My 3 Strategies to Developing Resilience as an Entrepreneur ??

The pressure founders experience in their start up journey is extremely draining. The ability to juggle multiple priorities at work along with commitments in one’s personal life can often feel overwhelming. Being a start-up founder and working full-time I have personal experience with having too much on my plate and feeling overwhelmed.

Decades of research now point to the fact that resilience can be nurtured and built by attitudes, behaviours and social support. All these can be cultivated by one. So, over the last 2 years of working full-time and running The Pluralist Watches I have come up with 3 strategies of my own to enhancing my resilience.

1. Adaptability: Resilient people are adaptable and flexible to changing situations. This is crucial as we know that the start-up journey can be very unpredictable. The best way to cope with unpredictability is to always remain optimistic. Optimism has allowed me to cope well with change and see the opportunity during times of change instead of the threat.
2. Purpose and mindfulness: Resilient people tend to have clear values, established goals and a sense of direction. Every quarter I sit down with a notebook and establish some clear short term goals for myself in my personal and professional life. This has allowed me to develop a road map to solutions during times of crisis as a founder.
3. Always have a Plan B: Resilient people always have a Plan B. Whenever, I faced a dead-end with my start-up I revisited my business and strategic timeline to re-evaluate. Over the years I have also started to put down in writing a Plan B into my business plans. Having a Plan B in writing to go back to has allowed me to remain optimistic and avoid meltdowns.

Last year I took part in an award-winning pre-accelerator program for early stage startups called ‘Catalysr’ and noticed very early on how resilient all my fellow startup founders were. My experience reinstated my belief in the importance of developing resilience on an ongoing basis.

The ability to build resilience is a skill and it will serve you well as you navigate in the exciting and unpredictable world of start-ups. I hope my strategies will help you strengthen your ability to cope with change and develop resilience as they have mine.