Craft Beer as a Model for a More Fulfilling Life?

Hop bines reaching for the sky

Can the current state of the craft beer industry be a model for how to live your life more passionately and thus, create a more fulfilling life?

Some key things I address as a life skills coach are;
- finding and maintaining motivation to break the status quo
- discovering values and passions to create new opportunities
- avoiding judgment and limiting beliefs

First off, craft beer brewers seem to be a rather motivated lot of people. We have a group of people who realized that the industry, in its current state, was not good enough. They stepped forward and took huge risks to implement change. It takes serious motivation to create a movement within an industry dominated by massive, "give-me-profits-or-give-me-death" entities. From a life skills perspective, motivation is best sustained through doing something that you are intrinsically passionate about. Craft beer brewers and others in the industry seem quite intrinsically motivated about what they do. If you try to follow industry developments and what beers were just brought to market, you know there is no status quo in this industry. The energy level of the industry is through the roof!

I think we can all agree that the craft beer industry is exploding through innovative ideas and increasing market demand. Each new off-shoot in service or beer style is backed by someone or some group that is putting values and passions into action in order to create opportunities for themselves. The number one thing you can do to feel good about the work you do, and to do it well, is to do something you are passionate about. Without passion you will be hard-pressed to make it through the rough patches.

Life Skills Lesson- The #1 thing I have learned in my life skills coaching training is to avoid judgment at all costs. It has been mind-blowing how destructive and self limiting making assumptions (judgmental thinking) can be. As humans we like to be right. Once we make an assumption about an idea or a person we automatically get into the mood that will create the evidence we need...to the point that we will manufacture evidence if that is what it takes. Assumptions keep us in our comfort zone. If you only do one thing to improve your quality of life, start challenging the assumptions you make about yourself, ideas, and other people.

The craft beer industry does not seem to have a self-esteem problem. I am sure there are still a fair amount of detractors out there who think that craft beer could never reach the stature of wine when pairing a drink with food. This has not stopped the craft beer industry. Craft beer does not care what others think of it. Stop caring about what you think others are thinking about you.

In all of the festivals, home brew meetings, pubs and bars I have attended I can't recall ever seeing craft beer people passing judgment upon one another. We get together and we celebrate and congratulate each person's contribution. It is the most congenial and collaborative interaction I have ever seen. So many people willing to share recipes, brews, and ideas for the greater good of the craft. Maybe this would work in other industries to get them to innovate and turn out a consistent quality product, or maybe it wouldn't, but the craft beer industry is one innovative, dynamic, and forward-thinking force to be reckoned with.

So the craft beer industry is ripe with motivation and passion, and wastes little time and energy passing judgment on itself or the ideas people bring to the craft. If you instill motivation and passion, while limiting judgmental thinking, you will gain a much more fulfilling life. Look to the craft beer industry for inspiration to create a much more fulfilling life for yourself.