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As our global economy shifts from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the age of digital information, to the Fifth Industrial Revolution, the age of transformational impact, you and your business must evolve your consciousness within to stay competitive and relevant in the marketplace.
I’ve noticed in my work with growth-minded, conscious entrepreneurs, however, that two major pitfalls become barriers to looking deeper within. You cannot find peace amid chaos until you avoid the pitfalls of “being busy.” Pitfall 1: The 'hustle and grind' way of life has become the norm. The hustle-and-grind culture can often be thought of as inevitable (or very hard to overcome) to be able to meet the demands of the customer, stay competitive and grow. But does it have to be? As a conscious business leader, you might know you need to work smarter instead of harder and longer. Yet are you in reality? If you’re like most, you might still find yourself running the endless “rat race” or the treadmill of long work hours, as a cog in our global economy, unable to escape. You might believe that growth must come at a cost to your health, family time, social life or something else. So you give up trying to “have it all” and accept sacrificing parts of your life, while continuing to struggle in some mythical work-life balance concept. Even vacations become stressful from having to catch up when you return. However, you always have a choice to opt out of the hustle-and-grind culture. Once you do, you must face yourself. You may be tempted to fall into old habits watching others around you “succeed,” and you must trust in yourself that it’s possible to have sustainable spiritual and financial growth by slowing down. Only after you embrace the chaos and messiness, have the courage to slow down and trust in the unknown can you start to practice finding peace amid chaos by simply being with your thoughts, emotions and body sensations. Pitfall 2: You’re unclear what being present means. When I ask clients “What does personal time look like?” they list off basic everyday activities like showering, exercise or maybe traveling to visit family. I often have to ask again, “Besides daily activities, imagine you’re not worried about anyone or anything else, and there are no deadlines or nothing to make happen. Then what would you love to do?” I get a blank stare. I continue pressing. “What nourishes your soul?” At this point, clients share some long-lost hobbies they never have time for. Then I get a mountain of reasons why they can’t justify doing those things they love. No staff, no time, having to serve clients or be out of business, etc. Are you creating time to be present in your life as opposed to being in many places at once, reacting to life’s many curveballs, always thinking about the next thing or worrying about what happened? What does being present feel like for you? What would you be doing or not doing? What body sensations or feelings come to mind? What if you put your own nourishment first on your to-do list? Then had a trusted advisor or colleague who can hold you accountable to making sure nourishing your soul is number one? Crisis As Opportunity There’s an opportunity when a crisis hits, whether it’s a global pandemic, losing your staff, the loss of a loved one or getting diagnosed with a disease. It wakes you up to what matters in life. It forces you to reach within and face your inner turmoil. Crisis is the perfect opportunity for transformative growth — to test yourself, face your fears and experience being calm in the storms around you. Crisis is the time to practice peace whether through morning rituals, moving meditations or mastering your mood. Until you go beyond knowing crisis is an opportunity as an intellectual concept to experiencing or feeling crisis as the one and only opportunity for transformative growth, no amount of meditation or doing more actions will make the difference. In Summary Don’t be like the boiling frog during uncertainty, where, slowly over time, you find yourself still constantly working, having no time to think about nourishing your soul. Working on top of a busy, distracted, exhausted soul now only deepens that habit post-crisis. The number one skill you need to master is managing your energy from the inside out to find peace amid chaos. It’s during a crisis that you can develop the courage to face the layers of emotions, previously ignored, now bubbling up. By learning to navigate your inner world effectively, you’ll strengthen your innate power of resilience, embodying being a peaceful leader amid the chaos. You’ll learn how to harness the power of being present in the now, trust yourself to navigate through uncertainty and experience being peaceful amid chaos. This article was originally published on Forbes.com here.
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Why I love working with conscious entrepreneurs is because they are willing to be uncomfortable, take risks, fail, find their voice, and innovate ways to impact their communities and beyond. As conscious entrepreneurs, you have an opportunity here to demonstrate real leadership in the face of the chaos. The last two weeks I've been deep diving into learning about the Black Lives Matter movement. Being silent in my business was not a message I was willing to convey. The entrepreneur traits of being willing to be uncomfortable, take risks, fail, and find their voice are what's needed to lead the way in supporting the Black Lives Matters Movement. Here are 4 entrepreneurial principles you can use to support #BlackLivesMatter: 1. Commit to taking a stand. What are you committed to? What's your why? How does engaging with the Black Lives Matter movement align with your values in your life and business? For me, my mission is to empower the next generation of leaders to cause a tipping point in humanity's consciousness. I cannot do that if such a large majority of humans in my country and neighborhoods are getting shot because the color of their skin. I also cannot do that if there are scared folks committing the acts of violence. A change of consciousness must first happen. I committed to showing support and taking a stand (literally!) by attending a peaceful protest (outdoors with masks staying 6 feet apart).  I was petrified to go out for many reasons: Would it be dangerous for my son? Would there be too many people not adhering to 6 feet apart? How would I be judged? Feeling the fear and going anyway, I came away empowered in unity with mostly white people showing support for black lives and native lives. It was moving, encouraging, and what had me find courage to continue engaging to the next step. 2. Listen to who you're serving. For me, this was understanding the world of African Americans sharing their stories of what it's like to be black in America. For others, it might be helping facilitate conversations with privileged people who feel shame and are stuck. Rather then get stuck in the echo chamber of my head of shame and guilt for not knowing, not having taken action earlier, or defending myself--I started learning and listening to those most impacted. I came across Cory Buckner, a black medic and former cop in Kentucky who had a viral post (166,000 shares!) and after looking him up was inspired by his wisdom when I white friend asked "What can we do about this?" and he simply responded, "Listen to listen, not listen to respond." Inspired by this simple yet powerful act to listen, I created this post Listening is our most powerful access to peace highlighting his voice. I researched how black people are dealing with this, reading news articles of a black man going behind the line of armed police giving out hugs. Or how when a white cop got separated out from this group, a group of black men protected him from the mob just because it was the right thing to do. This led me to want to engage more actively. 