My developmental journey of 20 years has been tough, and I didn’t enjoy the process, frankly. I knew it was necessary, and I did it.
Now that I feel I’m substantially into it, and even through it to some degree, I can’t wait for the next 50 years of my life to unfold. I have what I need to live a joyful and profound life.
But boy, has there been suffering along the way!!! I don’t wish it away, but I don’t want to do it that way again. Suffering should be a season, not a permanence. On the other side of suffering (if handled well) lies a lighter and more enjoyable way of being and working.
Suffering is not tragic. If understood, suffering is to be relished.
One of the rules of life is that growth and suffering are paradoxically linked. This is consequential because many (myself included until recently) aim for a perfect life and resent any event or circumstance that detracts from that perfection.
Thus, suffering is wished away.
Some people have a slightly more positive view of suffering – begrudging acceptance, rueful acknowledgement – but few ever get to relishing suffering, which is where the real magic lies.
When we relish suffering, we positively reframe it. We look for it, are curious about it, seek it, and come to love it.
At this point, profound growth is as close to you as breathing. And this growth applies as much to your business as it applies to yourself.
Your business wants to be ‘whole’: all systems tend toward equilibrium, and many realities stand in equilibrium’s way: external events, internal conflict, lack of clear direction, and absence of meaning. Any of the above causes suffering (lack of profit, unhappy customers, an unjoyful work experience, conflict with colleagues, and failing tech advancement) but are merely signals, not problems, which is the key takeaway from this missive.
Problems have a particular mindset: tightness, stress, resistance, avoidance, and anger.
‘Suffering signals’, by contrast, have a different tone and meaning:
- Clues to a path
- A route to success
- A riddle to solve
- An encouragement of being close to the solution
- Excitement about a great outcome
This is the route to business performance: a different and healthier attitude to understanding why things go wrong and how to fix them.
The ‘wrong’ is the path to the ‘better’.