We entrepreneurs get this a lot…
What do you think about this idea for a business?
But we rarely get this…
The business I started is having this issue, what should I do?
There seems to be a plethora of dreamers and a paucity of doers. So my counterintuitive advice is to…
Stop dreaming and start doing.
There is a reason why doers are so scarce. It is because doing is messy. A cheetah in full stride hunting a gazelle is a majestic image. The image after the catch? Not so appealing. It’s violent and bloody…
The chase is exhilarating. The catch is messy.
Dreams never seem to include complaining customers, flawed products, inept suppliers or fierce competitors. On the other hand, we business owners are up to our graying coiffures in these. But this untidy reality is what you must face. It is what you must love. Seek out the chaos and cluttered. Relish the higgledy-piggledy, hugger-mugger, jumbled reality of actualized ideas. Because it’s in this muddled, topsy-turvy concoction where the real action can be found. You can’t experience the thrill of a victory without the agony of repeated defeats.
My MBA is not documented in a diploma hanging on my office wall, it is bruised into my flesh and bones.
Another thing you should be aware of is how dreams affect your brain. Imagined victories can satisfy your mental pleasure center in the same way that actual triumphs do. Your brain cannot tell them apart. Fantasizing about success reduces your hunger for the real thing. It is a drug. Stop getting high on dreams and catch your gazelle. Do, fail, reset and do again. It’s a never-ending cycle, like…
waves on the beach, making softener and whiter the sand with each violent and glorious crash.
So do yourself a favor and stop dreaming.
Counterintuitive Advice 