These last weeks, I've been making good progress overcoming chronic pain.
Suffering in a mature person brings depth regardless of origin, and it makes me realise that healing and entrepreneurship aren’t that different.
To truly heal, I’m having to:
→ Understand the situation.
→ Do the deep (emotional) work.
→ Practice self-compassion.
These steps apply to building a business.
1️⃣. Understand the situation
Why are you getting the responses and results you are getting?
Just like with pain, you have to look beyond the symptoms and understand the real root cause of your given situation.
2️⃣. Do the deep (emotional) work.
Chronic pain is often neuroplastic pain.
I find that name friendly because it paints a picture in my head that it’s not fixed but malleable, and I can make a work of art of plasticine.
A startup is similar.
You can make changes and mould it into your vision, but it’s certainly not easy and it takes a lot of constant work day after day.
Founders face fear and doubts, often silently.
It’s not just your company that matters, it’s YOU.
Being emotionally honest with yourself and your team leads to better decisions.
3️⃣. Practice self-compassion.
Startups are brutal
As Alan Gordon in his book “The Way Out” points out, worry, perfectionism, and self-criticism create an enormous amount of pressure in our brains.
Talk about those things to an entrepreneur…If you beat yourself up every time you make a mistake or things don’t go as planned, you’ll burn out fast.
The more you work on yourself, the stronger your business becomes.
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