From One Entrepreneur To The Next: 10 Point Survival Strategy
After five years of launching and running WIT (www.doingwit.org) I’ve learned a bit about what to do and a lot about what not to do. Here are some things that help me as I navigate my life as an entrepreneur committed to doing whatever it takes to make in the world a better place.
1. MANTRA: This too shall pass (said on the regular).
2. BE QUIET: Listen more than I talk.
3. HANG WITH THE SMART KIDS: Surround myself with people that are smarter than me.
4. LIGHTEN UP: Sometimes I take myself and my work so seriously…I create pressures and demands that are unnecessary.
5. MONITOR SNOWBALLING: It’s hard for me to just see one problem and address it…I tend to compound – for example, “Oh my gosh our site went down….oh my gosh everything is wrong”….reality check. The site went down. It can be fixed. Chances are no one is even it on it right now. Breathe. Since I know that I do this, I can identify the craziness when it’s about to go down and I make myself breathe and scale back the drama. Sometimes I drop into downward facing dog.
6. BE A FOLLOWER: Find inspiring people. I follow people on instagram and facebook that seem to really get it and their honesty about how we are all just figuring it out as we go helps me feel less alone.
7. HATERS GONNA HATE: I act like I don’t care if people don’t like me, but I do. And sometimes I cry when I find out people quit WIT or someone talks smack. BUT my cure for this is to either blast a good song and dance it off, call a friend or look back on all the other times I experienced a setback and remember that all of them were setups for something way better.
8. KEEP THE VISION IN THE FOREFRONT: I’ll close my eyes and see where I want WIT to go. I’ll sit with that vision until I feel it in my mind/body as a reality. I get very familiar with where we are going and it helps me not sweat the small stuff. I also give myself permission to dream real big.
9. CALL MY TRIBE: I have 3 people in particular that I can call or text and just say, “please tell me everything is going to be OK” – they say it and I believe them. Over the years they’ve proven to be right.
10. HELP OTHERS: Nothing gets me outside of my head, stress, drama than helping someone else. When I’m stuck in a rut I look for ways to be of service to others.
And it must be said that I’m a woman of great faith and I find great comfort in my faith. It’s my light in the darkness. Oh and I give praise and gratitude to really good hip-hop classes that help me get my groove back mentally and physically.
Photo: Haveymade
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