Most small business owners start with a vision. The vision in their mind tells them what success is. And predicts what it will be like when they get there. For most people, achieving success always involves working harder, faster, taking more risks. It also requires making more personal sacrifices. Unfortunately when we finally get there many of us become severely disappointed. So, are we doomed to chase this lie that someday we’ll feel good about our success?
The Success Lie
On the Small Business Radio Show this week, Janelle Bruland discusses why so many people are disappointed. Bruland wrote “The Success Lie: 5 Simple Truths to Overcome Overwhelm and Achieve Peace of Mind.” It explains why some feel let don even when they achieve the success they thought they wanted. According to Janelle, too many people buy into this success lie. It says you must sacrifice everything to achieve it. She explains how “the worst part is that we must always do more and we must always be available to work. There seems always to be a ‘wanting gap’ especially when you compare yourself to others” And this doesn’y change — even if you have been very successful.
Janelle believes that too many people are sacrificing their health and family life because they think there is always another place they must get to. They will eventually “enjoy” life when they get there. She points out that few people have regrets at the end of their life where they wish they had made more money or spent more time at work.
Social media feeds all this with its daily highlight reel of the best of everyone’s life. This forces many small business owners to try to “keep up with the Jones”. To counter this, Janelle keeps a “gratefulness journey” that documents all the things in her life that are going well.
Get Off theTreamill
Janelle suggest the first step to stop chasing the success lie is to be happier now by getting off the tread mill and stopping to evaluate everything. He says you need to “give yourself a time out to realize what is working and what isn’t.” She points out that while most people take a least a week vacation every year, few unplug from work. But Janelle explains that if we don’t let our team perform without us, how do we know they can do it? As she says, “you have to delegate to other people and not let your ego get in the way. Be willing to give some of that stuff up. “
Janelle use a practice called “intentional calendaring” where she schedules activities up to a year in advance that are most important to her definition of success.
Listen to the entire episode of the Small Business Radio Show.
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