Evan Carmichael argues entrepreneurs must prioritize authentic self-expression over meeting others' expectations. Following your own uncertain path requires courage and intuition, while living by external plans makes your life a replica of someone else's vision. The question: how are you expressing yourself today?
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is express yourself. Over to you, Meryl Streep. I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going. Is what you do an art? Is it a craft? Is it a job?
You mean, is it highfalutin or midfalutin or a paycheck. Yeah, I don't know. There, when other people do it, sometimes when I watch other people do it really well, I think it's beyond an art, you know. It's like making music.
But at its best, for you—
at its best, it's like flying, you know. It's great. It's great. And that's the part I wouldn't give up, and that's the part I won't give up, even though I love my children and being home and doing what they need me to do, I certainly also need to express myself in this way.
I don't think entrepreneurs truly express themselves enough. Deeply, meaningfully express yourself enough because you're spending too much time thinking about what other people want you to do, right? What your customers want you to do, what your friends want you to do, what your family wants you to do, what the people around you want you to do. You're spending so much time worrying about what other people want you to do instead of thinking about, "What do I want to do? How do I express myself? How do I do the thing that makes me come alive and makes me propel myself up and allows me to provide insane value to the world?" The challenge is, the hard part is, when you are living somebody else's plan, when you're living up to somebody else's expectations, It's easier because there is a plan, right? Because they say, "I want you to do this. I want you to call that person. I want you to paint this picture. I want this to go on the website. I want you to follow this vision." It's easier because the plan has been laid out. When it's for yourself, it becomes uncertain because you don't have the plan, because you don't know how it's going to work out. You don't know the steps to take to get to where you want to go. You don't even know where you want to go. You have a pull towards a direction. You say, "Huh, I wanna try that out," and you don't know why. And it may be totally different than what you've been doing your entire life, but you feel this pull in this direction. You have to go chase that. You have to express yourself and follow your intuition, even if that lasts for one day. Even if you go and try it and say, "That was terrible, I'm never gonna do it again." But you have to follow that intuition. You have to be true to yourself, and you have to create a plan for yourself even though it may not make any sense at the moment because the dots never align looking forward, it's only looking back. You'll do all sorts of these different things that seemingly have no connection to each other, but you fast forward to the future you and you look back in your life and say it all made total sense. But if you don't bet on yourself, you don't express yourself, you don't give yourself the opportunity to go out and chase those things, then it's never gonna make sense for you in the future. All that's gonna make sense is you live somebody else's version of your life instead of your own. So don't be afraid to express yourself. So the question of the day today is: How are you expressing yourself right now? What are you doing today to not live up to somebody else's expectations, but what are you doing for yourself to let you come out? I'm really curious. Leave in the comment below and I will join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.
