Depressed Entrepreneur?

So today I had an email come over from another internet marketer and it spoke about a topic that got me thinking.  Have you ever seen, known or heard about a depressed entrepreneur?  I thought long and hard about this, I know and have known countless entrepreneurs, some at that TOP of their game, others facing business defeat, others stuck in a rut and the common thread amongst them, not ONE was depressed.  So it gets you thinking, what is it about the entrepreneur that allows for him or her, no matter what the situation to remain unaffected by “depression”.

It’s a matter of the heart

The heart, going to the dictionary is defined of course as an internal organ, but that’s not what we are talking about.  When you look further into the definitions of the heart, the ones that I want to talk about are:

The vital center and source of one’s being, emotions

The repository of one’s deepest and sincerest feelings and beliefs

Courage; resolution; fortitude

So the heart of the entrepreneur is what it is all about.  They know and have always known they were meant to conquer, to press on, to create, to innovate, to overcome obstacles, to never look back and ultimately they were designed and created with an amazing ability to no matter what the situation, to live in a state of mind and heart that will not allow for them to be depressed.  The heart of the entrepreneur can never be changed, it can never be satisfied with anything other than being an entrepreneur.

It is this fortitude, this passion, that even in the hardest moments, the entrepreneur assesses the situation, analyzes and looks for the solution.  Think about any great entrepreneur of modern time or times past, they have all faced, perceived defeat, perceived failure and perceived challenges.  Yet, each and everyone has done what the entrepreneur does best, they OVERCOME and move forward learning from the past and using each trial as a building block towards the success that is inevitable in the life of the entrepreneur.

Looking at the successes and perceived failures that have been a part of my life I can say with full confidence, in all, not once did I enter a state of depression, it was almost as I was unable to go there, that my very being was created without this mechanism.  I can remember shutting down a business that we had high hopes and dreams for, one that we believed we could franchise across the country, I remember the last night of operations.

“The store was quiet, there was a sense of peace, a sense of finality and we were closing up shop.  Sitting at that place alone after intense hard work of development and operations, I remember shutting off the lights, turning on the alarm and saying to myself, It was a good run let’s move on, what’s next?  Literally, several HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars lost and in it all not once was there a moment of depression.  Confusion, disappointment of course, but it only lasted a brief  moment, at the end of the day what mattered was not the perceived failure, what mattered was, the game is still ON, what’s next!”

See at the very heart of the entrepreneur is something amazing.  It is something that we ALL have access to, yet only very few people ever tap into the resources given to us by God.  If you don’t believe me, take a child for example, a child has passion, enthusiasm, imagination, creativity, fortitude (just tell them no, they will ask seven different ways to get the yes) and above all BELIEF.  Somewhere, down the line we get stomped on, we get isolated, we go to school and listen to teachers who tell those of us with those attributes above, that we have ADD or ADHD or lack of focus, many of our parents repeat the cycle, they don’t know any better, you hear things like, don’t set your goals to high, you can’t do that, stop dreaming, no, no, no, no and eventually the HEART and the passions within are buried deep behind fear and lack of belief.

See the entrepreneur is someone who looked at the teacher and thought, like I did, huh?  Don’t tell me I can’t, don’t tell me that idea is unrealistic, don’t tell me what your ‘test” says I am good at, don’t talk to me about business (you have no clue, business is not BOOKS) and ultimately the entrepreneur tuned out those who were a part of their lives who had nothing of real value to add. The entrepreneur either looked at their parents and said, I am not going to follow the thought pattern of my parents it has held them back.

or

They were blessed, like I was, to have parents or a role model(s) that said you can do what you want.  There are no limits to what can be achieved, God has designed us for greatness and we can follow that plan for our lives.  When they hit an obstacle, they stopped, the analyzed, they made the decision, do I wait, do I go over, do I go around or do I change direction.  When they had perceived failure in life, they didn’t stop and say whoa is me with their head hung low, they said, ‘The past does not equal the future, I will learn, I will implement and I will move forward.”

Check The Heart

See the medical community will focus on our heart as a vital organ.   Which of course is very important, equally important is your heart as defined above.  Check your heart, do you posses the attributes we talked about, the attributes of the child?  If so, stop and appreciate what you have as you are one of a very select few.  If not, look deep within the chambers of your heart, you will find them buried deep, covered under the garbage that was allowed in, covered under the years of people of authority telling you that you cannot, telling you that you are unrealistic and ultimately crushing the inspiration that you are made of.

So, look long and hard at the lives of the entrepreneur.  It is in the moments of challenge the true entrepreneur emerges and the heart prevails.

Live life with passion, keep charging and I’ll see you at the top.

Josh

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Are You Living In A State Of Stress?

