Enough BS kicked off yesterday and our entire team here is so excited! The course is designed to address the question, “Now what?!” It’s about taking the best of the best wisdom from our recent virtual conference, WTF Should I Do w/ My Life?!, and learning how to apply it in real time and practical terms to start waking up excited.
The energy on the live call was fantastic! So many people showed up authentically, with open minds and a willingness to change their lives. Day 1 was all about finding and rocking your purpose and taking those first steps to creating a *new* roadmap to success.
Wanna view these notes as a PDF? Click here.
Takeaway #1: You don’t need to have it all figured out
So often, we think we need to know exactly where we’re going and which steps we should take to get there. Society says we should have everything mapped out and be rocking our lives with confidence. But that’s not always the case! We have a ton of options these days, making it difficult for our generation to pick a path and stick with it. How do we know we’re on the right one?!
Luckily, the fact that we have so many options means there’s a lot for us to explore. Be OK with that. Know that you’re gonna fail over and over again, and the risks you take are gonna get you where you’re meant to be. In fact, the more risks you take, the better! While you’re stalling and figuring out the steps you “should” take, you’re robbing yourself of what you *can* do. Do a bit (or a lot!) of exploration, have fun with it, and things will start to take shape.
As Brian Johnson says, if you’re patient, persistent, diligent and playful, you’re bound to be successful.
Related blog post
Takeaway #2: We’ve got the formula backwards
The big myth being perpetuated by society is that being successful (in the stereotypical sense of the word) will bring you happiness. But in fact, it’s the other way around. Happiness actually comes *before* success. We think we’ll be happy when we get “there” (wherever “there” is for you), but then we get there and it ends up feeling a little flat. As Jonathan Haidt says, the feeling you get when you reach a goal is more like relief than happiness.
Happiness won’t finally be yours when things change and you get everything you thought you ever wanted. Happiness comes first. When you’re happy, *then* things will change.
And what will that look like to you? Society’s definition of success is so narrow. Spend some time defining the word for yourself. What does “success” look like to you?
Related blog posts
- The Happiness Advantage
- Why Goal Accomplishment is Like Peeing
- There Is No There
- The Truth About Success
Takeaway #3: Happiness = Pleasure + *Meaning*
A lot of the time, we associate happiness with pleasure. But what we forget is that meaning is a huge part of the equation. Without a sense of purpose, happiness is short-lived. But how do you find meaning and figure out your purpose?
First, work out what’s important to you. What are your values? What makes you feel fulfilled and alive? What’s really important to you in life? Who do you most admire and what is it that stands out to you about them? Happiness comes when you’ve got your values straight and you’re living in integrity with them. Brian Johnson refers to this as the integrity gap. Imagine two horizontal lines running parallel to one another; the top line represents your values and the bottom line represents how you’re actually living your life. The further apart those two lines get, the less happy you’ll be. We want those lines to be as close together as possible so you feel like you’re staying true to yourself and living on purpose.
Related blog post
Peep This Too
Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Happiness Hypothesis, flips our view of happiness on its head and proposes that happiness doesn’t come from reaching goals or even from within, but rather from getting the right relationship *between* yourself and others, yourself and your work, and yourself and something larger than you. The common factor in all those relationships? You!
Another great resource is Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, which reinforces the idea we discussed above which says that happiness fuels success, not the other way around.
During the WTF conference, we heard from some awesome people with fresh ideas about happiness, success and purpose. Click to listen to…
- The Science of Success & Happiness with Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson
- Time Management is BS with Tony Schwartz
- Happiness 101 with Tal Ben Shahar
HW + Action Steps!
Think about the following questions to help you figure out your values:
- What were the 5 times in your life that you felt most alive? Why?
- What were the 5 times in your life that you felt most fulfilled? Why?
- Think about the 5 people you most admire. Why do you admire them?
- What are 5 things in life that are *super* important to you?
We’d love to know what your biggest takeaways were from day 1. Leave a comment below and let us know!
If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #EnoughBS to chat about the big ideas and interact with the other participants.
You can still get involved
The live action might be over, but you can still grab the course and work through it at your own pace. Just click here for the info.
You can also join our private Inner Circle where we’re gonna continue these conversations weekly. Check it out!
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Day 1 of "Enough BS" was awesome! So glad I tuned in. I'm really looking forward to the discussion on "High highs and low lows" this week because boyyyy have I gotten a dose of both in the past 24 hours. I'm definitely in my zone while talking about topics like this and getting back to the desk job today has been a double dose of rough! Keep it comin', Jacob! You're doing great work and I'm excited to be a part of it.
Love it! And if you're on the call for Day 3, would love to chat witcha about it! :o)
So pumped!
So stoked to see you here Iris!
Loving this already.
I'm so pumped for day 5!
