Entrepreneurs are unique breeds of the human species. They are innately driven to achieve. They are inspired to best the current status quo. They aspire to be the 'best' in their field. They hustle, grind, study, and work their faces off. They set goals to achieve material goods, respected accolades, a lifestyle, and leave a legacy. Yet the one thing, even entrepreneurs can't escape, and maybe even face more than the average Joe is a feeling of emptiness from time to time. 

In the race to have it all, we can often struggle with our very definition of what having it all even means. As we mature through our journey of building businesses, getting older (and hopefully wiser), we often can ponder if the best we can hope for is to have it all but just not all at the same time.

DISCLAIMER

"IN MY 19TH YEAR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING AND YOU SHOULD TAKE THE REST OF THIS POST AS NOTHING MORE THAN ONE MAN'S STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS THAT MIGHT BE PURE HORSE$%&T"

I am compelled to share what I currently think purely out of a sense of responsibility and empathy for my fellow entrepreneurs and for those that may be battling in silence the unspoken hell of never being satisfied or eluded by the notion of happiness.

It's all a race to nowhere

After 19 years in the game, I have realized one thing personally. It is pretty much all a race to nowhere. 

Why race then?

I race and compete because I enjoy racing and competing. Certainly, animals are born to swim, some to fly, some to dominate and some to submit. Entrepreneurs are born to strive, compete, lead, and race! I no longer take any credit for that fact, any more than a Lion can take credit for its "ROAR!". 

Seek inspiration and beware of envy

We are inspired because our soul recognizes another person operating in the "pure spirit" of who they are and it longs to feel the same way.

Inspiration is natural in a self-aware person because it is our spirit connecting viscerally to the acknowledgment that a peer or a someone we admire is operating from their purest spirit and is crushing it for us to see. Envy is the immature and unhealthy counterpart to inspiration. As the awesome Charlie Munger (Buffet's partner) said. "Envy is the worst one of the 7 deadly sins because it isn't even fun when you are doing it." 

The life you seek is already seeking you in return

There are several reasons why "having it all" is a faulty premise and goal to set for yourself.

First, It implies someone else out there has achieved this goal and sets up a nebulous comparison that puts you at an emotional disadvantage for life.

Secondly, We are spiritual beings living a human experience and our spirit has far more potential already inside of it than we will ever fully manifest in this single set of turns around the sun. In other words, you and I already have "more than it all" inside of us, and the game of entrepreneurship and this life is merely our unique countdown timer to reveal and unfold as much of that potential as we can.

Third, because of that, we can begin to look at each moment (the highest of highs lowest of lows) and each day (some more lazy or apathetic than our normal high octane hustle ones) in the aggregate as the raw material of our own self-awareness discovery. 

Celebrate the fact that wherever you are today, you will face the ultimate entrepreneurial paradox that in one way it will never be enough for tomorrow, and simultaneously it is more than enough for this lifetime.

Your happiness will come when you find gratitude in the fact that each day you are the architect of your life, your journey, your business, and your experience. Your choices are your own.

To find peace in the struggle is not to give in to, but to reclaim your power over it, because your struggles are no different than mine or anyone in one common way. They are yours and yours alone to overcome and the rewards you gain from conquering them are yours to keep forever and the increased self-awareness they give will never be taken away from you.  

That is the closest thing I can think of today as "having it all". I will see you on the race track. You inspire me!