6 Anti-Business Lessons That You Need to Know to Get Rich
Do you ever feel as though you’re fighting with your very soul?
I do.
I feel it when I set goals about alignment, and following my true calling, and refusing to back down, and then somehow – and really, I don’t know how! – I find myself caught up in a frenzy of DOING all the things that I’m once again telling myself ‘must be done’, instead of being the me who I know I need to be. The me who I believe, with my heart of hearts, will bring with her my greatest success, my greatest wealth, my greatest ability to impact the world. To change lives, dare I say and yes – starting with my own.
I feel it when I find myself – almost as though in a trancelike state – choosing to once again follow a promotional or marketing strategy I SWORE I’d never do again. Not because it is ‘bad’ or ‘ineffective’ or ‘wrong’, no not at all. But just because it is not right for me, and I have no good reason for saying that other than – it’s just not.
I feel it when I’m pushing. Do you push? GOD can I push. Seriously, giving birth’s got nothing on the push to succeed in business. And it’s not even the ‘external’ success, such as money, and recognition, and the validation of people loving your stuff, is it? It’s the internal push. The drive. The fire. The unquenchable goddamn fire, which, though you may douse it again and again and again with endless hours of work and effort still greedily, hungrily, constantly, demands more from you. Telling you –
You’re not yet enough.
You haven’t yet done enough.
You don’t yet deserve true success, or happiness.
– and so you push. You embrace working MORE. Harder! And faster! You become STRONGER. You become a machine. Nothing and nobody is going to get in your way, nothing will stop you from pushing, least of all that small, still voice inside of you which is saying –
I thought you said it was going to be different from now on.
I thought you were done with DOING, and that you were ready to start being.
I thought you were going to give yourself a chance, a true chance, of creating success that actually feels like success.
And you feel the voice, you almost acknowledge it, but to do so properly would be terrifying. Because to do so would mean that yes, you would have to stop pushing so hard, and yes, you would have to stop relying on following the rules (even though they’re not working for you, not really) and yes, you would have to embrace making decisions for your business and life from the deeper knowledge that resides within your soul, from a place of trusting that you do know what’s best for you, that you can make wise choices, and that ultimately, yes – if you truly take the leap of faith and jump, you CAN make it on your terms.
The catch, and the fight, and the torment comes, of course, from the knowledge that if you make that choice to jump and you do FINALLY give it your all and then it doesn’t work out?
It means you’ve not only failed at being the you who you think you need to be to succeed, but you’ve actually failed at being the real you who you long to be.
And if that’s how you feel, then possibly, just possibly, you’re right. I can’t imagine anything worse than giving my ALL, my very soul, to creating success on my terms and not making it.
Except for one thing, and that is this –
Never trying. Never really trying to do it your way. Never really saying yes to alignment. To value-based business. To living your truth for God’s sakes.
Business rules are good, don’t get me wrong. Marketing and sales tactics? I’ve used them many times, to great positive effect for both my own life and the lives of my clients. The stuff that the big guns use and pass down is there for a reason, which is that it WORKS.
But here is my question to you –
If you’re ‘getting ahead’, are you doing so in a way that is aligned, organic, and ultimately FEELS good, or are you fighting tooth over nail for every millimetre forward, for every dollar earned, and never able to fully relax and enjoy either the process or the outcome because no matter what you ‘achieve’ when you look in the mirror at night, you know that you’re not happy, really.
And when you look into your soul, you see no reflection of your own true desires and beliefs because they’re not there. They’re hidden so deep within you, and never allowed out. And instead what you see is a reflection of the world, and of how others run their business and of how you feel you ‘must’ behave in order to get ahead, in order to stay afloat, in order to not sink and drown.
Or, perhaps, in order to evade, for another day, another week, another month, a lifetime –
And what you really need to understand right now, is that it’s not about finding the ‘missing link’, the strategy or idea or knowledge that you haven’t yet implemented in your business. Instead what you need, is to embrace – for a day at least, or if you dare than a week, a month, and maybe even a lifetime –
The anti-business rules. Which is to say, the rules of being you.
