UNDERSTAND YOUR PASSION
When I was nine or ten years old, I remember telling my dad that I had butterflies in my stomach before a little league football game. “That’s okay,” he said. “It means you’re excited, and you want to do your best.” Those words shifted me from anxiety to positive anticipation. I felt that if I put my best foot forward and had a good time, everything would turn out well. My father had put a useful frame around the energy I had inside, and that made all the difference.
As you chase your big idea, here are three strategies for putting a useful frame around your passion and energy:
1. Clarify your reasons and goals. Get clear on why you want to start a business and how these motivations will influence your startup plan and approach.
2. Distinguish the fire in your belly from the weight on your shoulders. The first feeling comes from true passion, a can’t - wait-to-get-out-of-bed feeling, while the second is one of obligation and compliance. You will feel some of each as an entrepreneur. Look for roles that maximize the fire and minimize the weight.
3. Understand what you bring to the table. Acknowledge and accept your personality, skills, and motivations, all of the dimensions of founder readiness outlined earlier in this chapter. This self-awareness will drive your healthy and skillful use of entrepreneurial passion.
