maximise whatever you have in your hand, and as a result everyone will win.
It’s very confronting for most people to accept themselves, and just as confronting to accept their business and all its truths. However to accept your business first is easier because your business has people in it working for you, there are balance sheets to review and data to check. Sometimes it may take someone to confront you on the numbers but they are black and white. The hardest thing to realise is that who you are is exactly a reflection on your business. If you are not a very creative person, your business will not be creative. If you are not a very organized person, your business won’t be very organized, and if you are someone who is not truthful about yourself, your business will most probably be a big lie too.
Saying that, the opposite is also true. If you are inherently a creative person, so too will be your business. If you are a forward thinking person, so too will be your business. If you are a people person, so too will be your business. This is the strange nature of the business owner and the business itself.
I need to add here too however that of course, none of us are good at everything, and in fact, this is where our skills as a leader step in. There are some skills you can accept as not your strength and pay others to look after that for you. For example, you may not be a very organised person, but you may be able to employ some very organised people to do that for you. You may not be a very good with money, but you employ someone you trust to deal with the financial side. You may have a lot of energy but not very focused, this is where a reliable focused partner can guide you. So not all things are lost.
However it is the key features of honesty, integrity, creativity and drive that can never be fobbed off to some employee, these things must be in you the owner to make sure you succeed. These are the things that will grow and develop into better versions of themselves. You can never develop a better lie, a better copy-cat, or a better lazy person!
Once you have confronted the truth about yourself, your business will in turn change also. This version that you can aspire to is important to have in your mind, this is a goal, but before you can set your plans into action, you need to accept where you are today – and what you see today, is it – the future is ultimately unknown. If you are unhappy with what you see today, today is the day to change that into something that you can work on. That's all there is to it.