I am faced with a huge dilemma on a weekly basis … To work or not to work.  Or more simply put, when and HOW to take time away from work and be OK with where I am [and more importantly where I am not].

I know I’m not alone when say that I feel down because “I’m not there yet”. But I really want to turn that around into a positive instead of a negative.

It sounds ridiculous — who doesn’t know how to NOT work? To relax? How to forget about the 9-5 job that tires us out?  How many people long for the end of the work day or work week?   ….  Well, as much as I sometimes have those feelings, the reality is, I love my job. I love the business I’m building. And sometimes I think I could literally work 24/7. Some people accuse me of working too much but they are simply unaware of all the breaks I take to drink wine, run and spend time with cool friends and family. [one might be shocked but I do find time to relax]

But that said, I do also love taking moments away from work; away from building; away from networking and simply reflecting on where I am right now. Yet — I find it hard to do, and I’m not sure why.

I think it’s an illness of some kind, yet I’m OK with it. So that’s weird, right?

So today I’m forcing myself to not only not work, but to reflect and be perfectly OK with where I am right now — and celebrate the fact that I’m not ‘there yet’.

I’m going to reflect back on all my wins.  The big ones.  The little ones.  The ‘hard lesson’ ones.  And those easy ones too, because nothing is really easy when you’re building a business – it truly is because of hard work and grit that things become ‘easy’.

I’ve spent a lot of hours in meetings. Having coffees. Hearing stories. Absorbing. Listening. And I’ve happily prioritized advising founders and connecting them into a network that has taken me years to build, simply because it fills me up to be helpful … and it is the business I’m building, even if there aren’t economics with every interaction.

Along the way, as I’ve added value to people and companies, I have built a business model that is on the cusp of growing into something big, but more importantly — people love it, and that brings me a great sense of calm knowing that I’m on the right path.

So I need to take this moment and just be.  Be ‘not there yet’ and be OK with it.  Be ‘on my way’ to greatness, but still on the roller coaster journey.  Be on the path to bigger and better yet sometimes feel small and insignificant.  Be okay with ‘not right now’ responses or ‘thanks, but no thanks’ … because every No is one step closer to a Yes.

Because if I was there — and I mean really there — then all I would do was set my sights onto something else. Something higher. Something bigger. Or something with a different meaning or purpose. But the point is that I would still be striving for something other than what I had.  That is human nature. And it’s what makes us achieve great and unimaginable things!  So we need to be OK with that, as we also need to be OK with the great journey that leads us where we’re going.

So if I were a golfer and I went out on a beautiful day with the sun shinning … and I shot an 89 …. I should celebrate that 89 and embrace the talent and technique that it took to get that score, because that is not an easy score to reach.  The avid golfers reading this get it.   Now … if I think that I should be hitting an 82 and I get down because I didn’t score lower, then I’ve missed the opportunity to feel joy because I’m thinking about the 7 shot differential.  But the truth is – I could have hit a 92. Or even 100! Or more!  …. So 89 doesn’t look so bad from that perspective.  And it’s on the path to an 82 … so one should celebrate that.   Just like I’m going to celebrate exactly where I am today, which is ‘not there yet, but on my way!‘.

 

And no. I didn’t shoot an 89 today …. nor did I go golfing … LOL …. but a friend did and he reminded me that I need to celebrate where I am today. And he should too. 

But …. when I do go out and shoot an 89 (because anything is possible especially with my buddy Scott beside me) you can bet I’m going to celebrate it like crazy!