It’s not too often that I get all philosophical or heaven forbid sentimental, but I just received an email from someone who receives these daily emails telling me about how hard they were working, that their results were rather poor and how frustrated they’d become.
Worse still, they started taking it out on the people around them when there was even a suggestion of doubt or questioning.
I’m going to tell you what I said to this individual because it may help you out if you’re having the same struggle.
One of the most important life lessons I learned at an early age was to appreciate what I have and not stress over stuff that I don’t have. Envy is genuinely horrible for you and it is entirely soul destroying. When you’re a person who envies what other people have, you can truly never be happy because there’s something always missing in your life.
The other problem with envy is that it always manifests itself in other ways. When you’re envious of others you never enjoy the successes and wins that you’re having in life or in business because you’re too concerned about what you’re not getting.
Being consumed by envy is a horrible way to live.
Building a business, especially online is hard and can sometimes be a very lonely, isolated effort. You’re battling with the fact that the average person has no idea what you do so explaining it to them sounds strange. If you were setting up your own cafe or convenience store, people would immediately understand and could relate, but when you’re talking about setting up a business online, most people have no idea.
True story, I was talking to an Uber driver today and somehow we ended up talking about my online businesses and he asked me if I sold things on eBay. Despite driving for Uber, his entire conceptual framework of an online business was eBay like I was selling beanie babies or something.
This is the path you’ve chosen though and the reality is, your family and those closest to you may not really understand what it is you’re trying to do either. This is even worse if you already have a job or a career and you’re looking at doing something on the side. To them, it looks like you’re wasting your time trying to give up something safe and secure for something fanciful.
That’s compounded if you’ve been doing it for a little while without any success.
Your family and close friends have your best interests in their heart. They are seriously trying to prevent you from failing.
You might not see it that way though and that’s where it gets dicey. I had someone tell me about a year ago that they broke off contact with their close family because they “were like crabs pulling me down.”
That’s the old analogy about crabs in a bucket; when one crab tries to crawl out the top and escape the other crabs will actively drag that one back down.
I think those cases are pretty rare where your family and friends are sabotaging you so that you don’t escape mediocrity, leaving them behind. That would be a pretty messed up environment loaded with sociopaths.
The one takeaway from all of this is that rather than doing the easy thing when you’re struggling and lash out at those close to you, I am suggesting that you stop, take a deep breath and think about why you’re doing what you’re doing. You’ll no doubt come to the landing that you’re doing it for your family on some level and that’s when you need to be appreciative of everything you already have.
When you’re at your most frustrated, stopping to think about the good things in your life will relax you and get you refocused so that you can attack your goals with good energy!