Entrepreneurship = ‘Eating glass while staring into the abyss’ I spent a decade as an entrepreneur. Lived this Musk quote for a lot of it. Overtime, I learnt 5 Practices to stop this madness. If you are Entrepreneur staring into the abyss, hopefully this short post will help:

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1️⃣ Get a Small Win

After the initial euphoria, startups are a hard grind. Soon you will face a falling morale. An effective solution: A small win you can get quickly. It won’t fix all the issues. But like a defibrillator, it will help restart your team’s heart.

2️⃣ Power of Three

Early on, the only viral growth was in my to-do list. So I took the 5 jobs of a CEO & pulled 3 priorities for the quarter. These were non-negotiable, rest a bonus. I had my most productive quarter. Then my most productive year. Streak hasn’t stopped since.

3️⃣  Hire Sr. People

My life transformed when I hired Sr. People who had experience doing what we were attempting. This is easy to get wrong & I have battle scars to prove that. (My biggest mistake as a CEO taught me to prefer cats over casinos) Yet if I could go back, this is the 1 thing I would do sooner.

4️⃣ Regain Perspective

I often saw everything as worse than it was. 3 things helped: - Peer sharing: Showed me that I was not the only 1 struggling - Coaching: Someone who has walked in my shoes before - Zooming Out: I used models like PERMA+ to focus on what truly matters

5️⃣ Take some shortcuts

3 years in, my health was ⬇️ Stopped relying on willpower & got a home trainer. He made me exercise daily & soon diet, sleep, productivity all ⬆️ Bonus: He rekindled my ❤️ for cricket. We analysed every match & the class became my beloved distraction.

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“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” These 5️⃣ practices helped me apply this quote as an Entrepreneur: - Get a small win - Power of Three - Hire Sr. People - Regain perspective - Take some shortcuts