This has been on my mind for a while now.
The lifestyle of an entrepreneur is: I can take more pain than the other guy, and I'll prove it.
It's not just something I choose to take on. It is the nature of what I do.
I've noticed this in myself. After years of entrepreneurship, adversity has started to feel normal to me.
My mind has become wired to move on, to look for solutions rather than dwell on what has happened. Something goes wrong, and I'm already thinking about how to fix it. I don't sit with things for too long anymore.
My problem is that it now feels like resignation.
You can get so used to adversity that you almost start accepting it.
Something bad happens, and I don't even get mad. My mind is already working out a solution and how we move on from here. I might tell myself the results justify the means. But how you get to the result matters.
Now, why is that a downside? Wouldn't it be beneficial to be unruffled like that?
Of course, there are benefits. Being able to remain calm under pressure, think clearly, and respond to problems without getting overwhelmed is something I value.
But I've also come to realise I need to be careful not to get so used to adversity that it stops bothering me.
And that's the part I've been reflecting on.
You still act. You still solve the problem.
You still get things done. But there's something special about the extra fierceness of being bothered, of being upset about something that is wrong, of looking at a situation and saying, this is not acceptable.
I think there's a difference between being resilient enough to handle adversity and becoming so accustomed to it that you stop questioning what you should be accepting in the first place.
And for me, that's something I'm becoming more conscious of.
I don't want to lose my ability to remain calm and find solutions.
But I want to be able to cry and be pained about what I need to be pained about, and not lose the urgency to change things that shouldn't be the way they are.
Cheers.