STRENGTHEN YOUR PASSION
Here are four strategies for fueling a healthy, sustainable enthusiasm for your new venture:
1. Clear your way. Free up energy by relinquishing old obligations or time-wasters that no longer align with your startup priorities.
2. Feed your curiosity. Learn everything you can about your business concept, the markets you are entering, and the players and competitors in the industry. The more you learn, the more confidence and energy you will bring to your founding role.
3. Refill your tank. Pay attention to how you perform, how you recover, what renews you, and what depletes you. Based on these observations, build regular routines and rituals to continually strengthen your energy and performance.
4. Welcome adversity. In startups, as in life, we cannot predict the future, nor can we fully protect ourselves from the challenges and crises to come. Adversity can strengthen an entrepreneur and a team like no other force, especially when approached with the attitude captured by German diplomat and psychotherapist Karlfried Von Durkheim, who said, “Only to the extent that a man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him.
In this lies the dignity of daring.”17
