Hey everybody,
Here’s another batch of actionable insights to start your week off right, so you can be more intentional with how you live, work, and create.
Let’s get started.
Insight 1: How to build a $27k course
When you grow up poor (like me), it feels like a weird flex to talk about how much money you make.
But I’ve realized, people use money as a proxy for trust: this person made a lot of money, so I should listen to what they have to say.
I almost didn’t post this thread, but its potential value to help others interested in creating live courses outweighed my internal stigmas around talking about money.
I fully believe everyone has the knowledge, expertise, or skillset to create their own course that can help others transform their lives.
But creating a course can feel overwhelming if you don’t know where to start.
So here’s what I did to create an MVP for my first live course.
Give it a read if you’re curious about creating (or improving) your own.
I hope it helps.
Insight 2: Beware the pitfalls of self-improvement
At what point does pursuing self-improvement stop us from actually improving?
According to Mark Manson, the purpose of self-improvement tactics is to eventually not need them anymore. But most people get too caught up chasing the “next thing,” they miss the point.
Manson says there are two groups of people: Doctor People and Coach People.
Doctor People are looking for an immediate cure for their issues. They’re looking for quick relief instead of seeing self-improvement as a skill to practice.
Coach People approach self-improvement like a game. They obsess over tactics and strategies to improve their practice. But this obsession can trap them in an endless pursuit for more.
But the point of self-improvement, according to Manson, is to eventually integrate it into your life to the point you don’t think about it anymore:
“The whole point of this stuff is to one day be free of consciously having to think about it. The way to “win” at relationships is to be completely comfortable in your relationships. The way to “win” at anxiety is to stop caring about your anxiety. The way to “win” at health and productivity is to integrate them into your life so completely that you stop thinking of them as health and productivity.”
This is why my goal as a coach (and back when I was a therapist) is to eventually make myself obsolete.
The point of any self-improvement thing—books, courses, coaching, whatever—is for you to take what you need from it, integrate the lessons, then move tf on with your life.
Not to constantly seek more, more, more on an endless twisted Hedonic Treadmill.
Insight 3: You don’t want money
Earlier this week, I talked to an entrepreneur whose goal was to travel the world with his family once he made “enough” money. He wasn’t passionate about his work, but did it to provide for them.
Yet his work often took him away from his family.
By the time he makes “enough” money, his kids will be grown and he will have missed out on making memories traveling the world with them because he was too busy working to make enough money to make memories traveling the world with them.
Here’s the thing…
We don’t want money.
We want what money represents—freedom to live on our terms.
But think of how much of our lives we spend sacrificing what matters to chase another comma in our bank account.
Nat Eliason has fallen into the same trap multiple times. He ultimately wants to write. But every time he thinks about writing, he worries about making enough money to support his lifestyle to write. So he keeps finding ways to make enough money to write, which takes him away from writing.
See the problem?
Why does Nat, like so many of us, sabotage himself from doing the very thing he deeply wants to do?
“The nagging itch to try something else comes from some sense that I could make more money, faster, from chasing another path. And THEN I could return to writing what I want to write about.”
It reminds me of the parable of the fisherman and the businessman.
Remember not to get so caught up in making money, you forget why you’re making it in the first place—to have the freedom to live on your terms.
Question for the Week
Have you defined what “enough” truly means to you, or are you just chasing more?
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My goal is to help entrepreneurs be more intentional with how they live, work, and create.
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Let me know what you think and what you’d like to see in future issues. I’m always working to making Building Blocks more valuable for you.
Until next time—memento mori,
Corey Wilks, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Executive Coach
Website: https://coreywilkspsyd.com/
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