Why Do I Want To Create Many Great Brands? | 5/16/22

Why do I want the experience of creating many great brands?

I guess it goes back to legacy. I’m attached to my legacy. I should want to uphold my name while also not doing things just to validate my legacy. It’s a fine line to balance. Radical thinking one way or the other leads to disharmony for me.

Externally though, many of the people that I admire in some aspects have / had multiple legacies. Multiple companies. Multiple careers. They weren’t just satisfied with one success. Of course there’s a fine line here as well with wanting more success as a vanity metric and having success just for the sake of success without a purpose. And what that success leads to or makes more accessible. If they are more material things for materials things’ sake, then that’s not an intention that I want to have. But it’s also not abnegation from material things. So again, I want the recognition and power that comes with creating many successful great brands.

The power of what exactly though?

Power to be the “greatest” at something…? I ‘ve always been enthralled by the greats of history, like Jesus, Caesar, Gandhi, Washington, da Vinci, Jordan, Tesla, and countless more. Their names will be remembered forever. Is it wrong to desire to be among that list? I know I’ll have the right intentions if / when I have more “power” externally to wield that responsibility positively.

Is it because I felt powerless at some point in the past that I want this power now and in the future? In our world now, the most externally confident are presumed to be good in positions of power. The issue right now is I have lots of internal confidence but it’s not translated to external confidence by the current quantitative and qualitative measures of such an attribute.

Power indicates control. The ability to control, or at least the ability to impact control. My nature is to know that I am in control, a knowledge that only I “should have”, without others knowing or seeing that. So I want power without the measures of power.

If someone challenges me on that power, then I shrink and acquiesce. Throughout my life, I’ve been in a constant Catch-22 of wanting power, control and attention while simultaneously deflecting it right before or after I get it.

What does that translate into?

The illusion of growth and going outside my comfort zone when I’m not really. Or at least as much as I think I am.

I’m pretty possessive and attached as well. I’m looking to be included in social groups, etc. but when “I’m in”, I don’t feel that same level of inclusivity for others. Like I want to be let in on the inside joke but once I know the inside joke, that’s it. It can’t be included to have more people.

For the illusory growth point, me creating a website and all the content I do but with not as many people watching as I’d ultimately like, is a prime example. I think I’m growing a lot but I’m still in the comfort zone of my own website; people I know previously. It’s time to actually go into the learning zone.

To seek the resistance away from which I shy.

I do go the path of least resistance. I justify to myself that it’s such a meta thing that only I know that I don’t share those learnings / experiences / feelings with others. I don’t go all the way on the path to mastery. I stop when I’ve reached a certain level of excellence. Chess, geography, harmonium, tennis, table tennis. I justify to myself that I’ve reached a ‘good enough’ level on it. That there is diminishing returns to the time I invest in the existing craft compared to starting something new. I’m really not a master in anything right now. I’m a jack of all trades.

Now how much do I intentionally lean into that vs going along the path of mastery on one or two of those things? By going along the path to mastery farther in a specific craft, I have to recognize I can’t spend that time being more of a jack of all trades in whatever trades those are.

What if I change my perspective though?

That I can be both or either depending on the context?

How much do I fight my natural inclination of this mindset vs lean into it?

I think I embrace it to continue being creating and getting inspiration and learning eclectically. AND I also must push through this resistance in times when this strength becomes a weakness.

That way, I can leverage either / both sides depending on the context. Then the recognition of how that trait will effect the situation will allow me to tap into the jack of all trades mindset or the master of a skill mindset.

This is a major block that I have right now. It sounds simple and is a truism, but it’s so obvious: In order for me to be great, I have to be great at it.

Like in order for me to actually be well known, which I do want (stop lying to yourself!), then I actually have to become a master at it. I can’t keep lying to myself and going the path of least resistance all the time saying “that’s the Universe’s message to me…” I have to seek the resistance.

I can’t keep telling others that I’m putting out all the content ‘just for myself’ when I know I also want millions of people to see it at some point.

That is a huge psychological block that’s prevented me from achieving all that.

No more hiding that! No more veiling that. No more disguising and masking that! I’ve gotta embrace that side of me that wants to be publicly, nationally, globally great and work towards that path of mastery, overcoming all obstacles the Universe has in store.

It’s like Shaq’s question. “Do you want to be good or you wanna be great? Do you wanna be great or do you wanna be one of the greats? Do you wanna be one of the greats or do you wanna be one of the greatest? Do you wanna be one of the greatest or do you wanna be the greatest?”

I’ve gotta constantly ask myself that deeply.

On one level with mastery and on another level of scope. Not just the mastery of the skill but on what level, from truly private to global / Universal.

The unabashed avowal of greatness balanced with compassion and humility.