Starting a Business QuickStart Guide. Ken Colwell PhD MBA

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      Mindful people recognize this and are quick to forgive themselves when they screw up. The past has already happened. The future is unknown. The only thing we can control is what we do in the present moment.

       Vision

      Mindful individuals keep an eye on long-term goals, without being distracted by day-to-day hindrances or the doubts and negative feedback of well-meaning individuals. This doesn’t mean that mindful entrepreneurs don’t take advice. The trick is to know the difference between advice and negativity. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos once referred to this mindset as “stubborn but flexible.”

      Everyone has advice for those starting their own businesses. That advice can be particularly insistent from people who have never started a business themselves. It also tends to be overwhelmingly negative. Everyone is in a rush to tell you why you aren’t doing the right thing. That doesn’t mean they are wrong. Successful entrepreneurs have the capacity to mentally sift through the feedback they’re getting, ignoring the unhelpful advice but being ready, willing, and able to act quickly when they hear something that makes sense to them.

      This mental sifting is an important part of the decision-making process, but it also invites falling prey to shiny object syndrome. Like a magpie that lines its nest with every shiny object it can find, entrepreneurs who fall victim to shiny object syndrome chase after every new opportunity that looks promising to them without thinking through their choices or asking critical questions about utility and need. Instead, mindful entrepreneurs maintain their long-term vision about where they are headed and what they want their venture to ultimately look like, but they recognize that they don’t have all the answers, and that changing conditions may warrant changing tactics or strategies along the way.

       Calculated Risk-Taking

      I addressed the concept of risk at length in the previous chapter, so I won’t belabor those points here. Adopting a mindfulness perspective leads people to favor action over endless analysis. The perpetual analysis hamster wheel that exhaustively explores every option and postpones action indefinitely has aptly been referred to as “paralysis by analysis.” It should go without saying that talking about taking action is a lot less helpful than taking action.

      Mindful individuals are not afraid to fail; in fact, they prefer to adopt a scientific approach of constant experimentation in which failures teach you as much as successes do. If something isn’t going to work, it’s much better to “fail fast” and find it out quickly rather than waste time on a path that will not lead you to achieving your goals.

       Hard Work

      It takes a lot of hard work to start a business successfully. Then again, it takes a lot of hard work to do almost anything worthwhile in life. This is what makes a mindful approach to entrepreneurship so essential—the key is to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. This is what mindful people do.

      The notion of hard work really has to do with work-life balance, and there is no right or wrong answer to the topic. Some people feel the need to “#hustle” 24/7 in order to be successful. This obviously depends on a multitude of factors such as the type of business you are starting or your personal skills (to name a few) but there is no way around it—you are undoubtedly going to have to sacrifice much of your leisure time. Not to mention potentially much of your disposable income and/or savings.

      Mindful people adopt the mentality of sacrificing in the short term for the long-term gains. If everything you do is in furtherance of where you want to be, and you’re working in an area that you’re passionate about, you won’t perceive your activities as “work.” Rather, they’re simply what you do. This quote, while perhaps cliché, sums up the mindful entrepreneur’s approach to hard work:

       “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

      – MARK TWAIN

       Flow

      It turns out that mindfulness has an analog in psychology: the concept of flow.⁵ If you have ever felt like you were “in the zone,” congratulations—you have achieved a state of flow. Flow is the focused, productive, and uplifting feeling that comes with being totally immersed in a task. When you are in a state of flow, you lose track of time. Your concentration and focus are completely dedicated to the task at hand. What kinds of tasks produce a flow state? Those that present a challenge and that are intrinsically rewarding. Flow is mindfulness in real time.

      Another way to think about flow is to define it based on what it’s not: anxiety, apathy, arousal, boredom, control, relaxation, and worry are states of mind that contrast with flow. When a task is much too difficult for our skill level it can cause feelings of worry and anxiety, as well as a feeling that we are not in control. Conversely, tasks that are no challenge at all or those that do not have outcomes that we view as valuable can cause boredom and apathy. Flow, then, is the sweet spot between a task that is too challenging and one that is too easy—and has an outcome that we are invested in.

      Obviously, flow is the optimal state for learning and productivity. More than simply being a tool for getting the most out of your time, being in a state of flow feels good. It is a goal not only in the sense that it allows us to work at peak performance, but in the sense that it leaves us feeling tremendously fulfilled by the work that we do. Psychologists have conducted large amounts of research on how to achieve the flow state, but the short answer is mindfulness. When you exhibit the mindful approaches to vision, passion, and resiliency outlined above, you’re inviting the flow state.

      There are eight characteristics of flow:

       Work-Life Balance and Working for Yourself

      Life is all about tradeoffs and compromise. Everyone has to find their own balance. I like to visualize life as a triangle consisting of work life, home life, and personal life. Your work life is all of the things you do to pursue your vocation and make a living. Your home life consists of your family, your living space, and all of the things you do to maintain them. Your personal life is everything else; all of the social, spiritual, physical, and intellectual activities that make your life complete.

      Figure 5 shows an equilateral triangle, with all sides completely in balance, but that’s rarely the case. Usually, one or two dominate your activities at a given time, and the other one or two take a back seat. This balance shifts constantly. Maybe you have young children and your home life is your main priority. Maybe you just started your business and work takes up most of your time. Maybe you’re at a point where your social life preoccupies you. If you spend more time on one, you have less to spend on the others. Time is a zero-sum concept. We each only have twenty-four hours in the day, and we each choose how to spend them.

      The thing about being self-employed is that these areas tend to blend together. Despite the fact that it may not feel like it at times, there is much more to life than your business. Yes, your business is an expression of your passion and СКАЧАТЬ