10 Startup Tips
Chapter 25: Remedy For Motivation
The content in this chapter will be very useful to your company
and you won’t find it in any other business book.
Your mental health,
motivation,
happiness and health are the most important factors
in the success of your business.
So there is no reason to miss this opportunity.
So how do I keep my motivation at its peak?
What creates happiness?
This is an odd question,
but there’s also a lot of research on the “science of happiness”.
An interesting research exercise on lottery winners yields three factors:
1. The state of being carefree,
such as health or money
2. Sense of mission and purpose in life
3. Have a close relationship with family and friends
Surprisingly, lottery winners consistently don’t do these three things well.
They turn money worries to safety concerns.
They often lose their purpose in life
and a lot of old friends shun them.
But as an entrepreneur,
your mission is clear.
What you do is avoid the isolation of your friends
and try to avoid stress.
Look for supporters around you
“I got a letter from a friend titled ‘Winner!’
I keep it next to my computer and look at it
when I’m stressed!” (Dawn, product design)
Isolation is a danger to entrepreneurs.
On a rainy day,
you’re dealing with things yourself
and a customer bothers you.
It’s sad if you don’t have anyone to share it with.
But if you talk to someone,
you’ll realize they’ve been through the same thing.
Try to surround yourself with people
who believe in you.
Preferably those who are also just starting out.
They will understand the problems you are having
and can share with you right away.
You don’t have to meet them in person,
just call or write to them.
You can join an online affiliate group.
There are many groups that can help you
and are often informal “food clubs”.
If you can’t find anyone,
why not try starting with an organization?
Try to spend time with friends.
That may sound a bit expensive
when you need a lot of work time,
but it’s a great investment.
As the Americans say:
“Work hard, play hard.”
Take a break
A wise man said to me,
“You can’t plan entertainment.”
It’s great to have an extended lunch
or a great last minute stay.
Therefore, running a business makes no sense
if you can’t spontaneously eat and drink.
You also feel satisfied knowing that others are at work
and you are resting.
Have the same philosophy as thinker Ferris Bueller:
Life moves very fast.
If you don’t stop and look around once,
you’ll miss it. (In Ferris Bueller’s Day off)
Success is a long journey,
not a sprint.
Small business owners are always busy.
You often hear:
“I work 10 hours a day.”
“Me, I work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.”
“God, what did that soak.
I work 20 hours a day
and it takes 2 hours to get home;
I remember my last vacation was probably from 1987”…
(Monty Python)
You simply cannot work 15 hours a day,
6 days a week,
12 months a year without turning into (a) a burnout
or (b) a person who hates his or her job.
In fact, psychologists have shown
that you can only really focus effectively
for 40 minutes at a time.
So take time to rest.
Follow the instructions of Ru Paul,
an American basketball player:
Have space,
give space.
This is very important to your business.
Only when you create space
for your own life will you be able
to listen to others and see new opportunities.
Take a walk after lunch or take a nap.
My wife used to put appointments
with Mr. S. K. Ives in my workbook,
and we slipped away to the gallery.
Don’t make yourself a cripple in your quest for perfection:
A better skill is not trying to complete every task,
but knowing which tasks you may not need done yet.
Take care of yourself
Keeping your body healthy:
The ancient Greeks had a philosophy
of a balanced life called kalos kagathos.
They argue that you should spend
as much time playing sports
as you do at work.
There is some value to the entrepreneur in this philosophy.
Playing sports may not seem like your priority,
but it’s a great way to eliminate worries,
improve focus,
and deal with work pressure.
It also keeps you from catching the flu.
You don’t have to run a marathon,
but you can do simple exercises three times per week.
Eat well:
Want to lose weight?
Think carefully
Your brain is truly a draft horse.
It consumes 75% of the sugar in the liver and
20% of the body’s oxygen.
If you’re too focused,
it will burn 1.5 calories per minute,
about half of a brisk walk.
So, if you want to think well,
you need to give it enough nutrients.
Don’t skip breakfast,
but eat things that can help burn carbohydrates like porridge
or breakfast dishes.
Snack on things like nuts
(not coffee and nuts that make you gasp)
and then drink a glass of fruit juice.
Try to eat a lot at lunch,
avoid eating foods high in carbohydrates before going to bed.
Get enough sleep:
Less sleep can have a big impact on memory,
concentration,
and judgment.
In the morning we consider sleeping unimportant,
by three o’clock in the afternoon,
we feel very hungry.
For those who often have trouble sleeping at night,
they should:
Buy an expensive pillow
Take a nap when you feel sleepy.
The beauty of being self-employed is that
you don’t have to stick to the clock (between 8am and 5pm).
Don’t exercise,
eat or drink coffee after 6 p.m.
And remember,
depending on the individual,
alcohol can be both a stimulant
and a pain reliever.
