EP39 | The #1 Most Critical Element Your Business Needs

What is the most critical element your business needs? It may be closer than you think. In this episode of The Create Purpose Podcast, Zach gives you three questions you can ask yourself that will reveal what is the most critical element for your business needs.

Also, Zach announces his all-day virtual coaching workshop on October 13th. Visit www.createpurpose.net/workshop to find out more and unlock your potential as a leader!

 Episode resources:

• Create Purpose Website 

• Join Zach’s Workshop
• Person: Rabindranath Tagore - Poet for quote about stringing and unstringing and instrument.
• Person: Joseph Campbell

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To those that can have the courage to sit with those emotions and listen to what comes up. It's pretty powerful, cuz all of a sudden what comes behind that discomfort is some answers and some clarity.

Welcome back, or welcome to the Create Purpose Podcast today. I wanna share with you the number one, most critical element your business needs right now. And I'm gonna let you in a little secret. It's you now before you're like, well, why do I need to listen to this episode? You just gave me the answer. Let me explain this.

This requires a deeper explanation. And I think by the end of this episode, You're gonna leave with some powerful insights. And then I also have a, a special announcement to share with you towards the end that I'm really excited about. So let me start here. You know, when I was, I think it was 30, I was around 34 years old, over a glass of bourbons.

I was told that there was some changes that were gonna need to be made to the team and that I was a good soldier and that wasn't leadership. I remember I went home and told my wife that night, babe, I'm out. I'm not on the leadership team anymore. I got demoted. I don't wanna do a sales role. She looks at me and she says, well, what do you want?

And now I'm in front of this giant whiteboard with my coach, Jeff. And he had just written something on the board on this giant white board and he points at it. And then he looks at me and he says, what the hell do you want Zach? I'll never forget my answer. I said, I wanna help leaders move to stop playing small, like a speaker, an author, a coach.

And when I said that out loud, which I've never, never said that out loud to anyone. As soon as I said that out loud, I couldn't stop thinking about it a month goes by and at work. I get tapped on the shoulder yet again, to go fix an area of the business, to, to manage a, a group of people. But this time I said, no, Several weeks go by and a different leader calls me, Zach, we could really use your help.

And I said, no, for the first time in my life, I was choosing me in my dream unapologetically. And I'm willing to bet that, you know, what it feels like to be the good soldier, you know, whether you're. You're a, a business owner, a leader, even, even a, a creative, an artist, like whatever your craft is. I bet. You know what I mean?

When I say good soldier, cause what I've learned is that it's normal for you and I to feel this way because we, we all, we I'm speaking kind of the humanity we work. So stinking hard to live up to this standard. That we believe we ought to be right. Instead of truly finding out who we are and, and being it on purpose, there's a distinction there, and that's what I want to get into because how often do you catch yourself?

We'll say shoulding on yourself. You know, I should be doing this or I ought to be doing this. I need to be doing that. Right. That's how we talk to ourselves. Why? Well, because we're, we're scrolling on Instagram and we see somebody maybe further along than us, or we see somebody else's project and we start comparing ourselves to them.

And, and then we start telling ourselves stories about, oh, I should be doing this, or I need to be more like that or that. And you're right. Here's what I'm suggesting instead of doing that. We need to spend more time discovering who we are and being it on purpose. That's what this episode's about. And so I can't wait to get into it because there is a cost to you.

To me, every time we put off who we are, and instead try to live up to everyone. Else's expectations, pleasing others, striving and seeking validation. Instead of listening to our own, we'll say heart and passion and desire. What if we could learn to trust that. But the thing is, is the longer we listen to that, that shoulding voice in our head, that inner jerk, the less we actually hear we'll call it our truth, our desire, our heart's desire.

It gets turned down to a whisper to the point where we almost don't even hear it anymore. And we miss that inner calling that inner purpose. Where our greatness lies. And, and that's what I wanna draw you back to in this episode, because I think that is the spark. That's going to light the flame for you and your business, because without it.

We're just doing a bunch of work and, and we need to get back in touch with that. We're gonna, I'm gonna call it resonance. We need to get back in touch with that resonance. How long are you going to continue to just try to strive to live up to some standard? You think you ought to be? This never became more real for me.

I was reading a poem. I can't remember what the poem was called. I'm gonna try to find it put in the show notes. I don't even remember who it was by. Hopefully old Google can help me out with that. Well, I'll never forget the actual line in the poem. In my red, it said this I've spent many days, and I want you to listen to this as if it's for you.

