We all have requirements for being happy and requirements for being unhappy. What fascinates me is that for most of us, they look like this:

TO BE HAPPY
Requirement #1
– AND –
Requirement #2
– AND –
Requirement #3
– AND –
Requirement #4
etc.

TO BE UNHAPPY
Requirement #1
– OR –
Requirement #2
– OR –
Requirement #3
– OR –
Requirement #4
etc.

In other words, the stars have to align before you are willing to be happy but let just one thing be out of place and you require yourself to be unhappy. Talk about a broken approach!

Your Business Must Make You Happy

For many business owners and entrepreneurs, one requirement that is glaringly missing from their list is the requirement that their business make them happy. It reminds me of a line from a very early Doonesbury cartoon where a seriously stressed out character says to another, “Life is a serious, savage business and I’m just trying to get on with it before it turns on me and tears me to pieces!”

Business doesn’t have to be a death march or a cage match or a gunfight. Is that enough metaphors to get the point across? Business can and should be fun, fulfilling and rewarding. If yours isn’t, it is time for some examination and reflection.

What Are You Requiring from Your Business?

One common set of requirements that people demand from their business is:
It must provide me with security
– AND –
It must provide me with freedom

Do you see the problem here? Of course we want to be able to count on a paycheck. We have mouths to feed. But if at the same time we want to be able to take off to Bora Bora as the whim strikes us, we are going to have some conflicts.

Before you opine, “It’s about balance,” let me strike that very notion down. Balance is an illusive fantasy. No one achieves permanent balance. In fact, to succeed you have to become comfortable with being imbalanced without falling over.

Security and freedom are on a single continuum. You don’t balance them, you pick a point on the spectrum and you figure out how to make that point work for you. There is no “correct” point and the choice is entirely yours.

What Is Your Business Requiring from You?

Many a business owner has allowed their business to become a cruel taskmaster. But that is an abdication of authority. You get to decide what your business can exact from you. If you find it is asking too much, you may have some soul searching to do. But the distinct possibility exists that you are the one who made its rules for you and you can unmake them.

Some burdens cannot be carried alone. The answer may be to get help. That help could be in the form of employees or contractors. It could be in the form of partners. It could be in the form of a business coach. (You know that’s what we do here at Vera Claritas, right?) The point is that there are some things you ought to be doing and some you ought not. Get the right person on the job. It will free you up to do the things that are really satisfying, the things that you are really good at, and the things that get you and your business the best possible results.

Welcome to Your Happy Place

So let’s remake your list. Let’s get some “or’s” on your happy list. Let’s scrap the unhappy list all together. It was all arbitrary anyway. To put it more positively, it was always yours to choose. So choose wisely, choose abundantly and choose gratefully. What does your happy list look like? Tell us about it by commenting below.