- How to get out of the entrepreneurial funk.
I don't know if you've ever had those days
where you kinda felt depressed
but you wouldn't call it that,
or maybe you just didn't feel like yourself
or you couldn't figure out how to get
back into your groove or whatever it is.
I wanna share with you guys that I believe
that entrepreneurs go through mild forms
of depression or funks all the time
and we don't even know it.
So, when I was building Spheric,
I got to a point where things were crazy.
It was two years in, the company was growing like crazy,
but when I looked at, essentially, my capacity
and my team and the business that I had,
there was a huge gap between what I needed in sales
and what my team was capable of doing.
And I was depressed. I was bummed.
I didn't even know what it was called.
And I went down this kind of path of learning more about it.
I discovered a great guy named Cameron Herold
who talked about this thing
called the entrepreneurial roller coaster.
He talks about going from uninformed optimism
to informed pessimism, this crazy curve of emotion,
and it can happen to you all the time.
I mean, another example I learned about
was the entrepreneurial pendulum,
where you swing from exclamation mark,
take over the world, this is my destiny,
all the way over to question mark,
which is what am I doing with my life,
is this gonna even work and am I gonna fail?
And I share that with you because it doesn't matter
where you're in that kind of mode,
that roller coaster, that swing.
I'm gonna share with you guys four strategies
that help you get out of it, and it's really important.
So, the first one is to create a list
of your accomplishments.
I think every person in the world should be doing this.
And it's really a simple, I use Evernote,
you can write it down on a piece of paper
and carry it in your wallet,
but it's things that you are proud of for yourself,
other people have remarked about you,
accomplishments, whatever they are.
Maybe it's being a father
or maybe it's finishing a half-marathon.
Maybe it's doing a CrossFit workout RX.
Whatever it is for you, make that list.
It could be personal, professional, it doesn't matter.
Any time you've ever scared yourself
and you pushed on forward
and you accomplished it, add it to the list.
Making that list of accomplishments and reviewing it
whenever you're feeling this way,
it'll just help you remind you how incredible you are.
And that, to me, is the big thing.
I think we forget about how amazing
we've been so far in our lives and the challenges
and all the things we've had to overcome.
Every one of us have that and I know you have it,
so make that list.
That's the first step.
The second one is, reconnect with your why.
When you started the company,
there was a reason, there was a purpose.
What was that reason?
Maybe it was to create a better future for your family.
Maybe it was to prove people wrong
that always doubted you in your past.
Maybe it was to serve a customer
that really needed your solution,
it didn't exist in the market.
Whatever your why is,
revisit it, talk about it, think about it.
Reconnect with that excitement, that spark that you had
when you first started your business.
So, that's the second tip to help you get out of a funk.
The third one is to list things you're grateful for.
And when I recommend this, it's not just high-level,
I'm grateful for having coffee
or grateful for my family,
I'm talking the mundane.
I think we forget that in a blink of a second,
all of us can lose the ability to walk, we can all fall ill,
we can all lose a loved one, whatever it is.
And I just think just sitting down and thinking about,
sometimes I'm grateful for the fact that I live in a country
where I can even build a business,
'cause there's places in the world where that's not true.
Have you ever thought of that one?
Have you ever thought that,
if you've got health in your life, vitality,
if you've got friends that support you,
those are all incredible things to be grateful for.
So, that's the the third one is just sitting down
and making that list, 'cause here's what I know.
When you're grateful, when you're in that feeling,
that emotion, that state, you can't be sad,
you can't be frustrated, you can't be angry,
you can't be fearful.
So, the power of gratitude is so important.
It's something I practice every morning.
But if you're ever feeling in that funk,
you've got the blues, sit down and make that list.
And the fourth one, which I think is a no-brainer,
you should just stop watching this video
if you're feeling this way and go do it, is exercise.
And I don't care if it's a 15-minute walk outside
or dropping out of your desk
and doing some pushups, whatever it is.
I just think that there's a reason why,
as humans, we used to roam the Earth,
we used to move way more than we do today,
we live a very sedentary life.
And exercise is probably one of the fastest ways
that you can just shift your attitude and get out of it.
So, if you've been avoiding the gym
or you haven't returned that call to your running partner,
I'm gonna challenge you right now
to pick up the phone and get doin' on that.
But that is the fourth step is exercise.
So, real quick, create a list of your achievements,
review your why, why did you start
this business in the first way,
the third one is list the things that you're grateful for,
and do that every day, honestly,
and then the fourth is exercise.
Get out there, get the sweat.
You know, I always say that sweat is your fat crying.
Do that for you and if you know there's somebody
that needs to watch this video,
feel free to share it with them.
Subscribe to my newsletter, it's right up there.
Just click the link "Subscribe" there.
And, as per usual, I wanna challenge you
to live a bigger life and a bigger business.
I'll see you next Monday.