Entrepreneur’s Everyday Grind

As AI (Artificial Intelligence) and automation become increasingly a reality of life, many people are realizing the need for entrepreneurship.

Providing value to others from your own skillset(s) and expertise is a professional dream of many, including mine.

A sense of Purpose and fulfillment that I get from Coaching is something that I’m yet to experience when working for others or as a part of a company. Obviously to say that it is not possible, yet for me, this has been the case.

At the beginning of my entrepreneurial days, I most certainly fell into an illusionary comfort hole and claimed my Freedom the wrong way.

I had no idea what was required to make this type of Lifestyle work or sustainable. I had almost zero experience working for myself or knew what I needed to succeed. Most certainly I didn’t appreciate the fact that I needed to shed “sweat, blood, and tears” to make it work. I was missing many of the elementary parts of the puzzle.

I have to now be real with myself and swallow the fact that

The grind is real. It happens every day, no matter how I feel about it. And whether or not I miss a day, the next one is there eagerly waiting without asking if I wanted to show up or not.

The grind and the daily reality are just that. As Carrie Bohlig in our Ep. 14 of the Lifestyle Mastery Podcast also tells us that we must "Enjoy the Grind".

Yes, an entrepreneurial Lifestyle comes with its benefits, yet it requires a massive amount of self-leadership skills and taking full responsibility for your own results and actions. These are the key points that we discussed with Carrie in our must-listen episode of the Podcast.

I also wanted to share my own 5 Top tips on how to stay sane and sustainable in this game of entrepreneurship.

#1 Sleep

The quality AND Quantity both matter! You just cannot perform at your highest levels without having Sleep dialed in!

Even with all the cutting-edge knowledge and information available from people like Andrew Huberman, Matthew Walker, and my recent EP. 20 Podcast guest, the sleep expert Dave Gibson, it is still surprising how many people don’t prioritize getting their sleep right.

After I started tracking my sleep 2-3 years ago, my focus and ability to know what to do and what affects the quality of my sleep have increased dramatically.

In my private Coaching practice, Sleep is one of the first Lifestyle habits that we look at regardless of the Goals and aspirations we want to pursue.

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#2 Self-knowledge

As I have previously?and extensively written, knowing yourself is a MUST have. Identity and self-knowledge are factors that keep us focused on our path. They also allow us to get back on track when we fall off.

When the going gets tough, self-doubt and comparison to others start. Being solid on our own feet is what we must rely on.

This part is also something that hardly ever stops. The process continues all throughout life and is a journey that has no specific destination. Having unanswered questions might just be what’s needed as they allow more information, knowledge, and wisdom to enter in.

Returning to that childlike curiosity towards self-inquiry.

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#3 Solitude & Support

The two are almost polar opposites.

Being the only child of a single parent, I have always been extremely comfortable on my own and in Solitude. It has become my safe haven and a daily need. I find it a lot more comfortable being on my own instead of in crowded places and spaces. Especially in the ones that I feel I don’t belong to. No surprise there, yet many people are still extremely uncomfortable when all there is, is silence.

At the same time, we need people. The good ones. We cannot march in this life alone for that long…

Having support from like-minded individuals, especially in this entrepreneurial pursuit is paramount to our success.

We need to find the right crowd and our own cool cats to hang out with.

I find nothing wrong with the fact that I’m not friends with everyone anymore. I just don’t have the capacity or energy to please every single person I meet daily. I suppose I still have some work to do, even though many people have told me that I’m one of the most positive and uplifting people they have ever come across with.

The point being solitude and support are both absolutely elementary parts of sustainable entrepreneurship.

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#4 Strength/ Stamina

Or purely just Energy. And to track back, Sleep is possibly the No.1 one tool to have your daily energy as high as possible.

And when I talk about energy, I mean a lot more than some existential-type woo-woo field. Even though I’m also a believer in non-seen or felt type of energy, to keep it simple for now, I mainly refer to mental, emotional, and physical factors.

How well and for how long we can stay mentally focused. To practice concentration is a skill set that gets better with practice. A lot better.

As you might have heard already, Emotion is nothing more or less than energy in motion. When we understand and embody this idea it becomes increasingly easy to use that energy and direct it towards the right destination.

And finally, physical energy is obviously quite self-explanatory, and we can all understand how physical energy allows us to have better and longer levels of Performance.

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#5 Purpose

How expensive are your excuses? Do you know your reasons that reap the long-term rewards?

I surely had a lot of perfectly justified excuses why I had to do 2-3h self-care rituals in the morning and make sure I was 100% ready before starting to work. The truth of being an entrepreneur is that most of the days and most of the time we are not ready. We don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle in check and feel ready to start. Yet we still must show up and get on to that field of play.

What helps a lot with this reality is that we have a deeper Purpose. Something that has a pull from the distant as well as from the nearby future.

You see, our excuses have a cost, always. You might not see it instantaneously, but believe me, your excuses are more expensive than you might be aware of.

Finding or discovering what drives us intrinsically might take a long time. It might even be an ever-changing landscape like it is for me.

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Can you check all the 5 Keys? Or what would you add as additional ideas??

Your comments and insights are always very much appreciated!

All Green Lights,

Tuomo

tuomocoaching.com