Why Pleasure Is a Must-Have for Your Business
And I don’t mean taking bubble baths and drinking champagne
It came up in conversation with two different coaches of mine:
“Faith, when was the last time you played? And when did you last have pleasure in your business?”
I was dumbstruck when I first hear that. Me, play? In my business? I could not fathom how that could look like. In hindsight, the concept of play and pleasure never came to me because I was spiraling towards the other extreme — burnout.
Two Main Limiting Beliefs That Led Me to Burnout
These two limiting beliefs around business and success led me to burnout later on. Can you relate to them too?
1. I can only achieve success if I slog for it
I didn’t think success could be that easy. There were stories I’ve read of, entrepreneurs who have tolled day and night. And when they were on the verge of giving up, they clung onto their last hope, gave their last burst of energy, and wow! They transformed into a tremendous success.
So I thought that that is how an entrepreneur on the way to success, should be like. I would insist on doing things perfectly. Spent many hours on refining something, yet again. If there was someone who implemented a program well, I choose not to leverage that for my own success. After all, that is too easy… isn’t it?
2. I must be willing to sacrifice to have success
To be honest, I did cringe when I first hear that I need to sacrifice to achieve success. Do you mean I have to sacrifice time with my family? How about my kids? My health?
I resisted, but my beliefs of slogging, perfectionism, and originality did lead me to sacrifice time with my family. And boy, I was feeling all sorts of guilt around that.
How I Got Out of Burnout Valley
It was the sheer pleasure of diving into these topics that injected joy into my life again.
So how did I pivot from the pits to now believing that pleasure is powerful for our businesses?
In burnout valley, I was sick of my business. I didn’t want to do anything with it. I didn’t have the energy for it.
I wanted to quit it, if not for the fact that it is our only family income.
As a form of escapism, I began to look at topics that interest me but didn’t seem to have any relation to my business. There were crystals, energy healing, release work, Reiki, Akashic Records, Human Design, Enneagram, Aura-Soma, and so on.
It was the sheer pleasure of diving into these topics that injected joy into my life again. With pleasure, I experience lightness and vitality. With new knowledge and realisations, I was able to relook at my business with an expansive view, rather than a constricted one. And eventually, I chose to restart from there.
What I’ve Learned About Having Pleasure in Business
Having pleasure in business to me is definitely not about taking bubble baths, going to spas, or sipping champagne, just to name a few. While these are lovely, luxurious, and pampering, I realised that I would get bored if I do them often. Pleasure for me goes at a deeper level than just luxurious activities.
This is what having pleasure in business looks like to me:
#1. I make sure that I enjoy the journey to get to my desired results.
With enjoyment comes patience. When the journey does not fulfill me, I noticed that I don’t have the juice and grit to stick to it to the end.
#2. I connect to my life purpose and use my gifts in my business for my life purpose.
How do you know what are your gifts and talents? Think about when you were young… what is the one thing you happily spend 10,000 hours on? Even if it’s something like playing games, chunk it down further.
What about it that brings you such immense joy? For some, it is making connections and thriving in a team setting for competition. For others, it could be creating strategies and testing them for success that thrills them.
Mine? I absolutely love writing, speaking and teaching, and all forms of creative self-expression. In my younger years, I’ve spent so many hours writing my stories and journaling.
#3. Connect to my higher purpose around business activities that I don’t enjoy and cannot delegate or outsource.
For example, as an introvert working in a network marketing business, I dislike pushing sales and persuading people to buy, just to hit my own target. However, when I connect to my higher purpose of serving others first in their needs and trust that mine will be met somehow along the way, it becomes an activity that is highly meaningful to me.
Conversations that were once transactional, evolve to deeper ones around life. Hearing how each of my members yearns to thrive, transform this activity from something I dread to something that I truly love.
How I Embody and Create Pleasure in My Business
These are what I’ve found helpful to (re)connect to pleasure in my business:
#1. Check-in with my current state.
a. How do I feel?
b. What thoughts created these feelings?
c. If I allow this to continue, what actions and results would I have created?
#2. I ask myself — If this is not what I want, what do I want to feel instead?
a. What thoughts will support that?
b. Arising from this, what possible actions and results would I create?
I’ve learned that if I am in a crappy mood, then nothing seems to go well. So whenever I am in a funk, I pause what I am doing and practise the above to shift.
What’s amazing is when I practise the above steps, the way how I do my work and connect to others takes on a completely different form too.
I also invite you to pay attention to some of these thoughts and feelings that can feel like second nature to us. So much so that we may not question them because they are so “comfortable”.
But the true value is when we get really intentional and conscious about catching these. And ask ourselves — what do we want to create here?
Closing Notes
In summary, I’ve shared some beliefs we could have around what it takes to succeed in our businesses. I’ve also discussed how important pleasure can be and provided some tips that you can practise to embody and create pleasure for your own business too.
What’s one thing you would love to do more of in your business?
