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I get a lot of outreach on the first two words in the title of this article.
People know that I have been involved in entrepreneurship. I have traversed the ups and downs of founding, bootstrapping, scaling, and exiting. At first, mentees and “coachees” reach out for business reasons.
After a few business conversations together, mentees ask me about meditation and how to create best practices around nurturing an interior life and developing a consistent mindfulness practice. I have spent years developing these internal practices that have helped support my life and my entrepreneurial journey.
Activities like meditation and other mindfulness practices have helped me find my way out of significant challenges and mistakes in my entrepreneurial journey. I will share a few learnings I have been fortunate enough to experience through years of adhering to a consistent mindfulness practice devoted to developing my interior life.
1. Start small and brief. If you are looking to start a mindfulness practice for the first time, devote 1–3 minutes a day for 60 days. After this time, slowly increase it for the next 60 days and follow this pattern. Similar to physical exercise, you are building muscle that you can’t see in the mirror.
2. Find your “day” rhythm. I challenge you to question the notion of a 24-hour day. You may find that your natural and organic “daily” rhythm might be 36 hours or 48 hours or some other amount of time. Tie your rhythm to desire, not laziness. For example, if you meditate today and do not feel the urge to meditate again until 48 hours later, you may operate on a 48-hour day. Don’t judge yourself; go with your natural flow.
3. Be organic and natural in your activities. Many corners of the entrepreneurial world preach adherence to forced morning rituals. For example, many feel you must rise each morning, say a daily affirmation in the mirror, write in your gratitude journal, meditate in front of your infrared red light, stand outside on your lawn and “ground” your energy, ingest a green drink, followed by grass-fed butter coffee and then hop on your peloton or go to your exercise class of choice, all the while intermittent fasting. This example may be a little extreme, and the above example obviously plays out differently for different people. In full transparency, I was one of those people following these practices in a forced way. I am not saying any of these activities are wrong. They are all great on their own. However, the approach is what I criticize. Doing them with the rigour of a drill sergeant and then engaging in negative self-talk if you miss one or more of these morning routines is what drains the magic out of these activities. They should be done organically and naturally based on your natural rhythm and desires (see point 2 above).
4. Lay a foundation with what resonates. There are many classes in mindfulness and meditation. However, there are just as many offerings that are not credible. My suggestion is to try a few initially to see what feels good. Then pick one modality that resonates with you. Don’t jump around. There is a saying that if you are in a desert and you are thirsty, and you start digging a hole to find water, then you get impatient and then begin digging many holes frantically, you will eventually die of thirst. However, if you stayed the course with the first hole you decided to dig, you would hit the water table and quench your thirst. Go deep in one practice first and build a solid foundation. Regarding mindfulness and meditation apps, my opinion is that they are only good for an initial start. Most people eventually stop using them for many reasons. They are not the best approach for this subject matter. For example, I am a long-time martial artist. I learned from great masters in person. I would never have been able to learn martial arts via YouTube or Instagram.
5. Engage in play to find your best form of meditation. The best activities to induce a state of mindfulness and a meditative state may reveal themselves if you think back to your sixth-grade self. What did you do in the sixth grade that allowed you to lose track of time and provide immense joy? There may be a clue here to help you rediscover your most potent form of meditation unique to you. For example, in Randy Pausch’s book “The Last Lecture,” with only months left to live and dying of pancreatic cancer, Randy decided to start casually riding his bike around his neighbourhood. Similar to what he did at 12 years old. This activity brought him lots of joy. For me, I lose track of time and enter into a state of flow when I am shooting free throws on my driveway. I’m sure my neighbours in my suburb of Oakville look out their windows and wonder what this 44-year-old man is doing, shooting hoops regularly in his driveway.
6. Keep your progress private. You are cultivating the landscape of your interior life with these activities. The energy here will flourish more if you keep it within your physical circle of love and trust. There is no need to post pictures on social media of you doing your morning routines or your mindfulness/meditation practice. Doing this drains some of the positive energy you are building. Don’t brag and keep the ego in check. Trust me, I tried it, and it doesn’t serve you.
To sum up my perspective on adopting a mindfulness and meditation practice as an entrepreneur, I would slowly integrate practices that connect with you. Next, I would recommend learning from credible practitioners on a one-to-one basis when it comes to learning. Finally, try your best to discern the real from the unreal when it comes to modalities and teachers.
If you have any questions at all, please drop me a line below.
Listen to the audio/podcast version of this article here: PODCAST VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE
#Entrepreneurship #Meditation #OwnYourExit