Redefining Growth: Embracing Peaks, Troughs, and True Values

Is business growth really a never-ending upward journey, or is that just a comforting myth we've been led to believe? In this episode, we tackle the misconception that success must always be linear and continuous. By drawing parallels with the stock market, we reveal how businesses naturally go through peaks and troughs.

We shift the focus from short-term fluctuations to long-term, macro-scale growth, and highlight how progress can manifest in diverse areas beyond just financial metrics.

 From enhancing your health and family life to deepening your spirituality and mental capacity, we explore how recognizing these various forms of growth can mitigate internal conflict and emotional volatility, promoting a more balanced and sustainable path to personal and professional development.

In the latter half of our conversation, we delve into the transformative power of aligning with your true values. Drawing on insights from a recent coaching session with a group of men in Australia, we uncover how imperative language often serves as a reflection of external pressures rather than our own innate desires.

We discuss how shifting your perspective can dissolve feelings of guilt and empower you to set goals that resonate with your highest values. This episode invites you to rethink what growth means to you and encourages you to align your aspirations with your core values for a more authentic and fulfilling journey. Join us for an eye-opening discussion that promises to redefine your approach to both business and personal growth.

Follow me on youtube here. https://www.youtube.com/@Seamusfox
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Chapters

• 0:02 The Reality of Business Growth
• 9:45 Understanding Values for Personal Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

we're back. It's been a couple of weeks since I've put one of these podcasts out and what I want to talk about today is something that I hear a lot when I'm coaching ceos and business owners and business leaders and, if I'm being totally honest, something that I fall into myself as a business owner, as a coach, coach, as an entrepreneur and that is the misconception that we have a lot of the times around growth and how we think growth actually should be in comparison to kind of what it actually really is. And the misconception a lot of the times that we have around growth is that our business should always be growing, that it should be linear, that every single month it should be going up, up, up, up and up. But that isn't just a reality. Obviously, of course, anybody that's in business for any period of time will realize that there's peaks and troughs, but over a gradual, longer period of time you might see that massive growth. So I compare it to if you look at the stock market and if you look at investing, if you look at something like the S&P 500, over the period of 10, 15, 20 years, that scale is up, it's going up all the time. But if you look at that S&P 500 or the stock market in general. If you look at it and you break it down over years, you break it down into months. If you break that down into weeks, you'll see the massive peaks and troughs. Sometimes it crashes, sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down, and business a lot of the times is like that.

Speaker 1: 1:36

But it's our conception, or the misconception a lot of the times, that it should always be upwards, that our revenue should always be upwards, that we should always be scaling, we should always be upwards, that we should always be scaling, we should always be growing and when we aren't, the pressure that that puts on business owners and CEOs and the idea that if it's not happening, then we're failing, and if we're not growing which is often heard we're dying, and that is true and it's not true. So a lot of times people will buy into quotes, they'll buy into things that they hear from other people. But if we look at things on a macro scale instead of a micro scale, that's the best way to dictate whether you're growing or not. And if you look at where you've been from maybe three years ago or five years ago and look at where you are right now, are you growing? Are you moving forward? Are you advancing in some way or form? It might not be in the areas that you think that it should be constantly, but if you're not growing in one area, you will be growing in another. So when I'm coaching my clients and they're going through this battle a lot of the times, what I'll do is I'll get them to look at right, okay, so if you're not growing in this area, where are you growing? Because if you're not growing in one area, you will grow in another. So if you're not growing specifically in business, are you growing in your health and your fitness? Are you growing in your family and your connection? Are you getting closer there? Are you growing in your spiritual quest? Are you growing in some other area that might not just be specifically in business right now? Are you growing in your mental capacity? So, do you have to learn and you have to uncover different layers of yourself, or you have to uncover different layers within your business? So you have to uncover different layers within your business so that you can expand to the next level. Where's that growth?

Speaker 1: 3:28

So we often, a lot of the times, as business owners and you'll relate to this straight away if you're listening to this. We see it only as revenue. We see growth only as a figure that is constantly moving up, and if it's not constantly moving up, we think that we're not growing. So it's important for us to really, I think, ground ourselves a lot of the times. It's important to get yourself back into a place and realize that it's not only just about that. Yes, those things are obviously really, really important, but you have to also look at the bigger scale. You have to look at the bigger picture and see where you might be growing, see where, if it's not grown in this area, where am I in my life right now? Where am I grown?

