03/11/2022
today's post may be a little out of context to some, especially in terms of what we do here, but bare with me.
hi, Andrea here i'm the founder and ceo of chiseled south.
today's message hits home on so many levels but i thought it pertinent to share especially if there are other entrepreneurs or small business owners (or just regular people trying their best to figure life out one day at a time) who constantly feel bombarded with online coaches and self help guru's alike selling them on this 'quick fix pay $20 dollars and earn six figures within three weeks' course that will change your life and the lives of your loved ones forever, or invest in this forex course and become an overnight millionaire... i mean the list is pretty endless.
i would be a hypocrite if i sat here and wrote a whole essay about this very topic and tell you that i've never looked for an instant cash cow or looked at my peers or people i have looked up to as mentors and founders and envied their success constantly wondering what their secret sauce was and how i too can get my hands on it. i've been there. for years i've allowed the illusion of what success looks like to dictate my life, my choices and my actions.
i've fallen victim to that very mentality, i've chased the money and instant gratification. i've felt the defeat and self loathing that comes from those decisions, i've lived the vicious cycle that those actions have dictated.
don't be too hard on yourself, i believe the very people trying to sell you on those false niceties are living the nightmare that is the lie, the self loathing and defeat. now before you say it i know that broad brushing it and saying that all of these people are the same and they are all scam artists isn't fair, i know it isn't and that is not my intention here at all.
i want you to get yourself to a point where you can sit and unpack it all, lay it all bare and be brutally honest with yourself, that is the absolute least that you owe yourself. be honest with your intentions, be honest about the decisions you have made and be honest about your perception of what success truly is and truly means to you and your life.
once you've been honest with yourself you will start to recognize the limiting beliefs, the self sabotaging patterns and you will be better able to take stock of what it is you want out of this thing we call life and you'll be better equipped to work towards that life you so desperately want.
i hate cancel culture and what it stands for, but if i could cancel i would do so in a heart beat! it's complete BS, you don't live once, you die once. everyday you have the opportunity to change what you don't like, no matter where you are or what you have. all you need is a little faith and a whole lot of work ethic, if you have that you will become unstoppable, nothing and i mean NOTHING will be impossible.
but to get yourself to that point requires brutal honesty, acceptance, grace, humility and the ability to realize that you are not special, that celeb or billionaire you envy, they aren't special. hard things happen to all of us, that is the beauty and complexity of life, all of those dark times and uncomfortable situations are lessons, and it's rapid fire, never ending so take from it all, the good, the bad and the ugly.
you're not special when good things happen and you're not special or cursed or unlucky when bad things happen, you are human and life is a collective experience that better prepares you for what tomorrow may bring.
i spent many years trying to figure out what my peers had that i didn't, what made them special, what gave them the ability to be successful? what did they have that i didn't?
turns out the effort wasn't wasted, i was just not looking in the right places. the answer wasn't what they had, it's what they did that made them outliers, what they did took them ten, twenty years to become an overnight success.
the secret sauce lies in the doing.
there's no quick fix, overnight solution. it's as simple as being consistent in your ex*****on.
no matter where you might find yourself on your journey, i leave you with this message, take from it what you may, but i do hope that what you take from it is the value that lies in the doing.
the magic you're looking for is in the work you're looking to avoid.