How to handle being nowhere on your journey to somewhere?
Quick tips for entrepreneurs stuck in the middle.
You know what’s one of the easiest things to do?
It’s to start something new.
Our eco-systems are full of advice, and motivation about getting off the couch and to get going. Starting new and exciting things, to change ourselves, to change the world.
There are so many tutorials, books, courses, case studies, forums, and more about starting anything new. Be it working out in the gym, photography, coding, or even entrepreneurship that not knowing how to start is not a valid excuse in 2022.
But you know what, there isn’t enough material on?
The middle.
Sure, you get amped and start new things (and here on I am going to be specific to entrepreneurship). There are initial successes, resolving for teething issues and a steep learning curve. There also is the inertia from the launch. Things are exciting and you are doing something you dreamt strongly enough about, to start. And a few years go by just like that.
One day though, you wake up and the existential dread hits you out of nowhere. The adrenaline of the start has worn off, most challenges that you could resolve for in the short term, and by yourself, have been figured, and the goal is nowhere in sight.
Your car is cruising down a long lonely road with no start and end in sight, and you don’t even know if you have enough fuel to make it.
You’re in the toughest phase in your life, and with no manual on how to deal with it. Your situation is unique in your peer group. There are no online tutorials to help you understand what’s going right (or wrong).
You know a lot, and you know nothing. You know where you have to go, but no idea if you’re gonna reach. Or even going in the right direction.
Sounds familiar? Does to me.
And here’s a few tips that’ve helped me:
Pure grit: This one’s no magic pill. However, it might just be one of the easiest to put in practice. All you have to do is put your head down, and keep moving. If for nothing, then the sake of moving itself. In fact, if I am completely honest, these days will be anything but rare in your journey. They will happen frequently, and you will have to get through them. If it helps, think of them as laying the boring part of a road between two destinations. It gets you no excitement, but without it, there would be no journey indeed.
Reward the Process: We have a rich old tradition of rewarding only achievements and milestones. And while it makes all the sense to reward the culmination of long effort, this stage is massively eclipsed by the time and effort spent in getting there. So why wait till the big occasions that require champagne? Why not reward ourselves on the journey that gets us closer. After all, it’s these small bits of moving forward that makes for an epic voyage! Make sure you celebrate effort and persistence. Build a journey of joyful and happy moments. That incidentally, is what life is too.
Growth Mindset: Honestly, I hate this phrase for its misuse by influencers and MLM touts. But taken away from that reference, the growth mindset is a beautiful way of thinking about life itself. It means looking at everything from the perspective of it having contributed to your growth. Personal or organisation wise. Failed pitch? You now can learn things that you did wrong and not do them again. You grow. Lost client? You now know what you did wrong or what kind of clients you need to avoid going forward. Growth. Wife left you because you spend nearly all of your time working? Growth, because you can now spend ALL of your time working. Okay I was kidding about the last one. But it does get me to the next point.
Balance life out: It’s easy for everything to be messed up, when one thing is everything that you do. Let’s face it, life is multi-faceted and while one might not be going great to keep your spirits afloat, the others will help you remain buoyant. Friends, family, hobbies, causes, creative indulgences. These are not just important in life. They are critical. Sure you could go ahead and make “being the richest CEO in the world” as your one and only reason for being. But one, by the time you get there, you’d have spent nearly all your life not being the richest CEO of the world, and two, once you get there, what you gonna do with the money anyway? I guess you get the point.
Visualise the Goal: And that brings me to my final tip. Visualise why you started. And then re-start the day by energising yourself with the thought. Although I’d like to caution against the misuse of this strategy, because thought about a lot, an imaginary goal loses its strength of motivation. It becomes like the one month old new car that you bought. Shiny still, but not quite as exciting. However, if used sparingly, visualisation is an incredible tool to motivate yourself and get through the next curve on the long road to success.
Let me know if any of these worked out for you anytime. For they’ve helped me go for a decade and a half now!
