#84 – You’re Exactly Where You Are Meant To Be

SUMMARY: Why you are meant for exactly what you’ve chosen to be and how this impacts your business and your life.

[00:00:14] Stephen:  Hey guys, Stephen Esketzis here from Marketing on the Move.  And today, I’ve got a little piece of life advice that I want to share with you.  It kind of was hitting me today, yesterday, the last few days, something which I think is very important for you guys to here, something which doesn’t come up too often, but needs to come up more often, I think, to make a real impact on how people live their business, live their lives.  It’s something I believe in quite deeply as well.

[00:00:42] So, the quote — I don’t know the exact quote.  I’ve said it before but I can’t remember it off the top of my head, but it goes along the lines of, your reflection of where you are in life, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.  I don’t know if that’s exactly how you say it, but the premise of it is basically saying, based on where you are now, it’s the evolution of the choices you’ve made.  So, you are where you are now because of the choices you’ve made.  You’re not meant for more, you’re not meant for less, you’re meant for exactly what you’ve chosen to be right here, right now.  So if you’re in debt, you’re meant to be in debt because of the choices you’ve made.  If you’re a million-dollar business, you’re meant to be a million-dollar business because of the choices you made.  If you’re a hundred billion-dollar business, you’re supposed to be there as well because of the choices you made.  So, it’s a reflection of where you are right now.  and the quote pretty much sums up that you’re in the exact spot you’re supposed to be based on the choices that you’ve made in your life so far.

[00:01:36] Yeah, I got thinking about this the other day and someone asked me, “Stephen, why do you do so much work in your business?  Why do you go to the gym?  Why do you play tennis?  Why do you play soccer?”  And it was actually my new PT who asked me that.  He goes, “Look, ideally we’d like to get you in the gym.”  I just started with a new PT, right?  So, I’m slowly getting back into the gym.  And it’s great, he’s a really nice guy.  He’s a gun, pushes me hard.  And he’s like, “Look, if you want to see quicker weight loss results, you’re better off being in the gym three times a week,” because at the moment I’m only in there twice.  And I go, “Look, man, I’ve got a lot of other commitments.  I’ve got a business I’m running.  I’ve got tennis I play.  I play indoor soccer.  I love those sports as well.”

[00:02:16] And it was just interesting.  It kind of gave me a little bit of a light bulb moment, which reflects on, I’m only going to lose as much weight as I put into it.  So, if I dedicate 100 percent of my time to losing weight, I’m going to be at the ultimate capacity of weight loss.  That will be absolutely amazing, but then I won’t have a successful business, I won’t be able to spend time with my friends, I won’t be able to do this or do that.

[00:02:39] So, you look at Olympians, for example, where they dedicate all of their time.  They dedicate all their time to getting better at their craft, which is absolutely awesome and you can see why they’re the best in the world at their craft.  It’s reflective of what they’re doing and however much they’ve achieved and it’s amazing.  But then you also look at other areas of their life, so, their business acumen, their friendship, a whole lot of other areas, maybe their relationships and things like that and they might not be as strong.  So again, it’s a reflection of the choices they’ve made.

[00:03:08] So, I spoke to the PT and I go, “Hey, look, Dave –” I pretty much said like, “I’d love to get in here more often, but I’ve made a choice, a conscious choice that I want to spend more time in these other areas of my life.”  And to improve those areas in my life, I need to spend more time there.  And unfortunately, right now, it’s not something I want to dedicate more time to.  Obviously, my fitness is important and I’ve made it a priority, but at the same time, there’s other areas of my life as well that I want to focus on and spend more time improving.  And then overtime, it might change.  I might spend more time towards my fitness and gym goals, and other times I might spend less.

[00:03:42] So, it’s just a reflection and it also applies to your business.  Well, how much time do you spend in your business versus how much time do you spend doing other things, watching Netflix, spending time at home with your family, going on holidays.  All these things come into play.  And then I study successful businesses all the time and I watch what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.  And it really is interesting, one of the choices they’re making and why are they successful in those areas.  It’s based upon how much time they’ve chosen to invest in one area over another.  So, think about that, if you’re starting a new business or a new sales funnel or a new marketing campaign, whatever it might be, how much time are you spending in one area, what’s the opportunity cost?  That’s the real thing.  What is the opportunity cost of going deep into one area of your business, of your marketing or of whatever it is and then where you can spend in one place over another?  Where are you going to get the highest leverage?

