Be a Non-Trepreneur Part 3: The Inner Victory, The Inner Monster

Today’s non-trepreneur lesson is probably the most important one of all. Today we will discuss the importance of focusing on endeavors that match your personality, and conquering the biggest impediment to your success.

Links to non-trepreneur lessons one and two

Your business and all of your endeavors are an extension of you and the passions of your personality—they are “why you do what you do”. However, people spend a tremendous amount of time on jobs and in fields that do not match their personality. This is due to the messages their received in their youth[1] or the choices they have made in the past. People’s minds end up focusing on dreams and aspirations that are in on the wrong areas.

The solution is not to suddenly switch careers; rather, the answer is to work on one’s inner self to readjust one’s focus. The work is to internally actualize your personality and see your path clearly. The game is completely inside—the now cliché Inner Game concept and book series—and it is not simply a buzzword but a very profound challenge in life.

Ya’akov’s Struggle

Right before his long-awaited tense encounter with the brother who wants to kill him, the Biblical leader Ya’akov (Jacob) is left completely alone. He has a physical altercation with a man (Gen. 32:25-31) who seems to have some sort of spiritual aspect to him (Ya’akov names the place of the fight P’niel because he “…saw God face-to-face”, v 31).

No matter what approach you take to this man—whether he is an angel, purely a vision, a man sent by God, or simply a mundane attacker—this tussle can be seen as something that toughens up Ya’akov and prepares him for his tense encounter with Esav. In other words, this was intense practice for Ya’akov’s benefit in order for Ya’akov to prepare for a much bigger altercation.

To study your own personality click here or here or order the 7Ways here

This event is like a flight simulator for a pilot; for all the sci-fi fans out there, it is like practicing in the holodeck on Star Trek; for sports fans it is analogous to full-contact practice, or a boxing coach going a couple rounds with a fighter. In fact, you can add in all of Ya’akov’s time at his uncle Lavan’s house as preparation for the task he has, namely, taking over for Esav’s assertive role in the Ya’akov-Esav partnership[2]. Once Ya’akov masters his “inner game” so to speak, once he adds assertiveness and strength to his sageliness, he can go forth and be a complete and successful leader of the Hebrew monotheists.

Non-trepreneur and the Inner Game  

You can complain all you want about competition, you can blame the economy, and on and on, but the one thing you are in control of is your decision making and working on yourself.

“Being unconquerable lies within yourself, being conquerable lies within the enemy” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War

The more you can grow to be yourself and stay determined the better off you are.

“The separation is in the preparation”  Russell Wilson, Successful NFL Quarterback

The Ashmedai, the Monster

In Eminem’s new song—aptly titled “Monster” (2013)—he and Rihanna rap

“…Cause I need an interventionist/To intervene between me and this monster/And save me from myself and all this conflict/’Cause the very thing that I love’s killing me and I can’t conquer it…I’m sleepwalking/I’m just relaying what the voice in my head’s saying/Don’t shoot the messenger/I’m just friends with the…[Rihanna] I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed/Get along with the voices inside of my head/You’re trying to save me, stop holding your breath/And you think I’m crazy, yeah, you think I’m crazy…”

The internal “monster” is the struggle with one’s own inner self, which includes one’s current inclinations, thoughts, and the impact of the experiences of one’s past. The outer monster is an external manifestation of one’s inner anxiety. The monster corresponds to Jung’s Shadow and the Talmud’s Ashmedai (King of the Deamons, Gittin 68a-b, see there as Ashmedia is more refined and elaborate, and based on tradition). The real monster is within. It is the sum total of: your “yetzer hara” inclination to cause bad, your inner challenges, issues, and parts of your being that have not been integrated.

For more on leaving behind past misconceptions and focusing on the future click here

Whether it is an emotional struggle or an entrepreneurial one, we must remember that the most important work is within.

–Ian

[1] This is an important lesson from the famous verse “Educate the youth according to his way, for even when he ages it will not deviate from him” (Proverbs 22:6, emphasis added). The messages we receive and the habits we engage in in our youth are very hard to shake as we become older.

[2] The idea that Esav and Ya’akov would not just lead the Jewish people in Egypt, but also in having a great presence in world affairs is found in the Seforno and other commentators.