Anti-Business Rule #1 – Does it Feel Oh-So Wrong Even Though It’s Oh So Right?
It might be the very best strategy in the world. It might be proven in 199 countries and ten times as many businesses. But there’s a very very simple way to tell if it’s going to work for YOU, and that is this –
Does it feel right?
Yep, I’m calling it – your ‘woo woo’ spidey senses know more than your marketing coach. Following the rules may – MAY – in the short term create greater so-called success in the form of money or whatever. But in the long run it is IMPOSSIBLE for it to work, either for the accumulation of wealth and prosperity, or for any sort of feel-good factor. And really? You just gotta have the feel-good factor, or what’s the point? I guess PROFIT could be the point, but what I’m saying here is even that won’t last. If something is off for you on the inside it will always – ALWAYS – impact your business results. So save yourself the hassle gorgeous. Listen.
Anti-Business Rule #2 – Are You Resisting it Like a Kid at An All-Salad Buffet?
There’s a time and a place for pushing. Like when you’re procrastinating on taking action on your big dream, your great creative need. Like telling yourself you need to wait for inspiration in order to start on something you damn well know you were BORN to do every damn day starting NOW, not starting ‘when you feel like it’.
But pushing has no place if what we’re talking about is pushing yourself to be something you’re not. To implement a plan that is just ‘icky’ to you. To add MORE and do MORE and try to be everything to everyone when what you really need, and know so deep within, is to slow down. Do less. And be more, to less people.
You can tell when pushing is good, and when it’s not. Listen.
Anti-Business Rule #3 – Is it Heavy, Or Is It Light?
Does it compress you, drag you down, make you feel sad and tired and frustrated and overwhelmed, create even physical pain and the sense that no matter how much of a ‘result’ it might bring it will still not be enough?
Or does the very idea of it – even with no promise of financial or other results – lighten your heart, your spirit, your body language, your very aura?
Your body knows. You know. Listen.
Anti-Business Rule #4 – If You Can’t Stand to Repeat It, Don’t Bother Starting It
Could you do it again and again and again and again, and never get enough of it, never care that no matter how much you do of it it’s still not complete? Or are you just burning to get past it, to get it over with, to tick it off or finally be able to pass the baton on to a freelancer or team member?
If you can’t stand to repeat it, if you’re just desperate to be done with it, don’t start it. No matter how freaking ‘important’ it is. Trust your intuition. Trust that you know what is important for YOU. Listen.
Anti-Business Rule #5 – Just ‘Cause Everyone’s Doing It and Raving About It, Doesn’t Mean You Have To
I don’t care if the Spanx lady herself is hailing it as the must-have business tool or strategy – if you really and truly want to do it a different way, because that just FEELS right, then do so. It’s your business. Your life. Your game. And you get to choose how you play that game. Stop being a kid. Just because all your friends and all the bigger and cooler girls are jumping off a cliff, doesn’t mean you have to. Listen.
Anti-Business Rule #6 – You Don’t Have to Have a Plan. Or Even a Clue.
Yes, it’s great to know what you desire in your business and in your life. It’s brilliant to know your why, your purpose, your passion. And it sure as heck helps to know the next step. But NOT knowing any of that stuff? Is no excuse for not starting anyway. Trust that you can and will figure it out as you go. Know that by waiting until you’ve ‘got it all figured out’, you’ll be waiting forever. Deep within, you do have all the answers. Listen.
Being You
Of course what all of these points are really about, is one very very simple truth.
Your greatest success, will come from being you.
Your greatest joy, will come from being you.
Your greatest peace, will come from being you.
Your greatest connection with others, will come from being you.
Your greatest creativity, will come from being you.
When you combine those things, you have one simple truth –
The road to riches, to true wealth both financially and spiritually in business, is never – no, never – by following the rules. And always – yes, always – by learning to be you. So stop trying to be such a good girl. Stop following the rules. Stop forcing yourself into a way of thinking, being, doing, working, that is just not – and never will be – right.
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