Category Archives: Failure

Want to be free? Embrace uncertainty

Decision making, Failure, Planning, Uncertainty

Uncertainty is the price of freedom

I read somewhere that the price of freedom is uncertainty.  I have been reflecting on that a lot over the past few weeks and I agree with the statement.  When you have a nice steady job that pays the bills, you can live comfortably.  You have certainty.  Your salary will come into your bank account at the end of the month.  You can book your foreign holiday in 6 months time.  You can get a loan to buy a new car and know that in 3 years time you will be  happily paying off your car loan – ‘no worries’ as the Aussies say.

However if you are feeling unfulfilled and bored out of your mind and want to leave that job to start a business you will be trading your nice certain situation for uncertainty.  You may not know in 6 months if you can cover your bills let alone go on a foreign holiday.

The best advice is to start your business on the side as you keep your day job.  That way you can allow your business to grow as you keep your secure position.  When you see that the business works and can support you and when the demands of the business are such that you must leave then leave.  Your job is your safety net if the business fails.   The reality is that many businesses do fail or at least struggle to survive.  Statistics from the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA), show that 30% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 50% during the first five years and 66% during the first 10.

No regrets

Of course even if your business does fail it is not the end of the world.  Take the lessons of that failure with you and start again.  In many ways the worst failure of all is to live a life controlled by your boss which is safe comfortable, certain and ultimately boring.  Do you really just want to tip toe quietly towards death?  One of the top five regrets of the dying (from a book by Bronnie Ware) is not having the courage of living a life true to yourself and not pursuing your dreams.  The price of freedom is uncertainly.

Best wishes,

Tom

Check out my course 30 Experiments in personal change.  Get the course at the special price of $9.99 for readers of this blog.

Process Versus Goals

Failure, Goal Achievement, Habits, Planning

Back in December 2015 my Life Coach recommended that I set goals.  By the way I do recommend life coaching which is essentially having someone to ask you some great questions to make you think and also hold you accountable as you set out to achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Goals versus processI love setting goals and contemplating the future.  My life coach recommended that I set 5 year, 3 year and 1 year goals which I did.  I set goals for each of the categories shown above.  That is a lot of goal setting!  I later updated these goals in April 2017, nearly one and half years ago now.  The problem is that I have not looked at them since!  The reason that I never looked at them I think is because they were too many and too overwhelming.

Looking at these goals now is strange because my life today is so much different.  Only the one year plan has some resemblance to reality!  Perhaps that is because it is so difficult to see far into the future (even 3-5 years is far!).  The future is unknown and life takes unexpected twists and turns.    For example two of my close family members have passed away unexpectedly since I last updated the plan only one and a half years ago.   Career wise I have also taken an unexpected route and have learned new skills in developing and teaching online courses which I really enjoy and which is proving a successful side venture for me.  That was nowhere to be seen in my plans and just goes to show that we need to keep our antennae up at all times for new and unexpected opportunities.

Process

What I do focus on each morning and also review at the end of each week are my quarterly goals.  I have a maximum of three.  These goals are much more immediate and attainable.  Overall however I find that my success in life is related to how closely I keep to my process.  Your process is your daily set of routines and habits that drive progress in your life on a day to day basis.  This is where the rubber meets the road!  For example one thing that I follow religiously is my morning routine.  I find that as the day progresses it is harder to control what happens as there are more interruptions and also tiredness sets in.

Last quarter 2018

We are now in mid-September and 2018 is heading into the final stretch.   NOW is a great time to set yourself three goals maximum for the last quarter of the year  (October, November, December).  There are three months to make this your best year yet.  What three goals do you want to achieve before the end of the year?  Another question to reflect on now is how can you improve your process (daily habits and routines) which will drive progress towards your three end of year goals?

If you want to expand your knowledge and get great ideas on how to improve your process then check out my course “Experiments in Personal Change” which is packed full of ideas on how to improve your process.  The course also goes into more detail on the pros and cons of goal setting.  Please check out the free course preview.

Best wishes,

Tom