Evan Carmichael talks with Tom DeLonge about breaking free from limiting yourself to one skill. DeLonge moved from wanting spotlight in his rock band to realizing he wanted to lead groups of people to feel something together. Carmichael tells founders they get trapped in boxes defined by a single talent, but self-awareness about what makes you feel alive is how you escape.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is: Figure out what you really want. Over to you, Tom Delonge.
I think I learned over the past handful of years that what I really enjoyed about a band wasn't being on stage, it was just the idea that I'm involved somehow in leading a group of people to feel something at the same time.
I thought that was really cool.
That's what I kind of dissected, 'cause I was doing a lot of things. I was equally interested in a lot of different things besides just music. And so a lot of people are wondering, why would you not wanna be on a big stage doing all this stuff? I just, oh God, do I Instagram this? Am I supposed to go on Instagram and tell you all these things that I feel about? You know, I don't. But really what it boils down to is I have a pretty wild imagination and I have a few set of skills that I've developed, not only inspiring artists or leading people or putting business models to things or being entrepreneurial and also understanding, I'm not really good at any one thing, but I'm decently good at a bunch of things. A bunch of different things, and I kind of figured, I said, you know what, it might be a really good place for me to sit in the middle of a bunch of artists that come together that can do something a bit more revolutionary than each artist doing one thing on their own. And that's where that came from.
I think a lot of entrepreneurs feel stuck. A lot of entrepreneurs feel boxed in. You may be really good at something like graphic design or video production or consulting or singing or whatever, and you've started this business, but you feel like there's something more, right? You feel like, "Man, I could do a lot more with my talents and my interests, but I just don't know quite what it is." And a lot of entrepreneurs don't explore that, and they just stay in that box that, you know, you've designed for yourself. There's nobody telling you you have to stay in that box. You're an entrepreneur. You don't have a boss. You can do whatever you want. But a lot of people don't have the courage to seek outside. And it starts with self-awareness. So in Tom DeLonge's case, he understood that being part of a band was something that he was good at, but not necessarily what he wanted to do because his skills and what really he was passionate about was leading a group of people to feel something. And that can be applied in a lot of different areas. And that allowed him to step up, that allowed him to step up to do something with more purpose and more passion and more excitement to hand than just being a part of a band. And so I think just that awareness is super important. Understanding if you're not satisfied with your business right now, and that's, you know, may not be because you have enough customers coming in, or there may be a host of other issues that you're facing with your company, but the work, like, do you enjoy the work? I like making these YouTube videos. I look forward to Wednesday afternoon where I get in front of my camera, or I have Jason come and help me, and I'm filming videos. I like the work, you know. Do you like your work? And if you don't, then it doesn't mean you have to abandon it completely and just go off on some crazy, you know, ride to discover yourself. But you need to at least spend some time to figure out what it is that you truly want, what it is that really makes you come alive, and dedicating some of your energy towards that. Because otherwise you're going to get stuck in that same box for the rest of your life and never hitting your ceiling, never hitting your full potential, never hitting what you could do or the impact that you could have because instead of chasing what you really want to do, what you're really good at, what really makes you come alive, you're stuck inside your box. So figure out what you really want. So the question of the day today is, do you feel stuck in what you're doing? Is the work still making you come alive or not? Be honest, I'm really curious to find out. Leave it in the comments below and I'll join the discussion. Another quick favor to ask, my goal is to get to 1 million subscribers on this channel, so anything you can do, think of to help spread the word about this video, share with friends, let people know about it, I'd really, really, really, really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for watching, have an amazing day, continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot A benspresso.
