Find True North
Today is my 27th business anniversary.
I started on Halloween, 1978. As of today,
I have been self-employed for 9,862 days in a row.
If Cal Ripkin, Jr. was the Iron Man, Lou Gehrig the
Iron Horse, and Superman the Man of Steel, what does
9,862 days in a row make me?
Probably a crazy man!
For 9,862 days I’ve been doing the same thing,
and every day expecting a different result.
More than 20 years I coined a two-word phrase I
have shared with more than a million people, a
phrase many people have copied and one guy liked
so much he used it as the title of his book. I am:
“Psychologically Unemployable!”
I will be “Psychologically Unemployable” until I
take my last breath.
Being self-employed is my True North.
I love to work with people.
I love to encourage people.
I love to support people in finding True North.
I have been blessed to do it as a livelihood and
very fortunate to make a living at it.
Each of us must find our own True North.
My True North is working with people, not for people.
Every Halloween I reflect on the highs and lows of
being self-employed. When I started at age 23, the
“American Dream” was home ownership.
Today, the dream is home / business ownership.
Being self-employed is no walk in the park. Despite
all the Success BS™ being slung these days,
there is no magic formula for business success.
Every business that stands the test of time has its
own story, and every entrepreneur has traveled
his or her own path.
Each of us must find our own True North.
Life is a continuous and never ending process of
making decisions.
The word decide comes from the same Latin root
as the word homicide!
“Caedere” which means to “kill or cut.”
When you decide, you literally “kill or cut off” options
and alternatives until you leave yourself with just one.
You really do not know if the one left is the best one,
nor can you know if one of those you “killed off”
would have been better.
Just another paradox of life.
To compound the matter, you won’t know until AFTER
the fact if your decision will work out. All too often,
once you decide on an option you tend to stick
with it, even if it doesn’t work.
Deciding actually “kills off” your choices, which
limits your ability to choose again if the original
choice does not work out.
On Saturday, October 29, at the “Road to Personal
Wealth” conference sponsored by Commerce Bank
and The New Jersey Star Ledger, I shared the platform
with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer and Bill Rancic, winner
of Apprentice #1.
In my talk, “Winning the NEW Game of Money™” I
outlined seven ways to “BE” in the new game.
One of the most important ways to BE is to
BE adaptable.
Being adaptable means being flexible, not rigid,
being willing to “cut” your losses before they “kill” you.
How many times have you made a decision that did
not work, but you didn’t change because you felt
compelled to stick with it? Why?
Probably because you’ve “killed off” other alternatives.
You backed yourself into a corner. It could also
be you don’t want to look bad, appear foolish, be
wrong, face criticism or hear ridicule.
Do you defend, protect and justify decisions that
no longer work for you and likely no longer work
for those affected by them?
Being stubborn, prideful, resistant, defensive and
resentful does not make us happy, satisfied and
fulfilled. But it does make us RIGHT. Somewhere
along the line we were taught to place a high
value on being right.
For some people, being right is so important they
would rather be right than happy. Do you know
anyone like that?
It reminds me of the guy driving down the road
who sees a Mack truck barreling down on him, but
he won’t swerve to get out of the way because he
is on the right side of the road.
He winds up “dead” right!
Is there a Mack truck in your life?
Decisions cut off options.
Choices leave all options open.
If a director doesn’t like the way a movie scene
is acted, he corrects a “mis-take” with another
take. He will do as many “takes” as necessary to
get the scene he wants.
It’s a good idea to make a life like a director
makes a movie.
One of the most challenging choices of all is to
live life from the inside out. Finding “True North”
does not come from modeling others, but from
discovering yourself.
Michelangelo said the “David” was already inside
the block of marble. His job was to chip away until
it appeared.
Your “David” is already there, waiting to reveal itself.
True North is not an outside destination to be found.
It’s an inside journey of discovery, a chipping away
of the marble to get to the real you, buried within.
After 27 years, I have finally chipped away enough
of the excess marble to see who I really am. It’s a
breakthrough and a turning point, a defining moment
of truth.
In a world conspiring to lead you away from you,
finding True North is not an easy journey.
I often wondered if the real me would emerge.
I see the light.
My wish for you is that you spend every minute of
every day from here on guided by your True North.
That you keep chipping away at what’s not you to
free the real you.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes. It only matters
that you keep chipping away.
In the scope of eternity, 27 years is a blink of an eye.
Find yourself.
Live your truth.
Nothing is more important or valuable.
I look forward to traveling the path with you.
Here’s to another 27 years of being,
“Psychologically Unemployable!”
Mitch, CEO – Chief Encouragement Officer™
“Finding True North!”
P.S. If you want to be part of a life changing experience,
join our “Finding True North” community. I promise it
will be one of the best investments you ever make in
money and time. Guaranteed!
