I want to specifically address executives and entrepreneurs and ask: Why do you exist?
One of the trends that I’ve noticed when working with executives and entrepreneurs who continue to grow their business is this: The reason they got involved seemed to change somewhere.
“Well, isn’t that common?” you might ask.
And my answer is, “No, not necessarily.”
So, if I were to ask you, Why do you exist…specifically as a business? or What are you in business for? then what would your answer be?
When I sit with executives in their boardrooms and we begin talking about where they are today and where they want to be in the next five to ten years, things often come up around exit plans, revenue, or getting other people to potentially purchase the business. Whatever that might look like, the challenge is that their vision got locked in and focused on that one specific thing and they detached.
They pulled away from why they really got in the business in the first place.
The other question I want to ask is, Do you want to be happier? And you’ll probably say, “Of course, I want to be happier!”
So, let’s align a couple of things. For starters, happiness has been directly linked to contribution. This has been studied, verified, and documented. There are actual chemicals in the brain that get “sparked off” when you contribute and give to someone else.
I know for a fact that when you started your company or business, you did it for a reason. You did it to make something better. So how do you make the world a better place?
That’s the next question…and I encourage you to write it down: How do you make the world a better place?
If you left and went out of business tomorrow, what void would be there? What one thing would people really miss that they couldn’t get from your product of service? What is it that you offer that is so exclusively unique and isn’t offered anywhere else?
Hey, I get it. Times change. Goals change. Things happen. But don’t lose perspective of why you got into business to begin with.
Realign yourself with your original purpose—it will improve your business, and your quality of life!