I've spent many days stringing and unstring my instrument. While the song I came to sing remains unsung. I wanna read it one more time. I've spent many days stringing and unstring my instrument. While the song I came to sing remains unsung. That's a powerful, powerful line. It was for me because there was so much within me that I desired to create and do and be, but I was telling myself a story and maybe you are of reasons why that isn't for me, whatever reason, I'm not old enough, not experienced enough, don't know enough.

Never done it before. What makes me think I could do it, right? There's that inner jerk again, telling me who I'm supposed to be instead of just believing and trusting that those desires, those dreams are there for a reason. If we have them there for us, they'll never come into fulfillment though, until we believe that.

And so that verse of that poem hit me like a ton of bricks because I had spent my life. Reading book after book, after book, after book, because I didn't think I was a good enough leader because I didn't think I was good enough to sit in the seat I sat in. There was always another book, always something else to learn.

And this is kind of a interesting dynamic because I still love to grow. I still read books, but I it's like I'm doing it now through a different lens. And I think by the end of this episode, you'll see this too. For the longest time I was asking those around me, Hey, what should I read? What, what book do I really need to read next?

What do I need? What, how, how do you think I could develop? Do you got any feedback for me? Right. I was always hungry for somebody to tell me what I need to work on. And, and it wasn't until my coach started asking me tough questions that I started to realize like, oh, this is a form of distraction. My inner jerks telling me like, yeah, you still don't know enough, better read one more book, better, listen to one more podcast.

and all the, while the song I've, I'm here to sing, went unsung for years. So what about you? My coach really challenged me when he asked me, what the hell do you want, Zach? He wasn't being mean, we had been working together for over a year at this time, and he had a sense of who I already was. He just did.

He, he could see me. He could see my potential. And I, I believe that far, often we are the last ones to see our own greatness. We are the last ones to see our own greatness. And that's why I believe in coaching so much, because sometimes we just need to have eyeballs on us so that we can have somebody reflect back to, to us what they really see, because sometimes we can't see it.

but as soon as we can begin to see it, everything changes. And that's what happened when my coach asked me that question and it was just like something snapped. And I, I just opened my heart and my mind. And I shared with him unapologetically, who I desired to be and the impact I wanted to have. I was never the same since.

And I've, since at, you know, listened to a podcast, you know, a little bit of my background, I'm now a coach. I'm now a speaker. I'm I'm living my dream. I want to ask you, you know, what is it that has you diminishing, who you are? And putting off what you really want, you know, what's your form of stringing and unstring your instrument, right?

What is it that you do? Mine was reading books upon books, you know, hours I'd spend hours doing that consuming instead of creating. That's an interesting idea. How much time do you spend consuming versus creating? Because all the magic is lands on the side of creating, right? And so. How are you stringing?

Unstring your instrument while the, while the song you're here, sing is unsung. What is your song? You know, what is it? What is, is it your inbox? Is it your to-do list? Is it just that feeling of be being busy? You know, there's safety being busy is, is safe. Because at least we can look back at inner jerk and be like, see, I did enough today.

So leave me alone. But we, we lose sight of why we're doing it in the first place or where we're trying to go. Is it pleasing others? If you're a leader, a business owner and you have a team, sometimes we can feel quite handcuffed. We feel stuck because we feel like we're gonna upset our people. And, and we don't know how to navigate things.

And, and the goal is actually pleasing everyone around. All the, while our dream goes unrealized, UN pursued, even sometimes. Is it getting outside of your comfort zone? Are there some uncomfortable emotions that are coming up for you every time you step towards your dream? The, that next thing that you wanna lean into?

Are you unwilling to feel the unpleasant emotions that has never become more real for me than, than here recently? I'm gonna share in a little bit. I have a big, big announcement. And it's become real. I've I've been working with a team we've been, we've been building websites, videos, preparing content. And now all of a sudden my, my butt's on the line.

We're coming to the end of that. And now it's time to perform, to show up and deliver right. I gotta be honest. Like I'm feeling the, the uncomfortable emotions of like, what if this doesn't work? What if nobody shows up, I'm just being real with you. And, and, and what if I'm gonna have to put in extra hours?

I don't know if I wanna do that, but I keep coming back to and reminding myself, no, this is your dream. This is what you've wanted to do all along. let it be uncomfortable. Let that inner jerk chirp away at you and question your whether or not it's good enough all the while. Go do it. I'm saying these things to myself.

I'm saying them to you as well. I want you to listen as if this is for you. What is keeping you from singing your song? Because it's something otherwise you'd be singing. So I wanna encourage you to listen to that desire on your heart and, and lean into it. You know, that Joseph Campbell quote, that I love the treasure, we seek lives in the cave.

