Yesterday I was driving throughout southern Macomb County, in Metro Detroit, looking at some property acquisitions with one of my business partners, Dylan Tanaka. We were stopped at a traffic light and I glanced around, taking in the sites of an area that looked like it had seen better days (better days are ahead, in my view, but not yet on the horizon).
As we sat at a traffic light, I noticed a woman walking across the street in front of us. She couldn’t have been past her mid-30’s. What struck me, however was that she was sheparding six children, all under the age of 10. It was a hot and humid day, and they all looked quite uncomfortable. All appearances and circumstances indicated that they weren’t living in the land of milk and honey. The woman, in particular, looked as though she would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else. She had a look of despair and forlornness that I hadn’t seen in a long time.
The light turned green. We moved on and so did the woman, but the look on her face left an impression on me. I started asking myself questions like: Did this woman ever define what she wanted in life? Did she ever get a chance?
I often talk to other entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs who are eager to quit their jobs about ‘defining their lifestyle’, as in: define the life you want to live, use your business as a vehicle to achieve it. What gets lost in the mix of this message sometimes is a dose of perspective.
When you are in the trenches building your business everyday, it’s easy to become myopic. We become mired in squabbles over changes in the tax code and get upset when our internet is down for more than 30 seconds. We can become so focused on our goals that we lose sight of how far we have come and how fortunate we are. On this count, I plead guilty. My focus and routine almost detach me from the rest of the world at certain points and I have to force myself to take more time to see the big picture. It’s sobering- like getting a cooler full of ice cold water thrown on you.
As I thought about the woman at the traffic light, I wondered to myself: “is this woman existing or living?” Who was I to say (or even wonder)? But, I could not push this question out of my mind. I thought about this as it applied to my own life, family, business and career. I encourage you to do the same thing. Stop for a second and ask yourself if you are existing or living?
There is a difference.
Chances are you will know the answer right away. Being conscious of the fact that there is a difference will help you gain some perspective in short order. And, if you are conscious of the difference, start defining your life, be thankful that you can and stop standing still.
Adam, thanks for a great post!
All last week I had similar thoughts of how people live their life - or would their particular lifestyle be imaginable for me. The daily crossing of the US-Mexican border gets you face-to-face with “entrepreneurs” of a different kind. Entire families beg and sell almost anything from food to car shades, single cigarettes, nuts, religious “stuff” and so on. It’s around 100 degrees and the exhaust fumes of all the waiting cars are choking me. I could not for 1 minute live a life like that - yet it does put everything into perspective.
How spoiled have we become and how many things do we take for granted that other people can only dream off? This is not only concerning the material things, but also in a huge way the safety and freedom we enjoy in this great country of yours!
It seems like this particular Mexican border town is currently being ruled by drug lords and military. Soldiers with machine guns on special tank-type vehicles are all over the place. It doesn’t help that every soldier is wearing a face masks so the revenge attacks of the drug cartels will hopefully not hit him or his family. Shoot-outs are part of daily life - and this last week was extreme due to a successful government weekend drug raid with over 60 people arrested (which means additional acts of revenge killed over 20 people on Monday alone).
I don’t know if I would call this living or even existing under these circumstances - I just know it’s beyond my scope of reality. This has not been my first exposure since I have been going there for several years, yet the level of violence has spiked to a point where I feel very unsafe.
You have no idea how good it feels to be back in Michigan! Yes, we do have economic issues here and our future may not be as bright as in others US states, but it’s not even worth mentioning in the big scope of things. And it makes me define my life as well as appreciate all the things we seem to take for granted.
Barb,
Wow. What a reality check and a shot of perspective. It is really hard to see some of that stuff first hand. Sometimes we need not even venture much past our own city limits to get a strong dose of the things we take for granted.
I feel a level of responsibility to be a good steward of the blessings and good fortune I have had to be able to start and build companies. As entrepreneurs, we can use our talents and abilities to improve the fortunes of others by creating economic value. Each job that is created by an entrepreneur, each new product created, each property that is renovated represent positive steps.
Glad you are back in Michigan safely!