How To Move Fast And Confront Failure As A New Entrepreneur

I share here this article I wrote for Forbes, I think you may find it useful #coachingintelligence

New entrepreneurs can gain much insight from those who have gone before on the topic of failure and decision making.

In his 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Steve Jobs spoke about connecting the dots, the idea that before you decide to do some things you have to choose to implement some of your decisions without knowing exactly where they will lead you. You cannot know what will happen, and this is the world’s gift for the future. Your intention, your will and maybe your optimism leads you to take some actions that you're hoping will work and connect with each other. You cannot understand exactly how they are connected, but when you turn around and look back, you will be able to join these dots and know how you did it.

To lead even yourself at this stage, you are taking a commercial risk. On leadership, Tim Cook said that "the job itself is a lonely job," and while you can seek advice from others, ultimately you are the one that will have to make the decision. That’s the nature of the game.

Mark Zuckerberg said, "Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough." We often hear things like, "Be careful not to fail," or "Be careful not to make a mistake," but I say make a mistake and do it quickly to find out what does not work. I believe success comes from many failures and if there is one thing that stands in the way of success, it is the fear of failure. When we are unable to manage this fear of failure, this fear does not allow us to learn. And if you think about it, the classic questions we ask in coaching are "what went well?" and "what can get better?" which teaches us exactly that. Observe how we learn what we will need to do to succeed. What can fear do to you?

Lastly, we need to continually evolve. Oscar Wilde is often credited with saying, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” I think this summarizes the above points very well. You should not seek to exactly emulate what others do and how they do it. In any case, this is not only bad logic for your professional activity, but also for the coaching process. To be ourselves means to know ourselves, to have knowledge of ourselves. Know who you are for yourself — take what works for you and your customers.

Let's examine the five challenges faced by a professional who is starting to work as an entrepreneur and how to find the solutions:

1. Decision-Making

Decisions are difficult, and if you're not careful, that can turn into a "stranglehold" that keeps you from taking action. You need to learn how to make decisions. Decisions are always both challenging and necessary. Remember:

? Oftentimes, a bad decision is better than no decision.

? Don’t look where others are, look where you want to go.

? The big picture is not where the ball is, it’s where it’s going to go.

? Fast decision-making creates intense uncertainty; learn to deal with that.

? When you don’t have to make a decision, let someone else do it; in the end you’ll both learn something.

2. Time Management

You should allocate your time in such a way that it satisfies both your professional and business activity, your personal life and, of course, the time with your customers. The biggest challenge here in my experience is to stop "spreading out." This requires a skilled "no" aptitude.

3. Handling The Noise

You need to learn to manage the noise — the outside factors that can affect you, the comments and beliefs that can discourage you, etc. Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, explains how to do it:

? Cut down external noise by reducing listening to negative people or negative sources of information by 5%. That will increase the likelihood of finding your source signal.

? We’re not just what we eat, we’re also what we read and listen to. Take care of the degree to which you expose yourself to negativity. Boost your positive signal by seeking out positive sources.

Transfer your positive reality to others by sharing stories that help you embrace a life full of positive experiences. We live in the stories that we tell, and these stories expand our understanding of the world and forge our intention.

4. Challenge Of The Past

On one hand, your past influences who you are. On the other hand, you may find you need to make a huge distinction between your past self and current/future self in order to operate under these new conditions. There will be many people who knew who you were and cannot understand who you have become and why. Tell your story. Be bold about it. Point out the learnings in this transition. Share your vision regarding what you’re trying to accomplish. Understand what fuels your conviction to change. There’ll be times you’ll hear the sirens of the past calling you back like Ulysses in your own private Odyssey. Be self-compassionate about why you need to change. Be an example of intention for yourself and an example of will for others.

5. Confrontation With Failure

You will have many failures. Be mentally resilient! Try again, do it again. Albert Einstein is often credited with saying, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Setbacks are setups for success.

These five points are the most fundamental challenges. We must always learn and move forward. There is no such thing as a fail-safe process for success. Remember that.

Angelos Derlopas is the founder and CEO of Positivity Coaching. Here's how he presents himself: I'm an Executive & Team coach with three decades of business experience. I have presented and/or participated in coaching conferences in Europe, N. America, Asia & Africa. I have postgraduate studies in both Business Administration (MBA) and Psychology (MSc). I have more than 6,000 hours experience in coaching and coaching training. I co-edited and co-written a collective volume called “Coaching guide” which was published in 2019. I have served as subject matter-expert in ICF Global for the Core Coaching Competencies and for the Team Coaching Competencies. I am a Certified Mentor Coach (CMC), a Team Coach Supervisor (AHA/CSA), a Certified E-Coach (eCoachPro), a Professional Certified Coach (ICF PCC), an ICF Certified Assessor, a Forbes Coaches Council official member. I'm the author of two ICF ACSTH accredited coaching training programs and several ICF CCE ones. I train coaches, coach trainers, mentor and supervise them. I supervised a substantial amount of coaching interventions with my team of certified coaches in the non-profit and government sector. My current clients include C-suite, VPs, First Line managers of multinationals in sectors like Pharma and IT, also executives e.g. from production like Philip Morris International, or food chains like Ahold Delhaize or managers from international not for profit organisations like UN agencies. I have coached clients in more than 100 countries.

I coach executives & teams through developmental dialogue to make shifts so their authentic presence will emerge & flourish. My style is holding a safe space for the client to enable self reflection and free expression and share difficult questions as invitations for exploration of the potential ahead. My values in coaching include clarity, intention and action.