Thread by @jspujji

Starting a company is hard.

The hardest part: the euphoric ups followed by the VICIOUS downs

I wasn’t satisfied that this was “the way it had to be”

I started digging. Worked with a coach. Read books

Here’s the #1 I learned to fight the ups and downs

I do it daily 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

1/ First, let’s back up.

One thing entrepreneurs all have in common is that we are HUMAN.

Newsflash: Humans weren’t designed to be happy. We were designed for one thing: survival.

Now if you were designing an animal to survive, what are some things you may give it?

2/ How about an alert system?

Something to let them know they should be careful or stop doing something: EMOTIONS

Fear - what wants to be paid attention to?
Anger - what wants to be stopped?
Sadness - what wants to be let go?
Joy - what Wants to be celebrated?

What else?

3/ You’d want this animal to be able to use these emotions and quickly spot threats.

In fact, humans are built to walk into a room and first pay attention to anything that could harm them!

But these days, we don’t often experience threats aren’t to our physical survival…

4/ they are to our Ego.

Our ego seeks out approval, control and security at all times.

With our built in “threat” detector, we are drawn to issues and problems.

Nothing is wrong with us. We are not negative pessimists. We are just human!

Now apply this to an entrepreneur…

5/ your whole self is attached to this endeavor.

You think about it constantly. You call it your baby. And you and the venture are 1.

Well as we all know, startups are constantly under threat:

6/ Some customers hate your product.
VCs pass on investing.
Your best employee resigns.

It’s overload for an animal designed to spot threat!

So what’s the powerful preventive cure?

7/ I spend 2 minutes every morning writing down a few things:

- today I will let go of…
- today, I am grateful for (3+ things)
- today I will focus on…

Why does this work?

8/ Gratitude is powerful because it rewires the brain from its tendency to only see and feel threat.

By spending time on the good, you actually see reality more clearly, the perceived ups and downs diminish rapidly.

But Jesse I tried this and it didn’t work!

Here’s The trick:

9/ The best advice I got about gratitude journaling is find something that was literally a MOMENT.

Most people have tried gratitude journaling and complain it’s repetitive.

The “moment hack” solves this.

I’m not grateful for my daughter…

10/ I’m grateful for when her little hand grabbed my finger today and she locked eyes with me.

I’m not grateful for my team…

I’m grateful for how susie always has a job req ready to backfill the same day when someone resigns

I’m not grateful for learning…

11/ I’m grateful that this deal we just lost taught me the value of asking better questions.

What about the other parts?

The “Letting go” helps me identify something I’m holding onto from the past that won’t serve me today.

Again, naming it specifically is the most effective

12/ last, The focus and intention for the day really helps me stay on task even when there are a million things happening

These 2 minutes combined with truly feeling all my feelings (sadness when we lose, Joy when we win) have radically altered my experience of entrepreneurship

13/ Of course, there is still a ton of volatility in starting and building businesses

We pivot. Lose deals. People quit.

But I’m more able to maintain a broader, more accurate perspective (far far from perfect).

This make me a better leader, I feel happier and more fulfilled.

14/ Gratitude is an incredibly powerful force.

My favorite clip about it is an awesome Tony robbins video (linked below).

Try it with me:

In it, he asks the crowd to think of a stressful problem in their life. One they've been avoiding dealing with.

Then…

15/ he says: “put your hand on your chest, feel your heartbeat.

Your heart has been beating since before you were born. It keeps you alive. Keeps your whole body functioning. It never asks for anything.

Keep feeling it beat.

16/ If it stopped, your life and everything you know would be over.

And yet, have you ever felt grateful for your heart? Thanked it for beating on and on without any needs…

Now about that issue, anyone still feel like it matters?" No one raises their hand.

17/ I watch this video and do this exercise anytime I get really down.

This Thanksgiving try it out and commit to experiencing the power of gratitude in your daily life.

The Video:

18/ Big thanks to Concious Leadership Group (Conscious.is) for helping me find gratitude and @NeilPasricha - who created the 2min morning journal amazon.com/Two-Minute-Mor…

Follow me @jspujji I tweet advice and stories about entrepreneurship like this weekly.

19/ And don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter: The 3-1-4. It comes up every other week with 3 links, 1 thought and 4 opportunities.

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