Therapy and entrepreneurship

Eileen Fisher in Inc. Magazine.:

I have been in therapy forever -- I would not have this company if it weren't for that.

I used to think there were two kinds of people: Those who are successful, and those who go to therapy.

I thought success was the thing. What we all needed to strive for. Success at any cost. Success meaning money and fame and recognition. Success at anything. Success just as a baseline measure that you need to meet, in order to be "okay". Then you can relax, maybe start doing what you really wanted to do with your life.

I used to believe that therapy or personal development was only for those poor souls who weren't born for success. For the losers. For the failures.

I no longer believe that, though I still have traces of that. I don't think those deep-seated beliefs ever go away completely. They lose some of their power when you stop believing them, but they're still going to pop up from time to time, and you just have to recognize it, say "hello", welcome that part in, and make it feel comfortable and okay, so it doesn't cause trouble for you. But you need to acknowledge it. It's probably not going to go away, and that's okay.

I think there's something much more important than mere success, and that's living your life's purpose. Your art. What you're here for. What you truly want to become. Your soul's desire.

Success as traditionally defined may come from doing that. But there are countless examples of the traditional form of success leading to utter misery.

I think it's much much better to forget about "success". (I think it sounds horrible, anyway. I'm very sensitive to sounds. Jazz pianist was my first career choice.)

The problem with chasing "success" is that it's completely relative. Some people would look at my life and consider me a great success. But it doesn't feel like success. I'm looking at people much more successful than me, and thinking "if I had that, then I'd be successful". Chances are they're looking at yet other people thinking the same.

Much better to focus on living a life that matters. Not to other people, but to you. A life that is meaningful to you. May be being with your family. May be solving science puzzles. May be touching other people's hearts and souls.

Whatever it is, your heart and intuition already knows it, you may just have forgotten about it.

And therapy can be a great help in discovering your own truth.