Deserving success

"We only get what we think we deserve." That was the theme of my yoga class yesterday.

I left thinking about what it is I feel I deserve and the more I meditated on the concept the more I struggled with it. It's the word 'deserve' that bothers me. There's something about it that seems connected to entitlement, which is a concept that makes me really uncomfortable.

Do I deserve to be filthy rich? Does anyone? Does everyone? 

Do the early employees of a wildly successful tech startup deserve wealth any more or less than a great school teacher or spiritual leader? Does a lottery winner deserve their fortune?

I'm still grappling with these questions and the degree to which hard work should factor into the equation, but the point the yoga instructor was making is that we are often our own worst enemy.

Most entrepreneurs I've met would agree that starting a business can feel like stepping bare fisted into a boxing ring. You can end up taking a lot of punches before realizing that you're the one with your gloves off. Ultimately, it's all about perspective.

We must learn to ignore the overwhelming fear and to recognize that we have the power to control the outcome. Of all the things I am learning right now, this is perhaps the most difficult.