Speaker 1: 4:12

Because You'll hear me talk a lot about values and sometimes our values shift. So you might be growing in one area that is higher in your priority, higher in your value at that present moment. Something else might drop down and you'll be growing in that area. But if you have a perception that it should be this value, it should be that that's growing, then a lot of the times we can create internal conflict for ourselves. That internal conflict will give us emotional volatility, and when we've got emotional volatility, then that's how we show up Instead of showing up present, instead of showing up imbalanced, instead of showing up and saying, right, okay, it might not be growing this way, but let's look at the positives here.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Let's look at the upside. Where are we growing currently? What am I actually learning within myself? What am I doing to work within my own mind and my own issues to grow? Or within my team and within my business? Where are we currently growing? How are we doing what we need to do to evolve to the next level? So it's important for us to do that, because sustainable growth, a lot of the times, is looking at that macro scale.

Speaker 1: 5:22

It's looking at where we're going to be, looking at the vision, because if you've got the vision intact and you know where you're heading, then a lot of the times, the smaller stuff that, of course, is important, the smaller stuff is just it's on the way, not in the way, and you know that those are the things that you need to look at and those are the things that you need to improve on and those are the things that you need to address in order to move towards a bigger vision, because the vision of what you want and how you want to be and who you want to show up as, and what your business is there to do for you in your life and for others, etc. The vision that you have within that is so, so important, because that's the thing that pulls you through, that's the thing that really makes you grow towards being that better version. That's the thing that really makes you look at the challenges and overcome those challenges and find better ways and find ways within yourself that you can adopt and grow and move forward again. If you don't have a bigger vision that's pulling you forward more than the daily challenges, then, and find ways within yourself that you can adopt and grow and move forward again. If you don't have a bigger vision that's pulling you forward more than the daily challenges, then a lot of the times you're going to take yourself out of that pain and out of that challenge and seek pleasure, and a lot of the times those behaviors can be sabotaging, they can halt your growth, they can be things that will be destructive to sometimes your business, sometimes your health, sometimes your relationships, depending on how far you let that go.

Speaker 1: 6:45

So again, I want to just kind of like reiterate that growth isn't always going to be in a straight line, it's not always going to be moving forward. It's not always going to be moving forward, it's not always going to be going up, and when it isn't happening in that way, it's really, really good for us to take a step back and be more conscious and say, right, okay, but where am I growing? What areas of my life am I currently growing in, and how can I lean on that? And how can I know that this is just part of the process and what it does is? It also helps me create more resilience. It helps me become more adaptable. It helps me look at how I can maybe shift some things within my business. Am I actually in alignment with my values? Do I need to change something within the business, within the company, etc. So that you can again begin to move forward?

Speaker 1: 7:35

So I think that we can so often just give ourselves a hard time. We can so often beat ourselves up thinking that we aren't growing. So it's important to look at all different areas and see where you are. So so what I want to talk about today also, guys, is giving you a wee update just on things and kind of where I'm at right now and what's been happening and what I've got coming up. Actually, in Cork next week I will be speaking at the Clayton Hotel in Cork to a room full of army personnel, emergency services personnel, people who are kind of coming to the end of that career and looking to take the next step.

Speaker 1: 8:22

I'm going to talk about evolving with purpose and looking at how you can get really aligned with a future vision for yourself again. At times when it can often seem daunting because maybe you're stepping out of a career that you've been in for a long time, maybe you're doing something now that's going to be completely alien to you and I've got some experience in that selling my business and fitness business this year that I'd been in for almost 15 years and launching myself into a different business essentially. So I can understand where a lot of those fears can pop up. I can understand a lot of those insecurities that can often pop up, but I can also understand what it's like at the other side when you get yourself really aligned with what's really important for you, what is really high in your values, so that you can evolve with purpose. And purpose for me is just meaning attaching meaning to what you do on a daily basis and moving towards something that you feel is inspiring for you, and we can all do that. Every single person can do that. Every single person has a unique set of priorities and values and that's what their purpose is and if we get aligned with that, then we want to move towards that. We feel more inspired, we have more energy, we want to keep taking action and we want to keep showing up, and it's important to no matter where you are in life, to understand that.

