When entrepreneurship becomes unhealthy

Have you ever had a goal you worked so hard on that it consumed your life—maybe even started to feel unhealthy?

Me too.

See, I used to have a toxic relationship with “health.” I obsessed over my fitness. I compared myself to other people. And I constantly judged myself with thoughts of “not enough.”

And I realized recently that I’ve fallen back into similar habits—but this time with my business.

See, there’s a side of entrepreneurship that I don’t hear many people talk about. So, I’m going to talk about it.

And this doesn’t just apply to being an entrepreneur.

If you’ve ever had a goal that started to consume your happiness, this one’s for you.

Welcome to inspired idiots.

There are two major emotions that motivate us toward our goals:

1. Belief (pull)

2. Fear (push)

Most of us start out on our goal journey because we believe. We believe we can have something better, we can build our dream life, we can change what “realistic” looks like for us.

And we’re right, by the way—we can absolutely do those things.

But somewhere along the way, fear steps in and takes over.

We get rejected, or something doesn’t go as planned, or success is taking longer than we imagined it would.

Suddenly, the thoughts change from “I can do this!” to “Can I do this?”

But we keep pushing anyway. We keep putting the hours in, spending money, giving our time to what we think will move us forward.

And somewhere in all that pushing and grinding and giving, we burn out.

Why do we burnout? Because we don’t notice that we’ve started fueling our engines with fear instead of belief.

Fear can motivate the heck out of you, yes, but it is exhausting. It’s like cruising down the highway with one foot constantly on the brake.

I’ve found there are three major causes that take us from belief to fear.

1. We obsess. This can be a good thing when you’re excited and motivated by belief. But when you’re driven by fear, obsession can feel dark.

2. We compare ourselves. We think thoughts like, “I’m falling behind. Everyone’s more successful than me. I should be doing better than this.”

3. We judge ourselves with thoughts of “not enough.” We think we don’t have enough time, money, or credibility to do what we want. But in reality, we’ve probably just lost sight of just how much we do have.

So, what do we do? Well, you’ve just completed the first step: notice the shift.

Notice when you’re being pushed by fear instead of pulled by belief, and then do something to counter that energy.

Feeling like you don’t have enough? Pull out a pen and paper and write every single thing you can think of that you’re grateful for today. Your warm bed, your fridge full of food, your family in the other room.

Shift your energy from lack —> gratitude.

Comparing yourself to other entrepreneurs? Notice that thought, separate yourself from it, and say aloud, “Someone else’s journey doesn’t affect mine. We are all running our own race. And I will find what’s right for me.”

If this sounded like you, know that you’re not alone. And there’s nothing wrong with you.

We’re all just figuring out how to make this work. And this is part of figuring it out.

Work hard, yes. Commit to building the life you want, yes. But remember why you started this journey in the first place.

Because if you’re not enjoying the journey, what’s it all for?

Reply and tell me:
Have you been motivated by fear or belief?