Let’s admit that starting a company is really hard. It takes a lot of grinding. For those of you who aren’t sure what the startup grind is, it’s:
dull, hard work
a crushing or grating sound or motion
to wear down, polish or sharpen through friction
You see, creating a company from nothing is hard work. It’s the kind of hard work that on the one hand is dull, but on the other hand is exciting because you know you’re creating something from nothing. But you can also encounters a lot of friction and that can be soul crushing. Doing the thousands of small, annoying tasks that move a company forward is just plain hard and painful.
Startup founders have to persevere through these struggles to move the ball forward. If they don’t, the ball just sits there. And of course, we all want to work smarter rather than harder. But it takes PEP – Passion, Experience and Persistence.
How do founders persist in the face of these challenges? They need to have grit and be resilient. We studied the techniques that Navy Seals, endurance athletes, and others who put themselves into difficult challenges use to stay focused in these adverse conditions. When things are hard, your body has an automatic “fight or flight response.” If you “flight,” you cannot get anything done. So you have to find a way to fight.
In order to help you stay focused and fight, we’ve got 6 tips to help you stay the course:
Chunk it out. Some tasks are so big that they can be chopped into smaller pieces. For example, we didn’t write The Titanic Effect in one sitting. Instead, we chunked it into smaller pieces – outlined the chapters, outlined each chapter, wrote a chapter. If you’ve got a daunting task in front of you, break it up into more doable chunks.
Reward yourself at milestones. This goes hand-in-hand with the first one. Every time you finish one of those chunks or something that seemed hard, give yourself a reward. A reward can be anything that makes you feel better – time to play a game, a nap, a favorite dessert or snack, a special something you’ve wanted to buy…the reward isn’t important. The brain likes rewards. It remembers that when it does something hard, something good happens. You want to train your brain to look forward to the challenges instead of dreading them.
Positive Talk. When something starts to feel hard, we tend to start the negative talk: “I’m not good at this, Idon’t know why I thought I could do this, or I bet I look stupid.” Stop. Just stop it. You have to give yourself positive talk. If you don’t, you might not get any. So flip these. “This is hard, but I am making progress, Wow – I got that part done, The next one will be easier, or I’m doing something that most people won’t even try.”
Use mantras. Sometimes you have to distract yourself from the adversity. Mantras do this. Repeating something over and over, calms your mind. We like to do long bike rides. We especially like to do them at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. This thin barrier island is subject to fast moving (15+ mph) winds that come from the south. No matter where you start your ride, you are likely to have to ride into the wind. We’ve got a mantra for these rides – “The wind is my friend.” We might say this 20 or 30 times on a ride. It doesn’t help us ride faster, but it keeps us riding. Find your mantra. You can have one for tough times generally. Or you can create different ones for different situations. Use mantras to help with #3 – give yourself some positive talk.
Smile. We met at our first job where we called strangers on the phone to discover industry trends and identify small companies that could be acquired. Picking up the phone and calling strangers is hard. We were coached to put a big smile on our faces before picking up the phone. A smile changes the muscles you use in your face. It also changes the tenor of your voice. People can hear that change and respond more positively. Psychologist Ron Gutman found that research supports several benefits of smiling: others smile back at you, brain activation is similar to rewards like eating 2,000 chocolate bars or receiving about $25,000, and it reduces stress-enhancing hormones and blood pressure. Plus, smiles are free. So go ahead and just smile for yourself.
Focused Breathing. This one is a favorite of Navy Seals– calm your breathing to calm your mind and body. Put your hand on your belly and breathe in, feeling your belly fill with air. Then fill your chest with air and finally fill your upper body all the way to the top of your head. Many yoga practices include this same breathing approach. The Apple watch even has this as a standard app. So the next time you feel that you can’t handle something, just breathe until you know you can.
Being a startup founder is hard work. Some days it feels like one step forward and three steps back. But you started this company for a reason. You can manage the challenges if you believe in what you are doing. Use these ideas to work through the hard times. You already took the plunge. Find a way to keep navigating forward. That way is within you. You just have to tap into it. We know you can do it.