The journey of an entrepreneur is hard and hash. It is even more so for those of us operating from this part of the world. Basic things that shouldn’t be challenges constitute huge problems all coupled with the regular challenges of running and scaling a business.
With these in mind, it then becomes very important that we as business builders find ways to reduce and or eliminate stress and stay charged up as much as possible.
This then makes the journey more interesting and rewarding while giving us enough staying power to keep the fight until success comes knocking.
Here are a few ways that you can keep yourself charged up on the regular to ensure that while you build your business, you stay alive while staying ahead.
Make humour handy
Laugh often and find laughter in things even if they don’t make sense. Nobody can be stressed while laughing. One of the ways I do this myself is to have rib cracking comedy skits and shows on my play list.
Whenever things don’t go as planned and I get blue, I whip open my play list and laugh. Within 20 minutes of massaging myself with good humour, I would have gained clarity enough to know like Abraham Lincoln that “this too shall pass”.
Laughter also keeps the energy flowing. Nobody gets sad when they laughing. And if you find ways to find humour in a thing no matter how badly others may judge it, you move on quickly and stay energized to find a way that would serve you.
Mediate and sit in silence often
Meditation is a way of the enlightened mind. The ability to quieten your mind and calm your body by sitting in silence for some time elevates your brain power and helps you become more logical in handling situations.
Apart from helping you gain calm and clarity, it also helps you to connect to your soul and deeper self. When this is done often, you always come out with new strength and vigor to keep you going and winning.
Focus on the solutions more than the problems
Based on experiences and environmental conditioning, the brain is more likely to focus on the problem than on possible solutions to the problem. It takes a trained mind to always ask: what is the good in this and how can I solve this problem?”
Focusing on the solutions will always be a function of what you think and say in the midst of the chaos.
While the recent okada ban in Lagos toppled a lot of businesses and put many of the owners and investors into turmoil, recent reports show that some of the companies have adjusted properly in less than no time by exploring other opportunities that are available in the country.
The truth is…focusing on the problem itself doesn’t solve the problem but focusing on the solution surely solves the problem.
Let your aspirations guide you
When things go wrong in your business as they will many times, let your long term aspirations guide you. Be more committed to winning the championship than the match so that when a particular match goes south, you won’t forget why you started in the first place.
Failure is part of success in life and business. One who can’t fail can’t succeed. Because every form of failure and set back is a feedback…It is giving you pointers to what isn’t working or won’t work. So, if you adjust the sail, you will be safe.
Though the optimist will not always be right, he will never be wrong in not losing his mind.
Uniquely spend your time
Spend time in nature. In a place like Lagos, this can be best achieved by having natural stuff around your work area and office. Paintings of nature, flowers and the likes help a lot too.
Also, spending time with some peaceful animals like Cats, birds, puppies helps calm your nerves and helps you forget about yourself and your worries while lost in the mystery of creation.
Spending time with babies and the elderly can also help. While babies help you forget your worries, the elderly remind you that nothing is worth dying for.
Operate from an organized space
Get organized in your space because a cluttered man is a cluttered mind. You can’t think clearly when your table and immediate space is out of place.
Remove all clutters, have plenty of light, get good painting and a calm music to go with it. These things get you charged up for the task of building a business.
Have a mentor and Stay accountable to someone
A day with a Wiseman is like a year all by yourself. One of the errors that most entrepreneurs make is that they are too proud to submit to external influence.
And I get it. Many people started their businesses for the singular reason that they want to be the boss and not get to be answerable or loyal to anyone.
The only problem is that this way of thinking becomes disastrous with time.
If you want to go far very fast, get wise and enlist wise people on your journey and stay accountable to trusted minds that’s can help you win.
In some of my low moments, all I ever needed was a time with mentor or a coffee break with someone that can honestly evaluate me and my situation.
Set goals often and review them daily
Goals help you get the Gold. All the successful people I know and have studied set goals and review them often with a large percentage rewriting their goals to themselves daily.
“Write the vision down and make it plain” says the great book. If you discount this, I then wonder how great thou want to be!
Having well written out goals is an energy booster any day any time.
Have morning and night rituals that help you take charge
The first few minutes after you wake up from sleep and before you go to sleep, you brain goes into alpha wave which has been proven to be the most trainable wave of the brain. This is the same wave that the brain of babies have which makes them easily influenced.
If you build positive rituals that help you take charge of your life and day by impressing upon your mind good pictures, thoughts and words, especially early before the madness of the day begins and just before you dose off to sleep, your life will become very rich and charged.
I have very tight morning and night rituals that I perform and any day I miss, I notice because my energy and motivation will experience a nosedive.
Have a collage of daily affirmations
The use of Affirmations is the easiest way to instruct and activate the subconscious mind to accept as true what the conscious mind believes.
“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” has been one of my all-time favs.
“This too shall pass” comes handy when I’m stretched beyond my wits ends.
“I’m creatively smart” helps me when I feel I’m running out of time and ideas.
Create your own unique menu of affirmations and put them at strategic locations around your office to give you light when you might need it.
Take breaks often
Yes I know you are building the future, but the future can only be possible if you are alive to see it.
Therefore learn to observe breaks, network, relax and unwind. Researches in the field of productivity have proven that some of the best ideas come during unwinding moments.
Networking also sits you in the midst of other great minds which elevates your thoughts to help you create a brain pattern that can birth the solutions you have been looking for.
Forget the die on the hustle ragamuffins. There is no pride in that. The ultimate GOAL should be to stay alive and healthy enough to enjoy the fruits when the trees come of age.
Say NO to negative energy
The easiest way to lose your mind is to let negative people into your space. They destroy everything in the shortest of time. The antidote is to daily surround yourself with successful people, clients, peers, etc.
I have turned down many clients just by sensing that they could be toxic in the slightest of ways. Even while working on this article, my wife and I decided to return a client’s money and sack him from our retainership program just because he has shown signs of toxicity.
Protect, protect, and protect the vibes around you always. No amount is worth your peace of mind. Say, see and hear no negative. This alone is half of the battles in life and business won for free.
Finally…
Build up systems, behaviours, routines and patterns that will help you take charge of your life and situations while building a business, especially in a volatile and hostile space like ours.
Anyone or thing that won’t support that is against your progress and should never be given the privilege of entry into your life or your business.