Being an entrepreneur can be hard work and you need to keep your entrepreneurial energy high at all times. When you feel yourself feeling overwhelmed and stressed, one of the first things to look at, are what I call “Tolerations”.
“”Tolerations”” are “energy sucks” that can really slow you down. They are the little nagging things that you put up with on a day-to-day basis, but which niggle away in the back of your mind. They can be technical, related to your business, communications or website for example, or they can be emotional, such as a negative person who always says things in a way that just annoys the hell out of you.
They can be environmental, and for highly visual entrepreneurs, these can be the most insidious of all.
For example, think of walking around your office or your house and noticing everything. Is that a frayed bit of carpet? A cobweb in the corner, a bit of paintwork that has got scuffed by a skateboard (you can tell I have teenagers can’t you!)
One of the best things you can do about “Tolerations” is to get them OUT Of your head and onto a bit of paper, or onto your blog or into your project management software.
And if you do, something magical will start to happen.
Once you start sharing your “Tolerations” with your notepad, your team – or even just the universe – something magical happens.
Your subconscious – and sometimes even your life partner or team – get to work and your “Tolerations” start to get fixed, fix themselves or just go away!
Here is an example of “Tolerations” in action. Today I sat down to write my weekly ezine and before I did (classic avoidance technique!), I noticed that my document backup wasn’t working. Further investigation revealed that it couldn’t launch because I didn’t have the right Java exe file installed (although the Java site said I did).
This Java issue has been a toleration for a while now, resulting in, among other things, my not being able to see the drop down date box in my Google Analytics (which is impacting my ability to create meaningful conversion statistics).
So I called up my backup service and the ever-patient Edward talked me through fixing the bug and the Java issue.
This inspired me to try downloading a new version of a bit of software in an attempt to fix the password software I use, again it’s an issue that’s been nagging at my mind for months – and lo and behold, both work perfectly now!
Then I logged into my Google Account in a hopeful manner, to find…………..nope! Still no dates to click on the drop down box. Darn it! I’ll have to try something else, but I’m on a roll now.
We then moved onto fixing the bathroom door which our two boys had managed to fall against and bust – this took some major effort on our part as it involved going to B&Q and buying TOOLS. My sister already has a toolbox (at her friends house) and I have a toolbox (in my ex-husband’s garage)
So paying for MORE tools was a bit painful but easier than getting the toolboxes from their various locations, so we pushed through it – along with the pain of choosing just the right length and width of screw – and came home with enough tools to be able to fix the door in a very “DIY SOS” style.
One more toleration zapped.
I freed up so much energy by just zapping those three “Tolerations” that I was able to rattle off my ezine in double quick time! So perhaps if you are feeling unmotivated, overwhelmed or just fed up, here’s the answer to getting you moving again….
Entrepreneurs, I want to encourage you to make a list of your current “Tolerations” – even if you don’t know how you are going to be able to zap them….you will amaze yourself when somehow, miraculously, they start to get zapped.
And you will be amazed at how motivated and good you feel when they do.
After zapping my other “Tolerations” I moved onto to try to work out why anything to do with Facebook was showing in French as I’ve been tolerating that for a while and while looking around to find out how to change my preferred Facebook language, I was mightily entertained by the discovery that you can now choose “English – Pirate” as your default FB language. Very funny it is too.
Your “single” status becomes “sailing solo” and it works outside FB too! So when you are reading someone else’s blog, the “like” button becomes “Arrr! Nicola Cairncross is viewin’ this with pleasure!”
Well, it made me laugh a LOT! And laughter is a great energy giver too, so I was on a real winner now.
I hope this article helps you overcome your overwhelm and zap your “Tolerations” and that you feel much more inspired when you do.
Source by Nicola Cairncross