Since moving to the Cowichan Valley immediately after Y2K, I’ve had diverse careers — a kinesiologist in a physio clinic, a personal trainer, a nutrition coach, a home care business owner and GM for 15 years, and now a business coach for entrepreneurs aspiring to be well-rounded individuals. Looking back, each role has pointed me in this direction.
I turned 50 this year, and yet I feel like I’m just getting started. Starting a new business during the pandemic has been a great challenge.
I hate to admit this, but I also feel like I’ve missed the boat in some regard. I see young business owners in their 30s driving really nice trucks, towing boats to the lake, taking time off, with beautiful young families, kids in activities. The story I tell myself sometimes is that they have it all. That they chose better, worked harder, made better decisions, saved better, did better, and that they are now enjoying all the spoils before even hitting 40.
And then I pause. I’ve been around long enough to know that is simply my monkey mind playing tricks on me and hijacking me.
Most business owners have the same thought pattern — to look at other people’s lives who seem to have it all figured out and wish they had the same level of ‘great life.’ It’s the same feeling that social media has been built on.
It’s all crap. All the envious thoughts that go on in my head — 95 per cent bull.
But because the voice in the mind is my own — or so it wants me to believe — it makes it so easy to take it as truth.
If you can relate to this at all, whether you are a business owner or not, it’s quite common. To be tricked and driven by the voice in your mind. The thoughts that control you.
Either your mind is your best friend or your worst enemy. Most of the time it’s your worst enemy, research supports.
A coach I met at a retreat recently put it very succinctly. She worked at Microsoft for years and said this of the leaders there she worked with, “Ninety-five per cent of the leaders I worked with were overstressed, overworked, and burnt out! The other five per cent meditated.”
It landed big time to hear those words from her. I have started meditating. Quieting the mind more intentionally. Slowing down the thoughts. Allowing them to float away, only keeping the wise ones.
If I am struggling some days with feelings of envy or doubt or frustration, I now remind myself that my path is my own. And that I must continue in the direction of my dreams and service and best life. That not everything is meant for me in this life.
That doesn’t mean I stop trying.
A wise coach once told me, it’s not the end result that matters, it’s who you are becoming in the process. It is this quote that I leave you to ponder.
Who are you becoming? Someone you are even more proud of.
And if you have an active mind, do you practice quieting it, perhaps through focusing on your breath for minutes at a time? It’s the good work. I’ll keep focusing on that. Will you join me in feeling more at peace?
Chris Wilkinson is a Business Coach who works with entrepreneurs wanting to express more of their potential and experience more of a well-rounded life. For more information visit www.CoachingWithChris.ca or email Chris personally at info@CoachingWithChris.ca
