Conscious Startups Entrepreneurship for people with a soul
The Conscious Startups Manifesto
We believe in a purpose beyond making a profit
We believe the purpose of a business is to make positive change in the world. And just as humans must eat to live, a business must profit to sustain itself. But most people don’t live just to eat, and neither should a business exist just to make a profit. Profits are a necessary but not sufficient condition for success and fulfillment. Life is so much bigger.
We believe fear is the main thing holding you back
Some people people may call it shyness or anxiety or stress or worry or a thousand other rationalizations. We just call it by its name: Fear. Fear is an unavoidable part of the human condition. There’s an entire part of our brain - the lizard brain - devoted to survival by making us feel fear. But our brain is very conservative, so it reacts to many of the things that would be the absolute best things for us to do. You’re not going to get to where you want to go, you’re not going to become who you truly want to become, without making friends with your fear.
We believe in playing big
You’re so much more capable, powerful, resourceful, beautiful, and worthy than you believe. The sooner you realize just how amazing and magnificent you are, the sooner you claim it, really own your own greatness, without any trace of apology or reservation whatsoever, the sooner you can start pouring everything you have into your life’s work, the sooner you can make a significant dent in the universe, contribute to mankind in a meaningful way, become all that you can be, and live a truly fulfilling life. If that’s the kind of thing you want. And by letting your own light shine, you implicitly allow others to do the same, unleashing their gifts and talents. What are you waiting for?
We believe in love
We believe that deep inside, what we all really want is to experience love. To love ourselves, love others, and to be loved. It’s all the same. And the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. Fear is what keeps our hearts closed. Fear is what keeps us from experiencing the love that is already all around us and inside of us. Love is always there, beneath the fear. As you release the fear, love will happen by itself. Therein lies the secret to life.
We believe in presence
Presence is when all of your attention is focused in the present moment, when you’re identified with the awareness that simply notices your thoughts, your physical sensations, you intuitive sensations, without needing to react or to identify with those sensations. This is the most profound and resourceful state we can be in, and it’s the state from which creativity, inspiration, and meaningful interactions with other people happen. It’s the kind of presence that heals and spreads love, just through sheer being. This is the state that you want to do your entrepreneurial activities from. In fact, this is the state you want to do all activities from.
We believe in knowing ego from essence
We all are awareness, our essence, a timeless consciousness. We have an ego. We couldn’t exist on this planet without an ego. But it is not who we are. When we do our work, it’s important to discern ego from essence. Ego will always come from fear, from lack, from strategizing and manipulating. Essence is pure love, is intuitive, is creative, is light.
We believe there’s a reason you’re here
That may sound a bit woo woo, but we believe there’s a reason each and every one of us is here on this planet at this time. And for you that may be to create something valuable through entrepreneurial effort. What Seth Godin would call “your art”. Any working time spent doing anything else is spiteful to the generations that came before you and are responsible for the fact that you’re alive today. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it’s quite true.
We believe in becoming who you already are
We don’t believe in self-improvement and trying to change your behavior. Instead, we believe that as you discover who you truly are and you let go of the self-destructive patterns and fears that keeps you away from that, you will find that you add an extreme amount of value in the most natural and effortless way possible. And that’s going to lead to both success, a meaningful contribution, and a deep sense of fulfillment. Don’t try to mold yourself into some imagined ideal. Find out who you already are and become it.
We believe in serving mankind
We believe that the best, perhaps the only way, to truly experience love, is to use your talents in ways that serve other people, that serve mankind. Any business that doesn’t have this as their mission, directly or indirectly, isn’t worthy of a conscious startup. This is the only thing that matters in the end.
We believe success is much more scary than failure
Most people think their biggest fear is failing, but the truth is, we’re more scared of succeeding. Because if we really succeeded, if we truly became who we’re capable of being, then there can be no more excuses and no more avoiding responsibility. We have to step up. We can’t kid ourselves any longer. And that, it turns out, is more frightening that the prospect of just staying where we are, staying mediocre and so-so.
We believe in the value of death
The only certain thing in life is that we’re going to die some day. Since all fear is ultimately the fear of death, realizing that you are going to die no matter what you do is a great way to strip away fear. When Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer, a friend told him: “You don’t know it yet, but we’re the lucky ones”. Staring death in the face can strip away fear and give you access to your inner resources. The sooner you realize that your time is limited, the sooner you can get moving with what’s important in life.
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