“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
Money matters. It’s not something we directly address in this space very often, but as a business, at some point you have to be profitable, or you won’t exist. That’s a reality, and as business leaders we shouldn’t feel bad about wanting to make money.
That being said, I’ve been reminded on several occasions lately that not all paths to profitability are necessarily the “right path”. I’m not talking about paths that might be unethical or illegal or anything like that. Those things should never be on the table.
I’m talking about things that we just don’t care about or have any passion for. I’ve seen a lot of businesses lately trying to provide services or products to customers that they just don’t want to provide. It’s not something they’re passionate about doing, and the entire time they’re doing it they’re wishing they were doing something else.
Think about what your business is really focused on. Are you trying to provide everything you can think of that might make money? Did you hear someone else in your industry is doing X so you think maybe you should be doing it too?
The reality is that when you spend time and energy trying to provide things you aren’t passionate about, it drags down the things in which you really excel. You put to the side the things that allow you to be world class so that you can be mediocre at something else.
I’m not suggesting that as businesses we don’t ever have to provide something that isn’t our absolute favorite thing. What I’m suggesting is that we get distracted by trying to provide everything to everyone, when we – and our clients and customers – would be better off it we focused on what we really, truly, do best.
Think about what you’re doing for those you serve. Is it really in your wheelhouse? Is it really something you’re passionate about? Is it really something you can do at a world class level? Or are you jumping from one thing to the next because you read an article that said other people in your industry were doing something so you thought you should do it too?
Focus on your passion. If what you’re doing energizes you, and excites you, and you’re fired up about giving it to the world, then you’re in the right spot. Don’t get distracted by what others are doing or what they think you should do. Be who you are, and be the best.
