As an entrepreneur, it can often feel as though you fall more often than you rise. It's important to note, that when you imagine yourself getting back up, you tend to picture the physical act of standing. But this is not the case.
When you are knocked down. Your confidence can be rattled and thrown into question. Getting back up, means stepping back into the mind, emotion and stature of the confident human being you know that you are. This is something I teach all of my coaching clients.
Do you know where your confidence lives? What are the beliefs, the feelings, the way you use your body that allows you to be at your most confident?
One of my life long friends (we'll call her Lyndsey) lost her husband two years ago when he suffered a massive heart attack on the way home from work.
She was devastated.
Her dream was to spend the rest of her life with this man. To watch their children grow up, to hold him one more time. But these dreams were gone.
She openly shared the journey of the past two years on her Facebook profile. The tears, the fears, the challenge of finding the person she needs to be in order to move forward.
One day, a few months ago, she declared that she wasn't going to spend the rest of her life feeling like a widow. Defining herself according to that loss wouldn't help her move forward.
She reclaimed her strength, her confidence and acknowledged the strength of her support system to help see her through it.
Yesterday she posted that she'd gone on her first date, and he was a complete gentleman.
My late mother in law, (my ex wife's mother) ran a seven figure business for well over a decade. She relied heavily on the loyalty of her biggest customer in order to maintain this. But one year, this customer decided to go with another company that offered better pricing.
Her business collapsed and so did her confidence. She died penniless. This didn't have to be her fate.
It's been said that everything happens for a reason. I don't believe that. I don't believe that the reason is inherent in the events of our lives. I do believe that whenever we experience a loss, especially the big ones. We must examine it for the opportunity it provides. The question that serves us best is, "What is required of me, in order to bounce forward?"
In order to bounce forward, you need to make a set of decisions regarding what you'll believe, who will you turn into and who you are willing to work to become.
Your purpose as a business owner and a human being, is bigger than your marriage or the loyalty of one customer. If you happen to lose one or both. It is critical that you don't lose sight of your purpose.
Your purpose is the experience you've decided to bring to the world by virtue of your presence in it. When you fall, commit yourself to rising up. Step back into your confidence. Reaffirm your purpose, and strive on, untiringly.