Are You Really a Conscious Entrepreneur? Take this Insightful Test to Find Out
by Leon VanderPol
This article first appeared in Conscious-preneur Magazine.
In the inaugural issue of Conscious-preneur magazine I wrote about what it means to be a conscious-preneur. As one myself, and one who has worked with many aspiring conscious entrepreneurs over the years, I’ve developed a discerning eye for who is the real deal and who is a ‘pretender,’ so to speak.
To help you discover where you fall, I’ve put together a simple litmus test.
Conscious Entrpreneur Test
First read the statements that reflect what conscious-preneurs are thinking, and then reflect on the nine statements that follow.
Of those nine, mark the ones that you can identify with.
Be open and honest with yourself, this is only for you:
I have an incredible sense of purpose in life.
I have a powerful inner calling to make a positive difference.
I have a high dream that I desire to manifest.
I wake up each day desiring to make the world a better place.
I am committed to my own inner journey of growth and development, but…
- I sacrifice my own health and well-being in order to make my business venture happen.
- I often operate from worry or anxiety (subtle and not so) about what I’m doing or what is happening in my life and business.
- I am driven to make a profit. Financial success for myself and my business is very important.
- I am often busy all through my days, on the go, including weekends.
- Despite wanting to, I make little time for self-reflection, meditation or quiet time alone.
- I spend little time discovering and healing my shadow side, ego patterns, shadowy addictions, past traumas and other inner barriers to living my potential.
- I am conscious about what other people think of me. I wear the ‘conscious-preneur’ label like a badge of honor. I want others to know that’s what I’m about.
- It’s important that I am successful, or at least seen as successful. I am afraid to fail or to be seen as failing in my ventures.
- My products and services are paramount to everything my business stands for. I am driven to have my products and services make the world a better place.
Let’s score the conscious entrepreneur test and see how you did!
If you identified with:
0-2 – You are solidly on the path of conscious-preneurship. Keep it up!
3-4 – There are visible cracks along your path, but with focused intention on your personal growth, those will not present a barrier for long.
5 or more – It’s likely you are enamored with the idea of being a conscious entrepreneur more than with actually being one.
What I listed are some of the key barriers to being a true conscious entrepreneur, because they are pointing to aspects of your inner reality that subvert your capacity to operate from a state of higher consciousness, of lightness, ease, trust and joy. And they suggest that you may have lost sight of what it really means to be a conscious entrpreneur.
As I wrote in part 1, conscious entrepreneurs recognize that our personal and spiritual growth matters beyond all else because everything we do and create is an extension of our inner reality.
Conscious entrepreneurs have a tremendous desire to do meaningful work and to make a positive difference. We have developed products and services born of that desire. But all of it diminishes in existential value when the way we do business each day comes from a less-than conscious, less-than aware state of mind and being.
If your score on this test is less than ideal, it may be time to get serious about your inner game. Make more time for it. Make it the center of your existence. And then notice how the world changes when you do.
It’s quite the miracle – the world changes the moment we change.
Leon VanderPol is the founder of the Center for Transformational Coaching and author of A Shift in Being – The Art and Practices of Deep Transformational Coaching.
His journey of founding and building the Center into the vibrant global coach training school that it is today, is the fulfillment of a life vision for himself that began over 15 years ago. It has allowed him to do work that is of his highest calling and soul purpose, while enabling a community of transformational coaches and practitioners from around the world to do the same.
Comments 1
It’s interesting that have been retired now for 9 years—choosing to retire early, with its concomitant lifestyle changes, what is often called in recent years “downsizing”—released me from many of the financial, business and “career” worries and issues. I can still be ambitious and obsessed about my volunteer work, especially environmental and the Work That Reconnects—it doesn’t matter much if I am getting paid for something I do, or doing it because I love it or feel connected to it. But starting from a point of doing from love of seems to have made its impact on my life, and allowed me to consider what I do more, and bring meditation and reflective practices in almost everything I do.