I wish I would've known THIS about Entrepreneurship sooner.

Man, that sucks. I hate that realization. Every time I've ever operated from a place of lack or wanting to take from someone else, it was because there was some underlying fear of safety or fear of not having enough.

There's something that's been on my mind lately, and I've actually been a little bit convicted about it. I've been looking at my life and the decisions that I make and my businesses and asking myself how many of the things that I do, how many of the decisions that I make are coming from a place of pure giving or creation or service or even desire. I really want to do this versus how many things do I do? Because I'm hoping to get something or I'm hoping for a result out of it. I'm hoping to extract something from the marketplace. And I didn't like the answer. The beautiful irony about being an entrepreneur is that most of us get into this game when, because we want something. We want more freedom, we want more control, we want to make more money. And the way that you do that, the way that you get everything that you want, is by creating things that other people want is by doing things that other people want more than the money that they have. It's pure service. And the minute that you can undo the selfishness that got you into the game is when you're able to create from a place where you get everything that you want. Said differently, the only way that you can make a lot of money is by creating things that other people want. But if you're thinking about making the money in the process, you're usually hedging or trying to extract too early. You're trying to take rather than you're trying to give. So entrepreneurship has this beautiful way of undoing our selfishness so that we can get everything that we want. It's so ironic, but most entrepreneurs, myself included, struggle with that undoing of selfishness. We get into this game because we want something, because we want to get something. And our brains get locked or stuck in this pattern of asking, what do I get out of this? How much money am I going to make? What status am I going to get out of this? And the truth is, that's not even a fun state to be in. I've noticed for myself that every time I'm thinking about what I'm going to get out of something, I'm coming from a place of lack. I'm coming from this place of I don't have this, and I want this. So I will work really hard, I will effort, I will try really hard. I will extend myself so that then I can get what I want and then I'll feel whole again. And so I'm always operating in this low level sense of lack that really feels sucky. It's definitely not a state of freedom. It's definitely not a state of joy or gratitude or even in a place where I feel like I can give. Have you ever interacted with a slick salesman that you felt like had a trick up their sleeve where they're being nice to you, but it feels like a fake niceness because they really just want to get something? I've been guilty of that myself. You know, I think about how many times I show up to make content and I'm thinking about the views that I'm going to get or the subscribers that I'm going to get rather than the number of people that I'm going to actually connect with or help. I think about the products that I create and I wonder how many times I'm thinking about how well this is going to sell versus how many people this is going to help. I think about the investments that I make. Am I investing in something because I really believe that it's going to make a difference in people's lives or am I investing because I think the number is going to go up? Now I battle this because on some level there, there are times where it is healthy to invest just because the number is going to go up. It's probably a good idea for a lot of people to have money in just S&P 500 index funds because that will go up and it's just good financial advice. But I think what most of us are doing, myself included at times is just trying to pick investments based on what number is going to go up because. Well, actually because it makes us feel safe in some way. Man, that sucks. I hate that realization. Every time I've ever operated from a place of lack or wanting to take from someone else, it was because there was some underlying fear of safety or fear of not having enough. There's. There's never a reason to take from someone else if you have enough. There's never a reason to scam someone. There's never a reason to be unkind to someone if you are totally safe, totally full, totally abundant. And so it's the perception of not having enough that puts us in this state of wanting to take or not enoughness. And I've been looking at my life and saying how much is actually lived from a place of abundance and how much is lived from a state of lack. And I haven't liked the answer.