3. Implement the learning. I needed to orient where I was in the big picture of racism. So I took a white privilege checklist to find out (I'm Asian American yet often feel white growing up in all white communities). My husband is a white man and my son is mixed. I scored a 6/20 points, my husband 20/20 and my son 18/20. I then took an overall privilege test (covering race, gender, religious freedom, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation) which scored higher at 51/100, my husband at 87/100. This provided me a baseline to realize what privilege I do have that I can use to support the Black Lives Matters Movement. Now we are listening to these 3-5 minute poignant, moving stories by Amber Ruffin, Comedian, Actress, Writer and the first African American woman to write for the Seth Meyers late night show. So enlightening. Now our family watches them each night (after vetting out age appropriate stories for my son) and share learnings at the end. Learnings thus far *Being silent on the matter communicates "institutionalized racism is ok" and certain lives don't matter *I am overall privileged and can use that for good by simply listening to listen, not listening to respond *This is another historical moment in history distinct from the 1960's protests where what used to be ok and ignore no longer is ok or being ignored, and real change is actually happening as long as the momentum of what's happening (murders of black people for being black who often are innocent bystanders, in their own homes being treated as if they are thugs, etc.) 4. Go public sharing what you’ve learned. You have an opportunity to find your voice by sharing your learnings. After the peaceful protest, I felt good as a mother and as a community member. But then went through another roller coaster of emotions of whether to post about it. I asked permission to post the picture from my fellow conscious entrepreneurs who attended the protest, crafted the post, then clicked "publish." I conquered my fears that the post might be ridiculed, torn apart, or trolled and posted it anyway with love. The response was overwhelming in support. Feeling more confident, I then posted publicly on the privilege checklist findings (another moment of truth in being out there) knowing it could trigger folks. Instead, I conquered another fear head one resulting in the most delightful dialogue ensue thereafter on race that opened up many more hearts and minds. I've discovered my part in the black lives matter movement: to "listen just to listen, not listen to respond" and to foster real dialogue where all voices can be heard with love and respect. Summary As a conscious entrepreneur, you can integrate business principles to make a difference in the Black Lives Matter movement. Commit and take the leap. Do your research by listening and asking questions to the needs of those impacted, implement your learnings, then go public sharing what you’ve learned. I've been moved by fellow entrepreneurs the last two weeks who have been willing to take consistent action with their values around Black Lives Matters. I hope you will join me in standing publicly for your values, respecting those who believe otherwise, and continuing to demonstrate support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Together, we can elevate humanity's consciousness one conversation at a time. **** Anna S. Choi, Conscious Business Coach, empowers the next generation of global leaders to focus their energy and find peace in chaos. By age 25, Anna was able to triple her net income and gross six figures but was totally burned out. Now she helps business leaders grow in flow, igniting a Presence Movement to elevate humanity’s consciousness. If you're interested in gaining focus, clarity, accountability in a like-minded community, learn more at www.annasunchoi.com  In honor of Blackout Tuesday and Black Lives Matter, I took my 8 year old son to the protest in our small town of Poulsbo, population 10,000. We had over 1000 people turn out to support, it remained peaceful, and yes, everyone wore masks outside standing 6 feet apart.
Decided to go public and share our experience. Here's an excerpt of the Facebook post: Teaching my 8 year old son the lessons on race this week. He is mixed, so people won't question him as much not knowing what to ask. How Asians are a privileged minority race. How white privilege looks even though he's mixed. Like how he can get a bandaid that matches his skin. Or find a movie where the lead person looks like him versus a supporting role. Or not have to worry about representing a whole race by your individual actions. Or not have to overcome predetermined narratives (negative or positive) that come with your race when having a conversation. How it's hard for his dad who's a white male to even know what he doesn't know. That we are all doing our best. That if he were a little black boy, I'd have to give him a totally different upbringing to protect him from racism that he will likely never be forced to deal with. Like people clutching their bags or getting a feared look when you just walk down the street. I once was going to hire a black man who had an extraordinary commitment to building the social enterprise system that I met at a national conference, had won several grants and demonstrated major leadership in the community in the face of being formerly incarcerated (wrongfully and an over the top prison sentence). All he did was zen out in prison learning all he could to be a better person making the most of it. The day we were supposed to do a phone interview he texts to cancel. I call to find out that his cousin just got shot in his neighborhood. Under 30 years old. I said go be with your family...and it was then that I realized my privilege in not having to deal with major trauma all the time around you to get ahead in life. As my mexican friend said, "Imagine 2 pools to swim in. One is chlorinated, clean, and easy to swim in. The other is not just dirty, but filled with knives, junk, crap. Try swimming in that. That pool is the pool we didn't get a choice to swim in that every day we must swim in to thrive in life." Here's what I have done as a parent to educate my son.
So he has hope for what is also happening now in speaking out. So he stays informed and acts versus stay silent. So we both learn and listen to an unheard narrative functioning as one human race. #LessonsForPeace #BlackLivesMatter #BlackoutTuesday ***** Anna S. Choi, Conscious Business Coach, empowers the next generation of global leaders to focus their energy and find peace in chaos. By age 25, Anna was able to triple her net income and gross six figures but was totally burned out. Now she helps business leaders grow in flow, igniting a Presence Movement to elevate humanity’s consciousness. If you're interested in gaining focus, clarity, accountability in a like-minded community, learn more at www.annasunchoi.com |
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