Dan Martell - How To Get Out Of The Entrepreneurial Funk

00:00:00.320 How to get out of the entrepreneurial funk.

00:00:03.120 I don't know if you've ever had those days

00:00:05.040 where you kind of felt depressed, right?

00:00:07.320 But you wouldn't call it that, or maybe you just

00:00:09.520 didn't feel like yourself, or you couldn't figure out

00:00:11.840 how to get back into your groove, or whatever it is.

00:00:14.360 I want to share with you guys that I

00:00:15.760 believe that entrepreneurs go through mild forms

00:00:18.520 of depression or funks all the time,

00:00:20.360 and we don't even know it, right?

00:00:21.760 So when I was building Sphere, I got to a point

00:00:24.360 where things were crazy.

00:00:25.520 It was two years in, the company was growing like crazy.

00:00:28.320 but when I looked at my, essentially, my capacity,

00:00:31.980 my team, and the business that I had,

00:00:34.480 there was a huge gap between what I needed in sales

00:00:37.640 and what my team was capable of doing,

00:00:39.560 and I was depressed, I was bummed.

00:00:41.860 I didn't even know what it was called,

00:00:43.820 and I went down this kind of path

00:00:46.680 of learning more about it.

00:00:48.060 I discovered a great guy named Cameron Harreld

00:00:50.520 who talked about this thing called

00:00:51.900 the entrepreneurial rollercoaster.

00:00:53.080 He talks about going from uninformed optimism

00:00:55.880 to informed pessimism,

00:00:57.320 like this crazy curve of emotion,

00:00:59.480 and it can happen to you all the time.

00:01:01.300 I mean, another example I learned about

00:01:03.060 was the entrepreneurial pendulum,

00:01:04.300 where you swing from exclamation mark,

00:01:06.060 take over the world, this is my destiny,

00:01:09.100 all the way over to question mark,

00:01:11.000 which is what am I doing with my life?

00:01:12.700 Is this gonna even work, and am I gonna fail?

00:01:15.940 And I share that with you because it doesn't matter

00:01:18.080 where you're in that kind of mode,

00:01:20.340 that roller coaster, that swing,

00:01:22.280 I'm gonna share with you guys four strategies

00:01:23.780 that help you get out of it, and it's really important.

00:01:25.740 So the first one is to create a list of your accomplishments.

00:01:28.600 I think every person in the world should be doing this.

00:01:32.020 And it's really a simple, I use Evernote.

00:01:34.020 You can write it down on a piece of paper

00:01:35.440 and carry it in your wallet,

00:01:36.280 but it's things that you are proud of for yourself.

00:01:39.780 Other people have remarked about you,

00:01:41.280 accomplishments, whatever they are.

00:01:42.800 Maybe it's being a father,

00:01:44.800 maybe it's finishing a half marathon,

00:01:47.000 maybe it's doing a CrossFit workout RX.

00:01:50.540 Whatever it is for you, make that list.

00:01:53.200 It could be personal, professional,

00:01:54.800 It doesn't matter, you know?

00:01:56.240 Anytime you've ever scared yourself

00:01:57.980 and you pushed on forward and you accomplished it,

00:02:00.420 add it to the list.

00:02:01.360 Making that list of accomplishment and reviewing it

00:02:04.000 whenever you're feeling this way,

00:02:05.580 it'll just help you remind you how incredible you are.

00:02:08.140 And that to me is the big thing.

00:02:09.480 I think we forget about how amazing we've been

00:02:12.920 so far in our lives and the challenges

00:02:14.440 and all the things we've had to overcome.

00:02:16.420 Every one of us have that and I know you have it,

00:02:18.500 so make that list, that's the first step.

00:02:20.420 The second one is reconnect with your why.

00:02:22.680 You know, when you started the company,

00:02:24.300 There was a reason, right?

00:02:25.540 There was a purpose.

00:02:26.640 You know, what was that reason?

00:02:28.120 Maybe it was to create a better future for your family.

00:02:30.540 Maybe it was to prove people wrong

00:02:32.900 that always doubted you in your past.

