Week 4: The Plague
This week I have been consumed by what I call ‘the plague’. Not physical - but mental; with all its fears sinking in. Why would I announce my plans? Why would I be so public about my thoughts? How will this impact me now? Who knows? Who is laughing? Who is judging me? What will everyone think if I ***up? 100 thoughts racing through my head. Unnecessary stress which I created for myself by having the added pressure of everyone knowing. Honestly, it’s not about being secretive or even deceptive but rather staying in ones safety/comfort zone. The less people know then fewer explanations if things go wrong.
People are often misguided thinking entrepreneurial spirit is always bold, bash and daring. It couldn’t be further from the truth. We are just people at the end of the day and suffer the same insecurities and/or limitations. January hype has settled to familiar (otherwise known as routine) and I am now left with the phenomenon of ‘reality kicking in’. As a result not looking forward to the Q&A session which will no doubt follow:....‘how many houses have you secured so far?’
Anyway, putting this aside, a (bad) Plan, Pain and Plague are the three ‘Ps’ they don’t teach you in business school. It’s origins are deeply embedded in the university of life. Having said this - let’s look at the positive:
I have put myself out there
There is no turning back now
I am accountable to everyone
I put pressure on myself, (a little is good for you)
Fear is good too, it will rev things up and put me into 5th gear
When I really don’t feel like doing it, I will have to
So before I sign off for the week I just wanted to finish on a positive and touch on the topic of mindset. And how important it is to be in the right frame of mind. Last week because of some trouble brewing at home this clearly impacted my work and you can’t afford for that to happen. At this point I had to ask myself how important is this to me? Do I really care about or give two hoots about what anyone else thinks? Because if you lead your life according to others you will find yourself miserable. Don’t do it. Do yourself a favor, shake off any past hurts and be in the present.
I now find myself tweaking the questions; shall I just start working on getting the properties first then sign up for all the governing bodies and go live with the website etc? Surely, once I have a few properties under my belt I can then get legal, launch my website and join up with the officials,...right? wrong! The setting up of the business is the easy part as far as I’m concerned, the real issue is the fight within your head. Once I said yes to myself there was no stopping me. Like in the novel ‘The Kite Runner’ I just wanted to run with the wind, creating new pathways in my brain, those little neurons lighting up with every step I take.