Hey Reader,
Over the last couple weeks, I've been sharing something I've been working on called HARMONY. It's a framework meant to help us determine if the business we're building actually fits into the life we want to live.
Last week, we talked about the H: Happiness.
This week, we're moving to the A: Alignment.
With Happiness, we asked ourselves, "Do I want more of what this business brings me?"
With alignment, we're going to ask "Does this business actually fit the life I want?"
The Happiness step helps look inside our business to find what we enjoy, what brings us energy, and what pulls joy from us. Alignment zooms out and looks at how the business works with everything else in our lives.
I think this may be the most important part of the framework, because I strongly believe your business should serve your life, not the other way around.
I want to be clear, I am not saying it's supposed to be easy or that it won't require hard work, sacrifice, and a whole lot of time and energy. What I am saying is, all that time, energy, and work, and those sacrifices, need to be put toward building the right business...one that serves they life you want.
It's easy for things to flip.
It's super easy for things to flip on us, leading to our life revolving around our business.
We start a side hustle for some extra money. It starts growing, so we give it a little more time. It grows some more, so we give it a little more energy. It grows more, so we add a product, take on another client, say yes to another opportunity, jump onto another content platform, etc.
Each of those individual decisions make sense, but if we aren't clear on how each impacts our lives, we'll end up building something that requires a life we never wanted.
That's where Alignment comes in. Because there are things that can score high on Happiness, but that doesn't always been they'll fit the life you want.
[Continued after this ad from our friends at HubSpot.]
Happiness does not always equal Alignment.
It's a weird concept to grasp: That somehow the work you truly enjoy is not actually the right fit for your life.
If you want your business to give you more time with your family, building a business where you need to be traveling 100+ days a year isn't aligned...even if you love the work.
If you want your business to give you the freedom to take spontaneous trips or longer vacations, a business that requires you to physically be somewhere 5 days a week isn't aligned...even if the work brings you real joy.
If you want to stay in the classroom, building a business that can only grow if you leave isn't aligned...even if the work truly energizes you.
Sometimes we have to say NO to growth.
I promise I'm not trying to make this concept even more difficult, but I think it's important to note that sometimes the decisions that keep things aligned are the ones that actually say no to growth. Or, I guess a better way to say it is sometimes those decisions say no to certain kinds of growth.
And that can be really hard to do. It is really difficult to say no to opportunities for growth.
That's actually one of the reasons HARMONY came to be a thing. I was really struggling with keeping things aligned. I wanted growth, more growth, and then some growth after that.
I wanted to say yes to every opportunity, every new idea, all the things. And we did. We said yes to everything...anything and everything. And I still wanted more.
Then I got exhausted. I got burnt out. And I got a whole lot less happy.
Because even though I enjoyed the things we were doing, the life my business was giving me was not the one I wanted.
I needed to step back and ask myself, "Is the business I'm building creating the life I want?"
The answer was NO.
I'm not sure what your answer will be. My hope is that it's an easy YES for you. But if it isn't, that's okay. The purpose of HARMONY is to ask the questions, get to the real answers, and adjust things accordingly.
Your next steps.
I still don't need you to write anything down, make a spreadsheet, or even make any changes just yet.
I just want you to think about this question and take note of the answer:
If this business becomes exactly what I'm currently trying to build it into, what will my life need to look like in order to support it?
- How many hours will you need to work every day, week, month?
- When will you need to work?
- Where will you need to work?
- How often will you travel?
- How often will you have meetings or events that conflict with your other commitments like family, friends, hobbies, etc?
- What will likely demand more of your attention and energy?
- What in your life will likely get less attention and energy?
Next week, we'll get into the R in HARMONY: Revenue.
This is when we'll putting some numbers around the business we need to build to create the life we want.
I hope this helps.
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~ Jeff
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I appreciate you.
Jeff Gargas
COO / Co-Founder, Teach Better Team
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P.S. When you're ready, here's how I can help:
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