I had the extreme pleasure of speaking and teaching from the stage at MidasCampLive over the past few days, and it was a phenomenal experience. Not just for me, but for every attendee there. I was literally able to see and experience real-time transformation happening moment by moment.
On the final day, one interesting observation came up. One of the attendees said that she had been avoiding building her business because she felt it would be too difficult. She said that she was committed, now, to realizing that it wasn’t too difficult.
What I suggested, instead, is that she feel like she was capable and able to achieve her business goals, no matter how difficult they might be. This is a subtle, but important, distinction.
You see, none of us really have any control over whether something is difficult. Growing our business is likely to be difficult. If you, like me, believe that entrepreneurship is a prime personal growth vehicle, you will *definitely* come up against obstacles, challenges, and experiences which push you to grow.
(In graduate school, we called these AFOG’s- another f’ing opportunity for growth).
In any case, AFOG’s abound in business building. We are constantly called forward into our own leadership and to step out and uphold what we believe. We have our boundaries tested, question our own self worth, and have struggles with balancing everything in our business and still trying to have a life. We admire those who seem to be more successful and who make it look easier than we feel it to be.
Yet, even for all our efforts, there will be times where clients are unhappy. Where our websites go offline. Where we run into cash flow crunches, or find it difficult to collect monies owed. There will be times where we don’t know what to do next, and where we are bored with what we’ve been doing.
In short, we are likely to experience a full spectrum of difficult experiences, and difficult emotions. We might feel stressed, sad, upset, worried, anxious, or envious. And that’s just for starters.
But the truth is, everyone has difficulties in some area of building their businesses. It’s just a part of the process. Knowing this can help you find the right balance, for yourself, of stepping out and shoring up.
There is a right time to expand, and a right time to hold steady.
But you have to be willing to be uncomfortable and live through difficulty in order to grow your business and grow yourself.
So, when we ask for capacity, let’s ask for the belief in ourselves and trust that we can do this.
In other words, let’s ask for resilience, not ease.
