Figuring Out Anything You Want From Life - Life & Business Advice, from Diary of a CEO & Marie Forleo

This is an overview of and an insight into one of The Diary Of A CEO podcast episodes, where podcast owner and entrepreneur, Steven Bartlett, interviews fellow entrepreneur and author, Marie Forleo; the episode is called, ‘3 Steps to Figuring Out Anything You Want’ https://youtu.be/gEAMi3p1hO0. In this post, I’ll be running through some of the key points that were made during this podcast episode, mainly by Forleo, and we’ll look at some of the useful lessons we can garner from her experiences.  

Entrepreneurial Marie Forleo founded Marie Forleo International in the United States, in 2001, when she started one-to-one business and life coaching.  Also an author, Forleo has written two books, the most recent of which is called, ‘Everything Is Figureoutable’ (2019).  Steven Bartlett, host of The Diary of a CEO podcast, is a relatively young British entrepreneur who has created several dynamic businesses, one of his most successful and popular being The Diary Of A CEO podcast, distributed through YouTube and Spotify.

Forleo was born in 1975, and was raised in New Jersey by a single mother, causing her to grow up with a lot of resilience and a fierce determination to work hard.  After graduating from University, Forleo briefly worked as a trading assistant at The New York Stock Exchange.  Since starting to offer life coaching services in 2001, Forleo has rapidly expanded her business, and is now considered highly successful as a result of all her works. 

Bringing Your Life & Business Ideas to Life:

Here are some of the initial life-pointers that Forleo and Bartlett discuss in this podcast episode:

Forleo suggests that we should spend 80% of our time working on ‘something which brings you joy’.  She states that if we feel a struggle in our motivation to work, we should consider that we are almost certainly working in an area that we no longer have much interest in.  She continues by telling us that it is critically important to balance the work that we perhaps have to do,  with investing in activities that we enjoy and get energised by.

Better still, Forleo states that we should ask some deeper questions, if we feel lost in life: maybe it’s time to change careers, or find a new way of working and making income?  She says that if we feel ‘lost’ in life, and have forgotten what brings us joy, we should simply throw ourselves into different situations, events and leisure pursuits, trying out things here and there, until we find something that starts to feel like it’s right for us.  This exploration might even lead to a small business idea that we could try launching, even if just initially a low key venture from our home. (This is known as a ‘Kitchen Table Business’, incidentally.)

The priority and key lesson here is that we should simply keep trying and experimenting, until we find something, or even things, that we truly enjoy.  According to Forleo, ‘people want to want something’, and by this she means that we might want to have motivation for an activity, but deep down we might begin to realise that it’s not really working out for us; we all have the tendency to sometimes say to ourselves and others that we ‘can’t’ do something, when in actual fact this is usually a delusion.  ‘I can’t’ is more often than not code for ‘I won’t’.  When we find ourselves saying, ‘I can’t’, we need to look deeper inside and ask ourselves to be honest: is it really the case that we are not motivated enough to pursue this activity, or line of work, or even a relationship?  If so, this is okay, but we must make changes in our lives.

Useful Thoughts on Business & 'Thinking Entrepreneurially':

Remember the importance of being honest when talking with friends and family, Forleo reminds us, because this skill is useful in business scenarios too.  In Forleo’s opinion, the starting point, when thinking of new business ideas, is to reflect on problems that people face in life every day, and ask ourselves honestly - Could I help solve this problem, and might it be profitable?  (This means, could you charge for it?).  Perhaps your ideas could morph into a small - or even highly successful - business, over time, if you take action.

However, again addressing the issue of work-life balance, Forleo tells us that while working hard on our business is extremely important, we must always be sure to set aside time to relax; in fact, it is the relaxation and down-time periods that help strengthen our ability to work harder and to appreciate life overall.  One way to help achieve balance and manage time is to focus on creating ‘primary projects', that encompass our highest priority projects.  Around that we build in enjoyable periods of rest, and then we can move onto our secondary objectives.

On speaking about success, and on what success means, Forleo explains that we get to decide what ‘success’ means to each of us, and we get to define the meaning of success.  Success does not necessarily just relate to income and wealth, of course.  To feel more wealthy in a more well rounded sense, she encourages us to consider creating a business around our interests and passions.  She again urges us to get extremely clear on what makes us the most happy.

Business & Your Mental Health:

Forleo strongly advocates that we must always prioritise our mental health, no matter what we end up choosing to do.  The stronger our mental health, the better we can produce work and add value.  If you truly want something, she says, you will muster the determination to achieve your goal.  So why not use this skill to make some money?  This ties into the concept of what psychologists call Intrinsic Motivation; humans perform best and are most at peace when they are ‘intrinsically motivated’, when they truly want to engage with the activity, and the energy comes from the inside-out.

Another key skill to learn in life is knowing when to quit, and not getting too attached to something that just isn't working.  Forelo advises that we should adapt our business to our lifestyle, and if something becomes stale and continues to stay that way, she urges us to try to ‘change it up’ and switch tack.

Additionally, suggests Forleo, we should, ‘create before we consume’.  Her tip here is that we should focus on creative output before consuming others’ content, be it through social media, watching a film, or playing video games.  It is important to try to produce and output some quality work before relaxing, if we want results and would like to see our lives grow. 

Most importantly of all, explains Forleo, ‘always trust yourself and your intuition’.

Seize the Day!

For many, starting a business can pose very intimidating, and that is completely understandable. It can seem like a massive and daunting commitment to launch a business, but it is important, Forelo says, to remember that you aren’t stuck with your idea or your business.  If it doesn’t work, it is not a failure if you learn from what didn’t work out.  Quitting one idea or project, when it’s genuinely not serving you, opens up time and energy to start again elsewhere.

At the end of the day, the most important priority, in both your life and in building a business, is your mental health. Craft your business around your lifestyle, Forleo encourages, and this will help with driving up your motivation such that you work on your business consistently, along with maximising your happiness.  Keep in mind at all times that you should listen to your intuition and define your own success.  With this in mind, and by exploring and playing with your own ideas and interests, perhaps you may very well create the next successful business…

Resources:

World Leading Life Coach: 3 Steps To Figuring Out ANYTHING You Want: Marie Forleo | E184

When Will You Learn To Grow Up? - Mark Manson | Modern Wisdom Podcast 590