Self-discovery is a lifelong process, and when you are in business as a leader or as an entrepreneur; guess what… you are in the fast-track lane. You need to persist at peeling off the layers of self to find truly who you are, so you can get to the next level.

Enlightened Living = Business Success.

But honestly, it’s not just finding out who you are or what your purpose in life is; it’s also becoming aware of how you can get to where you want to go and what beliefs, attitudes, opinions, etc. are holding you back from getting to the next level.

Committing to a self-discovery journey is a matter of survival in a world constantly attempting to impose its standards on its people. The world will eat you alive and suck all the truth out of your soul if you allow it.

So don’t allow it. Don’t get caught up in the hype. Let go of that FOMO.

Sounds easy, right? Wrong. The majority of the human race will not persist to peel off the old layers of self and even more so, they won’t really try to get there until they are forced. They have a moment where life just sends them into the biggest struggle zone that ever existed and well, then they may, maybe will just work on being a little more aligned.

There are major challenges to a self-discovery process and oftentimes it starts with the fact that we do not know ourselves well enough to really understand our truth.

It’s easy to tell others what we think of them. We observe people all day. Through social media, conversations, work that they do, etc. We interact with everyone on the day-to-day, but what about ourselves? Have you ever sat down with yourself and really taken a look under the hood?

Even more so, have we ever stopped and taken a look to see how we are setting ourselves back in our leadership roles?

Being a leader means that you have a responsibility to reflect on the ultimate truths that will get you to the next level. Who are you? What does your team need How are you going to get the organization to the next level?

The challenges you face when you start to reflect are based on the following factors:

1. Our upbringing – If we were raised in a certain environment, it is the foundation of how we cope and what we believe. If you were raised in a dysfunctional environment, you may start to reflect on those coping mechanisms when work gets stressful or the environment is just too much for you. You might build a culture around you based on some of the false beliefs vs. truly taking a look at what kind of environment you want to create. I mean, our upbringing got us here, right? Something about it worked out.
2. Our education – Did your education teaches you important soft skills like critical thinking, logic, science, math, excel (everyone needs this now), emotional intelligence, and financial risk? If you didn’t get all these things in your education, then what can you do in business to support some of those moments when you may need it?
3. Our experiences – Let’s say you had a really hard life or just left a really toxic job, does that mean you’ve built up some hard trust issues? What about any negative emotions that you might be holding onto? Are those pushing the boundaries of your emotional calmness when someone comes to you with something important in meetings?
4. Our family – The first people that teach you behavior are your family. You can’t help it, it’s family dynamics, but are the characteristics and behaviors that have gotten to where you are helping you push forward? Not saying your family are bad people, but those inappropriate jokes as coping mechanisms may not be best at the stakeholder’s table.
5. Our peers – We might not always be surrounded by the right people. What is the intention of the group that you are hanging out with? Do they support your growth, your business, or your development? This goes the same for your team. If you are working towards a specific vision, do you have the right team in place to get to the next level?
6. Media – Social media, Regular Media, and Books are reporting what they decide to report. That means that it is a snapshot in time. Are you taking this information with a grain of salt? Or are you seeing it as truths? What beliefs is it brewing up for you?

Geez. Is that enough for you? That’s a lot to think about just on a personal level, but honestly, all of that has outlined and influenced who we are today and filtered us through a different lens so that we can walk in some sort of truth.

Are we walking through the most clear lens that we want to walk through?

Many leaders, entrepreneurs, or just day-to-day people at some point begin to question if they are walking around in their truth. And they have two choices – to ignore it or to address it.

But when you are in business, whether that means managing a team, a function, an entire scope of work, or a full-on business as an entrepreneur; you cannot ignore your self-discovery journey and even more so you have to face it and find your truth.

Here is how to tackle these challenges:

1. Look at the big picture – take a step back and truly explore how you are feeling, seeing, what you want to be, and how you want to represent yourself. With the leader’s that I work with, we like to take this step back and take a look at how they have built their executive presence. Their ‘self’ is built into their presence. Is it truly aligned with their work?
2. Take a look at the patterns and habits – exploring your strengths, your habits, and what kind of ‘loops’ you may have on repeat will show you what you have built up that is either keeping you stuck and needs to change or what is making you grow and allowing you to flourish. This is the hardest work in a self-discovery journey, but the work is so rewarding because almost every single level of leadership comes with the cost of breaking some sort of pattern that has been keeping you at a certain level.
3. Work Smart; Not Hard – Have fun with your self-discovery journey. There is no need to bring all that seriousness to the table. When the first person that decided to explore and discover new worlds got on that ship, do you think that they just sat there moody all day? Hell no, they did not. They prioritized the best foot forward and then just faced their fears with a lot of fun.
4. Let go of what no longer serves you – be compassionate with yourself. Not everything will last forever. I am serious about that. Are you still bringing a pacifier to a board meeting? No. You figured out how to cope without your pacifier and you’ll figure out how to cope once you outline what exactly you need to let go of in order to step into alignment.
5. Be willing to be vulnerable – this is one of the biggest challenges, but so rewarding. It is hard to share feelings, share moments of shame, or even get down to the deep parts of our weaknesses and accept them. Strangely enough, though, vulnerability is a strength. If we have the courage to put ourselves out there and do the work, we will see results. Take Ed Catmull from Pixar for example – he threw out his giant rectangular table and leveled with his team. He said hey, I need your ideas and I need them or we can’t do anything about our films. He leveled with his team and brought them all into a room where they were able to build a collaborative culture that at the end of the day resulted in one of the best film companies in the world.

And hey, this sounds like a lot, right? But it is your responsibility as a leader especially if you want to make big impacts to begin this journey and once you start seeking personal growth, self-development, and breaking free of those limiting beliefs that are holding you back, you will see the most amazing and beautiful results happen.

Your self-discovery journey is the foundation of owning your truth, living creatively, and being a badass high vibrational leader.

So, take the time to enjoy this process, and don’t take it too seriously. Allow your magic to get unlocked and all the beautiful and most amazing experiences to arrive.

You will feel so fulfilled and your team, business, and leadership skills will thank you for it. Moreover, you will not get burned out. You will feel aligned and more alive than you have ever felt.

Start today. Own that truth. How are you taking the steps to get there?