Stay Calm, Breathe, and Relax
Let’s face it, running a business isn’t always the most fun thing to do in the world. Running a business is like a rollercoaster – a series of ups, downs, and turns. Some days you’ll feel like you’re on top of the world and other days you’ll feel like you’re in absolute hell.
If there’s one thing I learned as a leader and entrepreneur, it’s to remain calm, cool, and collected no matter what. No matter how bad the situation is — losing a client, crashing a server, deleting your saved information, destroying your computer, or having your girlfriend break your heart while finding out that you didn’t get accepted into your dream college, etc… — you must be able to keep a clear head.
Sure, easier said than done. Isn’t everything? But without equanimity, you can never become a powerful leader, let alone an effective entrepreneur.
Punching the walls until your knuckles bleed
Think about it: what happened the last time something went wrong. Did you start punching walls, cursing at the top of your lungs, and start releasing your anger on anything that has a heart pulse within a 3-mile radius?
Staying calm and thinking out the situation
Or… did you get angry, but were able to stay calm, thinking relatively clearly, and be able to make rational decisions (not emotional ones)?
Learn how to control your emotions
If you are of the former mindset after a problem, then you may want to start practicing how to stay calm after a tragic event. It’s hard, I know, but you don’t want to be one of those people who make “emotional” decisions in the heat of the moment. You’ll almost always regret those sort of rash decisions.
When something hits the fan and your world feels like it’s coming to an end, then the first thing that you need to do is “breathe….breathe…breathe…” Try and think about what exactly happened, assess the damage, then calmly start thinking of solutions.
Try and isolate what “just happened” from “what you need to do” to remedy the situation. Call me weird, but I am a firm believer that everything that happens in life happens for a reason – mistakes, problems, and mishaps included. A reason that will probably make more sense down the line. Problems are usually blessings in disguise.
This is the life we chose
That’s what it’s all about, baby! That’s what we live for. We’re entrepreneurs – we fall down, hurt ourselves, and get right back up to do it again.
How do you deal with problems?
4 Comments
Lawrence of a USA
March 15th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
funny thing, your last quote…
i have evil knievel’s signed business card.
on it, there’s a printed quote:
“You can fall many times in life…But you’re never a failure as long as you try to get up!”
just thought it was worth a mention.
David Askaripour
March 15th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
awesome quote — so true!
Michael
March 17th, 2007 at 7:33 am
A roller coaster like this can make you forget the word named BOREDOM.For example this word dissapeared from my vocabulary since I have a little business.
David Askaripour
March 17th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Yeah, BOREDOM is no good
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