Entrepreneurship is a very emotional and intimate adventure with many ups and downs. Being an entrepreneur is wildly exhilarating. You will face many challenges on a daily basis. You will also experience setbacks and failures. Therefore, as a human being, you need to be strong enough not to be broken by this but to persevere and look for new ways to learn from your mistakes. Everyone has their own path to success. Success is not easy. The path of entrepreneurship can sometimes be a lonely one. You have to be willing to walk it alone because this is your journey, but if you put in the effort and do not give up, great things will be waiting for you on the other side.
The value of time management
Managing our time efficiently is something most of us have struggled with at some point during our personal or professional lives. Time is our most precious asset. You can’t get more of it. Like money, time does not grow on trees. Therefore, you have to be smart about how you spend it. What you decide to do with your time is entirely up to you. It may not seem like that, but it is true.
Entrepreneurs face many challenges in today’s extremely competitive business world. Fortunately, they also have more resources than ever before to overcome them. We so often say “I need to improve my time management skills,” and rarely stop to reflect on what’s really preventing us from getting the right work done. Time management involves many different ways to improve our efficiency and productivity. However, we cannot manage time itself because time is simply there. It’s the actions we choose and the decisions we make.
Be aware that when you say “yes” to something, you are at the very same time immediately saying “no” to something else. Recognize the implications of your “yes.” In reality, you are saying “no” to so many other things. Be aware of the time you have and the things you need to get done. Time management is life management. There is a difference between managing time and simply being busy. It’s important to know that you cannot get everything done and to focus on what’s most important. If you get the most important things done and tackle the most challenging things first, the rest of your day will go much more smoothly.
One practical way to prioritize your responsibilities is to decide whether to DO IT, DELAY IT, DELEGATE IT or ELIMINATE THE TASK.
Critical thinking and intuitive decision-making
We generally take decision-making for granted. After all, we make thousands of decisions every day, some of them unconsciously, and rarely have to apply more than our intuition to a decision. There’s a problem, however: while our intuition is amazing, it has its limits, and therefore understanding decision-making and how to make good decisions is critical to all of us. This is especially true when you have a business decision to make. The life of an entrepreneur and the activities of running a successful business, in most cases, require a quick decision-making process.
If you are in a situation with only two choices and uncertain about which one will work, you need to choose one and bear the consequences rather than remain indecisive and confused. The longer you delay the decision, the more you delay your future. Understanding hard choices uncovers a hidden power that each of us possesses. As Ruth Chang puts it:
“What makes a choice hard is the way the alternatives relate. In any easy choice, one alternative is better than the other. In a hard choice, one alternative is better in some ways, the other alternative is better in other ways, and neither is better than the other overall.”
Even taking two alternatives side by side with complete information, a choice can still be hard. Hard choices are hard not because of us or our ignorance. They’re hard because there is no best option. Therefore, it is important to listen to your inner wisdom and stop the inner chatter of self-doubt. But what happens when the internal war is between what your heart feels, what your brain thinks, and what your inner wisdom is telling you? Those are the decisions that are really difficult to make.
You are never going to know if the choice you made was the best one possible. The best you can do is what feels right and what makes you happy at that moment. You should always make decisions with your heart and soul while considering all other parameters presented to you.
Mental health awareness and recognition
The reality of entrepreneurship is much different and more complex than most people are willing to discuss. Our culture today focuses on an entrepreneur’s success as an ideal, and since social media is not a true reflection of everyone’s path, comparing oneself to that ideal often leads to mental anguish and, in some cases, severe mental illness.
Entrepreneurs are a fascinating breed of people. They’re some of the most passionate and driven people in the world. Often, they’re also some of the most obsessive and unbalanced people you’ll ever meet. This combination can lead to world-changing innovation and incredible beauty. Unfortunately, it can also lead to much suffering and self-destruction.
When it comes to mental health, entrepreneurship is a bit of a perfect storm. Often our identity becomes inextricably linked to our work, so when work goes well, we feel great, but when it goes poorly, we feel terrible. When our work fails, it can feel like we’re drowning.
It all stems from being ambitious, which many entrepreneurs are. Ambitiousness leads people to overachieve and pushes them to the point where they come back down to earth, fall into this little pit of despair, and then need to pull themselves out of it. The lesser version is where you are repeatedly either in the “elated” or “burned out” state and can’t get off this cyclical hamster-wheel phenomenon.
Sometimes we can have the best intentions in the world, but the extreme pursuit of our dreams ends up destroying us. You do not have to sacrifice your health, relationships and emotional well-being. Realize that the dichotomy between achieving your greatest dreams and enjoying your life at this moment is actually a false one. Be careful that the extreme pursuit of your entrepreneurial dreams does not destroy you and that you don’t suffocate under the weight of your ambitions.
This article was originally published as Chapter 3, "Day-To-Day Obstacles & Struggles," in the Improving Entrepreneurial Journey initiative (IEJI), 1st Edition, Brochure Vol. 1 (2022). Adapted for the OPTIMOD Resource Center.