We fear the most, the treasure you seek lies in the cave. You fear the most. That's never been more true for me in my life. And I'm willing to bet is true for you. And so let's reframe our fears. Fear is actually an indicator of where we need to go next. It's it's the exact direction we need to take our business in.

You are the captain of your ship. You are the CEO of your business, and you know what, if you don't have a business and you're a leader, why not apply the same principles and, and see how that works for you, I'm willing to bet it's gonna work quite well. So this is important stuff. And I have three critical questions that I want you to ask yourself, cuz this is gonna help you uncover where your opportunities might be, where you might be getting caught up in the stringing and unstring and tuning and retuning of your instrument instead of just playing the song and getting it out there and taking action.

Number one, how well is your life working right now? Okay. I wanna pause that question. I'm not really looking for a good or bad, you know, I'm not asking you to label your entire life, but I'm asking you to slow down with that question and reflect on like, well, how well is it working? And if you kind of, don't like what's coming up, lean into it, get specific.

Well, okay. What specifically is not working? What do I need that I'm not getting in that area? That's a question worth writing down, spending 10 minutes, just kind of journaling on. That's a powerful question. Most people take it at face value and they kind of roll their eyes. But if you slow down with that question, it can reveal a lot.

So how well is your life working right now and replace life with, with business or relationships? How well is your life working overall? Let's start there. That's the first question that I want you to ask yourself. Number two now, as you're looking at your life and your business. Number two is what are you tolerating?

That's a powerful question. What are you tolerating right now in your business and in your life? You see, when we tolerate something implicit in that is we believe that we are unable to affect change or influence it. We, we see ourselves as powerless and the best we can do is just to tolerate it. And.

That's just not true. That's just not true. Might it be uncomfortable to, to really turn and face it? Yes, absolutely. I'm willing to bet it would be. And that's why you're tolerating it. Cuz you're, you're trading the, your comfort in for the thing you really want. And. It's just as I do it, we all do it, but this is a powerful question.

What are you tolerating? And again, I'm you probably wanted to turn the episode off about right now. Cause I'm asking you some, if you're really reflecting on these questions, they're probably uncomfortable. You're probably thinking of that individual on your team, that you know what I've known. It's not been working out for months now.

And I still haven't said anything or you might be thinking, I know that I am not making enough profit in my business. I just know it deep down, but I've been unwilling to step out and ask for more, something uncomfortable is coming up. I know this isn't the business I'm actually meant to be to running. I know I want to go in a different direction, deep down.

I know I've known it for a long time. So what are you tolerating? So stay with me because this, to those that can have the courage to sit with those emotions and listen to what comes up. It's pretty powerful, cuz all of a sudden what comes behind that discomfort is some answers and some clarity. And then you get to take next some next steps.

And we're gonna get into that in a little bit here. Last question for you is. What do you wish you could stop doing immediately? I heard somebody once say like, what if you lived your life from a place of hell? Yes. If it's not a hell, yes. I'm not doing it. So what, what are the things that are in your no category?

The stuff that well, if it's not in a hell, yes, it's a no, like start paying attention to like, what is the stuff that doesn't light you up that you are doing again? Now it's not the time to fix and solve things that comes later. But right now it's just about awareness because sometimes we not, sometimes oftentimes we ignore what we most need to address.

I did an episode early on around, what are you avoiding is my first coaching call with Zach that I did. I was playing around with an idea, but this idea that we avoid our greatest opportunities are what we're avoiding. So if you lean into what you're avoiding. It's what's gonna move the needle for you just will.

It's predictable. I challenge you to see it any different. What you're avoiding is your opportunity. It's actually where all your answers lie. So those are three questions. Again, I wanted to ask some questions just to get you kind of in your own life, in your own business, cuz if you're not, then where are you?

Yeah. And now when you're now you're in your life. I want you to ask yourself a question. Who are you being? Who am I being. During these moments that I say I don't want, or I don't like, who are you being? What do I mean by being well, the opposite of being is doing. And so often we, we tolerate and we avoid and we put up with stuff.

We don't really like, because we don't know what to do about it. We don't know what to do. And so we don't do anything. And I'm suggesting stop, stop focusing on the doing. I want you to shift your focus to who are you being? Because I'm willing to bet that if you're tolerating something, I'm gonna say it.

And, and I'm not, I, I say this with love. I've I'm saying this to myself as well. If you're tolerating something, you are being powerless, you're being powerless. You're giving away your power to that thing. You're being powerless. Some would even call that maybe a, a victim. Now, sometimes when people hear that they get angry, they're like, what do you mean I'm not a victim?

