I watched my favorite movie, The Matrix, on Sunday (in honor of the 25th anniversary of its release).
It’s a movie that played a big part in a time in my life when I was going through many changes, including going through a divorce. I have seen it countless times. But this time something resonated around my own journey and that of the founders I work with.
Morpheus has taken Neo to see The Oracle, who he believes will tell Neo that he is “The One,” the human who will finally free everyone from The Matrix—the computer simulation created by yes, AI, to enslave humanity and use them as a power source.
The Oracle asks Neo if he thinks he is The One.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
To which The Oracle responds, “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Being The One is just like being in love. No one can tell you you’re in love, you just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones.”
Many of the founders I have met and worked with know this feeling. Much as I knew it when I decided to start a coaching business.
Just Knowing
Founders often know, through and through, balls to bones, what they have to do. They know their purpose. What they are here to create.
Sure, there might be hesitation, even fear. There are typically voices of inadequacy and doubt and “being reasonable.” But they choose not to listen.
Over and over again, they decide to move forward. To keep going. They might pivot, or fail. The first three or eight or twenty tries might not work.
I have known founders who have almost lost their businesses. Even declared bankruptcy before turning things around. Yet they kept going, and ultimately succeeded. They were not willing to give up. They just knew they could find a way.
What Have YOU Just Known?
You might not be a founder of a business. Or you might be on your third exit. But I bet there were times, whether you acted on them or not, where you “just knew.” Without knowing how or why.
I want you to think about those times. Then I want you to conduct another experiment.
What Do You Just Know Right Now?
I bet that when you are quiet, when you can hear behind the noise of the repetitive thoughts in your head, the chatter that reminds you to stay small and be reasonable, there is something you already know to be true. You could think about it as your mission, or your purpose, or simply a next step that you just know you need to take.
But it is something you just know that if you keep going, if you keep trying, you CAN create.
You CAN Do It, But WILL You?
I know that many of my clients CAN do great things. They have the capacity, they have the intelligence, they have the persistence.
But I have no control over whether they WILL.
CAN is about persistence.
WILL is about resistance. And seeing through that resistance.
WILL you honor what you know? WILL you keep going, despite the fear and the voices in your head? WILL you see that it is only your thinking that is holding you back?
WILL it be helpful to have someone alongside you who believes in you even more than you do?
If you’ve taken up this challenge, let me know in the comments.
Want To Go Deeper?
Does this resonate? More and more founders like you are coming out of the spiritual closet and seeing their work as a vital personal journey to both abundance and meaning.
This is what I write about. For founders, for original thinkers, no matter where they are in their transformation.
The world needs YOU, in all your brilliance and imperfection.
If you are a founder wanting to scale and sell your company, there are three shifts in identity that can help you do so with twice the impact and half the stress. Take a look at this video.
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