From Start up to Stagnation, the inevitable journey?

It all started with a dream. For some that dream began at 6 years old, for others it didn’t come until college.

That entrepreneurial itch. They were going to create something amazing in the world.

They were going to break free from the world that was trying to define them and discover who they really are. They were going to show the world what they can do when they have the freedom to invent themselves.

It’s what Steven Pressfield calls, the hero’s journey. It’s a journey filled often with hard work, struggle, and failure as well as a whole lot of fun, fulfilment and adventure.

At the time the struggle didn’t really feel that way. It didn’t feel that way because there was a fire under their arse. The struggle was real but the outcome almost inevitable.

“I will do what it takes or die trying”.

Do what it takes to be successful, the house on the hill, the marriage, the kids, the amazing business. Even if it costs me my health, my friendships, my hobbies, and my happiness.

Really it was a process of self creation, yes to show them what ‘I can do’ but actually, to prove it to themselves too. I talk here in the third person but I could just as easily talk in the first.

What happens with the hero’s journey though is that it dies when you achieve the dream.

You have the house, the beautiful family, the car, the holidays, the money and then the big question appears, now what?

“I suppose I’m supposed to just enjoy it now?”

Life can start to feel stagnant and rudderless.

“I have all this stuff, am I ungrateful? What’s wrong we me? Why aren’t I feeling inspired anymore?”

Some reach this stage and start to create goals to fill the void.

A triathlon, even more money, a ‘hobby’ holiday home, (I don’t mean to imply any of these things are empty and this is you if you do them, I’m just telling a story I’m often told) but they just don’t seem to generate that same passion for life they once had.

What I have experienced is that whether this happens at 35 or 45 it is in fact signalling the end of the hero’s journey of hard work and battle. And no amount of stretch goals are going to fill the void because it holds no risk. It’s become too predictable.

It’s time for what Steven Pressfield calls, the “artists journey”. You have established what you can do and that you can execute. More evidence of what you already know just isn’t going to fulfil you in the same way.

There is nothing new or novel or surprising in proving to yourself what you already know is there?

Those who fail to embark on the artists journey start to feel tired and apathetic.

They become more quickly annoyed or even stressed by things they barely even used to notice. I don’t know if that resonates?

The artists journey is one of purpose, you know what you can DO. In this phase you decide who you are going to BE.

The artist journey is the beginning of the end of your inconsistency, your reactivity and your unpredictable mood.

The truth is that you have always had it in you. It’s that way of being that those who love you most see in you.

It’s your unique gift to the world if you believe in that sort of thing?

It’s what those you have touched remember you for. It’s that sense of fulfilment you get when it is seen in you like they have REALLY seen you.

In many ways it’s harder than the hero’s journey because you habituated what it took to achieve it.

The artists journey is where you start to see yourself and know who you are supposed to be in the world, a sort of messenger of your truth.

I have coached millionaires, multimillionaires, multi-exiting founders, partners and appointed CEO’s and they have all found a new level of freedom and fulfilment when they have revealed their purpose.

I might not be able to get you the whole way their with a blog post but you can make great strides towards it with the following questions.

What do you most hope those you love and care about will remember you for when you’re gone?

If you could write a message on a billboard for the whole world to see, what would that message be and why?

If you were deep in fear and insecurity what words would you hope someone would say to you and why?

When you think about it, the only real way to live a life of freedom and fulfilment is ON PURPOSE.

Hoping that things will just fall into place by accident is unlikely coincide with an inspired life, don’t you think?