GI said it, GI here on GI said it where I break down my perspective on different topics. And today I wanted to talk about when the path that you’re on isn’t for you. And here’s the deal. Just because something seems like it’s the thing that you should do or that you need to do, or maybe even the best option does not mean that it’s best for you. You have to choose a path that fits who you are, what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, and also what resources you have. You’ve got to be real about that. Resources, money, possibly the energy that you have, community support. Do you have the things to facilitate that particular goal and that path that you’re trying to be on? So I bring this up because my job is to develop strategies either for a business, for an individual, if they want to grow or become better at something or achieve a goal.

My job is to devise strategies to achieve specific goals, but I design it based on the person, what the factors are, the strengths, weaknesses, there are resources available as well as the market or competition. As there, I try to tailor it best I can for their unique and particular situation so that they can actually get an outcome, not in theory, but actually make it happen and get results. When you are trying to come up with what you should do on your own path, say deciding what your purpose is or what career you have, a lot of things that are getting in the way of being objective about what you should do. And the first and foremost of those are your emotions. Your emotions are going to color what you think and how you feel about something, right? So if you feel scared about a particular path, despite the fact that objectively it’s what’s best for you, you may not do it.

You may say, Hey, I’m going to go do this other thing because it makes me feel better because it’s a lot easier. So it’s not as simple as, Hey, what’s the best thing I should do? Well, maybe what’s the best thing for you in this particular state and point in time with the resources you have available with your strengths and weaknesses that you have to consider? All those factors. And essentially what we’re talking about is how to devise strategies. It’s not just, oh, what’s the best practice? People do this, people do that. People do that. It doesn’t work that way. And a good example is let’s say a business contacts me. So a startup, I get a lot of startups. So a startup comes to me and says, Hey, we have this new product. We want to be able to enter this market and we want to get all these sales.

I’m like, okay, cool. So let’s take a look at the brand. Is the brand on point or is it iffy and people don’t trust you? Okay, got to fix that. What about the website? Same situation. Okay, got to fix that. Your product. Do people even want that? I know you feel passionate about it, but that’s irrelevant. Do people want it? Are they going to pay for it? How much competition, right? Is there too much competition to where you can’t compete and that this is a big one when it comes to businesses anyways? Do you have the funds for that? You say you want to be number one in your industry and you got a couple dollars to contribute for your marketing budget, that’s not going to work. You need to be realistic for your situation and bringing that back to, say, on a personal level, you want to be a doctor and you say, Hey, I want to be a doctor.

I’m going to go to school. I’m going to get grades during high school. Then I’m going to get into a wonderful college, and then I’m going to then apply and now I can work either residency or whatever it is. I’m not going to pretend like I know the path of a doctor, whatever it is that you have to do to get there. Well, here’s the thing, do you have the grades for that? Do you have the ability to study harder than your peers in order to rank high enough to get into that good school? Can you write properly to have an entrance, a little essay? Do you have the funds for that school or are you going to get yourself so far into debt that it doesn’t really matter the job you work because you’re so stressed out working all these crazy hours just starting out, so your pays not as high trying to pay for these debt and these bills that you have, and now you have no money for anything else.

So that might not be the best path it could be. I’m not saying it isn’t. It just depends on you. And part of the first part of even knowing if the path is going to be right for you is do you know yourself? How well do you know yourself? Do you assess yourself? Do you look at yourself objectively and contemplate on why you feel the way you feel? Right? What are you feeling? Do you know that? That’s a great starting point? Why do you think the way that you think? Why are your behaviors that way? Have you looked into your past and people use the term trauma? Have you looked at some of your potential trauma and try to rectify or try to deal with some of that beyond just coping? Did you try to grow beyond that point? You have to know who you are.

If you’re going to understand what path is a correct for you, that’s a key part of that. So it’s not as simple as, oh, I want to be on this path, or I think that this is what’s best for me. You have to know who you are. You need to understand the landscape, your environment, and you need to understand the resources that you have available and whether or not you can actually go and succeed in that path. I mean, I’ve been through it myself where multiple times, especially in business, while designing a strategy for myself, it’s a lot more difficult because now my emotions are involved, right? I am human and I devised this strategy. I’m like, okay, I’m going to do this. Okay, do this, do this, do this on paper. Fantastic. Like, oh my goodness, I’m going to kill it. This is going to be amazing.

And I start doing it. I’m like, this doesn’t feel right. This was the perfect strategy, but it doesn’t feel right to me because I can’t be so objective about it because it’s for myself. So sometimes it takes some experimentation or you have to try a little bit. No, okay, that’s not right. Okay, let me adjust the strategy. No, no, that’s not right. And sometimes you’ll just know when you land on that right one, you’re like, ah, right, I feel so much better. There we go. And you’re happy doing it. You’re having the best time. You’re getting wins quickly. You’re starting to move towards and reach that success that you’re looking for because it fits who you are. It’s such a big part of success in achieving your goals, right? Working against the grain, that’s not effective or efficient. It’s just going to waste time and energy.

So you need to know who you are. You need to be realistic about the goal that you have and the path that you’re trying to be on. And then once you have that locked in, you’re like, okay, this is it. Then work diligently. If you’re just going to kind of eh, halfway do it, you are wasting your time and possibly other people’s time. You really need to dig in and get it done. Push forward if it’s important to you. And I think a big, big part of specifically that is do you understand the difference between a want and a need? Is it just something you want but you don’t really care so much about or something you need? I think that in particular, I’m going to have to make that an individual episode in itself wants versus need. That is very important to know. So GI here today, it’s probably going to be a bit of a short one, but that’s okay. I just wanted to kind of highlight for you, do you understand that the path that you’re on, does it fit you? Is that why you’re having such a hard time with it? Is that why you’re struggling? Is that why you feel unfulfilled? Is that why you feel unhappy and depressed despite that on paper you’re doing everything that you’re supposed to do?

I want you to think about that. That’s your homework for this week. Think about that. The path that you’re on, does it fit who you are? Does it make you feel fulfilled? If not, might be time to see if you can make some adjustments. Speaking of adjustments, guys, that’s what I do gi, I’m a growth advisor, so I help you out and figure out, okay, what strategies do you need to do to actually go ahead and reach the goal that you have? All you got to do is go to the website, gi griffin.com/advisor as well as the usual, subscribe to the show. Join in, come to the dark side. I’m kidding GI here. I’m out. And now a word from our sponsors. I is my favorite. GI said it.