Twenty years ago today, our family embarked on the biggest adventure of our lives. We left Canada for what would be 26 months of living, sailing, traveling, and home schooling our three children Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen while we sailed 5,000 miles in the Mediterranean on our sailboat Dragonsinger. As an entrepreneur, what lessons have I learned as I reflect on this milestone?
Legacy
Stop every once in a while and reflect on the legacy you are building in your business. Are you creating a legacy that you will be proud of 20 years later? I spent 20 years helping to build Robelle into a successful software company. When I sold to my partner in 2001, I was proud of the legacy that I had left behind for employees, customers, partners, and suppliers.
I’m equally proud of the legacy we created as a family in the two years we lived and travelling in close quarters. It’s not that we never had arguments, it’s how we worked through it as a family. Today, we are still close with our three children and they are introducing their significant others (and our Grandson) to the adventure of sailing.
Dreams
Do you have unrealized dreams for yourself, your business, or your family? I had been reading about cruising families for decades, but had never realized just how much I had dreamed about doing the same thing with our family. Only when an unexpected opportunity presented itself did I realize how big and important this dream was to me. Listen to your heart to find those hidden dreams of your own.
Being Scared
It is scary pursuing our most deeply held dreams. Whether that is starting your own business, pushing you and your business in a new direction, or like us taking off on an adventure into the unknown. The bigger your dream, the more scared you will be.
We were scared to go on our adventure, especially with the lives of our children at stake. We drew on our twenty years of sailing experience, augmented with additional training before we left Canada. Things still went bump in the night, but nothing that seriously risked the health and safety of our family. In business, bring in outside experts, fill in the gaps in your own knowledge, and trust that you will figure it out as you pursue your biggest business dreams.
You Only Live Once
It’s really true–you only do live once. Let your fear motivate you, not paralyze you. We took on the biggest adventure of our lives and now have a legacy as a family that almost no family gets to experience. We draw from the richness of that experience to live an even bigger and bolder life today. Take the chance—dare to live your dreams and create the legacy you want to leave.
Takeaways
Think about the legacy you want to leave in business, and in life.
Pause regularly to check in with your true dreams.
You will be scared—do it anyways.
Life is to be lived—take chances and leave a legacy you will be happy to look back on.
Need Help?
Are you struggling with your dreams? I can help. Just book a book a free one-hour coaching call with me.
