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“Everything is always impossible before it works. That is what entrepreneurs are all about – doing what people have told them is impossible.” -Hunt Green, venture capitalist
“It will never work”, Rick told Bill after seeing his unique body care product line. “How do you expect to be successful in the shadow of the other companies making similar products?” he asked.
I’m going to share a very personal story. My sister-in-law (who was a devoted entrepreneur herself) was recently killed in an automobile accident -clearly a tragic event that has changed me forever. As part of the healing process I’d like to share with you some of the valuable lessons I’m learning as both as a business owner and as a human being.
Your life as an entrepreneur – hard work, dedication, taking risks, being fearless – you know what I’m talking about. It takes inspiration, willingness to be out of the comfort zone and lots and lots of energy to keep your businesses going day after day, week after week.
Sex, death and money are three topics guaranteed to get attention. You don’t have to think about it for long to realize why. They all hold a fundamental, primal link with being human; we can’t live without any of them. Clearly, as a species, sex is how we get here; it secures the future of our kind. Understandably it occupies a good part of our western culture mind. Death, on the other hand, is inescapable and mysterious –the inevitability of it provides the grist for living, the urge for purpose and meaning.
I am either incredibly foolish or very fortunate. Last year my husband and I ventured to go against well meaning advice and decided to build a house. Not just any house, but a completely custom straw bale house. For those of you new to alternative building – straw bale is an incredibly efficient, well proven, green method of insulating a traditional timber frame house.
Overwhelm is one of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs experience on a daily basis. The definition of overwhelm, according to The Brainy Dictionary is, “To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to engulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly.” Whew…sound familiar? I’ve been there, too, so I understand -it’s not a fun place to be.
Stress is high, your energy is low. Sound familiar? This is the common experience of most small business owners I know. Owning a business can be like running a marathon. You know you’re in it for the long haul, there’s not much time to catch your breath, yet you push on. You can easily see how this scenario can lead quickly to an out of balance life.
“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… The truly wise person is color- blind.” Albert Schweitzer
I learned a very difficult life lesson this month. Me, the eternal optimist and consummate positive thinker was blinded by my own medicine. It’s a powerful personal story and it dawned on me in the midst of recounting it to my entrepreneur group that its lesson is incredibly applicable to business.
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Douglas Adams
Let’s talk about the P word. Procrastination. If this is you, this pervasive, habit effects every aspect of your life. As a procrastinator you typically under perform, limiting success and the life you want to live. It dampens your ability to take action, creates missed opportunities, and is the single pattern of behavior I see in most entrepreneurs that if corrected would free up log jams of energy and potential. If you’re a procrastinator you know in your bones that this is true, yet, it seems like an impossible habit to break.
I’m going to resist the temptation to jump on the New Years resolution bandwagon. Frankly, I don’t believe resolutions endure and I’d venture a guess you are saturated with messages, to tempt you to make the changes you want to make for this coming year. Instead of dangling a stale carrot in front of you, making it sound easy to succeed by resolution, I’m going to offer you something juicy. Forget resolutions. This year, LEARN to change your life.
Complete Life Balance
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