In a recent webinar we had a great hour discussing “How To Avoid The Dark Side Of Success” with Dan Kirby, exited Tech founder and the founder of Founders Are Mental (FAM), a coaching community for entrepreneurs. The course helps entrepreneurs define and follow through on the good habits they know they need to do in just a few hours a month.
Here are the top 5 tips:
1) Reality bites โ
There is a big difference between the entrepreneurial life you are sold (ie independence and freedom) and the life you end up having (never switching off, tied to the business.
2) The Two Immutable Founder-Truths
โWe ALL are looking up towards the top of a mountain. And we ALL have a groove – our patterns and habits – whether we are aware of them or not. The Groove you are in will dictate whether you get up the mountain (or fall off it.)
3) The Awareness Muscle
You are made of 3 parts: Your Body (your emotions), Your Mind (your thoughts), Your Awareness (all of your emotions and your thoughts). But your Awareness is often weak (you eat the doughnut, then later regret it). But you can strengthen your Awareness like you would your Body or Mind – your “Awareness Muscle”.
4) Your Hamster Wheel
Unexpected events, unkind comments, bad news – can create a reaction. There is a stimulus. Then a response. Reactivity creates more reactivity. You get stressed, shout, then have to make up for the shouting – and still deal with the problem. This is The Hamster Wheel of Reactivity – working on your Awareness will stop it. Don’t react, act.
5) You have the powerโ
โ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏโ. ~Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, devoted his life to exploring the meaning of life and its links to happiness.
The question is: How? The solution lies in developing a heightened sense of awareness and strengthening our “Awareness Muscle”.
Entrepreneurs can join fellow Mental Founders and learn a new way to be a successful founder – a Good Mental Founder.
