The #1 Reason You Haven’t Achieved Your Dreams Yet (and What To Do About It)

The #1 Reason You Haven’t Achieved Your Dreams Yet (and What To Do About It)

People (mompreneurs included) give a myriad of reasons for why they haven’t reached success or fulfilled their long-held dreams: lack of time, lack of money, kids, busyness, lack of connections, lack of expertise, and more. At one time or another, you’ve probably blamed your lack of success on at least one of these things.

There will always be seasons where those are valid reasons in their own right. When you have a newborn infant in tow, that season would be an extraordinarily tough season to start a new business for sure. However, many of these reasons may not be to blame for one’s lack of success. 

Brace yourself for the reason… (by the way, goes for me as well)

The real reason you haven’t achieved your dreams is your own lack of belief in your success. A fear of failure keeps many of us from taking the necessary steps to reach our goals. Imagine if you knew with 100% certainty that you would succeed at what you tried. Would any of these excuses prevent you from trying? No matter how valid your excuses, you’d probably make the time for your success, right?

At the root of all our other excuses is the lack of belief. Without believing in yourself, you cannot succeed. Belief is what keeps you motivated to even try. It allows you to keep trying, regardless of challenges.

The Importance of Belief

Belief is defined as “an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.” Alternatively, it is defined as “trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.” 

In the ancient Greek of the New Testament, the word pistis (often translated “faith”) can be understood as one’s vow to a higher relationship built on trust. Scripture tells us that faith is confidence in what we hope for and the assurance that the Lord is working, even though we cannot see it. The trust we have is in God, who is faithful to bring us to the place He’s called us.

If God has called you to it, He will bring you to it.

For Christians, belief in God is the starting point of the faith. Having belief in God must inspire the action of following God’s laws and His will for our lives. Scripture reminds us that “faith without works is dead.”

Christian business owners – especially aspiring business owners – must ask themselves hard questions. Do we truly believe we are put here for a purpose and have a calling for our lives? Are we heeding that calling in our business?

Before we can even consider the importance of belief in yourself, we must make sure our belief is rooted in our faith in God. Your belief in God’s plan for your life is essential for eventually believing in your own ability to succeed.

Our Calling and Purpose

We are all created for a purpose. All believers have those they’re called to influence. I believe that we’ve all been created for good works that were prepared ahead of time for us. (Eph 3:20) Along with that calling, we’ve been equipped by God.

Starting a business isn’t just about making money. If you’re feeling a strong desire to start a business, you are most likely called to that purpose. God puts those desires inside of us, and it is our duty to steward that desire well. 

One of the enemy’s greatest tricks is to divert our attention away from fulfilling our purpose. Our purpose on earth is to discover our life’s calling and pursue it. We use our gifts, personalities, and experiences to serve others. This should be no different when it comes to how we conduct business. Our businesses ought to be fulfilling our purpose and should utilize our God-given gifts, traits, and personalities. 

All too often, we’ve bought into the idea that we must go to school and enter a field that makes lots of money. Unfortunately, many Christians give no thought to discovering their God-given purpose and pursuing it through business.

Which is why I am so passionate about helping rekindle those passions and helping the mompreneurs in my KingdomMBA program rediscover their purpose (along with the strength needed to fulfill it!).  We do this prior to even jumping into the Business curriculum because I believe it is so critically important to one’s success and fulfillment.

The Call to Entrepreneurship

A lot of Christians feel a constant tugging in their heart, a pull toward entrepreneurship. Yet despite this deep desire, most are afraid to make the jump to start a business. They’re afraid because they don’t believe they can actually be successful in their own business. 

Fear is believing in the outcome you don’t desire. When we focus on what we don’t want, we miss seeing how we CAN achieve the outcome we desire by God’s grace. Focusing on negative outcomes clouds our vision and prevents us from even getting in the game. 

Unfortunately, we’ve also been trapped by all of the trappings of the world. Worldly cares, expensive homes, excessive activities, keeping up with the Jones’, and indulging in excess entertainment all keep us from pursuing our true purpose. And most do not want to risk the ‘good’ that they currently have to go explore something that is a potential ‘best’.  

In the parable of the sower, some seeds land in thorns. As they sprout up, the thorns (which represent the cares of the world) choke them. They die out because they’re concerned more with the temporary than the eternal.

When we learn from God’s Word, we must cultivate a desire to do what God has called us to do. We’re each called to a specific purpose, and we must do what we can to fulfill that calling. When other things (cares of the world) crowd out our God-given vision, our fulfillment and calling wither and die like the seeds choked out by thorns.

The call to be an entrepreneur is a great one that can lead to a fulfilling life. Unfortunately, we often buy into the lie that we need to do this on our own. Hiring a coach to guide you through the process of building or scaling your business can help give you the clarity you need. Lack of clarity can often cause crippling indecision, leaving our business un-started or un-developed. One other very important benefit of having a coach is that you get to borrow their faith – and therefore increase your belief in yourself! A coach, because we know human’s potential and how to help them get out of their own way and success - will believe in you and your dreams even when you don’t. And having that belief is incredibly powerful!!

How Building My Business Helped me Discover My Purpose

Before I started my brick-and-mortar business, I was scared. I kept calculating the numbers, trying to figure out how much I would make and how long it would take to replace my six-figure corporate income.

Eventually I had to redefine what success meant and looked like for me. For me, the freedom to live life on my own terms, have time for my kids and family, and pursue what God was calling me to took precedence over my preconceived notions of success.

And even while that in particular was not what I ended up doing long-term, it was the necessary stepping stone to get to where I needed to be.  I couldn’t do what I do now if I hadn’t run my brick-and-mortar business first. 

And that’s the beauty of following the call on your life.  God will also work it out and have you end up where you need to be. He only needs your first Yes to step out in obedience! 

Success is not about how you’re doing compared to other people. It is about pursuing your purpose for your life, no matter what that purpose may be.

At the end of our lives, we will answer to God. We will be judged on whether or not we did what He put us on earth to do. His call on your life should be the greatest guiding and motivating force in life.

I heard someone say once that a form of hell would be getting to the end of our lives and seeing what we COULD have become. What torture to see the opportunities we didn’t take and the purpose we didn’t pursue. 

Our time on earth is literally just a blip compared to all eternity. And we’re called to live with eternal focus. The most important question of our lives is therefore this: Are we pursuing and fulfilling the purpose and calling God has for our lives?

Conclusion

Fear of failure can keep us from finding fulfillment in building a kingdom-focused business. Because starting a business is often filled with unknowns, I’m creating a small mastermind group for moms who want to discover and pursue their calling. This group will help moms find their calling in business and at home.  And be given the tools to fulfill it and create the lives they were meant to live. For more information on the program, book a call with me here.