Have you ever found yourself saying, “I’m living the dream,” but you still don’t feel like you’re “there”?
You’re not alone. Many people, especially high achievers, reach a point where they feel they’ve accomplished everything they set out to do. Yet, despite their success, something feels off. They’ve been successful beyond their wildest dreams, but there is still an itch to do more.
They start to feel guilty for or even greedy for wanting more.
This phenomenon is what Gay Hendricks calls the “Upper Limit Problem.” It’s the idea that there’s a level of success that feels uncomfortable because it challenges our deeply ingrained beliefs about how much happiness or success we’re allowed to have.
The Joy of Creation: Beyond Just Achieving Goals
As humans, we are wired to create. The real joy in life doesn’t come from reaching our goals but from the journey of striving toward them. This is why the satisfaction of hitting a milestone often fades after a short while, leaving us wondering, “What’s next?”
When someone says they’ve “got it all,” it’s worth exploring what that actually means to them. Often, people who make this statement quickly start to feel bored, stale, or even guilty. They wonder what they did wrong and why they’re not as happy as they thought they’d be.
And they wonder if they will ever be fulfilled.
The Founder’s Dilemma: After the Big Exit
This sense of letdown is particularly common among founders who have built and sold companies. They’ve sacrificed so much to achieve their goals, only to find that the big payday doesn’t bring the happiness they expected. In fact, it can be hard to repair some of the damage they did along the way, whether to themselves or their relationships.
They might ask themselves, “What’s wrong with me? Why doesn’t this feel as good as I thought it would?”
The answer is simple: There’s nothing wrong with you. The joy and purpose come from the act of creating, not the achievement itself. It’s crucial to remind yourself of this and to surround yourself with others who understand this journey.
You may find that even after the exit you still have this desire to create.
The good news is that now you get to create from joy rather than need. And much of the joy of being a human comes from that act of creating.
Join the Conversation: Creating Meaning Beyond Success
If this resonates with you, I’ve created an event on September 17th called “The Other Side of the Exit: Is There Happiness Beyond the Deal?”
It’s a virtual 90 minute conversation specifically for founders who are within 2-3 years of an exit, with a panel of people who have dozens of exits among them.
This is a chance to get to know other founders like you, and to ask questions to people who have been through it.
If this sounds like you, I invite you to reach out to me. Let’s have a 15-minute conversation about your expectations for your exit. As a thank you, you’ll get to be in the virtual room live as it happens, with a small group of like-minded individuals—other founders who have been where you are, along with panelists who have experienced dozens of exits.
Together, we can ensure that as founders, we are having the right conversations, setting the right expectations, and creating the right things to find true purpose, meaning, and satisfaction in our journeys.
#founder #founders #exit #meaning #purpose
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