00:02:35.040 Maybe it was to serve a customer

00:02:37.080 that really needed your solution

00:02:38.420 and didn't exist in the market.

00:02:39.680 Whatever your why is, revisit it.

00:02:42.320 Talk about it, think about it.

00:02:44.040 Reconnect with that excitement,

00:02:46.100 that spark that you had

00:02:47.260 when you first started your business.

00:02:48.460 So that's the second tip to help you get out of a funk.

00:02:50.920 The third one is to list things you're grateful for.

00:02:53.400 And when I recommend this, it's not just like high level,

00:02:56.500 like I'm grateful for, you know, having coffee

00:02:59.480 or, you know, grateful for my family.

00:03:02.140 I'm talking about the mundane.

00:03:03.880 You know, I think we forget that in a blink of a second,

00:03:07.300 all of us can lose the ability to walk.

00:03:10.600 We can all fall ill.

00:03:12.300 We can all, you know, lose a loved one, whatever it is.

00:03:16.880 And I just think, you know, just sitting down

00:03:18.820 and thinking about like, you know,

00:03:19.880 sometimes I'm grateful for the fact

00:03:21.620 that I live in a country

00:03:22.520 where I can even build a business

00:03:23.800 because there's places in the world

00:03:24.840 where that's not true, right?

00:03:26.840 Have you ever thought of that one?

00:03:28.040 Have you ever thought that, you know,

00:03:29.580 if you've got health in your life, vitality,

00:03:32.120 if you've got friends that support you,

00:03:33.620 those are all incredible things to be grateful for.

00:03:36.220 So that's the third one,

00:03:37.360 is just sitting down and making that list

00:03:38.760 because here's what I know.

00:03:39.860 When you're grateful, when you're in that feeling,

00:03:42.240 that emotion, that state, you can't be sad.

00:03:45.660 You can't be frustrated.

00:03:46.900 You can't be angry.

00:03:47.760 You can't be fearful.

00:03:48.820 So the power of gratitude is so important.

00:03:51.160 and it's something I practice every morning,

00:03:52.920 but if you're ever feeling in that funk,

00:03:54.540 you've got the blues, sit down and make that list.

00:03:57.040 And the fourth one, which I think is a no-brainer,

00:03:59.960 you should just stop watching this video

00:04:01.440 if you're feeling this way and go do it, is exercise.

00:04:03.900 And I don't care if it's a 15-minute walk outside

00:04:07.780 or dropping out of your desk and doing some push-ups,

00:04:11.120 whatever it is, I just think that there's a reason why,

00:04:14.820 as humans, we used to roam the Earth,

00:04:16.820 we used to move way more than we do today,

00:04:18.720 we live a very sedentary life,

00:04:20.620 and exercise is probably one of the fastest ways

00:04:23.360 that you can just shift your attitude and get out of it.

00:04:25.860 So if you've been avoiding the gym

00:04:27.940 or you haven't returned that call to your running partner,

00:04:31.820 I'm gonna challenge you right now to pick up the phone

00:04:33.980 and get doing on that.

00:04:35.380 But that is the fourth step is exercise.

00:04:37.000 So real quick, create a list of your achievements.

00:04:39.320 You know, review your why.

00:04:40.960 Why did you start this business in the first way?

00:04:42.920 The third one is list of things that you're grateful for

00:04:45.700 and do that every day, honestly.

00:04:47.080 And then the fourth is exercise.

00:04:49.000 Get out there, get the sweat.

00:04:50.580 You know, I always say that sweat is your fat crying.

00:04:53.540 Do that for you.

00:04:54.740 And if you know there's somebody

00:04:55.580 that needs to watch this video,

00:04:56.540 feel free to share with them.

00:04:57.620 Subscribe to my newsletter.

00:04:59.460 It's right up there.

00:05:00.540 Just click the link, subscribe there.

00:05:02.420 And as per usual, I wanna challenge you

00:05:04.300 to live a bigger life and a bigger business.

00:05:06.580 I'll see you next Monday.

Dan Martell - April 25, 2016

How To Get Out Of The Entrepreneurial Funk

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