In itself, life is no great accomplishment. Even amoeba has a life. It is the pursuit of excellence that makes life worthwhile. Our endeavor to separate ourselves from the herd defines our road to excellence. 

Sadly, in most cases, given the first invitation, we choose a life of sitting on the couch and watching television. We keep “rolling drunk on petroleum” till late in our lives, so to speak.

And then, one day, in a deep, dark stretch, life catches up with us and poses a difficult question. “What have you made of yourself,” it asks. If we can answer back with a sense of accomplishment, it may well be the happiest day of our lives. Kudos in anticipation of that day, entrepreneurs!

But how do we figure out we are tailor-made for entrepreneurship? After all, we all know entrepreneurship is packed with hustles, initial hardships, multiple dejections, deep agony, and the constant urge to give up. It is a war front! So, before you jump in. NOW is the time to discover why you want to be an entrepreneur.

Most of us know about Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. France aptly glorifies her for playing a decisive role in the Hundred Years’ War. She was declared a saint (Canonized) after her death. The lady had no military background. It is simply astonishing that this woman dared to go to the Emperor, King Charles VII, and ask him if she could lead the French army on the mission of recovering Orleans from the English. Indeed, this would’ve needed a lot of convincing- Orleans, after all, was a cul de sac for the French military- but she prevailed over the Emperor. Once on the mission, she supervised daring military attacks, those that finally led to the lifting of the Siege of Orleans.

It was all possible because the lady had figured out the Why. She had received visions of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Archangel Michael, and she was convinced that God had given her life to save France from England. It was God’s command for her. On the face of it, this whole story seems highly improbable, surely more improbable than Todd Graves (Founder and CEO of Raising Cane’s) pulling “90 hours a week” and “20 hours a day” shifts during his struggling days. Yet, there is no denying that historians have not exaggerated Joan of Arc’s story one bit.

The Maid of Orleans knew WHY she was born, and she was sincere to that cause—not frightened in the face of a terrible limb injury sustained during combat.

Most likely, your WHY will not be linked with divinity as hers was. Todd Graves only had a Chicken Fingers chain in sight, the first of which he opened at Baton Rouge in pretty trying circumstances. I started InstaMortgage in 2008, as a recent immigrant, with no connections, no capital, and in a year when “mortgage” was the dirtiest word on the planet. Yet, I knew my calling was to educate and empower future homebuyers so that we never repeat the mayhem and trauma of the 2008 financial crisis.

The real WHY would certainly be linked with your inner calling. The brain knows years in advance what lies in store for us. It is not because our brain is a Nostradamus or a Jeane Dixon but because it has access to our instincts and rational faculties. It makes its decisions based on these data. Knowing our inner calling way in advance, our brain is deeply disappointed seeing our lackluster approach. But some of us manage to embrace our inner calling and achieve true success. Successful entrepreneurs are among this minority.

There are many reasons why we may want to be an entrepreneur and nothing else. So here is my question for you – what is that one thing you cannot die without having accomplished?