Wherever You Go, There’s Your Baggage

Don’t bother Googling the phrase “Wherever you go, there you are.”  If you attempt to read about all the people who are either, credited with the quote or lay claim to it being their own, you will still be reading at this time next year, and still not have the issue resolved.  I’ve read attributes to some guy from Pennsylvania, who claimed he invented it as an 8 year old, to Buckaroo Banzai, to Confucius.  Similar quotes date back to before 1100 AD.  There was even a book written by a proponent of meditation by that title.  Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. published his book “Wherever You Go, There You Are” in paperback, in 2005.

Suffice to say that the concept is not new.  In fact, it is one of those “duh” moment things, that just about any one of us would think of at some point or another in our life.  What we seldom think about is that our baggage also goes with us wherever we go.  Good baggage, bad baggage, and just stuff baggage; all travel with us throughout our lives.  That’s something that we as entrepreneurs, or those among us who set out on new paths in our lives, often forget.  We see ourselves as turning a page in our lives, leaving the old behind, and bringing in the new.  Oh, but were it just that easy!  While there are things we can leave behind, the baggage still goes with us, both good, and bad, plus the just stuff.

Let me explain a little further, because I think that this surprise, that shouldn’t be a surprise, is often the first discouraging bump in the road that we hit when striving for a new goal or start-up venture.  And, it may be the one that takes the most steam from us without our ever realizing what has happened.  I hope, by the end of this post, to offer a little perspective which will help us get past this particular bump in the road.  

The first principle is as simple as this; If you are bad at math now, why would you suddenly become a mathematical genius just because you have a great idea for a new business?  You won’t.  Your bad math skills baggage will be right there with you in your new business until you improve them.

Now let’s say you also have the people skills of Bill Clinton, and you intend to rely on those skills in a new business.  Your people skills aren’t going away just because you are going into a new business.  You will be able to rely on those skills as you venture into your new business, just as you always have.  For some reason many of us think that a fresh start puts us on a new train and leaves all the old baggage (good, bad or just stuff) sitting on the train station platform.  The fact is, you’re the same person, just headed in a new direction, with a great deal of new enthusiasm.  Then when you trip over your own baggage, and your new venture suffers because of it, what happens?  Discouragement!

The big issue here, is to not let baggage discourage you.  The way to do that, is to realize, up front going into any new venture, that “wherever you go, there you are.”  Even when we completely loose some bad habits, or improve our skills, the mistakes and wounds of the past will always be there back in the past, and we will always carry forward some of the consequences and scars.  THAT SHOULD NEVER STOP YOU FROM GOING FORWARD.  If it does, then you weren’t pursuing a goal, but rather running to hide in an escape attempt.  That’s right.  If you let discouragement set in, then your goal wasn’t the new venture, but to escape.  Always examine your true motives before entering a new venture.  The same can, and should, be applied to your personal goals.

Point two to the situation of carrying your baggage, is illustrated very well by advice I read years ago in a Dear Abby column.  Someone wrote to Abby to say that after years at a dead end job, they had the opportunity to go to college, but they were 32 years old and would be 36 when they graduated in four years.  Abby wisely replied with a question, “And, how old will you be in four years if you don’t get your degree?”  The same principle applies here.  Would you rather just stay with the baggage and never go for the gold, or would you rather be achieving your goal with your baggage?  That’s another “duh” right?

Make it simple.  If your math skills are bad you can improve them, but still any consequences from the years when your skills were bad, will always be there.  If you bounced checks, because you couldn’t properly balance your check book, then that is part of your record that you will just have to live with.  What you can do, is improve your record for the future.  If you have a bad limp, and there is nothing to be done about it, and you happen to consider that baggage, then decide you will live with it and go for your goal.  Would you rather limp with a new venture and an achieved goal or just limp without them?  “Duh” again, right?

As you set out for your next goal or set upon the trail of a new venture, don’t be discouraged if a bit of your adult baggage follows you around.  It will be there whether or not you pursue your goal or strike up a new venture.  Believe me.  It is easier to live with your baggage when you are succeeding, than it is to live with it when you have abandoned you goals and quit trying!  What a lousy excuse for giving up! No matter whether your baggage is good, bad, or just stuff; acknowledge the baggage, then full steam ahead!

Surround yourself with people who love you, work that you love, and a cause that you believe in.