What I have learned during my short journey as an entrepreneur is the importance of self coaching. A life of an entrepreneur is like a roller coaster, you never know what is coming, especially when you are just starting out, you are excited about your idea and can’t wait to share it with the rest of the world, only to realize that it takes a lot of effort and dedication to move mountains. It is a very sensitive time for anyone, so if you tend to be sensitive this is your moment to toughen up, from now on you have to develop a solid character and a strong stomach too.
Self doubt will no longer be an option. You have to believe in yourself so that others will too!
We all have our moments of self doubt, some have more than others but what I have come to understand is that leaders can be made and they are made with the right amount of coaching and self coaching. It is always easy to make excuses and to get comfortable in a situation, even if you are not happy with your job or with your relationship, you just accept it for what it is and this is the exact point where you start missing out on the life that you deserve. There is a quote by Richelle E. Goodrich, that I kept seeing which is so true: “You’re not a tree. So move; make something happen.” Unless we take charge of our life, no one will. I remember my days working for other people, they felt miserable, but don’t get me wrong I had to go through all my experiences in order to develop my character, gain valuable knowledge and to take the leap into the unknown. Without these experiences I would not appreciate my new found freedom, the freedom of choice!
I would go on about my misery but not take any action, I was comfortable and I was making excuses or just listening to the opinions of others on how I should live my life. I kept constantly repeating how miserable I was, repetition can be dangerous because in the end you start believing it. Here is how I started my self coaching journey:
Reading success stories and biographies
I discovered my new found self coaching strategy from articles that I would read daily on Enterpreneur.com and Success.com. At first I didn’t pay attention to the positive effect that reading had on me, only later did I understand where my strengths came from to overcome the challenges, to start taking action and to working towards my goals. By reading articles and stories on a daily basis you understand that you are not alone, and that the very successful people that we know today and admire have also been through the dark days and gridlocks. You just have to keep on pushing, trying and not giving up.
Find a mentor
Finding a mentor is crucial and quite a challenge because sometimes the people that you admire are difficult to meet in real life, but luckily the Internet gives us access to a pool of information and you can stay connected to these people through social medial. Most of them post regularly on Facebook, run their own blogs or have published books. If you already have a mentor that you know, then you must consider yourself very lucky. Every person we meet has something valuable to teach us, all we have to do is listen carefully and take mental note of everything you hear, because you never know when this information can come in handy.
I will be sharing more on the people who have inspired me in my future posts and other subjects around the topic of entrepreneurship. Where do you get your inspiration from?
