The desire to improve has always been strong for me. If I am honest, it has not always been helpful.
Meditation teacher Bob Sharples talks about "the subtle aggression of self-improvement" coming from a place of not enough rather than "getting better." There is endless guilt for high-performance people, the endless guilt of not doing enough, of not being enough, not having enough.
I spent a lot of my life chasing enough. It can be exhausting especially if you don’t even know what enough looks like! I have hurt myself with my own expectations. I have tried to shift big rocks without good support or advice. (Asking for help is also not something I was good at!)
In my pursuit of getting good, I looked under many rocks. I interviewed potential mentors. I researched programs. I wanted support and freedom and understanding. I wanted someone to help me do "my thing, my way."
I found all these at Thought Leaders. I found a recipe for financial freedom. A step-by-step process that told me what to focus on and when. A game I could play to be better, moving my income up in increments of $120K. A game I could put myself into, at my pace, surrounded by others like me.
Last week, we ran our August Immersion. Every 90 days, students of Thought Leaders Business School gather digitally from all around the world to learn, share, and grow for three days.
We talked a lot about Getting Good, Getting Going, & Getting Known. These are three super important steps in being commercially smart.
Getting Good is about sharpening your sword, about making you shinier, sharper, and more fit for purpose. We get good by doing the work. We get good when we put effort into thinking, selling, and delivering. We get good when we take the time to remove the blocks, the beliefs, and the fears that are in our way from being better. Getting good is a commitment to yourself. A decision that you want more.
Getting Going is about effort. It's about doing what you don’t want to do so you get what you do want! It’s about taking action. It’s about getting up earlier, dressing up, and showing up. It’s about picking up the phone, sending the invoice, and capturing your thinking. It's about planning your time to maximise your calendar. It's about removing anything that is contaminating your ability to be commercially smart.
Getting Known is about visibility. It's about being a solution and not a secret. It's about people knowing who you are and what you do. It's about being front of mind and allowing people to experience you. Finding a platform and a process for getting known will be different for everyone. Decide what you want to be known for, who you want to be known by, and where you are best to put your energy. Where does your market hang out? How do they consume content? What's your voice, your crusade, your angle?
Taking the time to assess yourself under the headings of good, going, and known is a worthwhile activity.
Which is the one you need the most right now?
What will reap the most rewards?
Be gentle. Be kind. Get better.
If you want to learn more about Thought Leaders Business School, join us at our next discovery session.
If you've thought about attending one of our discovery sessions but haven't managed to make it yet, you can watch the replay of our last session here.
Lisa O'Neill
CEO