Do You Dread Going to Work? Success may be killing your happiness . . .

It’s interesting to see how much information in social media today is deemed as "wow factor" and "new wisdom" when so much of it is in fact nothing new at all. Most of the good stuff we read today isn't the latest and greatest written by some new speaker, author or coach. Most of it has been around for thousands of years.

That being said, according to Inc Magazine, more than 85% of people today don’t like their jobs or their roles in business.

How can that be if we are living in the information age? There’s literally information and training everywhere we go. Why is it that so many people are unfulfilled, waking up each Monday morning dreading going to their place of business?

It's also pretty crazy to see how much fallacy is being embraced today like "You should be outworking everyone around you" and "you can manifest anything you want" and "you have all the power to control everything!" This nonsense is also seemingly deemed as wisdom, which is the exact opposite as such.

Some people may challenge me on this, thinking that they have the power to control everything around them, when in fact, they control very little other than their own emotions. Even that is often times a stretch.

The farmer can toil the soil, plant the seeds, tend to the land, keep the predators away, and yet, if God doesn't make it rain, the farmer has no crops. He literally has nothing. He thinks he's in control, and yet he controls very little, if anything.

"There is nothing new under the sun" comes to mind I read the ancient text of the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, I realize I'm no different (and feel and experience nothing different) than the men and women that came many centuries before me.

King Solomon, to give you an idea, had everything anyone could have ever imagined. He had more wealth than anyone who ever lived. He had his choice of women, wine, song, entertainment, land, crops, livestock, activities to keep him busy… he had it all. And yet still woke up empty and feeling alone. “ …this too is meaningless” came from his mouth as he considered everything he’d worked so hard to acquire.

While Solomon had what most people would consider “everything, ” he realized that all of these things without passion and fulfilling his true purpose for his life lead to an unfulfilled life in the long run. For him, it was all “meaningless. ”

You may hear this and say, “oh poor little baby… the richest man on earth isn’t happy! Poor him!” as you roll your eyes a bit, and that would make total sense from the perspective of someone who’s never been there. But this is a very real and legitimate problem.

I’ve coached many men and women over the years that have reached what most would consider “the pinnacle of success” only to wake up saying, “is this it? Please tell me there’s more to life than this!”

I would argue that what most of these people built was a business designed for what todays society teaches a business should be designed for, which is to be profitable. But the word “profit” encompasses many things, and certainly goes far deeper than just financial gain.

For example, what if you were making $1 million dollars per month, but you had to do evil acts that went against what you believe as a human being in order to earn money to pull it off. Would you do it?

I ask this question, and some people immediately say, “Well, what are we talking about here? What do I have to do? And how long do I have to do it?”

I get it. The people who respond this way tend to have experienced a pain they deem perhaps worse than doing something against their better judgment… they’ve been broke. perhaps( they are still broke…) And of course, being broke and unhappy is far worse than being wealthy and unhappy, right?

Or is it?

Building a successful business means a lot more than just creating a business that spits out money for you every month. Don’t get me wrong, this is certainly a very important factor in business. The business must be financially profitable, otherwise, it’s a charity. Or at the very least, it’s a hobby.

But building a business the right way means embracing much more than just financial gain. I haven’t met anyone to date, if they’re being completely honest, that has been fulfilled by financial gain alone.

So why not build a business (or even choose a vocation for that matter if you so choose) that is wildly profitable financially and fulfills who you are as a person as well? If you’re going to spend the time to build something, you might as well build something you’re going to love every day as well, right?

You may say, “Well the devil I know is better than the devil I don’t know” but in reality, that comment is nothing more than fear creeping it’s ugly head into your life.

This way of thinking is often times what stops people dead in their tracks, eliminating any chances of success whatsoever. Not only that, it isn’t true. It may be easier for the time being to continue doing what doesn’t create a fulfilling life and business, but I promise you, you’ll pay for that line of thinking both now and certainly even more later in life. The next obvious question then would be, “Ok, well how do I pull that off? How do I begin to build a business where I wake up each day and jump out of bed - completely excited for what’s to come?”

The truth is, this kind of thing isn’t taught in schools. When I was in school, I was taught that my main objective was to get good grades so that I could get into a good college and then perhaps get a great paying job one day. My guidance counselor took very little consideration of my own passions, what the world actually needs, and what kind of things I would doing on a daily basis into the options that were presented to me. They also didn’t teach me anything about how to turn any of those passions into actual dollars. At least, not without working for someone else.

But I never wanted to go work for someone else. I wanted something of my own that I could be really proud of every single day. I didn’t want to work 60 hours per week to help business someone else’s dreams. I wanted to build my own!

The goal of getting good grades ultimately meant I could make more money. But something is missing here. If getting good grades was the answer, then why did Inc magazine determine that more than 85% of people are unhappy in their current jobs and roles in business. (This was over the course of a 15 year study I might add…)

How is that the case when we’ve all had access to what is considered one of the better education systems on our planet?

I would argue that the word vision”“ is not being taught today. Yet in both life and business, this is one of the most important words you can add to your vocabulary.

I’ve spent more than 10 years answering the question of “what does it mean to have vision?” And I’d like to share with you my findings.

They are, in my opinion, the key to having a massively successful, insanely profitable and largely fulfilling purpose for your life and business - and I say all of this without hesitation. The challenge is, less than 1% of the people I’ve met in business have any understanding of this process, how it all works together, and the results it can bring.

Because of this, I'm hoping you join me at MAREI on February 9th where I'll dissect the exact business vision process. I’ll show you step by step what I’ve taken a number of high caliber business owners through over the course of the past 10 years.

f you want to vacation more than you currently do, you can do so. But you must have this incorporated into your business vision. In other words, it must be designed this way from the very beginning.

If you would like to be more charitable with your income, you certainly can be. But it starts with the vision.

If you would like to own the house of your dreams, but that new car you always wanted, visit every continent on earth, you can certainly do all of that too. But you won’t enjoy any of it if you’re also working 80 hours per week doing things you hate doing.

Even if you do get those things, you’ll begin to resent them, since you traded your life away to attain them.

Learning what it means to have a vision - especially a business vision - has without a doubt been the most life changing set of business principles I’ve ever had the privilege of sharing, so I hope to see you there.

At the event, I’ll be sharing the 4 Stages to Building any Business, which anyone can apply. My hopes are that you come, bring a pad to take notes, and hear the countless stories I have to share of people who have built businesses all around the country - all designed to serve themselves and the people they’ve chosen to work with - all in the most profound ways I’ve ever heard.

And if you think any of this sounds like fluff, come test me and see for yourself. I’m currently operating on an 83% profit margin in my business. Today I make more money than I need by far. But more importantly, today I wake up each day excited about my role in my business, absolutely loving what I get to do.

This is quite a far stretch from just a few years ago, when work was something I “had” to do vs. today where I “get to” do it.

If you want a business that you wake up every day excited about, then I suggest you make it to the meeting. If not, it really won’t make much difference to me in the end. I’m going to be living my vision one way or another. But I’m hoping to meet you there face to face, and show you these life and business changing principles so that you can benefit from the results as well!

Hope to see you there!

Shaun McCloskey www.leadershipboardroom.com

Article is in the February MAREI Newsletter

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