True Grind

????The true grind????

What does it mean to you?

?This is a question that I’ve seen ask many times in the past. Some say it’s waking up and going to work every day. Some say it’s hitting the gym and starting your day before everyone else does. Some say it’s working 20-hour days and never stopping. Some say it’s having 4 part time jobs and raising a family at the same time.

When I ask myself what true grind is I look back on my life experiences and I can’t help but wonder, what about the answers above is honestly true grind??

??Aren’t these a part of who we should already be?

??Shouldn’t we want to be successful?

??Shouldn’t we want to be healthy?

??Shouldn’t we want to work as hard as we can to get to the next level? Although, I believe working efficiently you can accomplish the same in 8-12 hours personally.

??Shouldn’t we want to provide for our family and give back to the community?

Each one of these habits are steps in the right direction but let’s think outside the box a bit. Try to imagine yourself exactly where you dream of being. Is that owning your own small business? Working for an amazing company? Contracting in your area of expertise remotely? What is the one thing you have always wanted to do in your life?

Now take that goal and break it down into your daily grit and ask yourself, are you doing the things in your life you need to do to give yourself the competitive edge? Are you fighting with “The True Grind?” I’m willing to bet that most of you aren’t. The hard truth is we get comfortable doing things and become stagnant, wondering if things will ever go our way. We show self-pity and blame others for our downfalls. Trust me…. I’m no different. I’ve been there myself.

But you know what, my friends. You don’t have to make this your norm. I’ll tell you a quick story that I hope resonates with even a few of you.

There is a soldier, who served 14 years in the service, led his brothers into multiple combat zones, fought tooth and nail to stay alive, and when the time came, he was kicked into the corporate world and forgotten by the one purpose he had in life almost instantly. He was not severed from the service on his own will. He wanted to give 30 years to the service and retire but due to the downturn and cutbacks in the military, he was medically discharged due to a service-related knee surgery.

Imagine that for a second. Imagine only knowing one way of life and having it ripped from you without even a moment’s notice. Imagine having to not only adapt to a new life, but also a new way of acting, living, learning, and communicating. It’s like being reborn again, only as an adult and you haven’t had a childhood to teach you how to grow up.

Some of you, in the Oil and Gas industry, have been in similar situations and know what that’s like, don’t you? Depending on your story you it might just hit home a little harder than you expected, doesn’t it? That’s the reality though, whether we like it or not.

So, what do you do about it? How do you ensure you don’t get caught in a situation without the tools you need to succeed? How do you set yourself up as the ultimate success? How do you place yourself in a position where you have no barriers in your way of becoming exactly what you have dreamed of?

I’ll tell you what that Veteran did. Let me start by saying he had some very hard lessons along the way such as:

• Moving into a new career path in 2018 when O&G crashed
• Having 7-1/2 feet of water in his house during hurricane Harvey and losing everything he owned
• Uprooting his life once again, moving to West Texas with the plan of a better life
• Gambling on himself and leaving a stable career in operations, to help with a new startup business, all while starting his own business in the process. ?
• Having to shift focus yet again, as his wife decided to expand herself and go back to barber school.
• Selling his house and moving onto a ranch where he planned to call home, only to have things take another turn and cause him to go down a different path.

Each one of these life changing moves could have led him to fall on hard times that could have ended him, changing his view on life, and causing him to give up and become a complete failure.?

With every challenge in life there is a pathway to success. That Veteran knew that, and not once did he look backwards and say “That’s it, I give up. I’m worthless and will never succeed.” Instead, he kept his eye on the future, remembering the mistakes he made, the dream he constantly craved, and continued moving forward fighting to make it a reality.

He looked at the positives in life. Knowing he had made the right choice in positioning himself in business development professionally, he got to work. He took the words Business Development and looked at the big picture. Business Development was not just sales to him. Sure, he needed to learn about sales in the process, but he knew to have the competitive edge he had to set himself apart. He sought out as much education and information he could and became efficient in every possible area he could think of. He spent time and money investing in himself, education, and coaching, learning everything he could in sales, marketing, social media, and even embroidery, sublimation, and laser engraving so he could provide marketing materials and swag to the business lines he worked with.

He put himself through school and became certified in personal training so he could understand a new business. He sought out industry specific podcasts, speaking opportunities, and community events to help build his personal outreach, while constantly building his network and seeking out industry leaders to learn from and network with. He never forgot those who helped him along the way. He partnered with multiple nonprofits giving back to the local community. He self-taught himself how to edit video, create effective add campaigns, graphic design, mix audio files for social media, and learned anything else he could possibly learn about B2B marketing. He even went to school and became a certified life coach so he could help others effectively while on his journey, also setting himself up to be a better coach to fellow Veterans who needed a listening ear, all while maintaining a successful career path and taking care of his family.

With all the life changes he has one dream. His dream is to position himself as a community figure where he can change Veteran lives, helping them with the transition from military life to the corporate world. You might wonder, is he there yet? Has he been focusing on his daily grind enough to get to where he wants? No… He’s not there yet but he’s giving it his all.

That Veteran is me….. What’s your story and are you truly embracing the daily grind?