Entrepreneurs do what they do because they’re passionate, and because they want to make an impact. They take big personal, professional and financial risks for the chance to bring their innovations into the world, where they can positively impact large numbers of people. Over the years I’ve advised more than 1,500 of them, and underneath wildly different companies and technologies, the same human struggles keep showing up.
It’s like being in a pressure cooker
It takes an incredible amount of grit, determination, persistence, resilience and raw effort to be an innovator. On top of that, customers, investors and partners expect founders and leaders to be rock-solid in just about every imaginable dimension. That tough exterior gets tested by turmoil at the personal level, because entrepreneurs and CEOs are human like everyone else. Their personal lives are tied in with their professional ones and can’t really be separated; one affects the other and vice versa.
With so many pressures, demands and expectations weighing on them, how do they keep going? More specifically, how do they stay motivated, optimistic, calm and confident?
What do founders and CEOs struggle with?
Beneath the technical, market and financing problems, founders and CEOs mostly struggle with the same personal things: motivation, self-doubt, emotional ups and downs, loneliness, strained relationships, and the pressure of appearing rock-solid while their personal and professional lives blend into one. The business problems attract plenty of support; the personal ones are usually carried alone.
Some people are naturally more resilient or more driven than others. But the road is difficult and at times very lonely, and I believe that regardless of a person’s “natural resiliency,” every entrepreneur has the potential to be successful and fully deserves to be. Resiliency can be developed and built up.
The entrepreneurial support systems out there tend to focus on technical and tactical assistance, while assuming the entrepreneur is in a mindset capable of executing what needs to be done. But what if they’re struggling with that mindset, with emotional turmoil, motivation or self-doubt? Is raw passion supposed to be enough? And if it isn’t, too bad, it wasn’t meant to be?
Entrepreneurs must work on all aspects of the business
Entrepreneurs are taught to “work on the business” and do what’s required to succeed. But a very key component of the business, especially at the early stages, is the founder. So wouldn’t it be logical to work on the founder in order to work on the business more effectively? This is where it really pays to invest in self-development through mindset training and coaching. It isn’t about fixing a broken person; it’s a skillset anyone can benefit from: a growth and self-refinement mindset for managing the ups and downs that come with life, and with starting a business.
Challenges with motivation, drive, grit, emotions, relationships and external pressures are not managed by ignoring them and pushing onwards. They don’t resolve by themselves; they compound until cracks start to show. An emotional rollercoaster of fear, self-doubt, stress and anxiety is counterbalanced only by the elation of an occasional win and the satisfaction of reaching certain milestones. If balance is the goal, it’s prudent to smooth out those ups and downs.
Innovators are also leaders
While dealing with these ups and downs, a founder is usually also leading a team, and the strain can turn a person inward. That shows up as dysfunction in team dynamics, relationships, planning and execution, because an effective leader must be present and able to give a part of themselves and their energy to their team. Without a strong foundation and the skills to manage personal and professional challenges at the same time, nature ends up taking over.
By nature I mean the general survival mechanism people call “fight or flight.” It doesn’t take much for it to kick in, and when it does, the results are often self-defeating. Fight can look like aggressiveness, emotional outbursts, defensiveness, stubbornness, non-coachability, tunnel vision, anger and frustration. Flight can look like withdrawal, anxiety, sadness, avoidance of critical matters, loss of hope, low energy and abandoned ideas.
The optimistic part is that we are not controlled by these mechanisms. We have a choice – this is what I call personal power. We can observe our own tendencies, become aware of them, and decide to change them in service of our purpose or mission. Doing this improves both personal and professional effectiveness.
A process for personal effectiveness and resiliency
This process takes time and practice, and it helps to find a good coach who is well versed in psychology and human nature to guide you. I look at it as having a conversation, a dialogue, maybe even an argument with yourself. That dialogue helps you probe and understand your individual nature and challenge yourself. With it, intrinsic motivation can be developed and used to reject roadblocks and excuses and keep moving forward by embracing positive change. The motivation to do this must come from within.
The brain likes to resist change, but achieving your higher purpose or mission usually requires some. After all, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got. Use your purpose as a guiding light to align your activities and behaviours; you’ll feel like you’re being true to yourself, and you’ll feel good about your efforts, sacrifices and hard work.
Every entrepreneur has brilliance and potential
There’s no reason the pressures, challenges and emotional effects of entrepreneurship should stop brilliant people from positively impacting the lives of many others. I believe every entrepreneur has brilliance and potential in them, and that both can be discovered and developed. With the right support and guidance, energy that currently goes into fear and self-doubt gets redirected towards the work and the people it serves. If you’d like to talk through where you are with all of this, book a free intro call. I’m always happy to help.