Entrepreneurship is an uncertain world full of challenges and competition — if you want to navigate this hectic environment, a few critical characteristics are crucial like resiliency and clear-headedness. Stoicism is one ancient tradition that provides a great architecture for becoming the ideal creature, and it has stood the test of time! Based on principles dating back to the days of ancient Greece, Stoicism presents a number of practical ways entrepreneur can use these strategies not only as a life raft but also an engine for success in adversity. It explores Stoicism at its core, and how their principles of living can help in becoming a more resilient entrepreneur with emotional balance — leading towards lasting success.
The Dichotomy of Control
One of the central tenets in Stoicism is what's called Dichotomy of Control, and it was championed by the 1st century eclectic philosopher Epictetus. This tenet teaches us that life is divided into two arenas: things within our control and things outside of it. This is an important differentiation, especially in entrepreneurship where the business environment can be quite volatile and plans often do not go as anticipated.
In other words, the principle of productiveness means that an entrepreneur needs to be busy with what he or she can control—his actions after making a decision, his response and energy levels in respect of these decisions—and not worry too much about external development factors — market changes, competitor movements or client returns. In adopting this mindset, you can decrease stress and anxiety by recognizing that while external events may be beyond your control — the one thing always within your power is how YOU respond to them. It gives you a clear mind to handle incoming challenges with reason, not guided by fear or frustration cooperate in ways that can be beneficial for the long term.
Welcome Adversity
Another well-known Stoic concept which encourages to accept everything, the good and bad fate too: amor fati–which is Latin for “love of one’s own fate”. This means, challenges or failures are not setbacks for entrepreneurs rather these are part of a journey that teaches us how to face problems which make unprepared ordinary man extraordinary.
And when you adopt the mentality of Amor Fati, challenges start to be less seen as obstacles and more like opportunities for growth. Next time you have a failed product launch, or go through some tough break with this ‘little bitch’ of a client…or are hit right in the face with an enormous financial loss…instead of wallowing in misery ask yourself how can I benefit from such experience as an entrepreneur. When you embrace hardship, you gain resilience and mindset that is no longer easily shaken by the natural ups and downs in being an entrepreneur. That attitude wired you to endure hard times, and even be grateful for the hardships that stretch your limits.
The Sexual Equivalent Of Ataraxia: Emotional Apathy
It seems like the logical thing to do but, as business owners, we tend to make decisions with our emotions a lot and it is very easy for fear or greed or impatience (which are never good things) can drive us into quicksand instead of open water. The Stoic notion of Ataraxia — also translated as serene calmness is similar to our own teaching on non-reactivity, where we can be involved in the external events only without being emotionally attached to it. Not cold or indifferent but balanced, controlled and reasonable under any situation.
As an entrepreneur, being Ataraxic means in the moments of highest exultation or lowest dejection your mind works to remain composed — a partayeee for you and likely tears in public but not at work. Emotions in check mean you can look at a situation, make assessments as close to objectively as possible and have the best chance of avoiding pitfalls stemming from impulsive reactions. This emotional resilience allows you to remain steady, thinking long-term rather than riding the rollercoaster of emotions that come with running a business.
A second step I take each and every day is reflecting.
Daily reflection Stoics were strong advocates of the practice of daily self-examination believing that through this self-relevant process is one able to essentially live a virtuous conscientious life. But, for entrepreneurs it can do wonders and quite frankly this is the best thing that you have as an entrepreneur to be self-aware along with decisions making in everything which links up back again into being compellingly aligned to your values determined culture.
Journal: Implement some journaling in your day-to-day life as a way to analyse how you have done every single day. Reflect on what you did right today. Where could I have improved? How did I react to the obstacles that came up in my life? Are there lessons I've learned that are valuable to my future choices? This both fine-tunes your self-awareness and allows you to measure metrics, celebrate wins as they happen, learn from mistakes in real-time (or at least very shortly after). Practiced over time, daily reflection and writing often evolve into an impactful habit that helps you develop a better sense of yourself and your business — ultimately becoming far more reflective (and thus effective) as a leader.
Know Your Non-Negotiables and Stick with Them
The pursuit of money, status and recognition is like going on a wild goose chase in the search for external rewards to feel better. Though the Stoics would remind us that what really matters in life are these externals The real focus is on being a virtuous, wise and purposeful person, who applies those ideas to his business.
In order to do this, you have to first define your Core Values: the principles by which you operate and choose that are based on who you fundamentally are as a person AND an entrepreneur032 Determine: Do I want my business to be a reflection of yours? What can I do to ensure that my work is more than a means of making money? When you align your business decisions with the very values that inspire and drive it, you go beyond creating a more authentic and engaging enterprise — to building a brand that people truly connect with; from customers to employees all way down through partners.
The Bottom-line: Stoic Mindset
In this way, you can equip yourself with a Stoic mentality for the journey of building your venture resiliently, sharply and purposefully. And, he said that Stoic principles of the Dichotomy of Control Amor Fati Ataraxia Daily Reflection Value Alignment are incredibly useful tools for managing business challenges with grace and strength. By using these tactics, you will start to become more successful in business (and overall) while also creating a base for leading an authentically rich life. So remember, entrepreneurship is not only external validation and the Stoic mind will always be your guide to improving yourself on that road.