Nothing You Do Really Matters
You know those times when you’re stressing the fuck out about your business, and you think the world is ending because no one signed up for your webinar, or your client session just bombed? Here’s the truth about all of that:
Nothing you do really matters that much.
Because someday, Yellowstone is going to explode and kill us all.
Just think about that for a second. At any moment (and yes, we’re way overdue), what we now know as Yellowstone could spew its guts up, not only covering the world in ashes and killing everything in its path, but also rendering your little online business totally insignificant. Because, well, there are bigger fish to fry. Even though all the fish would have already been fried, what with the molten lava that would have cooked them on impact, as well as you.
All of a sudden, all that time you spent obsessing about your tagline, the sleepless nights you spent worrying about whether you should use your name as your URL, or not. All the money you didn’t spend on business courses, gone to waste. All the energy you used stressing about what, exactly, to create for your opt-in, or your first ebook. Should you make the cover pink, or green? Should the word be underlined, or not?
At the end of the day, all the things you stress about in your business don’t really matter all that much.
YES your work is meaningful and makes a difference. YES you help a lot of people and that has a ripple effect. YES I want you to take your business seriously.
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But at the end of the day, when the world blows up, will you be happy with the choices you made? With how you spent your time? With the risks you took? With the chances you gambled on?
Despite how ridiculous this post may sound (even though IMO the terrifying reality of Yellowstone is anything but ridiculous), I’m serious.
There are a lot of times in my business when I find myself stressing about the stupidest things. Even big things like “What if I put down this deposit of several thousand dollars, and no one comes to the retreat?” pale in comparison when I think about the world’s REAL problems.
As my partner and I were driving home from a family dinner last weekend, we passed a young mother and her kid, all bundled up at 10:30pm on a Sunday night, waiting for a local bus in the suburbs. And I immediately felt guilty for being so stressed out about all the little things that stress me out about my business. That poor kid and his mom have to sit in the -25C degree weather, late at night.
“We’re really lucky to be able to afford a car. A lot of people can’t”, he said. And then we drove home in silence, both feeling like the free-est, luckiest people alive. But also the biggest jerks, because we take SO much for granted.
And that woman at the bus stop in Toronto? She’s living in luxury compared to a good chunk of the world. Even the rural folks our bus drove by in Belize still have it pretty good – I mean, they have walls, and materials to build with. They have schools. They’re not doing so bad.
The point being – there are WAY bigger problems in the world than your logo color and your website fonts. There are people starving while you (and I) stress about exactly how our sales pages should sound. And there is a massive National Park just waiting to blow our entire world upside down.
In the grand scheme of things, your day to day decisions in your business are nothing compared to what the world has on its shoulders right now.
And while this may seem harsh, it’s exactly what I use to keep on moving with things every single day in my business. There isn’t a day that goes by where something pops in my head that has me remember that “Oh yeah, this is just a business, and I am just a human, and it really doesn’t matter all that much”. And then I make whatever decision I am agonizing about, and move on, because I’d rather LIVE my life to the max before that damn volcano explodes, than get stuck stressing about things that won’t matter 10 years from now. Perspective. It’s how I’ve gotten as far as I have.
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As a PS for anyone I have potentially offended, anyone who is reading this saying “But I DO matter, and my work DOES make a difference” – you are absolutely right.
Which is why I want you to get on with creating it instead of stressing about it.
Very cool with the “tweet any line automatically” – LOVE that!. Now this may be obvious to others, but only works if you read the post online. Is it a WordPress plugin? Thanks Becca.
LOVED THIS!!
I’ve been flipping out about getting a guest post pitched and done. As soon as I remember that it doesn’t big deal matter – I feel much more inclined to work on it! Thanks!
Thank you for this, Becca. It’s why I love Tolle’s book about finding your life’s purpose. Our purpose is simply to BE, not do: to be a present and powerful force in the world. If we can infuse everything we do with that, then we are fulfilling our life’s purpose. I’ve been stressing about beta testing a new service. But I’m not anymore. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m so glad this was posted today in the B-School FB group! I really needed this message today. I’ve been fussing over everything about my website and it never feels good enough!
CindyBall Yep, it’s a free plugin! If you got this post in an email you have to go to the actual site to tweet it out 🙂
Marsha from YesYesMarsha haha YES!! Nice one. I seriously use this little trick all the time. Like, so what if I fork over the $$$ for the retreat deposit and no one comes? In 10 years, I’ll be proud that I went for it!
MaryJSchiller1 yeahhh Mary, get ‘er done! 🙂
This is one of my new favourite Becca posts. My work is all about opening leader’s eyes to new perspectives and challenging them to see what really matters, so this is a great reminder for me as well. The little things are definitely not worth stressing over.
KristyMoore Thanks Kristy! Your work is SUCH a great way to help expand their perspectives!
lmao! I loved this and you are absolutely right, those small decisions we stress over pale in comparison to the worlds problems. Great advice to just make a choice and move on, I will be keeping this at the forefront of my mind from now on.
Well, I’m always stressing about my site. I am currently preparing for a re-brand and all of those details you mentioned stress me out. I keep moving ahead though because what’s really important is what I’m trying to give the world. The packaging of that gift will work itself out. 🙂
I’m enrolled in B-school and I’m a multi-passionate person. I’m totally stressing over which biz I am involved in to use for my Ideal customer avatar, I love all the things I do and don’t know how to pick just one to work on. I realize that even within the context this is silly because many people don’t event know what they want to do for their biz and I have 4.
Rebecca Tracey Marsha from YesYesMarsha It’s all relative, isn’t it? Bravo, Rebecca Tracey! And quite brilliant!
lisavanahn Nice perspective Lisa – having TOO many interests isn’t a bad problem to have!
I always recommend starting with your messaging. It can be a great tool for getting to the CORE of what you’re all about, and then figuring out what to offer from there. Here’s a post I wrote about finding your message that might help!
https://theuncagedlife.com/grow-business-backbone-message-matters/
CameshaGosha I did the same thing! And at the end of the day I had to remember that 1) anything will be better than what i had, and 2) none of this really matters all that much, as long as I am providing great content and helping people. Good luck with the re-brand!
KrystalBernier I find it helpful to post a picture of a volcano exploding next to my desk 😉
Oh my goodness, I totally watched the Yellowstone documentary and now I’m scarred! But you’re totally right! I’m glad I took the jump into b-school for my own sake, but stressing over the little things really get in the way of looking at the bigger picture (world-wise and business-wise).
strmommycakes bahah every time i read more about it i get terrified! Have fun in B-School!
” “But I DO matter, and my work DOES make a difference” – you are absolutely right.” Why?
Damn really love this.