Can touching and panic end in something good?
Time passes so fast and this week has mostly consisted of structuring, assembling and making new contacts.
I am often struck by the fact that as an entrepreneur you have so many balls running that you lose the thread and do not see all the progress you actually take in everyday life. All the small steps we take that lead us in the right direction, one step at a time. One day you are queen or king and the whole world is at your feet and the other day it feels so heavy.
What I've learned when it feels heavy is to take the time to sit down and try to gain control. What usually disappears when you have a lot around you is control. You run around and put out fires while creating new contacts and making progress. But when you get setbacks in something you've hoped for a lot, it's hard to see the good things you've done. All of a sudden it feels like you're in disaster mode – you're not in control.
When I say that you are not in control, I mean that you have missed out on follow-up for a while. It's nice that I've come so far in my journey that I know what I have to do when that feeling comes along. Take the time to calmly review the situation. What's it look like? What's most important? How can we create structure? Almost every time I do it, I see that it's usually nothing to stress out about. I see that we are on top of things and that we are making progress all the time. In the feeling of not being in control, you just don't see it because you haven't taken the time to look at the timeline.
Only the short perspective can be seen in the glasses. I think I am not alone in this and I do not think it applies to me in my role as an entrepreneur, but this is something that many people can recognise themselves in. No matter what kind of work role you have.
Every time we end up there, we learn something new about ourselves. We will find out what we need to get to grips with, what we have missed, and thus we will also benefit from the situation. Sometimes it's good to look in the rearview mirror to see what we've accomplished. For my own part – when it feels heavy, today I have my amazing colleagues and partners who are invaluable. Alone is certainly not the strongest.
One fun thing that has happened when I look in our rearview mirror is that the deck that we developed last spring, to promote and challenge to reflection, has become so popular that we sold the deck to several organizations. We have also received a request to produce it in English and this week 150 decks of cards in both Swedish and English were delivered to Bombardier. HOW INCREDIBLY FUN I think!
We can also see that our customers who have had Mentor for a while are expanding, they are choosing to bring in more and more departments and using more features, a sign that they appreciate what we are passionate about. When I look back at it, I can put my stress aside and enjoy it instead, at least at this moment. In the next breath, there's something new to run into – the allure of being an entrepreneur! 🙂
Again, we land in the importance of taking the time to reflect, reflection can also consist of looking in the rearview mirror and seeing what has actually been achieved in a slightly longer perspective. Or just what you've accomplished in a week. Then hopefully you can see that all these small steps are actually leading us in the right direction, we have not lost our way. If it turns out that we are going in the wrong direction, it is in itself a step forward that allows us to choose a different path. 🙂
If you look in your rearview mirror, what have you accomplished in the last year that you are particularly happy with? Even the small steps in the right direction count.
Have a nice weekend!
/Pia