Well, my definition of victim is feeling stuck, feeling powerless because I know that you're powerful. I just know it. We all are, and it's a choice you can choose. To be responsible. So what if you chose to shift your being from powerless to responsible to saying, you know what, that individual that I've been tolerating, that, that I know is not been working in this, working out for this business for months now, I'm not only hurting them.

I'm hurting myself because I'm not being open and honest with them. I'm gonna be responsible. I'm gonna take ownership of this and I'm gonna, I'm gonna do what I feel is the right thing for my dream and my business. So shifting your being is so powerful. Are you coming in? Are you being, let's see, I'm trying to think of another example for you.

Are, are you being a hard worker? There's this like being busy? There's just kind of this being this, this mindset we get into that I've always gotta be on. I always gotta be working, doing more. Right. There's this idea that the more I do, the more I can become and the more I can have, but we have it backwards.

And so this being idea is here's why being is so important, who you're being, are you being, are you being joy? Are you being presence? Are you being confident? You know, so many people say like, well, how do I get become C. You simply be confident. You simply choose to see yourself through a confidence lens here.

Try this on. Look back over the last decade of your life and think of the moments you're the most proud of. What about you made those a possibility? Think about the effort you put into those things. Think about your mindset, who you're being in those moments. Thinking about the conversations you had had have the, the courage you had to put forth, but what about you allowed those times to be a success for you to be proud of those moments?

See, you have plenty of things to be confident about. You've you just have to place your attention on it and you can simply be confident. And so we have so much control of, of who we're being. and I believe that this is the single most important thing you could possibly focus on in your business. The most critical element in your business is answering proactively who I am going to be in my business because it's everything because when you choose to be powerful, well, then the choice is already made the doing just flows from that place.

Now the doing just happens because that's who you're being. This, this is powerful. This is a game changer. There's a saying that I share with almost all my clients doing is work being is effortless. Doing is work being is effortless because doing is coming from a place of shoulding and Haing on yourself, right?

Shoulding on yourself. Listening letting that inner jerk drive the car being is learning to trust your own process and your own creative intent and turning it into immediate action with little to no thought. You're just trusting. You're intuitive. You're you're creative. You're generative. You're powerful.

That's being, it just flows from you. It's effortless. So wouldn't it be cool if we could live life more from a being. Place versus a doing place. I on a mission to help you do that. I am because it can change everything so quickly for you. I like to call this being the fully expressed leader that you are meant to be, because if you are being, and you're choosing your being and you're owning it and you're being the captain of your ship and you're being responsible and you're staying at choice, meaning you're choosing and you're setting intentions, you're staying present.

You get to be the fully expressed leader that you are. And when you become the fully expressed leader, it's game over, I mean, you're unstoppable and you're having the time of your life. That's what I want for you. So I wanna give you something quick and practical that you can go apply. And then if it's cool with you, I want to, I wanna share my announcement with you.

So here's what I want you to do, given that we just, we just, I just put you in touch with maybe some things that are calling towards you to go address, to trust that beingness, that desire what's you and just lean in. Here's the number one thing that actually gets in the way of that, and that is judgements.

Walking around your business and your life labeling things as good, bad, right. Wrong. I should be doing this. I shouldn't be doing that. I'm right. I'm wrong in this moment, those are judgements. I'm not talking about like discernment. That's good. Like we need to be critical thinkers and have discernment.

I'm talking about how we just put Blauer blatant labels on ourselves. That limit who you are, they diminish who you are. And so I want you to replace judgements. Especially the ones where you're labeling things as wrong or bad. I want you to say to yourself, you can say it out loud if you want or say it quietly, but say it, say this ain't bad.

Just is ain't wrong. Just is it ain't good. It's just is because when you can be present and, and get to your, get to the point of just is now you get to. Move into the next thing you don't have to be in your head thinking about, well, is this good? Is this bad? I don't know. It just is it's it's it is objective.

It's real. This is in front of me. It is like, who cares if it's good or bad? It is. And the last thing I want you to ask yourself is, okay. It is, what's the opportunity now what's the opportunity. Here you are, where your attention is. There's a powerful shift that you can make when you focus more on what you want and less on what you don't want far too often in our businesses.

And in leadership context, we're so fixated on all the problems, which is kind of a judgment that like things that are wrong, I'd rather say things aren't work, aren't working the way that we want them to just is, but we're so fixated on problems and you can solve all your problems and still not be any further along towards your goals.

So. Stop focusing on all the stuff you don't want and stuff you're avoiding. And instead keep your attention on what you want. A hundred percent all the time. Ain't bad. Just is what's the opportunity here? Or are you gonna say, what do I wanna see happen next? What's the result I desire to create because when you do that, you're being powerful.