[00:04:32] Leverage is a really interesting word because if I spend 50 percent of my time each day, working on let’s say my accounting, then my books are going to be right on top of it.  I’m going to know my numbers inside out, but I could spend 50 percent of that time instead on sales.  And sales is really what drives the business and I think that’s what grows the business.  So, it’s really that opportunity cost.  You’ve got to continually evaluate what your opportunity cost is, where you’re spending your time.  Are you spending your time in the right places?  It’s finding the choices that define you of the way you are right now.

[00:05:09]  So, based on my choices, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.  I’m spending as much time as I’m supposed to be spending and it’s something which you guys need to take a look at as well.  Where are you spending your time?  Where else can it be better spent?  And just continually evaluating that in the back of your head and I think that’s really interesting.  So, you look at business’ growth patterns.  I look at a lot of data as well, so you see some businesses, you see some monstrous businesses, some people that spend a lot of time on small projects, but 100 percent of their time is based on that.  You’ve really got to look at where are you in your lifespan right now, so how old are you.  I think that comes into it really importantly.

[00:05:44] If you’re 45, 50, you got a family you need to support.  You might have a mortgage, kids.  Your financial standpoint is going to be very different to a 25-year-old entrepreneur who’s making a couple of thousand dollars a month, probably from a part-time job and looking to start his first business.  So, your choices are going to be very different.  So, you need to really evaluate yourself and see where you’re spending the most time and where can you maximize your results.  It’s really interesting.  For me for example, right now, I spend a lot of time with my business, but now I’ve also started bringing in a lot more fitness and health choices into my life.  So example, going to the gym, playing tennis, playing soccer, all of that, I probably spend about seven or eight hours a week just doing all those kind of activities.

[00:06:27] One big thing is my health as well.  Your body is kind of what drives you in business and in everything.  So if you’re only keeping yourself healthy, then you can’t do anything else.  That affects everything else in your life.  I try to learn from people that are further ahead in their lives than me because I’m only personally 22 going on 23.  So, it’s hard for me to make a lot of decisions based on my experience when other people have gone forth, are a lot older and have got success and then you learn from what they’ve taken away.  That’s why books and audio books are really good.  People really teaching you their lessons, holding nothing back and telling you exactly what they’ve learned in the years that they’ve been alive, so, leverage that kind of material as well.

[00:07:06] But it’s just the thought, guys.  Hopefully that reminds you and just kind of sits you back while you’re driving or in the airport or whatever you’re doing right now.  Even if you’re just listening to this in the car or just for fun while you’re on the run, whatever it might be.  Have a think about it, reevaluate your opportunity cost and your business and your marketing choices.  Are you where you want to be right now? Last year this time — or actually, this is what I really like to do is, in a year’s time from now, are the choices I’m going to make — am I going to be happy with where I am going in a year’s time from now?  Or am I going to look back and say, last year I wish I went this direction.  And that’s something I seriously did around this time last year, which is really interesting because I’ve kind of thought that about this year — and I was like, all right, so in a year’s time, where do I want to be?  What kind of person do I want to look back on and say, yeah, I made the right decisions, I put the right things in progress and now I’m heading the right direction.

[00:07:55] So, it’s just a thought, guys.  We’ve only got a limited time on this planet.  Everyone has got two hands, so we can craft our own future.  Focus on that opportunity cost.  See the maximum amount of output you can get in each decision, each choice you do.  Focus on the right areas and just keep growing.  So, lots of ways to do that.  There’s no right or wrong decision.  It’s just a matter of learning and constantly evolving.

[00:08:18] So, that’s my little forward-thinking choices ramble for the day.  I look forward to hearing from you guys soon.  We’ve got a few cool things coming up.  This is the third back-to-back podcast I think I’ve recorded now.  So, on a roll, three in a row.  You might hear one from me tomorrow if I can deliver some sort of piece of value and I think you guys need to hear.  But yeah, hopefully you guys like what I’m sharing.  Give me a shout out in my Facebook inbox or something like that, and I’ll talk to you soon.