I know that when I'm in this place of abundance, when I'm thinking about what I have, when I am grateful, when I am thinking about creativity, I know that that is when I do my best work. It's when I make the most money. It's when I'm happiest, It's when I'm most loving. It's when I make my best content. And I know that when I'm in a place of lack, when I'm in a place of wanting to take, my content sucks, my work sucks, my writing sucks. I hire the wrong people because I'm thinking about the numbers rather than the contribution. So it's a strange irony of when you can operate from a place of abundance and giving and service and thinking about other people, you end up getting everything that you want. And of course, the question comes up, well, how much money do I need to have in order to feel safe? Or in order to operate from that place of abundance? Or to operate from this place of only wanting to give to other people? Because that's kind of the goal, isn't it? Don't all of us want to make a bunch of money? Because the real end game is we want to just do the things that we enjoy. We want to just pursue the projects that really make us feel excited. We just want to give to the people that it's easy to give to, that we want to hang out with the people that are easy for us to love. We want to represent the projects and invest in the charities and the projects that really make a difference that we really believe in. Isn't that the end goal? Isn't that what we're all doing this for? So if that's the goal, if that's the end game, then what do I need in order to be in that place now and be in that place all of the time? Because the truth is, if we could operate in that place right now, if you could be in that place of giving, of service, of contribution, of kindness, of, dare I say, selflessness, even though I don't believe that's a thing, but in that place of creation, we would get all the things that we want so much faster. We would sell more, we would connect more, we would do more, we would move faster. We would attract the people that genuinely believe in what we believe. We would feel more connected to the customers and the people that we are trying to help and serve. So things would move so much faster if we could just stay in that place so what do I need to do? What do I need in order to be in that place all the time? And I used to think it was, you know, how much money do I need to make? How much money do I need to have? And that certainly helps, like having a few million bucks certainly makes it a little bit easier to turn off the part of your brain that says, need to make more money, need to make more money, but not as much as you would think, because we tend to expand our lifestyles, because our desires grow. We want to do more, we want to create more, we want to start new businesses, we want to give more. And so you're kind of always operating this place of there can be more money, there can be more abundance. But it's not just money. It's also the connections that I have with family and friends. How social am I being? Am I holed up in front of my computer and living by myself behind a computer screen, or am I actively in community with the people that I care about? It also just shows up in, like, my work projects. Am I thinking about this in a way of what's going to make me money, lack safety, scarcity? Or am I thinking about what's going to be good for someone else? Contribution, giving, service. And when I ask myself that question, I can flip a little bit into that. Not all the time, but I can get glimpses of it. And when I've had glimpses of it, that's when I'm happiest, and it's when I do my best work and it's when I make the most money. I really want to get to the place where I genuinely do not care about the results. I want to get to a place where I don't care how many people watch or how many people download or how many people subscribe or how many people buy or how many people show up to an event or how many investors put money in the fund or how many sales I'm doing on that product. I really want to get to the place where I don't care right now. I definitely care. I totally care. I totally care how many people watch. I totally care how many people subscribe. I totally care how many people DM me and tell me about the podcast. I totally care about how much money I make and how many people buy and how many people show up. I totally care. I want to not care, or I at least want to care less. I don't want to care less just because I. I don't want to see the numbers move. I want to not care Because I want to not be attached to it. I want my safety or my security or my sense of contribution to not be tied to how many people are listening or watching or buying. Because if I care, it means I'm coming from a place of lack. It means I'm coming from a place of needing the validation to fuel me and to fill me up, rather than me just doing my own work and feeling safe and secure all of the time. And thus operating from a place of abundance where I want to create and share and give. I know this is a world of abundance. I know that I don't know how anyone can miss that there is no limit to the amount of money or happiness or goodness that can be done. But I spend enough time thinking about what I don't have or looking at what I perceive to be scarcity in the world or lack or lack of my own life. I want to get to the place where I am just thinking about service and giving and creation all the time. And I do know intellectually that when I'm in that place I'll make the most money. But the real reason why I want to get into that place is because there's no better experience of life. There's no more fun experience that when you are feeling completely filled up yourself and you help another person or you create from that place, when you are showing up in that place.

It feels amazing. The beautiful irony of entrepreneurship is that we get into this game out of selfishness and then the game rids us of our selfishness and only then and we have everything that we want. I hope that a year from now, if I do a video about this again, I'm a little bit more on the give side rather than the take side. Thanks for watching.