Everything Is Connected

(The Sacred Business Manifesto Part III)

Back to Part II

Through a lot of soul searching, an unwavering commitment to finding answers, and some degree of divine intervention, both Carolina and I each came to a place where we realized everything in our life experience is connected.

“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” - Leonardo da Vinci

And through this journey, we were both able to find physical healing from the suffering we experienced over more than a decade of hardship and struggle.

We were both called to take an inventory of all aspects of our lives, to stop living by a fragmented approach, and to realize that everything is connected.

We call this your Sacred Business. 

From your connection to your Sacred Business, you are able to connect with a strong sense of clarity, confidence, and purpose.

It’s an experience of seeing one’s path with unwavering certainty and an ability to navigate life with focused intention.

… It means to tap into an inner strength that draws upon self-awareness and a deep trust in a higher power. 

… It’s to be anchored in something bigger than yourself. It’s the recognition that you are on the right path not just because of the outcomes you might create but because every thought, action, and choice you make is an opportunity for self-development and growth in the story of your life.

… It’s to create something that is uniquely yours and to approach it with an intensity and focus that transcends the ordinary. To infuse each detail with such care and thoughtfulness that your creation becomes a testament to your deepest truths and the essence of your being.

To let this experience take all of you, to reflect the core of who you are, and to consciously choose to let go of any distractions or challenges that stand in the way of your deepest expression. 

The recognition that the fleeting nature of this lifetime demands that we engage fully, without reservation, and calls us to pour every bit of our truth, love, wisdom, and emotion into our pursuits.

To embrace life with a heart willing to endure and a spirit that is aligned with liberating as much love as possible. To cultivate presence and to share this love through everything that you do.

This is the essence of living from your highest self, and as an entrepreneur, this is the path of Sacred Business. 

You’ll experience a moment when you are called to take the Love-Led Leap (more on this later), and ultimately, it's one of the only things that will hold significance when you reach the end of your life.

Did you truly live? Did you love fully? 

We’ve since worked to support many entrepreneurs who have been taking the fragmented approach in life and business. We help them to get clear on what they want and to radically eliminate all the ways they get in their own way, so they can focus all their energy and attention on the one thing that matters most: the authentic self-expression of their heart and soul’s message to this world.

It's about creating a legacy that transcends the boundaries of your own lifetime and contributes positively to the lives of others. This is what true mastery and true success looks like. It's a journey that requires faith, patience, and a deep commitment to your own growth and evolution. 

It's not about chasing the next shiny object or jumping from one thing to another. 

It's about staying the course, holding the pose, and moving towards mastery in a way that aligns with your deepest values and aspirations.

This path requires the cultivation of courage.

Through this process, we’ve seen over and over again how insidious the mind can be, and some pretty predictable patterns by which we can sabotage, block, and limit ourselves from the opportunity to experience our wildest dreams (something we call allowing yourself to go on Wild Pilot). 

Here’s a few ways unnecessary limitation might be showing up for you and could be standing in the way of your Sacred Business:

Hedging Your Bets

One of the most interesting patterns I’ve observed among entrepreneurs is how we limit our own potential by hedging our bets. 

If you really dig deep inside during a moment of stillness, chances are you’ll find this one thing that expands your heart when you think about the possibility of creating it. Something that you would love to dedicate all your time and energy to, that would feel incredible to say yes to while also being a beautiful gift to the world.

If you are anything like me, you’ve probably connected to this feeling before.

But what do we do instead? 

We spread ourselves too thin by trying to pursue multiple paths at once, rather than fully committing to a single direction.

We dabble in many areas but never fully commit to any of them. 

I once met an entrepreneur who self-proclaimed that he had 50 projects started in various phases of infancy, 50 seeds planted so that maybe “one day, something will take hold and grow.” And as he cultivated this garden of possibility in his mind, he remained trapped in his day job, trading his soul and precious time on this earth for dollars that were mostly unaligned with the calling of his true heart’s desire.

From the outside, it's not hard to see how this approach is flawed and can only leave one feeling stretched too thin when they fail to powerfully commit to a single direction. This lack of focus leads to a lack of progress and an ever-present feeling of being stuck or stagnant. When you put half the energy in, you get — at best — half the energy out. 

For entrepreneurs, hedging bets might look like constantly pivoting in the business, chasing the latest trends, or trying to offer too many products or services at once before having any real traction or a solid foundation to build upon.

Why do we do this to ourselves? 

In my experience, it often boils down to fear. 

Fear of failure, fear of missing out, fear of putting all our eggs in one basket and it not working out. We hold ourselves back from fully committing to our true passion and instead scatter our energy across a wide array of projects in the hope that one will stick. This fear-driven approach not only dilutes our efforts, but it also keeps us from experiencing the joy and fulfillment that comes from fully immersing ourselves in the work we love. It prevents us from reaching our full potential and creating the impact we desire.

In essence, hedging our bets is a safety mechanism, a way to protect ourselves from the potential pain of failure. But in doing so, we also shield ourselves from the potential joy of success. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy — by not fully committing to a single path, we set ourselves up for the very failure we fear.

It can also manifest as lack of confidence and procrastination, born of a severe lack of trust in ourselves and lack of faith in something bigger than ourselves. 

Allowing your energy to be scattered in this way can only lead to average results at best. It will not lead to the creation of something extraordinary. 