Speaker 1: 9:45

I did a call on monday. I'm coaching a group in a group of men in australia and I did a call with those guys on monday morning, monday evening for them and on the call I took them into understanding values. I took them into understanding values at a deeper level and one of the guys said Seamus, I used to always feel guilty about that. I thought my value should have been this. I thought that should have been higher on my list and I said so many people do that. And what I want you to pay attention to is your language when you say should, would, I must, I have to, I need to. That type of language is what's called imperative language, which is usually an injection of other people's values. We think and we say that we should, need, must have to, because a lot of the times we have external clatter, external noise and external injection of somebody else's values in our mind. That's distracting us and clouding our judgment of who we need to be and how we need to show up instead of understanding what's most important for us so that you can show up and do more of that.

Speaker 1: 10:58

And when I got him to look and realize and see how his highest value which wasn't what he thought it was when I got him to see how that highest value actually served his lowest value, then the guilt disappeared, because guilt is an assumption. Guilt is an assumption that you have caused more harm than good in any situation, more negatives than positives, more drawbacks than benefits. But universal law doesn't allow that. You have to have a positive and a negative. Only in our perception does that happen, where we think we've done more harm than good. So by shifting your perspective and getting you to dig deeper and ask better questions, you can see how things serve.

Speaker 1: 11:37

So when I did that with him, the feeling of guilt just disappeared and he was able to see how his real highest value was serving what he thought should have been his highest value and he felt more congruent within himself. So when we understand that at a deeper level, it can be such a an empowering feeling, because you feel empowered to be yourself, you feel authentic within yourself and you feel like, right, okay, I know who I am, I know what's most important for me and I'm now going to start to match my goals and my aspirations, my vision around what that acts, that highest value actually is, so that I can feel more congruent when I show up, that I can feel more inspired when I show up, that I can take more action, because when we feel that we hesitate, frustrate, procrast, sabotage, etc. All of those symptoms a lot of the times and you hear me talk about this a lot because it's really important all those symptoms a lot of the times, are symptoms that show us where we might be out of balance. Symptoms that show us where we might be going after something that's not actually really aligned with what we truly want, and it's a way for us to get realigned Again. They set meaningful goals and meaningful timeframes linked to the highest value so that you can move towards it. And again, coming back to what I was talking about earlier in the podcast here, which is the growth in our business If we have our goals and our values aligned and we've set meaningful goals and meaningful time frames towards a vision and towards the values that we really hold, then you're willing to pursue the challenges and you're willing to pursue all the things that occur in life and business on that road, on the way, and you'll know that it's not always going to be growth, that it's not always going to be, know that it's not always going to be growth, that it's not always going to be moving upwards, it's not always going to be going the way that you want it to go, but you're still tied into that vision.

Speaker 1: 13:35

So, guys, before I go, what I want to leave you with is, well, two things. One is I've started to record longer form podcasts on YouTube. I'm going to drop the link in the show notes. I would love you to go to YouTube, subscribe and watch some of my longer form content there. I'm going to be recording content from just life in general mindset, business, human behavior, health, fitness, sharing some of my journey, et cetera on that podcast on the youtube channel as well too, so you can get to watch me, you can get to interact there a wee bit more. So I'd love it and I would appreciate it if you could go there and subscribe and then, before you go, what I also want to let you know about is I have four spaces that are left to fill.

Speaker 1: 14:25

To start on the Fitmind project, which kicks off on the 30th of September, I'm taking a group of entrepreneurs, business people, career-driven people, people who want more from themselves and want more from life, who want to end this year on a high and start next year with better mindset tools, better vision and clear on what's most important for them. In the 12 weeks, you're going to be coached by me live on Zoom. Every single week, we discuss different topics of mindset. We look at values, we look at voids, we look at vision, we look at self-identity, we look at energy, we look at sleep, we look at hydration. We look at all the things that you can do to really improve how you think, how you feel and how you show up in your own personal performance, whether that is just in life, in your career or within your business. You'll be coached by me every single week. Live, you also get access to a health and fitness nutrition portal where you'll have all that you need to improve your nutrition, to improve your energy, to improve your sleep, etc.

Speaker 1: 15:21

And, as I said, the wait list. I put up a wait list not that long ago and it filled pretty fast and I've got four spaces left for people who are really interested in ending this year um stronger and starting next year even stronger again. So if that is you, what I would love you to do is drop me a message or send me a message on linkedin whatsapp, sorry, not whatsapp linkedin instagram and connect with me there, and what I will do is I'll get you more details, have a conversation and see if it's going to be the right fit for you. Okay, guys, until the next one, have a good.