Hehehe. :o)
Good to see you too, Dean! I work here. 🙂
Word! :o)
My biggest take away from yesterday's call is, happiness begets success. I had forgotten this rule and I have been constantly telling myself how great things will be once A, B, or C happen. Focus on now and things will start to change.
:o)
What an awesome call!! My biggest takeaway is: What baby step can I take today to feel the way that my big audacious goal would make me feel? It was also really comforting to hear that if we're 'Persistent, Playful, Diligent and Patient', we're bound to be successful! Sometimes it feels like, am I ever gonna get there?! But this has given me hope… thank you 🙂 And looking forward to the next call!
Hehehe. Love that!!!
WOW… I'm so pumped up with positive energy about this – great call! Thank you Jacob, thanks everyone for sharing.
One thing that really hit a spot for me was the quote at the end: 'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything!'
So much truth to that – when I look back at times when I was missing goals and specific direction in my life, be it personally and professionally, I really felt off and unhappy. Actually, it was never that I didn't have goals or aspirations but the courage and integrity to follow through.
I have had this feeling most often in romantic relationships (yep, getting all honest there ;)) and once I recognized that I unconsciously compromised my values and what I really want in life, this had an impact on the rest of my life. I have seen powerful shifts happening, when I actually had the courage to put myself and my true values before what was going on in the relationship.
Knowing AND owning (authentically) is so amazingly powerful… and sometimes really scary at the same time – but it definitely is a fear worth looking in the eye and saying 'Watch me!' 😉
So excited about the up-coming wisdom! Love the homework… reflection time with a journal is so vital!
Hey Alexandra, I can totally relate to what you said about the romantic relationships. Thanks for opening up. It's always great to hear that other's struggle with the same challenges. I often enter relationships being true to myself and somewhere on the way loose myself somehow. But it is absolutely worth getting back in tune with yourself and your values. It just feels so much better, doesn't it. 🙂
I am excited for the next call tomorrow morning (time difference to Bangkok)…
Bangkok in the house?!?! :o)
Yep, calling from BKK. 🙂 Today my internet connection cut off 5 mins into the call though…. well, I'll just listen to the mp3 tomorrow then 🙂
YES, Jenny 🙂 thanks for your comment & greetz to Bangkok (I will visit beginning of July *yaay*).
I have had long talks with friends about this – When I find myself again in the jungle of emotions and uncertainty (I can so relate to what you said about 'loosing yourself'), I immediately know that it is time to change something. For a long time I held feelings of regret and hurt and thought 'oh, couldn't I be smarter earlier then I wouldn't have to go through all that emotional crap' BUT as I'm immersing more and more in personal growth, I know that actually catching (or finding yourself) again and then having the courage to stand for your values in life, is pretty powerful stuff.
In the end it all is a process and makes us even stronger in knowing what we stand for 🙂
So true, I also remind myself that it is all a process. Nice, what are you doing in Bangkok? Let me know if you need any advice where to go etc. I'll be back in Europe by then, otherwise we could have met… 🙂
Travelling 🙂 I'll be touring Thailand, Combodia and Vietnam for a month *can't wait* thanks, for the advice… starting to get into planning more in depth within the next week. Where in Europe are you from (if you don't mind me asking)? I'm from Austria 😉
Oh nice, I am from Germany. But I will only be in Hamburg for the summer and then back to the Netherlands until January. I am actually starting my trip (after 5 months internship in BKK) next week. Plan is to go to Cambodia and Laos. Are you on Twitter? Maybe we can connect there? @LeJenDairy
Love the "getting all honest there". Thank you!
My #1 Takeaway: Out outer world is a direct reflection of our inner world…. I guess I'd always know the law of attraction 'like attracts like', but this is a really powerful point for reflection.
Who do we need to become in order to make our outer world a true reflection of who we want to be?
And just gotta express that I'm loving how authentic people's comments are…. I love how people have the courage and integrity to share their deepest feelings! Thanks guys… Loving being part of this and connecting with like minded people x
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Hi everyone!
I wish someone had opened my eyes to these Big Ideas 20 years ago! Better late than never, and with my heartfelt appreciation to you Jacob and the Entheos team 🙂 I am not a young adult in terms of my years here on earth, hehe, but love your teaching style Jacob.
One of the main takeaways I had from this call is the realization that I have wasted many years stalling, trying to figure out the steps/ ideals of my famz and society, rather than just picking up the balls and going out, following my own heart and gettin it, gettin it !! With that being said, being a solo mama, at the top of my mind always was the safety and wellbeing of my daughter.
Its not an excuse, but made things a bit more difficult to quit that job that sucked the life of me…if that makes sense.
Another takeaway, is that I am not such a weirdo after all, whoop whoop!! lol!! (No offence intended) Listening to everyone else's stories, and reading the great comments have inspired me. I agree with you Vicky, I'm also appreciating how authentic and open everyone is. Thank you all!!
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