The first step to overcoming this pattern is to recognize it for what it is — a fear-based response. 

Once we acknowledge this, we can begin to challenge and reframe these fears and make the conscious choice to commit fully to the path that truly lights us up.

You have so much to offer!

The invitation here is to look inside of yourself with radical honesty. Ask yourself where you are feeling fear, and ask yourself: Are you truly confident and committed to what you are creating, or are you simply hedging your bets and hoping something takes root in spite of your lack of focus? 

Ask yourself: What is your one thing that deeply expands your heart, and could you commit to building up your energy in such a way that you could say no to everything that is not that? 

What possibilities would this create for you in your life, moving beyond fear and fragmentation?

“Is this it?” 

In July 2023, I was at an elite mastermind event full of six- and seven-figure entrepreneurs, all gathering in hopes of finding that one thing that was going to help them move their business to the "next level."

Every one of the guests was a legitimate expert in their area, with attendees ranging from Facebook ad experts, social media influencers, copywriters, coaches, publicists, and conversion optimization specialists.

All the right people were in the room to pretty much ensure that if there was a question about growing your business online, there was someone who could help.

But as I observed the conversations that ensued and really tuned into what the entire group had in common around their reason for being there, it became quite evident that the thing holding this room of mega-high achievers back from their next level of financial abundance and freedom was NOT fundamentally a business problem.

Sure, strategic advice is necessary, and there was enough of that to go around to make sure every member of the group was loaded up with the right tactics and tips to make 2024 their best year ever. As a strategic business coach myself, I would never deny the importance of keeping up with the latest trends of what's working online.

But there was something deeper I observed as I read between the lines of what was being voiced while I got to know the other guests over a course of a week together in the jungles of Colombia.

Observing the Hidden Disconnect ...

What I saw was a group of driven, talented individuals, each wrestling with an invisible but palpable sense of disconnect. Despite their success and the bustling energy of the event, there was an undercurrent of fatigue.

Each conversation, each shared strategy seemed to be underscored by a silent question: "Is this it?"

Many had been pushing themselves to the brink, aggressively pursuing the next big launch, the next big idea, the thing that was going to "leave their mark on the industry."

They were working tirelessly, often at the expense of their health, relationships, and personal well-being.

Yet despite all the outward signs of success, when given the space to share from the heart, many expressed feelings of uncertainty around whether they were truly living their purpose.

They had built their businesses, but along the way, they had lost touch with their own inner joy and satisfaction.

This wasn't just burnout — this was something deeper.

They Told Me They Had Done Everything Right ...

Everyone there had done everything "right" in the traditional sense.

They had followed the best practices, implemented the proven strategies, hired the right team, and invested in their personal growth.

They had built profitable businesses that were serving thousands, if not millions, of people around the world. They were successful by any objective standard, just like me.

Yet, for all their achievements, they were left feeling hollow and unfulfilled. The more they achieved, the more they felt disconnected from their work and themselves. The constant striving for more — more revenue, more customers, more impact — had led them away from their authentic selves and deeper purpose.

They had become so focused on the external metrics of success that they had neglected their inner experience — their sense of joy, fulfillment, and alignment with their work. This led to a sense of disconnection, not only from their work but also from their own selves.

This was the reality that many in the room were grappling with — a reality that is largely unspoken and unrecognized in the hustle and bustle of the entrepreneurial world.

This is an epidemic facing entrepreneurs. Everyone is looking outward for answers, getting caught up in the hustle, and losing sight of their own inner wisdom and guidance.

It's a pattern that is all too common, yet seldom addressed. Many of us are so busy chasing after the next big thing that we forget to pause, to reflect, and to connect with what truly matters.

This disconnect between our external pursuits and our inner experience can lead to a sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment. We may achieve our goals, but if they are not aligned with our deeper purpose and values, then our success can feel hollow and meaningless.

The Golden Handcuffs of Entrepreneurship

The Golden Handcuffs are the invisible chains that bind us to a path that is not truly our own. 

They are the expectations, the pressures, and the perceived obligations that we feel as entrepreneurs. They are the societal norms and the conventional definitions of success that we unconsciously adopt and strive for.

We become so focused on achieving these external markers of success — the revenue targets, the customer base, the industry recognition — that we lose sight of our own inner compass. We get caught up in the pursuit of these goals, forgetting why we started our own business in the first place.

We become trapped in a cycle of perpetual striving, always chasing after the next milestone, the next achievement. We are constantly looking ahead, never pausing to appreciate where we are or to reflect on how far we've come.

And the irony is, the more we achieve, the tighter the Golden Handcuffs become. The more success we have, the more we feel the pressure to maintain it, to exceed it, to prove ourselves again and again. We become prisoners of our own success, trapped in a cycle of perpetual striving.

This is a harsh reality many entrepreneurs face, and it's a difficult cycle to break free from. It requires a deep level of self-awareness and a willingness to challenge the conventional definitions of success. It requires us to redefine success on our own terms, to align our business with our deeper purpose and values.

It's about breaking free from the Golden Handcuffs and reclaiming our freedom as entrepreneurs. It's about creating a business that is not only financially successful, but also deeply fulfilling and aligned with our true selves. It's about creating a business that serves as an expression of our deepest passions and highest values.

And most importantly, it's about recognizing that our worth is not defined by our achievements, but by who we are as individuals. It's about honoring our own unique path, and celebrating the person we are becoming in the process.