It’s all about choice!

I’ve been in business and worked for a number businesses over the last 25 years which has delivered me many amazing opportunities and many challenges, I know we’ve all been there, right?

It came to me like a slap across the face a few years ago that the journey of success, promotion, growth, business launch, business loss and more success was a never ending cycle of being swept up in a business career I really didn’t have a clear purpose of and why the heck I was doing what I was doing.

Over a 15 year period I built a number of businesses, however, also lost a few along the way. What I didn’t recognise was a pattern of events that at first seemed insignificant however as the size of the business grew and as they folded, the consequences become more significant.

In my mind and arrogance, I genuinely believed my successes were solely from my hard work and the losses none of my fault! I even had the audacity to egotistically spray – “look at me, I never went to Uni and look what I’ve done!”

Geez, I shudder at the thought now!

My embarrassment is not that I never went to university, but that I was so arrogant to believe I was invincible and had all the answers as the business was growing 100 fold. By this time my ego was ridiculous, however I was completely oblivious to this fact – I definitely was not paying attention.

It seems crazy to me now that I didn’t learn from any of the lessons being sent my way. Don’t get me wrong we did do some great things, however the things I did wrong on reflection, were due to the fact the universe kept chucking crap at me and I just dodged, wiped myself off and went again.  So many people would say to me, wow you are so strong to keep going, and I lapped it up!

However, isn’t the definition of idiocy – doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result? Yep that was me!

The slap in the face

Enter the most recent business, which after 7 years I had to close and walk away, believing I lost more than I gained…… Or did I?

This event was the slap in the face I needed, it made me sit back and reflect and I have done a lot of reflection the last 2 years. I was finally listening to the universe!!

So I started working on me and on the inside – I needed to understand, what was my purpose, what are my values and what are the things that I will fight for with all my being.

I recall my sensei telling me once, to not put myself in harm’s way, however there will come a day  I will need to defend myself or someone and for me to do that I need to know what is the one thing that I value so much I will fight for it. I really didn’t understand what that meant until recently.

Yes literally, I will defend my family with all my being, but it also means to me what are my values that if what I do, do not align, will I fight for them?

Enter the word fLearning … Learning from Failure. I know we’ve all heard the saying, “It’s ok to fail as long as you learn something”, however unless you are willing to really listen with your ears, eyes and gut, it’s just words and means nothing.

Oh and by the way the universe will  keep chucking crap at you and the amount of crap the universe keeps sending you will just keep getting bigger until you collapse from the weight of it and fold OR you capitulate and say “enough is enough, what is the lesson here? “

So check the ego at the door when you are in business, be mindful and listen with your ears, eyes and gut.

Ask for help, seek counsel from others and if you do stumble, sit back, reflect and consider are you aligned to your purpose and most importantly what can I learn from this and where is the opportunity?

I can guarantee you there is gold in the reflection and the challenges in business.

What I’ve learnt now and practice every day, is to approach the day with a clear intention and to work to my clear personal values in every aspect of my personal life and career.  I listen to my gut, I hear with both my ears and eyes and I’ve checked the ego at the door.

Oh and you know what, be prepared to keep making mistakes, but take note of what the universe is giving you as a lesson and look at it as a bloody great enormous gift.

What I know to be true:

• Determine your purpose
• Know your values and live by them
• Look for the gold (purple) in all that you do and experience
• Be authentic and leave your ego at the door!
• The universe will only give you what you can handle, provided you are listening