We All Tend to Focus on the External, What About the Internal?
Nowadays everyone is so concerned with the external and material world. I need to grow my clients! I need to get new employees! I need to raise capital! I need to launch this new service! I need to meet this person! I need to attend this event! I need to whatever… you get the idea. We become so caught up in the external world, that we forget about what’s going on within. Within our minds.
The last time I checked, the mind controlled the body. Right? So why do we give so much attention to the external world and hardly any to the internal? Our minds need attention too, silly.
I know… I know… this is one of those philosophical articles where I go off on what seems to be a tangent on explaining the world. Well guess what? I’m a philosopher, what can I say.. hehe…
Ok, so where were we? Yes, the mind! The mind is very important. Sometimes we entrepreneurs get so caught up in the mix of things. We become consumed with the material world. We make money and are happy. We get clients and say whoo hoo!! We lose a deal and we say sh*t!
But why do all of these things happen? Why do we win and lose? These things occur because they are reflections of what’s going on in our minds. I’ll be the first to admit it: sometimes when I’m having a bad day I let that spill over into my business. Maybe I’ll be really short with someone even if the didn’t deserve it or maybe I’ll lose a deal because I was in a lazy mood and never called back that client in time.
These things occurred because of how I was feeling — regardless whether they were bad or good business decisions. So what am I saying here? Break it down, Dave!
I’m saying this: as entrepreneurs and as founders of companies, we have to pay a lot of attention to our minds. More than most people. We have to spend time to reflect on what’s going on up there. You have to run a series of checks and balances — constantly. Or things are going to get out of control.
We’re entrepreneurs — anomalies of the human race. We are the weirdest, most stressed, happiest, craziest, and most passionate people in the entire world. All of those things in one! Our minds undergo extreme stress to extreme delight throughout the days. We’re on a rollercoaster 24/7 — a series of ups, down, and arounds.
We, more than any one else, need to take care of ourselves in order to keep on going strong and to keep on headed in the right direction. Take care of your mind. Relax. Reflect for at least a few minutes a day — just stare out the window or zone out to some music or have a drink or roll a joint (if that’s your thing) and allow your mind to let go.
4 Comments
lawrence
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:20 pm
as much as we want to devote 110% exclusively to our ‘babies’ …we have to, for health’s sake, deviate away from it - atleast for a while
it’s not healthy at all to be working and concentrating on your business all the time - if you do, it’s most likely just a matter of time before you implode.
but mad craziness, can breed genius
a joint, dave…MP is pro-joints? ohh oh, lol
David Askaripour
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Well said, yes if we didn’t take care of ourselves we would implode! So true. Is MP pro-joints? It’s pro doing whatever makes you happy and helps you to relax and chill. Is that my thing, nah. But, believe me, I’m not against anything done in moderation
Luc Arnold
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I read a great book called “The 80/20 Way of Living” and it does help you to manage your business and personal life pretty effectively.
Because i cannot focus on a lot of things at once i usually only focus on the top things that i need to do and want to do at any given time. Since i have i’ve noticed that the things that do not matter to me are drifting away and the things that are really important are growing and becoming easier to manage.
lawrence
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:38 pm
ahh, lol…the 80/20 rule. business 101.
that rule applies to more facets of life, than just business.
i personally like to think of it as the 90/10 rule
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