Go Back To ‘Why’

As Simon Sinek says, it starts with ‘why.’ Occasionally, we start with one vision in mind and end up moving so far away from why we started a business, job or relationship in the first place that we end up lost and questioning our decisions and actions. Maybe you can’t remember the last time you were happy. Perhaps your big colorful picture of where you wanted to head has slowly turned to black and white. Get back that clarity! Every 90 days revisit your big ‘why’ to ensure you’re on track and achieving what you want.

Learn To Feel Uncomfortable

Life is not easy nor is it meant to be. We are always facing hurdles and obstacles that we must overcome, which is all part of the journey. If you can accept that things will get tough and it won’t always be roses and sweet-smelling kittens, you’ll get yourself better prepared for what’s to come. When you feel stuck in a rut you must learn to breathe, reset and revisit your goals. What is it that you’re going for in business and in life? A simple readjustment and a brief ‘time out’ can dramatically move you forward like you never thought possible.

Win Through Persistence

Winston Churchill said, “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.” Persistence is the key if you want to win. I’ve felt like giving up many times during my entrepreneurial journey and the persistence to make things happen has kept me going. Understanding and truly believing that persistence delivers results will keep you moving forward.

Share Your Goals

You wake up and decide that today is the day you’ll quit smoking. You start the morning strong, but don’t want to mention it to anyone at work in case you feel like one at afternoon tea. Find an ‘accountability buddy’ to keep you on track. Sure, this is scary, but it ensures you deliver on your promise to yourself. Make sure the other person will show you some tough love. This will keep you honest and continually taking action.

Acknowledge Challenges

Oh yes, there will be tough times – but you already know this. When you feel like giving up because it’s too tough, it’s not a surprise as you knew the journey wouldn’t be full of rainbows and bunnies. Acknowledge the challenge, embrace it, learn what you can and power on!

Get Happy

We all get in a funk every now and again. That’s just the way we’re built. But, instead of lying on the sofa eating ice cream out of the tub and putting on your favorite sitcom, get happy! Think back to the last time you were really thriving in your life. Think about what you were doing and make that happen again! For me, it’s music. I’ll turn up the volume, whack on the iPod and play my favorite high-energy tracks to get me buzzed.

Be Proud

Sometimes we forget to stop and smell the flowers. Along those lines, we also forget to celebrate the victories our efforts have created. Be proud of where you have come from and what you’ve achieved. Every 90 days, review the last three months, and soak up your achievements no matter how small they are.
The next time you feel like giving up, ask yourself if you’ve done everything possible in your current situation to maximize the opportunity. Have you experienced all the learnings, happiness and pain associated with what you want to achieve? If the answer is no, then keep going until you have!
Have you ever felt like giving up? When was the last time this feeling went through your mind? How did you overcome it and surge forward with your life? Let us know in the comments below.

One of the characteristics I believe is at the heart of my success and the success of most entrepreneurs, is an ability to keep working in the face of failure and an ability to force yourself to be productive when you don’t feel like it.

I remember many a time promoting my proofreading business BetterEdit, walking around university campuses placing posters on boards, experiencing a feeling of impatience, a lack of confidence and a constant inner-questioning of whether what I was doing was a waste of time or not.
It’s very hard to be confident of success when you have yet to seriously experience it. In many ways, at this stage of your business career, faith and fake-it-till-you-make-it confidence in your idea has to carry you through the self doubt, the set-backs and the slow growth.
Nothing goes right all the time. Sometimes clients will ask for refunds, or they won’t be happy with what you provide or the universe creates a circumstance you had no way of predicting, which you just have to deal with.
For you beginners out there, one of the greatest challenges you face is your battle with self doubt. Others around you will scoff at your attempt to buck the trend to start a business, your own results will come slowly and for a long time you will have to work every day for little reward. Patience and willpower are necessary at this stage.
BetterEdit offered a great lesson for me. Placing posters on university campuses proved an effective marketing method, but the return on investment was delayed. I put up a poster and it would not elicit a response for months – sometimes even years – so my “pay off” for hard work was far in the future. This meant that I had to believe that clients would come if I just kept at it for long enough.
In hindsight faith in an outcome is easy because the experience is had, before this, you’re playing with chance and believing in the possibility of success without tasting it. If you don’t have tolerance for ambiguity, you better avoid the entrepreneur’s journey.

Like most people, some mornings I wake up and feel less than enthusiastic about working. Sometimes, this feeling doesn’t stem from laziness or apathy, it’s a stronger power, a sense of futility and helplessness.

I know a lot of people look to my story of success as a source of inspiration and that is one of the greatest benefits I enjoy as a blogger, but – and I’m not afraid to admit it – I don’t always feel energized to pursue business and sometimes in my darkest moments, I even consider throwing in the towel.

This feeling is not so common for me now as I have lifestyle flexibility, a more stable income and a better mindset about work, but earlier on, it definitely was a problem. I want to explain how I overcome these moments (and still do the same thing now on occasion) to stay on track and how you can even have a productive day when you are not really feeling the mojo on the inside.

I expect you have felt similar feelings ofdespair or a lack of motivation at different stages of your business development, especially if you are yet to establish an income stream online that is sufficient for you to live off, or if you are right at the beginning and you have not seen one cent of return for the work you have put in.

Inspired or Dejected

Depending on your world view and personality style, when you hear of the success of others you may either feel inspired or dejected, and while it’s obviously more fruitful to look at other people achieving what you desire as motivation, as a fallible human, jealousy, depression and anger may be your initial responses.

Your mind is your greatest asset for success in business, but it can be just as strong a force of hindrance, sabotaging your efforts, destroying your work ethic and leaving you with no option but to return to the soul destroying job you promised yourself that you would never go back to.

How To Work When You Don’t Feel Like It

One of the characteristics I believe is at the heart of my success and the success of most entrepreneurs, is an ability to keep working in the face of failure and an ability to force yourself to be productive when you don’t feel like it.