Remember the crazy boss from The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestley?
That was my life not long ago. Maybe not to the point of walking 150-pound dogs in downtown Manhattan and catching a plane to fly back in a hurricane, but rather coping with someone else’s strange ideas and demands.
I’ve been there! It made me understand that this was not the life I wanted for myself.
I was grinding away from dusk until dawn to help meet someone else’s bottom line. I never felt like I belonged and like there was a deep part of who I was that was missing.
I knew I’d lost my “life’s mission,” but I had no idea how to find it again.
Leaping to establish my own business brought me face to face with a new reality (which wasn’t always easy), but it was MY reality.
I called the shots, created my bottom line, and was accountable for the decisions and the vision. It was quite addicting.
Unsurprisingly, things didn’t quite go as planned. They hardly ever do at first, but I was steering the ship, calling the shots, and creating my dream life. Life was finally thrilling again.
Few people would tell you that the most successful entrepreneurs have had many failures. It’s how we develop and learn.
They help us grow more knowledgeable and are just a part of life. It is totally up to us whether or not we are discouraged by prior failures.
One of the most essential lessons I teach my students is the importance of having a growth mindset.
A growth mindset entails paying great attention to your narrative and what is occurring to you.
For example, it is likely to struggle to build up a website. You could think, “Oh my goodness! How am I ever going to be able to charge for this? I have no idea!”
You can encourage yourself with a growth mindset, “Nothing worthwhile is ever simple. I’m learning how to accomplish difficult tasks because others find them difficult as well, which is why they’ll pay me.”
See, how we interpret the difficulties we face is crucial.
Failure is not an indication that you will never succeed. It’s only a test of your interpretation.
That’s it! (Does anyone pull that line off better than Meryl Streep?)
Sarah, xo
