Fastlane entrepreneurship requires fortitude and tenacity.
Once one problem is solved, another comes up. Fix an issue, immediately notice another issue.
A client of mine operates a successful saw blade business. Today, he goes where he wants and does what he wants. He moved here from England 40 years ago for a job. Ended up quitting that job and starting his own business. I asked him how long it took him to start making a lucrative living after quitting his job.
"Five years." FIVE! Before the five year point, he was living off about 10k/year. That's with a wife and two kids.
"What made you stick with it over those five years?"
"I saw the possibilities. I had a vision."
Five years. That's some serious fortitude and tenacity.
A tolerance of frustrating feelings is an absolute must in order to make this Fastlane endeavor a success (my definition of a Fastlane endeavor is creating value for others in the form of a system. MJ talks about this in detail in his books).
Frustrating moments. You thought you'd be done with product development in three months, but it looks like another six months. Can you tolerate the frustration and keep moving forward? I need to spend a day reworking a component of my product, because it will serve my customers much better. That's a full day spent on something I thought I had completed, but I'm now changing it. Can I tolerate the frustration?
What's paradoxical about welcoming frustration with open arms is that its power is greatly reduced. It leads to the internal qualities of fortitude and tenacity. I'm using the word frustration, but you might replace it with another word. Either way, increasing your tolerance for this feeling directly leads to the ability to solve bigger problems, and more importantly, the ability to continue working, day after day. Without a tolerance for these unpleasant feelings, you just give up and quit.
That ability to continue working day after day is what I consider to be fortitude and tenacity. Shit comes up, and it sucks, but you can still keep working at your endeavor. Frustration doesn't mean you have to quit. It just needs to be tolerated while you solve the problem.
I keep thinking about my client who worked at it for five years without making a living. How many times over those five years did he think about quitting? "A lot," he said. LOL. Yet, he kept working at it even thought he thought about quitting. Fortitude and tenacity. He was able to tolerate those strong feelings of wanting to quit, not letting the feeling control his decisions. He held on to his vision, and continued to see the possibilities amidst the feelings of wanting to quit.
He inspired me, and I hope his story inspires you on your Fastlane journey.
@MJ DeMarco talks a lot about this in the books as well. Mainly, about his many failed business attempts. If you put yourself in his shoes, having so many failed attempts feels frustrating. It takes guts and fortitude to attempt again and again. The way I see it, MJ, if you couldn't tolerate and learn from the failed attempts, success would not have been possible.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, I think this mindset is so important. Vital.
Once one problem is solved, another comes up. Fix an issue, immediately notice another issue.
A client of mine operates a successful saw blade business. Today, he goes where he wants and does what he wants. He moved here from England 40 years ago for a job. Ended up quitting that job and starting his own business. I asked him how long it took him to start making a lucrative living after quitting his job.
"Five years." FIVE! Before the five year point, he was living off about 10k/year. That's with a wife and two kids.
"What made you stick with it over those five years?"
"I saw the possibilities. I had a vision."
Five years. That's some serious fortitude and tenacity.
A tolerance of frustrating feelings is an absolute must in order to make this Fastlane endeavor a success (my definition of a Fastlane endeavor is creating value for others in the form of a system. MJ talks about this in detail in his books).
Frustrating moments. You thought you'd be done with product development in three months, but it looks like another six months. Can you tolerate the frustration and keep moving forward? I need to spend a day reworking a component of my product, because it will serve my customers much better. That's a full day spent on something I thought I had completed, but I'm now changing it. Can I tolerate the frustration?
What's paradoxical about welcoming frustration with open arms is that its power is greatly reduced. It leads to the internal qualities of fortitude and tenacity. I'm using the word frustration, but you might replace it with another word. Either way, increasing your tolerance for this feeling directly leads to the ability to solve bigger problems, and more importantly, the ability to continue working, day after day. Without a tolerance for these unpleasant feelings, you just give up and quit.
That ability to continue working day after day is what I consider to be fortitude and tenacity. Shit comes up, and it sucks, but you can still keep working at your endeavor. Frustration doesn't mean you have to quit. It just needs to be tolerated while you solve the problem.
I keep thinking about my client who worked at it for five years without making a living. How many times over those five years did he think about quitting? "A lot," he said. LOL. Yet, he kept working at it even thought he thought about quitting. Fortitude and tenacity. He was able to tolerate those strong feelings of wanting to quit, not letting the feeling control his decisions. He held on to his vision, and continued to see the possibilities amidst the feelings of wanting to quit.
He inspired me, and I hope his story inspires you on your Fastlane journey.
@MJ DeMarco talks a lot about this in the books as well. Mainly, about his many failed business attempts. If you put yourself in his shoes, having so many failed attempts feels frustrating. It takes guts and fortitude to attempt again and again. The way I see it, MJ, if you couldn't tolerate and learn from the failed attempts, success would not have been possible.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, I think this mindset is so important. Vital.
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