Monday
06Jul2009
Entrepreneurs: How To Get Exactly What You Want And Unleash Your Full Potential
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 12:08PM If you're an "always-in-forward-motion" entrepreneur like me, then you probably get so wrapped up in doing that you forget to reflect on what you have done. There is a reason why so many successful entrepreneurs maintain personal journals and even take quarterly or annual "retreats" to take a time out to revisit what they have learned, the mistakes they have made and the challenges they have overcome.
Early in my entrepreneurial career I was extremely hard on myself...my own worst critic, so to speak. I owned, internalized, and emotionalized all of my mistakes. I thought they defined me and my ability to succeed and thus my self confidence would fluctuate dramatically and unproductively. This is dangerous thinking and if you want to excel in entrepreneurship, you must learn to leverage the lessons of failure into future success by studying them with a detached interest.
A favorite Zen maxim that I repeat in my mind frequently to embrace this philosophy is, I am open to everything, but attached to nothing. You see, as is taught in Buddhist philosophy...attachment is the root of all human suffering. It is important to acknowledge and learn from all of the "negative" events that happen in your life. But, you must not own them. Refuse to use them as a measure of your worth, talents, or abilities. In reality; however, every experience in life is simply neutral. You only make it good or bad by the labels and emotions you apply to each one.
One practical method of reflection that I practice throughout each year is to maintain an ongoing log of all of my achievements...no matter how small or inconsequential some of them may seem. It is important to focus on your achievements because they build your self confidence and self image which are both essential to the success of an entrepreneur. Both during and at the end of each year I review my log and fill in any achievements that I have forgotten or overlooked. This New Year I am adding a new component to this practice and that is predetermining my achievements for 2009.
This means that I have already setup a new document in Google Docs (my preferred personal journal tool) where I will log my achievements in 2009. However, I have typed this question at the top of the doc: What do I want to have written here by the end of 2009? Beneath this question I am listing all of things I want to have accomplished by the end of 2009. Call this visioning or goal setting or whatever...but there is profound programming power in this technique and I anticipate that every item I type will be fulfilled by year's end.
If you like this idea, then I challenge you now to DO IT! Remember, ideas are worthless without action. Seriously...drop what you are doing right now and open a new document file. Type the aforementioned question at the top, set a timer for 10 minutes and write as many answers to the question as you can. Do not stop typing until the time is up! Now, you have your goals and your vision for what you want to have happen in 2009.
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