I’m back, friends!
Fresh off a 9-month hiatus from writing to get the podcast going, and while the podcast has been a blast, I miss writing.
And I’m curious, do you also feel like your life is moving in fast forward?
Being a father of three I regularly hear:
“Cherish these moments. The kids, they grow up so fast!”
Fuck that! I’m growing up so fast!
Maybe it’s a 40-and-over thing, but everytime I blink, another month flies by.
The other day I was thinking about when I had less responsibility. When I was a young, budding free spirit. And I wondered, what were my happiest moments?
One image keeps coming back up over and over.
1999… Gainesville, Florida… James McGuire’s Ford Bronco… Dave Matthews Band
There it is folks.
James and I were roommates, and I would drive that beast at every opportunity I had.
Now fast-forward 23 years. The free spirit has turned into a Type A, control freak focused on the successes that I can enjoy today.
- Success in being a husband.
- Success in being a father.
- Success in being an entrepreneur.
- Success in being a leader.
As my own biggest critic, I struggle with the first two.
3 out of 4 humans wouldn’t make it a day in our house, and I say that with full sincerity. We are an animated bunch. You should come visit sometime.
Entrepreneur, ehhh, this is the easy one. Just grind. Grinders win, blamers lose.
I get asked all the time, “How did you build this business?”
I worked 60-70 hours a week for the better part of 8 years. Bitching and blaming gets you nowhere.
Every win we’ve experienced, we’ve celebrated. Likewise, every mistake we have made as an organization, I take 100% responsibility for.
Entrepreneurs get an idea, obsess over it, and execute. Pretty simple formula, but never that easy.
Leadership. This is the hard one and has occupied my mental real estate for most of the year. I have intentionally focused on leadership to learn more of where I may be lacking. In order to do this, I’ve solicited help from friends and coaches to fully understand the scope of leadership.
Today, I’d say leadership means empowering others to do their best work.
Passing the plan, process, and tools required to execute excellent work. (Oh yea, did I mention that I struggle with perfectionism? Working on it.)
Let’s try that again…
Sharing the plan, process, and tools available to empower our team to execute at their highest level.
I am unable to fulfill this duty if I am working in the business.
Bottom line, the transition is so freaking hard, and letting go brings up some difficult conversations… with myself:
- Thoughts running through my head of what could go wrong.
- Projecting conversations that would never exist.
- How will the day to day sustain without me?
- Control fantasies, not in the kinky way, but in the way that I love to control things.
Am I going crazy? No.
It’s called: I’ve been doing everything for the better part of a decade and change is hard.
Progress, not perfection.
Change is hard when it involves behavior that affects other people. As your business moves through different life cycles, your leadership style may need to change.
Let all this sink in for a minute. I’m just getting warmed up.