I had the pleasure of spending my Memorial Day with the retired founder and chairman of an Elite DSO.
One of the topics that came up, which I expanded upon, is how many people I’ve seen give up right before making it. He then gave the perfect example of how he wouldn’t have built what he did during a crucial time if he had just given up.
The ability to get up and wash our hands of something is what I believe to be an entirely human behavior. You do not have the luxury out in the real animal world where things are more primal. Where fighting to the death of the other is the only option.
Thankfully, it’s [mostly] not as drastic for us evolved humans.
The secret?
This is where probably half of you agree with me and the other half disagree with me.
You have to trust your intuition. If your tuition is telling you the journey is over, your bank account is telling you the journey is over and everyone around you is telling you the journey is over, then perhaps the journey is over. You may choose to push through to see what comes about if you have that luxury, or you can fold shop and nobody will blame you.
If, however, you have that internal itch that just keeps telling you “I’m onto something,” then you need to trust your intuition and bet on #1, which is yourself, for as long as you can. Dig those nails into the side of the bedrock and keep climbing. Your fingers will become bloody. Keep climbing. Every muscle inside of you will weaken. Keep climbing. You’ll wonder if it is all worth it. Keep climbing.
It is natural for entrepreneurs to feel fraudulent. Keep climbing. You’re not a fraud. You have a gift that makes certain things seem second-nature to you and some days it all feels too hard and on the days it all feels too easy, you may feel like an imposter. You are not an imposter.
I’ve tried relocating the statistic I recently read without success (however, I am not giving up on this article, I’m just going to find a workaround). In essence, a study found that the average entrepreneur is mentally ill. Why is this important?
Self-sabotage
Another unique human trait is we have sometimes have this behavior of self-sabotaging things when they start going good. That feeling like a fraud I mentioned? That falls into this category. Let yourself incorrectly believe that you are a fraud, you will start believing that you are a fraud and sabotage this awesome thing you’re building because you do not feel like you deserve it.
The real downside here is that you often do not admit it to yourself that you’re self-sabotaging. It can be very dangerous.
You most certainly deserve it.
We are all human, and with many extremely legitimate exceptions, most of us are built to go as far as we want. Many times, someone will not see themselves going far and never make the decision to be as successful as they want.
Success is a Decision
Most people refuse to believe that how successful we ultimately become in life is a decision left entirely to us. The doctor I spent Memorial Day with comes from the “streets.” I come from the “streets.” Two similar starts, two different paths, two different outcomes. We both found success. He’s found enough to last a few lifetimes I’m sure, and I am still on my journey. My point is that he had a vision, did what he needed to do to achieve his vision and set out every day to build upon his vision. I’ve done the same.
Hopefully every entrepreneur reading this has done the same. Hopefully any inspired entrepreneurs reading this will bet on themselves and take the plunge. It is at once rewarding, scary and a hell of a lot of fun.
It is challenging, some days more than most, but it is the exact journey I want to be on because it has been part of my vision, I made the choice to execute and I’m not coming down from this bedrock.
You shouldn’t, either.
Let’s meet at the top!
