Question: Are you kicking ass at what you’re doing and loving every minute of it?
A couple months ago, when I asked myself that question, the answer was a clear- and resounding- “no”.
That is no longer the case.
If you are interested in that, in exceptional performance coupled with extraordinary and deep satisfaction, this may be of interest to you. If you’re not, or think that it’s a pipe dream, or not possible for you, you may just want to skip this and get back to whatever it was that you were doing.
[This month, I’ll be sharing something I’ve recently dealt with and then what I’ve created. There will be no assignments or recommendations, and I invite you to see yourself in what I’m sharing and get whatever value you can. Also, the views expressed here are mine, and do not necessarily reflect those of ALS Consulting as a whole.]
See, overall, I love that I get to do what I do for a living. It’s an honor and a privilege to make a living through contributing to people; to their effectiveness, their development, their success. No complaints, AND I wasn’t loving it. Somewhere along the way, something had gotten stale, had gone dead- or at least numb, and it had started to show up in the effectiveness of my actions and interactions.
In many areas, I was just going through the motions of my business, and in others I wasn’t even in motion. Business development, like networking, marketing, etc. was a dreadful undertaking that I suffered through at best and mostly avoided. Interactions with newer clients (generated purely through referrals obviously) had become cumbersome and difficult; the one thing that I’ve always cherished in my work- those conversations (from which extraordinary transformations and results emerged)- had begun to occur for me like networking and administration had: as something to deal with, tolerate and/or survive.
After a great year performance-wise in 2011, so far 2012 had shown that, to say the least, something was missing.
Then, inside of having a conversation with a colleague and then taking on an approach he created, I got real clear, real quick. Here’s what I got clear on:
My Intention. Who I am is a walking “wake-up call”. I shift perspectives, and rock worlds. I enable people to create amazing lives through owning their power and building thriving businesses.
My Clients. I’m not here to do problem-solving, facilitate self-improvement or fix people that think they’re “broken”, or deliver motivational presentations. My clients (current and future) are committed to nothing less than:
- Unprecedented, exponential results,
- Being a remarkable demonstration of what’s possible in their business, and
- Having an amazing time while creating all of that!
And in getting clear on that, I got clear about how much crap I had been tolerating, and I’ve stopped tolerating it. That is, I’ve stopped being willing to have any aspect of my work not be consistent with, and an expression of, what I’ve said above.
I’ve let go of clients, and of prospects. In fact, I’ve walked out of a meeting wherein I’d pulled a $50K proposal off the table absolutely lit up and enlivened because I was clear that (a) I delivered on my intention (and that’s what really matters) and (b) that person was not a client of mine (as created above).
In the world of structures- of administration, management and even physical environment- I’ve eliminated whatever I don’t love doing or am putting in the work to be creative and design it in a way that I think is awesome and compelling.
Networking is now fun. There is no stress from trying to come across a certain way or trying to get something out of it. I’m having conversations that fulfill my intention, and it goes how it goes (and by the way, it goes great).
I’ve practically re-invented and am rebuilding my entire business, and in both the design and the implementation I am having an amazing time. When my intention (by default- as I didn’t explicitly have one) was to be comfortable and get by, that’s exactly what I got. Same thing now; my intention carries the day.
See, the assertion here is that you get what you intend, and also that what you have to “manage” (see: deal with, struggle with, get through, try to fix and/or improve) is only what you’re willing to tolerate. For instance, notice that company managers don’t complain about what they don’t tolerate. It’s impossible, because it just doesn’t come up. If you don’t tolerate people being late, you don’t have to manage or deal with or try to change people showing up late. It works itself out. If I tolerate clients (or associates, or employees, etc.) repeatedly not doing what they committed to and being unprepared for our meetings, then I’m going to be left dealing with and managing unprepared clients who aren’t doing the work and aren’t getting the real value. If I don’t, I won’t. And of course, when my intention was to be comfortable by “maintaining” what I already had, that’s exactly what I got. Inside of what I’ve created now, it’s not even an option (or a thought). Real simple, eh?
So, it’s almost time to wrap this up, and I’d like to explicitly acknowledge the colleague I mentioned earlier, Anurag Gupta of The Difference Engine. What I’ve created and am creating is in large part due to my interactions with him and my participation with his organization and the Business Without Limits Workshop (click here for info on that). Also, I’d like to acknowledge my close colleague Douglas Hoffman specifically and the others here at ALS Consulting more generally for what their partnership and work has ongoingly provided for me, our clients and anyone who’s taken the opportunity to participate. What a life!
And in closing, if I could leave you with anything, it’s that it really is possible for you to have an exceptional business that produces amazing results and that you absolutely love being in (in every way), if you’re willing to stand for it and do the work required to design and execute it that way. AND if that’s not what you currently have going on, it probably boils down to your lack of a clear intention and/or your willingness to tolerate mediocrity. If you are indeed committed to creating all of it, and want a full partner in bringing it about (even if it means getting your ass kicked from time to time if necessary), you know where to find us.
Game On. 🙂