Don’t listen to the news.
Because it makes you “stuck” in your head
when you go to sleep.
It also increases stress if there are problems
that you can’t do anything about.
Keep a notebook with you.
If you’re worried about a problem,
write it down in your notebook
and say you’ll deal with it the next morning
– not at 4 a.m.
Don’t hide
If you’re in trouble,
don’t hide and don’t tell anyone.
That way your problem won’t go away either.
When you face your problems or fears,
you will find that they are not as bad as you imagined.
At the same time,
don’t shy away from making tough decisions that need to be made.
Andi McNab’s Experience of the Gulf War in Bravo Two Zero:
We don’t always make the right decisions,
but the worst decision is not making a decision at all.
Stay positive
I get annoyed with people who,
when asked how they are, say,
“Not so bad!”
or “Nothing to grumble about!”
Why can’t you say “Good!”
or even “Excellent”!
The great thing is that after that,
you will start to feel
and people will also feel positively encouraged from you.
On the other hand,
negativity is dangerous
because it can wear you down.
Have you noticed
if someone says you look sick,
within about 10 seconds you start to feel tired?
Don’t listen to the negative comments of others
and don’t take it on yourself.
If a client asks you about your competition,
don’t criticize them
because it will reflect that you suck.
You should consult the documentation on Michael Heppell’s
www.michaelheppell.co.uk.
He is a master at making people feel “great” about themselves.
You may be a typical British skeptic
who “does it on your own”,
but with every dollar spent,
you build momentum
and increase confidence tenfold.
It’s not your fault
There is a very interesting psychological phenomenon:
If you go to the cause of the accident,
they will pull up a bunch of objective reasons
– weather,
lights,
traffic conditions.
If you ask the driver,
they will certainly appreciate their role in this.
The same is true in business.
If you succeed,
people will quickly come up
with a bunch of excuses like you’ve met “good times,
favorable conditions,
people’s harmony” or you’re lucky.
But if your business is in trouble,
the general tendency is to blame yourself,
even if it’s for objective reasons.
There are many factors that determine the success of a business,
just as there are many reasons for failure.
If your business fails, don’t worry:
it’s not the end of the world.
As Henry Ford once said:
Failure is an opportunity to start again more intelligently.
Relieve stress
People often mistakenly believe that nervous tension is caused
by high intensity work.
But the real stress comes
from your own way of controlling your environment.
Short-term stress is not necessarily a bad thing.
Having a long working period with precise deadlines also helps
if you are well paid and rested.
But prolonged stress is a killer.
The cause comes from other people controlling your life.
I think entrepreneurship is one of the least stressful professions,
when you don’t have to work for a stupid boss.
Accept that there are always stressful times:
Life has its ups and downs,
If you sink there, you will have good luck;
Without them, this whole life
Will just hang around in shallowness and misery.
(William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, IV.iii)
Business,
like everything in life,
goes through times.
You will grow unevenly.
When you’re busy,
you’ll wish the work would pass quickly.
And when falling in
difficult, you wonder where the work has gone.
This is partly because you grow too fast,
you are too busy with work
and do not fill the sales funnel with new leads.
That’s how the whole world does it.
If everything is going well,
don’t think it’s always going well and spend it lavishly.
On the contrary,
if things go badly,
accept it and see it as an inevitable step towards success.
Never say,
“At least things can’t get worse.”
Learn to cry as a negotiation skill:
The most important thing you can give a client is trust.
If you make a mistake,
confess it early,
directly,
and sincerely.
Research shows that customers are more likely
to be loyal if they’ve had trouble with a supplier
and solved the problem successfully.
A sincere apology will calm any situation.
When I started publishing my first yearbook,
I often typed it myself.
Late one night,
after finishing the book
I didn’t realize
I was using spell-correction software
that automatically corrected class president Angus McDonald’s name to Anus2.
The book went to print and it wasn’t
until graduation day that someone pointed out the mistake.
I was so embarrassed,
I apologized
and requested that the book be reprinted,
and apologized to Angus.
However, the students found it quite amusing
and I got out of trouble.
Don’t say,
“At least things can’t get worse”:
All of a sudden,
bad things can happen.
Take the brave pill!
People fear that starting a business is scary,
but everything has its price.
Then go ahead,
be brave and take the courage pill.
I received a postcard from a colleague:
There will be hesitations until
you decide to do.
Regressive thoughts will
always makes the job ineffective.
A fact is right
when you decide to take the initiative
then everything started to change.
Hesitation will make
Your ideas and plans disappear.
What happened though
may never happen.
How you make decisions,
how you behave in events
and surprise appointments,
supports,
Things you never dreamed of
will appear on your way.
Then whatever you can do or dream,
you all can do it,
let’s start now.
In boldness there is genius,
strength
and magical charm.
Take action now!