You're being powerful. That's that's leadership. That's being the captain of your ship. That's what I want for you. What would it be worth to you? If you could learn to trust your own process and learn to be that fully expressed leader that you know that you are, would you like to go deeper into this and start to learn to lead from the inside out?

I'm inviting you now to a full day virtual workshop that I'm gonna be hosting on September 29th. It's it's going to be a day centered around. You becoming the fully expressed leader that you're meant to be, you know, no more apologizing, no more second guessing, no more seeking validation. By the end of the day, you're gonna know that leadership is an inside game.

And when you do that, you're gonna learn to make decisions with ease and get outta your head and into your life. That's what we're doing in that. And to do that. You've got to get out of the eye of the storm, the busyness, the, the, the chaos, the whirlwind we'll call it. That is your business. And sometimes can be our lives.

You gotta step away from that and you gotta get around people that challenge you. You gotta have some eyeballs on you, just like my coach saw me. Let me speak to your greatness. Let me help you see and experience what it means to be fully expressed. Because that's what this day is going to be. If you choose to engage with it, I told you how many books I've read podcasts courses.

I've seen it all. And what I've seen. I see so many people focus and fixated on tactical leadership, tips, tricks, and techniques. They miss the bigger picture of who you are, who you're being. They lack this foundation. They, they just assume. The being takes care of itself, but it doesn't like we're all always changing and growing and stretching.

And that's why we have to deal with this first. So we have it as an anchor to come back to. What I love about this day is I get to see the change in the people that actually do the work. They come in, exhausted, they leave energized. And then later on, when they check back in with me, they, they tell me it's like somebody turned the lights on.

What once felt impossible. Feels inevitable. So there's three things I'm gonna share with him, with you really quick. I'm gonna give you the, this is what we're going to be doing. This is what these are the three outcomes you're gonna create for yourself. By the end of this day. Number one, identify the critical element in your business that you've been ignoring.

Number two. You're going to learn the secret of unleashing, the full potential of your team. You're gonna start to see responsibility as a gift and not a burden. And number three, you're gonna make leading from the inside out your new automatic default. The thing I know about these workshops insights are priceless, but they don't hold any value.

If you don't make 'em. That's why you're gonna have an opportunity to be coached live in one of our breakouts. And I get it. I, I know what you're thinking. How's this supposed to help me fix my business? This isn't business consulting. It's not therapy. It's not, I promise you there's no, there's no motivational words.

Just telling you to work harder and smarter stuff. You already know. This, this is not a how it's a, it's a who it's, who you're being. It's not about fixing it's about resonating. I'm not gonna tell you what to do. That's where this workshop is unique. I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're gonna discover your own leadership style, stories and tools to make you the most effective leader from the inside out.

And so, you know, in a world that's telling you that you're not enough, you're not doing enough. You don't know enough. I'm inviting you to join us, to create some space for yourself and, and ignore that noise for just a minute so that you can learn to trust your own process. That's what I want for you. And that's the entire intent behind this, this workshop.

It's it's September 29th. The link will be in the show notes, the URL to go check it out. Www dot, create purpose.net/workshop. My promise to you is that by the end of the day, You will get outta your head and be more into your life and be more fully expressed. You're gonna be able to learn to build your business on your terms.

Listen to what your gut's telling you. Is this the next thing for you? Is this what maybe you're missing? You've taken all the courses you've, you know, in your head, what to do. But maybe you're still not doing it. This is that workshop. Thanks as always for listening and engaging with me. I'll see you in the next episode of the Create Purpose Podcast.

Hopefully you really enjoyed this podcast episode. And my hope is you found it. Really inspirational. And also most importantly, I hope you took away some practical things that you can start to do and apply in your own life. So finally, I have one small favor to ask of you before you go, wherever you get your podcast, whether that's apple music or Spotify.

If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. Love to hear your thoughts. Come find us on social media, share it on social media. It just really helps us get the word out, helps us grow our audience. So please do that. Thanks to my team, Ashley Bolden, who handles all the admin and Chris skipper who handles all the music and editing of this podcast.

For more information on the Create Purpose Podcast, you can go to www dot crate, purpose dot. You can also follow me on Instagram at Zach dot Arend. Please drop me a comment, reach out, drop me a DM. I'd love to hear from you and love to hear what you're taking away from these conversations. What would you like to hear more of?

Do you have any guests that you would love to see? Come on the show. And I'm always looking for great people to talk to people with great stories that can inspire you. And so if you know of anybody send, 'em my way, love to hear from. I'm your host, Zach Arend and I'll see you in the next episode of the Create Purpose Podcast.

Bye for now.