Stop doing what you're bad at!
One person that really inspires and motivates me with his messages is Gary Vaynerchuck.
If you don't know him, follow him right now HERE, HERE and HERE. It's ok, I'll wait.
...
You're back? Good!
Meet Gary:
Gary is this No-Bull-Shit-New-York-Entrepreneur. You either love him or hate him. And when you love him, you will probably at times hate him, because his messages can sometimes feel like a kick in the... uhm face. But hey, truth hurts.
I've been following him for a couple of years now and there are a lot of lessons I've learned from him that I've implementet in my personal life. One of Gary's key messages lately is "selfawareness".
In my experience of my day to day life I can be so focused on who I want to be, or what people I would like to be like. This really can be crippling and rob me from a lot of creativity. And actually remove myself from who I really am or am supposed to be.
I'm a creative person with a lot of interests. When I find something that inspires me, my head fills itself with hundreds of ideas of how I could implement this in new projects. The same I've experienced when meeting successful people. They inspire me, they're in a place I'd like to be in, so I focus on wanting to be like them.
I know this sounds pathetic, but the reason I'm not afraid to talk about this is that I know I'm not the only one.
Right? be honest. (Don't let me hanging..)
Well, here came Gary's sucker punch that really opened my eyes for me:
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU SUCK AT?
My reaction:
Excuse me?! I'm constantly working on bettering myself. I'm moving forward! I'm not going to look at the things that go bad or what I might suck at!
But...
What if I really suck at some things I invest a lot of energy in...
Self awareness is just really being honest with yourself. Don't lie to yourself.
Why are you doing the things you do?
Do you want to be successful? Great!
But what does this mean for you?
Is the thing you're chasing really what success is, or might it be something else?
I've spent a lot of energy working on being someone I am not. Always looking outward and never looking inward on what I have, who I am, my own unique talents. Becoming self aware is being honest about what you suck at, so you can truly know what you're good at. I believe everyone has unique talents and a unique way of looking at the world. If you stick to these talents, your own DNA, you can truly excel.
It's like trying letting a palm tree grow outside in Alaska. You'll have to do your darn best to keep it alive and let it grow even a tiny bit. And you know, when winter comes, this palm tree will die.
If, instead you grow a pine tree in Alaska, it will grow very well. The DNA of the tree belongs to the habitat it's growing in. And even when the winter comes it will survive.
There is two sides on this medal. Accept your shortcomings, so you don't waste energy and get frustrated. And discover your strengths so you can enjoy what you're really good at, and get even better at it.
When I first heard this message I didn't want to think about it. Even thinking about something I might be bad at made me feel like a failure. "I keep trying until I'm good at it!" But in the end this would be the way I would entirely fail because there would never be any focus. In the end is was ok to let these shortcomings go because my strengths would completely replace them.
And allow yourself to be great at what you CAN do,
by accepting the thing you CAN'T do.
I started to share my thoughts and stories on Steemit because I have a deep passion to inspire people and make them think. I've always found inspiration in stories of other people's experiences and I love to share my own experiences on what I discover in my life. I hope some people might find some inspiration in thema and will help them to go further in life.
If you liked this story please consider upvoting and following me. It would really help me to build a community of like minded people that motivate each other. Also I really love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
I wish you well!
Love,
Koen Folkerts
Nice, Gary V bit. So many times wantreprenuers sit around talking about shit rather than doing it. I'm guilty of it. I've sat there brainstorming ideas for "new businesses" having never actually started one myself.
I never though about what I suck at! I guess that comes from being raised in the era of "participation trophies."
Off the top of my head here is my list:
-Political correctness
-Workplace politics
-Follow through
-Staying focused
I think the big thing in these time is get rid of the romanticism. We tend to make it all about how it feels and how we come across to others. Be honest to yourself and put in the dirty work. The road to achieving something you really want isn't fun most of the time.
You can also check out Jordan Peterson. He is a Canadian psychologist and had really good pieces on Youtube on dealing with yourself.
I read his book "Why Now Is The Time To Crush It" a couple years ago. Gary is super inspiring, but trying to replicate his staggering success is by the same token a bit daunting once you realize the insane amount of hours, blood, sweat, tears (and drops of wine) he put in throughout his journey. I guess we can only take it one step at a time, right? :)
That's something I recognize. I think it's all about getting to know yourself and setting the goals you really want. Not because it's "cool" to be an entrepreneur but because you're good at it and feel the passion. That's the only way to be real and to achieve your goals. And yes, it always contains a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Even Though it's your own authentic road.
well put, totally have to be passionate about you're doing if you want to have long term success. That's probably why some little projects I've done have failed, and the ones I'm really passionate about (ie, https://expeditionmississippi.wordpress.com/) succeeded.
I'm a new member here. I admire your articles.
@koenfolkerts
Thank you! I hope they will help you and inspire you :)
Congratulations @koenfolkerts! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPThis post has received a 2.84 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @koenfolkerts.
Congratulations @koenfolkerts! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP