Today I was reminded of the importance of building and practicing good habits and a saying from the Corps.
It's harder to stay a Marine than to become a Marine.
Likewise it's harder to stay an entrepreneur than to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are lonely and isolated. They must enforce their own rules, abide by their own guidelines, but live up to everyone else's expectations. Many fail because they fall into the trap of bad habits without the structure and guidance of a large company.
From our earliest days we are taught good (and bad) habits. Our schooling and early careers are often more about those habits than about real learning or real work. Habits like prioritizing, organizing, following-up, and being proactive.
Entrepreneurs can benefit from a habit reset from time to time.
- Layout a schedule with time for exercise, family time, personal time, leadership activities, networking, and work.
- Make a practice of building in a little extra time before/after meetings to prep and recap, respectively.
- Be deliberate with your choice of communication (in-person versus phone versus email versus text message).
- Give without expecting anything in return.
Stay tuned as I'll come back to talk more about these habits in future posts.
