Tag: life

Paying Attention to Your Role

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"All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."

                               -William Shakespeare

If Shakespeare was right, and I believe he was, then the implications are vast. Not because it's some kind of complicated riddle. It's really quite simple, and hard. We live in an age where human beings willingly give up their role in the spirit of conforming or just plain fear. In our limited mind we see no other way, so we punt telling ourselves that we could be worse off or we're lucky to have a job. You can fill in many more blanks here. The trading of identity is a no-excuse game. I don't recommend it.

In my last year, I've had some experiments that didn't go as I had hoped. But I am undaunted in playing the role heaven gave me. Sets change, production units revise the scenes, directors are replaced, but I have a part to play. You and I are alike in this.

If your alert and awake, here's what can help you in the art of paying attention to your role:

  1. Faith
  2. Perseverance
  3. Optimism
  4. Vulnerability
  5. Communication

The Life and Work Awaiting

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I've always been a persevering type of human being. That has served me well in the dark times and in the times where a vision was in sight. Today, I have found myself in that place where a new life and work are awaiting me.

Anna Farmery once said to not keep your struggles a secret from your audience. I admired her for stating that, while not sure if it fit me. But of course, those who've followed my blog know about my father, my former life in corporate America and my spiritual side. In some ways I gave you a glimpse. I just never gave you a view of my business model struggles, except the somewhat vague challenges I faced as an entrepreneur.

Now is the time for you to get a deeper view into my current state.

2011 was a year that I needed to see great business/revenue success. After being on my own for 5 years, it was clear financially that a rising tide was needed. Bluntly, I had no more money and enough clients to sustain Epic Living beyond another year.

Last year did not unfold the way I'd hoped.  

As 2011 came to an end, I made plans with my wife to look at other roads to change the state of things. I am in the midst of that now. What will it look like? I don't know for sure, but whatever it is it will have to do 2 things. One, be sustainable from an income/revenue perspective. Two, be something that requires me to show up. That's my prayer anyway.

To you the reader, I want to be clear on a front not easy to write about. I've always been the type, for better or worse, of entrepreneur that believed great work was the best cure for financial needs. Indeed, that is true, and it took me a long time to learn that marketing and sales can be a help if not left to run amok on their own. If you expected me to be more aggressive in selling Epic Living or being more vocal in letting you know that things were rough, I'm sorry.

The life and work awaiting me is a bloom formed out of my experiences from the last 6 years. But that does not mean an ending. It will just look different than today, so I do intend to continue to write in this blog and offer my expertise where appropriate. The other Epic Living services will go quiet in the coming weeks.

As always, you can contact me directly if you want to know more this transition or to pass on some wise input. Thanks for joining me on the Epic Living journey.

The Crossroads of 2012

Where do you find yourself in the early part of 2012? I realize we're in the infancy of the year, but as I've noted before, things can take shape quickly. Are you at a crossroads?

Crossroads are very much like earthquakes.  As with the earthquake, much is shaken, rattled and removed. The elements are good and bad, happy and sad, danger and opportunity. This can be vexing in a culture where we often only want the good stuff, or so we think.

Maybe this is the year to re-define.

The crossroads of 2012 will certainly look different to you than for me. But one thing is certain, your response to it will be the difference-maker. You carry a responsibility that is inescapable. This is a good thing.

Unexpected Events and Accidents

Detour

I've been walking this planet long enough to know that most things in life are unexpected. I also don't believe in accidents when it comes to the fundamental movement of our life story. Call me a fool or heretic, but many who are wiser than me have aaid the same.

So when you get the call out of the blue (so you think) don't freak out. It's all a part of the plan. It might hurt you deeply or leave you with much excitement, but just breathe and go where the road is leading.

All of this comes with a warning.  If you have been goofing around with your life and not managing it, then an unexpected call or seemingly random accident will wreck you.  That's my disclaimer.

Here's to the unexpected events and accidents.

My Entrepreneur Path and My Son

Father and son

I've chronicled some of my struggles with the entrepreneur path before, but this post is about the often forgotten beauty of it.

My son is the benefactor here. He was born in the midst of my runnings in the corporate world. He was 4 1/2 when I left. He probably doesn't remember much about the type of man I was in those years of tossing and turning. His reference point of me is during the entrepreneur years. He may have gotten some insight into what running a business looks like. But the following is what I pray he caught:

  • The applause and opinion of others is really not important.
  • Perseverance is essential to living.
  • Love matters more than anything else. Anything else.
  • Hope springs from going through tough times.
  • My time and touch do matter.

I can't be certain (at least not now) if he has embraced the above list. But it's what I've modeled over the last 6 years-on purpose and by accident. And as I will certainly face times ahead where I will wonder if this path I've chosen is worth it, I will know he is.

Counting All the Bees in the Hive

Sometimes life is this simple:

Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under branches lit up by the moon
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore
As our days disappeared all too soon
But I've wandered much further today than I should
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood

So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose
He came to me asking help and advice
From here no one knows where he goes
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear

Help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

It's hard to explain how a few precious things
Seem to follow throughout all our lives
After all's said and done I was watching my son
Sleeping there with my bear by his side
So I tucked him in, I kissed him and as I was going
I swear that the old bear whispered "Boy welcome home"

Believe me if you can
I've finally come back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
What do you know
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin
Back to the ways of Christopher Robin
Back to the days of Pooh

Lyrics by Kenny Loggins

The Box

Box

You've heard it a million times; "think outside of the box."  Maybe more would do that if the people asking were not invested in the box industry.  I used to be more tolerant of the think outside the box admonition.  But I've moved to a place where I stop the train if someone tries to put me in a "box" or any other confined category.

I spent a good deal of time in the banking world before moving onto my mission at Epic Living.  I was successful in many eyes. And to this day, I still have people who think my life then was nirvana or even better, I should go back to it because I was so good at it.  When I tell them how much I loathed it, the inevitable furrowed brow appears. 

I no longer take it personally.

The biggest reason people want you in a certain box has very little to do with you.  It really is about them.  It's much easier to keep order and predictability when a friend or colleague stays the way they're perceived.  When someone makes a move outside that zone it produces anxiety, fear and even loathing.  Call it a move to protect what they perceive as safe and secure.