I began my leadership journey due to bad leadership. I had watched bad leader after bad leader continue to do things that harmed the organization and the people who worked for the organization.
It was bad.
I remember seeing one manager hiding away in a warehouse to catch a few minutes of sleep. In another instance, I remember seeing and hearing the owner of an organization berate a team member for something he had no control over.
Photo by Laurenz Kleinheider
These are the moments that made me realize things needed to change in leadership. I began a journey to change the way I viewed leadership. I also began a journey to help others change the way they see leadership.
Ideas Evolve Over Time
When I started to learn about leadership, I was green behind the ears. I hadn’t had any true leadership experience. I just knew something had to change.
To start, I began to consume the words of leaders who had come before me. Guys like Dan Miller, Michael Hyatt, Dan McCarthy, Lee Iacocca, and others… By reading their words, I began to form new ideas about leadership.
Because of this, my ideas on leadership began to evolve. I saw leadership as a servant position rather than a lord position. I saw the idea of you before I take the forefront.
My ideas on leadership are still evolving. They will never stop evolving. They will keep changing.
Rethinking What You Believe
As my ideas evolved over time, I had to rethink what I believe in regards to leadership and work. One idea that has changed is the idea of
Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.
I began to chase the things I thought I loved. Writing, podcasting, unboxing videos, masterminds, etc… These are things I truly enjoyed. They brought joy to my life… They also brought more work into my life.
Rather than discovering a feeling of less work, I actually began to feel like I was doing more work. It brought me to an intersection. Is the old saying true? Is something broken in me? Or is there something else to this?
I landed on the idea that there is something else to this feeling. The saying is true, to an extent… Then it is not.
I began to think about my marriage. I love my wife. I love what we’ve built. But doing all of that…
IT’S STILL WORK
Regardless of how much you love something, you will have to work to maintain and grow it. You will have to seek out ways to motivate yourself to continue working towards it.
This is but one way some of my beliefs have changed. There are countless others. I wanted to share this changed belief because I know many of you are struggling with the idea of finding something you love to do so you never work another day.
You’re going to find your love of something only goes so far. Then you’re going to have to put in the hard work. You’re going to have to find the motivation to keep at it.
Don’t think you no longer love something or someone because it begins to feel like work. Don’t think you’re doing the wrong thing because it feels like work.
You will know you truly love something when you do it regardless of how much work it feels like.
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