The Problem

Are you living in a constant state of stress and urgency, moving from one challenge to the next?  Do you find yourself struggling to get ahead.  What causes the state?  How do you avoid it?  For many, stress is just the cycle of your day to day life and is typically caused by self inflicting reactions to specific circumstances that we all face daily.  Thus, you are always living in the state of reaction to urgency rather than focusing on what is important but not urgent.  This cycle and state you operate in will not allow you to be empowered and often cause many to seek avenues to “remove” the stress by entering a state in which the urgency is temporarily removed.  For some, they revert to alcohol or drugs, others eating, watching TV, working out and the list goes on.  Now most of these avenues are not bad, rather many are healthy and empowering.  (minus the drugs, alcohol and over eating)

The problem is the amount of time spent in these areas to remove yourself from the stress.  Rather, your time should be focused on identifying how to manage your life in such a way that you are not living in reaction.  Living your life in reaction will cause your life to be run on the terms of other people and outside circumstances rather than on your terms.  Often we allow other peoples “urgent” matters to control our reaction as well.  Some are important and must be taken care of, on the contrary, many are typically non important and cause most of us, to fulfill the basic need to be “significant”  and we will enlarge the matter to feel more significant.

The Solution

The key is to spend your time, your #1 resource on the things that serve you and matter to you most.  The way to do this is to learn how to get in the “zone” where everything is flowing for you, things are happening in such a way that you are fulfilled and you are operating at a higher level.  Getting to this zone requires you to step back and break out of the cycle of living from urgent moment to urgent moment.  It takes a realization that you have choices, most stress comes from the belief that we are in a position without choices, we have a to do list of  things we “must do” and this causes stress.   You always have at least three options to any scenario.  The choices as you approach  matters of urgency are the following:  is this urgent and important, urgent and not important or neither urgent nor important.  This is about developing a change in your belief system as to how you view urgency.  Urgency, is not your friend, urgency is the source of stress and the source of living reactionary.

Where do you spend your time on a regular basis?

Evaluate your time and what you spend your time on.  What % do you spend on things that are urgent and important, what % on those things that are urgent but not important and what % on things that are neither urgent nor important.  Learn to shift your time and organize your time to focus on things that are important so that they do not become urgent.  Remove yourself from the belief that urgent = important, often the things that we are making urgent are not important.  When you learn to focus specific time on the things of importance you will not be living in a moment of reaction rather of choice.

As you develop a systematic approach to how you evaluate where your time is spent and you reduce the moments or urgent reaction, you will find more of your time in the zone.  The zone will allow you to be fulfilled, to accomplish more, to live with more free time and ultimately design your life around the areas of importance to you.

Keep On Charging

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The Safari, The Lion & The Entrepreneur

So here we are at the Milwaukee County Zoo, a fabulous zoo with a lot to see.  Ethan has his favorite animals that he likes to see and funny enough he always wants to first go to the part of the zoo that has barnyard animals to see the cows first.  Of all the animals he chooses the cows, actually last year Kelly and Ethan were able to watch a live birth as a new calf entered the world.  So here we are mid week a couple days ago, we decided to drop what we were doing to take Ethan and Cole to the zoo and hang out as a family.  As we stroll through the streets of the zoo and look at all the animals I am reminded that only a short while ago this was something that I was not able to do during the middle of the week as I was stuck at work.

As we meandered through the zoo we came to “Big Cat Country”.  I love seeing the majesty of the Lion, the sleekness of the Cheetah, the confidence of the tiger and the funny acting Hiena.  Walking through the building where all the Big Cats are “caged” in a complete pseudo safari is always humbling for me.  Why?  You may think I am talking about animal rights etc., I am not.

The Lion & The Safari

Look close at the picture above, this majestic king of the “jungle and safari” was staring directly at us.  As I looked right at this beast 6 inches from the glass, I realized, he is NOT LOOKING AT ME.  He is looking right through me, I mean I didn’t exist in his world, no matter what I did he just stared as though I wasn’t even there.  Friend, as I watched this lion I realized this . .

In his being, the very FIBER of  who he is, a King, A Conqueror, he makes his own rules, he roams the Safari with might and power.  He leads his pride with freedom and power working in his environment roaming, being and living.  I knew at that moment this majestic animal was NOT looking at me, He was imaging the SAFARI, he was sitting on his throne living on his terms, picturing in his mind, seeking his prey, leading the pride, conquering his domain, he was at that moment exported from the “cell” behind the glass and he was living in the safari in which he was created to be.

What a powerful parallel to the lives of MANY entrepreneurs . . .

The Entrepreneur

Here you are it is Monday morning, you are an entrepreneur and you’re heading to work.  You arrive at the office, you step out of the car and head into the building to begin your week working in your “cell” behind your glass.  You go through the motions of the day, you accomplish your job, you deal with the things of the moment.  However, not too long into your day, you find yourself staring . .

You imagine, roaming the safari, conquering, living on your terms, your heart races, you feel at home, you know that in your heart you are an ENTREPRENEUR and you are not meant to live by the terms of others rather it is your destiny to build, lead, create and prosper.  You find yourself imagining your day, what you would do, how you would act, who would be and what your life would look like as a successful entrepreneur.  Than, BAM, wake up you are back to reality, you snap out of your zone you look around and see you are there behind the glass in your cage . . .

Friend,

There are two types of entrepreneurs.  Those that accept the position they have and allow their dreams, their destiny and their true identity to die and than there is the entrepreneur that takes action.  They begin to build so they can break FREE from the glass, they can roam the safari, they can live on their terms and they emerge as a conqueror an entrepreneur who no longer is behind the glass!

Take a look at the lion above . . .

“Are you going to remain as he is in a cage?  Or will you emerge as the entrepreneur with the freedom you desire and deserve?”

Keep on charging,

Josh

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