Chasing the Mirage

Mountains of Arizona
Sunny 63 Degrees
1:29 p.m.

If you pick up a business book, more likely than not, the book will characterize the journey of building a business as though you are required to navigate yourself through a never ending series of dangerous obstacles. The point, of course, is so you can get “where you want to go” – to the goal – to the land of “success” where lives everything that you’ve ever wanted.

The journey is hard, it is risky, many do not “survive.”

Looking back over my life, I now realize it was this very picture of the journey that was the reason I never felt like I was getting anywhere.

How could I? I was actively chasing after a mirage. Worse than that, I was literally creating the external manifestation of my internal understanding of the task at hand.

I know NOW that this characterization is completely bass ackwards.

It is disempowering from the very first step. Ultimately, it is a symptom of the dominant belief in society that everything you want is OUT THERE somewhere…and that you, the brave explorer, must go get it.

My experience (once I started thinking for myself, that is) has been that business is a process of discovering and growing you.

You don’t actually have to move. And there’s nothing for you to chase. Instead, you build something for the world that is worth coming for.

You plant a flag, you build a house, you water the garden. You create an oasis that offers relief to others.

When you give up the chasing after “what you want,” you open up the energetic space that allows the world to find the path to you.

The work isn’t to learn how to build a business. The real work is to figure out if you truly believe you have the power to create.