TURNING PRO IN LIFE AND BUSINESS

 A lot of entrepreneurs I know, men…dads…husbands…business builders… “my guys,” talk about balance or the need for balance. I hear guys say, “I struggle to find balance,” or “I’m too extreme,” or “I know my wife wants me to get more balance.” 

I think about balance a lot. 

When I think of balance the term “lifestyle design” comes to mind too. I don’t always know exactly what these catchy new phrases mean so I looked that one up… #Lifestyledesign is a catchy hash tag on Instagram. 

According to www.letsreachsuccess.com, “Lifestyle design means designing your life the way you want it to be. It’s when you create yourself and your environment and turn your vision into reality. Lifestyle design is about freedom, reclaiming your time and doing things you like.”

That makes more sense to me than balance. This sounds like being intentional.

I have 4 children between the ages of 9 and 16, 20 acres and a homestead, cows, pigs, chickens I have a wife of almost 18 years whom I am still studying, trying to understand, and whom I really want to be happy. I have my 1:1 coaching business, businessbuildercamp, I like trail running, and training for events. I want to get a house in Maine on a lake since my wife loves returning to Maine. I am working to get back into archery hunting, which my son loves. I want to create a better relationship with my dad as we get his properties more optimized for deer hunting. My son is doing baseball, my oldest is working hard to get into graphic design school, I want to improve the trail here at the farm for clients, I enjoy yoga for flexibility and meditation reasons, and I want to get back to the Bible and the daily Mennonite/Amish devotional I used to do. 

On top of that I had a child with a major illness/hospitalization in February and I am a recovered alcoholic who needs to watch my spiritual condition.

You know this story, right? (not the specifics but YOUR VERSION of the full life)

So what is balance in my scenario? I know it is not just ONE state… I know it is not a noun or something to be achieved. Balance feels like something to strive for but Being Intentional seems to fit more. Being Intentional and feeling at the end of the day like I was “on it” is what I want.

What do you want? Slowing down and figuring that out is an important piece of work for you.

Turning Pro

I get into non-fiction authors…. You’ll see that if you keep reading my emails and blogs. I love trying to get to know the person behind the work. Lately, my guy is Steven Pressfield. He is primarily a Fiction Writer. He is a professional. He is a man’s man. I have not read any of his non-fiction though… but I will… haha….when I get more balance!  

Anyway – he wrote “the War of Art” in 2002 and it is a classic. Artists and Entrepreneurs (Business Builders!!!) and song writers and those on spiritual journeys LOVE this book. Pressfield is pretty badass. He was a US Marine, an over the road trucker, and he picked fruit for a season in Washington. He respects everyone who works. He has no magic solutions. He shares openly about how hard it was to first get out his typewriter and sit his butt down and finish a book.

Basically in the War of Art he talks about what keeps us from writing books or painting or creating our best businesses and lives… Resistance is what he labels it. 

Resistance is an internal force that keeps us from really going for it and doing our best. Resistance is distraction and procrastination and fear. Resistance can be addictions to substances or sex or gambling etc. Resistance could be us being at work and really not getting much done but not being at home with our kids. He is really talking about Resistance to YOUR WORK…whatever that may be…. Entrepreneurship and business building is what you would probably identify with most… but maybe you have a book in you or other creative endeavors that you aren’t sitting and doing the work for. I think Resistance applies to creating my Best Life or lifestyle design too. I think Resistance can cause me to be a workaholic and avoid creating something special with my wife, children, or community. I have had nights where I stayed at work and to be honest I was just being very inefficient going through emails.

A lot of business builders get to a stage where they are bored in their business and truthfully they aren’t even really needed anymore (except when big decisions need to be made). But….they keep going in and “doing time” and sometimes creating chaos just so they can have a problem to solve. This is Resistance. You need to either start being at home more and Create on that front or you need to lean in and do more in business. Or you need to create a Non Profit….. something….  

You can have a $50 Million or $1.5 Million or whatever successful business and BE BORED… right? If not now…you watch, it could happen. People will say – “Just be content.” “Be Satisfied”…. But there will be a nagging feeling there. I think often at this point you need to re frame life and take a look at what you really want and see what could be created in dimensions other than your business. But, it certainly could be both.

Anyway… Pressfield’s most recent non fiction book is called “Turning Pro” – this is great too….I’ve been listening to his books on audible and I have the hard copy. 

Turning Pro is being Intentional… Turning Pro is sitting at the typewriter for 4 hours a day (or whatever) if you are a writer even when you don’t feel particularly inspired. Turning Pro in business is doing the next step or hiring the next person or writing out the next quarter’s clarity document so those you lead will “get it”. 

I think Turning Pro in all of life starts with getting clear on what you really want in the longer term and the shorter term. Who do you want to be? What do you want to create? How do you want to change? What does your spouse want? What do your children need in order to develop into who they are meant to be? What changes do you want to make in how you feel? Your mental/spiritual/physical health?

In Business Builder Camp we are using an interval approach that has us take stock/inventory every 120 days. Where have we come from, what have we created, how did we do in different dimensions. We use a tool called the Wheel of Life to take stock of where we are. We then also get clear on our focus, tweaks, and actions for the next 120 days. We look at Relationships, Health, our Work, our Money, our Friends and Family, our Recreation…. All those things.

Getting clear is the first step in Turning Pro in all of life.

I have a tool I’d like to share with you that will help.

It is called simply “What do I Want?”  One of my coaches and mastermind leaders, Aaron Walker, has generously given us at BBCamp the document to adapt and use.

You can grab a copy here:   DOWNLOAD WHAT DO I WANT

Print this out. Spend some time with it. ==> Please Drop me a line with what you learned from the exercise. Please forward this email to anyone you know who needs it. They can join our email list here:

https://businessbuildercamp.com/join-our-camp

Balance…or living intentionally. We’ll work on it together!

Wayne

PS. Here are some ways we can help.

1.)    Know another Business Builder who would benefit from our email messages and programs? Please forward this email to them and tell them to go to https://businessbuildercamp.com/join-our-camp to join our camp

2.)    Book club – in August we are reading The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran. If you sign up for our book club you will receive by email my notes and study questions and can join us for a call on August 27 with other business builders

3.)    Base Camp is our entry level larger group program – it is just $100/month and you will receive tools in the mail to live more intentionally plus will be in our Slack group, group zoom calls and more.

4.)    Mastermind – join our main program and have a small group of other business and life building men to do life with. You will be pushed to be your best. You will have a group of advisors. You will make friends who know what it’s like to build a business and a life. Click here to learn more.

5.)    1:1 work with Wayne. I’m always willing to have a long conversation to help you get clear and get on track. I only work 1:1 with a small number of men building businesses but I love it. Grab a short time first and we’ll decide if we both want to do a longer and deeper call to explore working together.