Purpose Is Essential, And So Is Support!
It’s been quite a week as you will know if you were watching my live the other day. There has been a lot going on for me – both physically – lots of travelling etc, and emotionally with Mr C (nearly) flying off to far off lands again. And this comes on the back of 18 months of well, no travelling at all (except for moving house twice), and of being together all the time. So, a bit of a contrast.
No wonder my body went – hang on a minute – can we just slow down?
We talked about purpose last week (see blog here), and the importance of knowing who you are and what you are here to do. And that is very important and helps you to make better decisions about how you spend your time, and who with – amongst other things.
But even when you know your purpose with a single-minded passion and drive, it can be lonely at the top! You may be ‘at the top’ of your family – with kids (young or older) relying on you. You might be ‘at the top’ of your business – with employees or suppliers or join venture partners and clients relying on you.
Being a person on a mission is exciting and energising but it can also be a lonely place to be. People who cannot see your vision might think you are a bit mad. And that will be truer the bigger your vision is.
For people who have never run a business, having a wife, husband, daughter, mother, friend who wants to go shake up the world and run their own purposeful business – well that can be a bit scary and so they will try and bring you down. They will try and keep you ‘safe’ within THEIR comfort zone.
Sometimes, you may do that to yourself.
You may hear a little voice saying – ‘who are you to think you could earn that much money/have that big an audience/write that book/speak on that stage.
But even if you stay strong when that little voice starts speaking, you are only human. Some days will not be as good as others. And that is when you need the second component of success – support!
If you get support from loved ones – that’s fantastic. But they probably don’t understand it all, even if they do support. What you really need is a community of like-minded people. I mean, it’s great watching the football on TV but there is nothing like watching it with your mates down the pub, or at the actual stadium, is there?
And that’s the same with your business. If you have a community of other people all working towards the same/similar goals, then life is so much easier. And that is what happens in our Live Love Laugh community.
Earlier this week, one of our amazing women in the community, who does inspiring things and has such a lot to share with the world, was feeling a bit down. She was brave enough to write a post in our Facebook group – expressing how she was feeling. Not in a ‘poor me’ way, but in a ‘I really need someone to just be there for me’ way.
And – oh my goodness! The support that she received was nothing short of inspiring in itself. The outpouring of love, of understanding, the offers of phone calls, or cups of tea and a chat, the empathy and supportive suggestions that flowed – was all a credit to the girls in the lounge.
And that is what community is all about. Sometimes we just want to go where everybody knows our name, and they are always glad we came (showing my age – wasn’t that in the theme tune to “Cheers”?).
If you don’t have a community or other support system when those days hit, it’s even harder. It can be easy to just lose sight of your purpose, your goals and your mission, and just drop back down into your comfort zone, a massive bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine or three!
If you want to know how you can be part of our community and potentially have that support at low cost and with a potential financial return – email me on cheryl@cheryl-chapman.com and lets grab a virtual coffee!