Sometimes, in startups, it feels like there is immense pressure to be perfect, at all times. With companies all around you raising ridiculous amounts of money, announcing partnerships and growing their teams, sometimes you feel a little behind the curve.
This constant striving for perfection is something we all seem to work towards, whether we’re in business, or not.
Even the management of your own Instagram account can put needless pressure on you, having to keep up with the apparently glamorous lifestyles of your idols, or even your friends.
But a life or business without ‘downs’ to compliment the ‘ups’ is hard to avoid. In fact, it’s inevitable.
Sorry to burst the bubble but I promise there’s a point to this which is overwhelmingly positive (at least, it has been for me).
It’s no secret to most but I’m a bit of a nerd. Comic book movies are a particular favourite geek-out of mine and sometimes they can really bear some fruit when it comes to challenging your thoughts about the world.
In this particular case, there’s a quote by Vision, a character in the Marvel film, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, which really got me thinking and, eventually, to writing this blog post.
It goes:
“Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and try to control what won’t be.”
I realised that we inherently do this as people, and especially as business owners. We’re constantly fighting fires and sometimes losing battles, big and small, often taking the negative results personally, letting it affect our performance and mental state.
But think about it. The reality is that chaos is inevitable. And relative.
Every time you’ve had an amazing day, it’s because you’ve previously experienced bad days to make that comparison. Every time you’ve had a terrible day, it’s likely because the previous we’re pretty great by comparison.
It’s this realisation that has enabled me to fully appreciate both the ups and the downs of both life and business, and improved my mental state of most circumstances that come my way.
Maintaining good mental health is a far-too-often overlooked aspect of being able to start & grow a successful business, or at the very least lead a happy life.
So my advice is this:
Understand that chaos is inevitable. Embrace it. As ridiculous as it sounds, enjoy the down-days because they make the great days even better. Life and business are journeys. They are stories and stories aren’t fun when they’re always up. Challenges make the story fun. The next time you’re experiencing challenging times, try to think of it in this way and see if it helps you, as it has me.
Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article. There’s a space for comments below!
