“The great solution to all human problems is individual inner transformation.”
Vernon Howard.
When I became an entrepreneur I didn’t know I was embarking on a personal transformation that will take many many years. In many ways, it has been an ongoing personal transformation.
I will share a bit of an area of this transformation and what it looks like. From being an employee to becoming a CEO of your business, and then becoming a CEO of your life and business.
The process of becoming a CEO
As an employee, there is a certain structure already created for you. Say, there’s a mission already “set” for you to follow, tweak within the vision and mission.
As you become an entrepreneur, you might start as an “employee-type entrepreneur.” Here, you take hints from your customer and other people around you.
Yet, there is an entrepreneur that becomes a CEO. They own their vision, mission, and purpose. That’s how they pick a path for themselves.
There is also the CEO of life and business. It means that the entrepreneur realizes they are the architect of their destiny. In addition, they find out that, through the business as a vehicle, they are designing their life.
Along with this, a lot of personal responsibility gets involved. In some cases, there is fear of failure, self-doubt, not knowing, perfectionism, and procrastination.
Knowledge and experience
I think knowing is overrated. What I found is that there is a huge difference between knowledge and experience.
For example, you can know many things. Like you can know how to write a book, yet there are miles of differences between knowing how to write a book, writing it, letting someone else read it, publishing, and then making a book launch.
In this case, there is a difference between being a writer and being a published author. Indeed, there is a huge contrast between knowing to write a book and the experience you get after writing it. This is why I agree with Brene Brown’s perspective and Roosevelt’s quote that inspired her. My take on this quote is that the credit goes to the person that experiences life. This is the entire quote:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~Theodore Roosevelt~”
The shift towards becoming a decision-maker
A Business CEO becomes a decision-maker of business. A CEO that is an architect of life and business becomes an aligned strategic decision-maker. How do you achieve this?
You shift your perception. You step back and you widen your vision, you look at things holistically and you focus on the interrelation of everything.
You move from seeing 5 pieces of the puzzle as business as separate from you to seeing a whole puzzle and how all the pieces relate to each other.
You start noticing the consequences of a business decision in your personal life, relationships, career, and health. You make long-term decisions now instead of sacrificing your long-term for the comfort of the short-term.
That is the beauty of personal and business transformation, and strategy when is co-created. It is the beauty of truly designing your future because you learn:
- Who you are.
- What your gifts are.
- Why you are here.
- How you would serve others with your gifts, including taking care of yourself, core relationships, and what you love.
You begin asking bigger questions, such as: “If I make this choice, how does it affect another area of my life?” You now notice that not all choices are equal.
And there is where you transform yourself from an employee to a business entrepreneur to a CEO of your life and business. Also, the personal side of the business becomes your greatest asset for business development, a gift to your overall life.
On life and business harmony
How many life and business coaches that you know ask you these questions:
- Who are you?
- How many dates do you want to have with your loved one?
- What kind of lifestyle do you want to build?
- In which kind of environment do you thrive?
- Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
- If you have kids, how involved do you want to be in their lives?
- You are great at this, is this what you want to do? Is this what you love?
I find that often, in cookie-cutter business methods, there is a missing piece. And that is you because you are not a cookie or a mold that you need to fit yourself into. Instead, you are a unique person with a unique perspective. Say, someone with unique qualities and gifts, with areas that you love. Such areas bring you joy and a lifestyle that is enjoyable to you.
The biggest transformation
When your business becomes a vehicle for your lifestyle and joy, it brings you the possibility of building harmony. That in comparison with draining your life. Or worst, experiencing constant competition between life and business. Yet, it may take time to find an answer to these deep questions and to align your life and finances to these aspects.
I am not saying that is like you snap your fingers and your life is right there. It takes time. It takes exploration and then it takes aligned action. It also takes for you to trust in the life you are building and make decisions accordingly.
Knowing the incremental impact of each decision will lead to the life you are designing. Also, that life will shift. At this point, you will be co-creating with life. As new experiences emerge in your life, you will continue to do so. In other words, you will be consistently building your life.
Here, the biggest transformation is the shift: now your business is a vehicle for your lifestyle and can give life to your life instead of taking it from you, being the center of it, or competing with other important aspects of your life.
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Edited by Ludwig Laborda