Want to create things bigger then yourself? If that’s the case you should be moving from being a freelancer to being an entrepreneur. The main obstacle standing in front of you is your own mindset.
Being an entrepreneur is like jumping out of an airplane with all the materials needed to build a parachute.
– Glen Blickenstaff
Glen Blickenstaff illustrates well the perils of the startup. But there is something really annoying about saying that makes me think for days. I mean, what happens if you don’t assemble a parachute down the way? An entrepreneur can’t fight against the force that he can’t see or know. Hence, you should overcome the fear of failure at the beginning of a startup venture. Maybe only then, just maybe, it’s not going to be like jumping out of an airplane. Ok, let’s jump now … but into more brainwork.
After a long day of skiing I stopped by the road that passes through the Platije Canyon. It’s certainly one of the most magnificent canyons in Montenegro. After walking for a bit through the old tunnel I came to the edge of the cliff. I stood there feeling so small and helpless in front of a massive.
On the top I could see solid rock raising high above the green river. When I looked down the canyon I felt the force of water flowing through the path in rocks and the winter breeze whispering along it. How easily they blend together. Then I asked myself: Why not always have a standby parachute?
Being an entrepreneur myself for years now, I understand that there is some kind of a tension present in building a startup. It never leaves, it’s right there, in one form or the other. It’s that kind of tension that will drive you nuts whenever actual statistics show that you are bellow your own expectations. Many bloggers write how to overcome the pressure, stay healthy, how to make promising New Year’s resolution and what the best practice is in general. In short, they promote how to build a cathedral of mental strength, so you can endure until the next pivot. And there are always different kinds of pivots to come. After a failure, pivoting has been always an emotional discharge on entrepreneur’s being. Mostly because you have permanent fear of running low on cash or running out of it before you eventually succeed. And that’s why the startup life might feel like eating glass.
Running a start-up is like eating glass. You just start to like the taste of your own blood.
– Sean Parker
Sean Parker shows with yet another example how it would be like going out on your own. It’s scary within every word in the same manner as jumping out of an airplane with all the materials needed to build a parachute. So, I’m asking myself, again: Why should I taste my own blood at all? Why not always have a standby parachute?
I stood there in the Canyon and started to feel as being a tiny part of rocks, water waves and wind grasp. A pure unification. My mind was not fighting those forces. Suddenly, there were no opponents left. My energy was consolidated within all my being. It’s the moment when every part of you is realizing that it can’t compete against all those powerful forces that circulate through the canyon for ages. It’s the same like when you want to compete against forces of all fears when pivoting. You can’t. They are too much powerful to be nailed down by directly confronting and fighting against them. It’s like making cut through a solid rock.
I’ve realized that every pivoting cycle should start with consolidated energy. The first step is to completely forget looking at past pivots as failures. You see, the problem was the energy, which was allocated and was feeding the idea of failure all the time. Even bigger problem is that it’s still allocated somewhere out there and it’s still making your escape path shorter. If you pull that energy back directly at the source, which is YOU, your own center, then the fears of failure will be left without the power, which means they wont exist any more. Only then you will have more energy to endure.
I think that embracing all the startup challenges through some kind of a new opportunity meditation will make entrepreneur’s energy well consolidated. The second important thing is that the chain of pivots can never be broken. But, the thing that can be changed is the way you fight against multiple opponents. You must fully utilize the power of your own dark horses and make it a part of your own energy.
This way of life hacking is very common in Aikido, as the way of unifying with the life energy. The philosophy applied to Glen’s and Sean’s sayings, still preserves the original idea of illustrating the difficulty of startup life, but without the lethal endings. It’s much healthier and the odds of success are much better.
Some mountaineer once said to be at the top means to be above all fears. Only then the brilliant ideas are simply flowing into you. Whenever I’m doing some big things in Snowshoe Linux I go at the top of my mind and let the flow kick in. It’s the simple shift in mindset whether you’re thinking freelancer, entrepreneur, newbie or hacker.
Think new opportunity meditation. Think unifying with the life energy. Shift your mindset and let the flow kick in. Follow me @djzekome.
What is your own energy canyon?
