Remembering why you started toward your dream in the first place

As entrepreneurs, we struggle to focus much of the time. We neglect the many things that got us to where we are today.

We lose inspiration.

I remember this from the Killer Tribes conference of 2012 (affiliate link) when Daddy-O talked about the music industry and how the inspiration for creating art has dwindled. He reminded me that we all lose inspiration because we forget how we got inspired in the first place.

That really struck me at the time, but recently, I’ve lost it. Let me explain.

Start With Why

I literally just got through watching a video of Simon Sinek where he re-inspired me to remember my why. He says that all great leaders show people why they do what they do and it helps people have something to walk shoulder to shoulder with in an effort to promote it for themselves.

The key there is promote for themselves.

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend the book, Start With Why. (affiliate link)

Honestly, I don’t want to promote your stuff. I don’t want to help you sell more of your stuff so you can get more money.

The truth is that I want to help promote you because I believe in your why and I believe in the message you have to share. I hope that’s why many of you are on my launch team. I hope it’s not to promote my stuff, but rather, to help spread a message that you believe in. Those are the people we are looking for in our tribes. Those are the advocates we want for our brands.

I was truly inspired by Simon’s talk and I whole-heartedly believe in his cause. It’s one of great value and one that aligns with my so called “calling” in life.

Our Dreams

Dreams are a funny thing. We all have them but only a few select ones actually act on them. These are the people we see making progress not because they are better or more passionate, but rather because they have an ability to get people who align with their beliefs to hook arms and travel down the yellow-brick road.

I’m helping my friend Kimanzi with his book launch. It’s not because he’s my friend, it’s because I believe in promoting the cause of living your dreams. It aligns with who I am.

When we go for our dreams, we often forget the steps that helped put us on that path to begin with. We neglect what got us going in the first place and we strive for results too soon.

That’s what I’ve done. I’m admitting it openly.

The Moment of Un-Inspiredness

As I look back on the past few months, I can almost pinpoint the moment I got un-inspired to continue to create content that really communicated my why effectively. I have had some ups and downs, but the exact point where I ceased to remember my why is clear to me. It was one of those forks in the road and I chose to pick the wide, easy path.

Daddy-O would not be proud. But more importantly, I’m not happy with where I’m at and it’s begun to affect many parts of what I was doing for some time. It’s taking its toll on my progress.

I became un-inspired when I neglected to stay engaged with what others where doing in the industry. I stopped sharing articles because I stopped reading many of them. I stopped commenting on people’s blogs because I wasn’t visiting them or I only visited so I could comment and check something off my list.

That’s not a leader, that’s someone that’s trying to work the system and will eventually fail at it miserably.

Scraping to Get It Back

My why has always been to change the world in a big way. I can remember thinking that when I was in my early teens and went through my heart surgeries. I remember believing that God had spared me for a specific reason and I wanted to change the world with my story.

As I got older, that turned into more of a business model and I had huge dreams of owning a design agency. Eventually, my passion for that faded a bit and I realized I wanted to help people get their message out. Thus the idea of helping people like yourself to brand effectively.

In an attempt to get my message out, it got watered down by focusing too much on marketing and less on the why. So I’m scraping it back together.

It’s not too far gone though so have no fear.

What I’m Doing For You

Refocusing is a major key for me right now. Originally when I quit writing content 3-5 days a week and guest posts, it was so I could interact with the community more. But somehow, I filled that time with mindless other things and have neglected it all together.

Starting immediately, you’ll see me on more blogs, at conferences (soon), interacting more on Twitter and G+ and basically just being more helpful. I’ll be allocating more time to reading and sharing what I find useful. I also plan to start a weekly 1-on-1 coffee chat on G+. More details on that coming soon.

Why? Because you all help me stay inspired. You inspired me to blog, to podcast, to write a book and many other things. It’s the community I’ve found with all of you that has inspired me and I’m sorry for neglecting that.

Unlike many people, I know my why quite clearly. It’s articulating it that I have problems with.

My Why

I want to change the world. But not for me, for those that follow. The future is in our hands and we have take this time to recognize that we are the ones that get to rebuild this world from where it is today. It’s not in shambles, it’s just that certain systems are broken. Education. Business. Company culture. Customer service. And a slew of other things that have serious issues.

They’re not broken because of anything any one person did. It’s just that the world has changed because of technology and it’s our time to fix it. It’s up to us.

So will join me in this quest to get your message out to the world? Will you link arms with those of us trying our best to make changes and drive a new economy and new mindset into the next generation? Will you promote your why? Will you build a connection brand?

Action Item

This isn’t about me but I’m gearing up to start a revolution. That’s what my new book is all about. It’s about connection and helping you get your message out. The book, it’s about you.

Your action item for today is to join the launch team. I’m working on some more details for it, but if you want to get your message out, we all need you on this team.

It’s bigger than myself, it’s bigger than you. It’s going to require a team and I hope you’ll join to promote your cause and many others that align with you.

Join Here. It’s Free.

Thanks.