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This weekend, someone reached out to me.. not a friend, necessarily, but definitely a strong acquaintance. It went a bit like this (abbreviated version):
“Hey man, I haven’t seen you at any conferences and you aren’t speaking as much. You aren’t traveling as much either, so I assume you aren’t as ‘successful’ as you were.”
Has that ever happened to you?
You are actually in the healthiest place you’ve ever been…
Your family is thriving…
Your endeavors are booming…
But because people don’t SEE a version of “success” they’ve come to equate with you…
You must not be doing as well as you were.
It’s fascinating, the ways in which we create assumptions and evaluate others happiness based on our perception of their reality based on social media.
Reality: My family struggled through last year and my crazy travel schedule…
It was hard on my wife, who traveled with me with an undiagnosed auto-immune.
It was hard on the kids.
Hell, it was hard on the dogs and chickens.
Creating staged photoshoots on a weekly basis, while feeling fancy and important, led to inauthentic moments and manufactured experiences…
Sticking to organic/non-paid marketing meant I was on social media way too much, pushing a platform of impressing others with the societal expectation of what “success” is supposed to look like.
And maybe for some, it is that… and that’s awesome.
But it wasn’t for us.
And maybe it isn’t for you.
And maybe you need to hear that you have permission to be as successful as you dream to be, and that it can look any way you’d like it to..
I found success when I stopped trying to define it by the expectation of people who don’t matter.
I found success when I stopped chasing it and started living from it.
I found success when I let go of control and allowed my business and influence to GROW by being online LESS and in front of the RIGHT people MORE through HIRING people who KNOW my heart and vision…
I found success in slowing down.
In intentionality.
In the simple.
That’s the thing…
We all want to be KNOWN,
yet we settle for being SEEN.
And you, friend…
You are worth knowing.
And the success YOU define for yourself is worth living.
And you have to keep going because we need you to remind us of what is possible and what living from gratitude and abundance looks like.
You need to keep going to remind yourself…
And I’m here, disassembling a carb this past weekend, because that’s how I see success:
Doing what I love,
To do what I love…..
Children playing in a safe neighborhood.
Wife healthy and less stressed.
Living out the call on my life to empower and equip those looking to step into their own greatest success…
More than ever, at scale and only growing…
It’s all possible,
And it can be as simple as rebuilding a carburetor…
Because simple is often the hardest to find contentment in.
-C
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Previously published on Facebook.
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Photo provided by the author.