Part II: Living Someone Else's Definition of Success
(The Sacred Business Manifesto Part II)
Coming in sideways?
Well before the headaches, Carolina didn't have a clear direction for her life, nor was she in touch with the things that brought her joy.
She always played it safe based on other people's opinions and expectations of what her life should look like. Without much inner guidance, she studied business administration at university.
She told me once, "It's sort of a running joke in Brazil that if you don't know what to do with your life, you choose business administration."
I've since met countless entrepreneurs who started the same way—choosing the "practical" path while their true calling waited patiently in the wings.
On the outside, life seemed solid. After making a big move from Brazil to Canada after finishing school, she started experiencing what most would consider "corporate success."
She found herself living on autopilot, chasing a lifestyle that had provided her with the material trappings of great travel adventures, beautiful dining experiences, and a very comfortable life living in a beautiful neighborhood in Montreal close to the Saint Lawrence River.
With no higher purpose, our life path is at the whim of the wind.
Despite the external markers of success, something was missing on a "soul" level. There was a disconnect from her higher purpose. This void, coupled with overactive thought patterns, found her aimless.
While she was able to bury it deep inside for some time, her body was sending her a strong SOS signal.
Carolina didn't know then, but her headaches were the result of a disconnection from herself.
On the outside, her life seemed "practical." On the inside, it was deeply misaligned.
Simply put, Carolina was choosing her head over her heart. And this was a fragmented approach to life.
The double-edged sword of success.
For over a decade, I too was living a crazy duality.
On an external level, I had managed to cultivate what others had come to describe as a "Midas touch."
It all began as a young child sitting on my father's lap in front of a personal PC. He worked for IBM, so we had the best technology available to us way before anyone else I knew. This is truly one of my earliest memories. I fell in love with that computer.
My deep fascination with technology and how to use it to create magical outcomes set the tone for my later work as a successful consultant.
No matter what industry I found myself stepping into, I was able to create powerful business results and experience financial success. It looked like mastery from the outside. But something crucial was missing.
As I fell in love with the power of my abilities, I found myself pushing the limits of my own capacity and working myself to the bone.
I quickly lost sight of the rest of my life beyond this "Midas touch."
This also began physically manifesting as all sorts of autoimmune health challenges that would make it difficult to get out of bed on the worst of days.
And I wasn't only suffering physically.
I had low confidence and self-worth, always playing the comparison game with other entrepreneurs I would meet at events and masterminds.
Success, I learned, doesn't automatically translate to self-worth—no matter how many zeros are in your bank account.
It was as if I had a bottomless hole in my soul that I just couldn't fill. Each time, I'd try to direct all my energy into a singular business focus that I genuinely believed would finally bring an end to my suffering.
It took years of unhealthy work and personal habits for me to finally realize just how much damage I had created in my life.
I was taking a fragmented approach to navigating life. Just like Carolina.
Despite having the "Midas touch," my daily life had become plagued by illness, burnout, and low self-worth.
Clearly, the way we were both choosing to live life during this time was flawed on some level. We were both going down parallel paths in which we were compartmentalizing and bottling up aspects of ourselves that wished to be expressed and nurtured, sacrificing the potential of a deeper & richer life experience in the name of making money at all costs.
Hard lesson learned: Excelling in one area of your life won't compensate for the rest.
The propensity for living life this way left us both disconnected from our hearts, from our purpose, and from the potential to live a life far more beautiful than either of us could have imagined for ourselves at that time.
Continue to Part 3 ↑P.S. You can read all previous editions of the newsletter here, and you can upgrade your subscription here.
What’s next?
Carolina and I are ready to support you in creating a business that aligns with your heart's calling. Here's how we can help:
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