| Be mindful, be grateful, and fail forward. By that, I mean to take a step back and give yourself a 'big picture' view of the world around you to gain some perspective. Some call it meditation; some call it getting some fresh air. You're 23; you need to learn that being an entrepreneur is a marathon (not a sprint) before it kills you—and it will. Learn to create the time for yourself—to switch off. Your logical mind needs down time to compartmentalize your ideas and arrive at that 'aha!' moment; you can't always be "on." Your body needs to strengthen (work out) and rest (proper sleep). Your social mind needs time to take in the world and discover joy. I can't emphasize the idea of "creating" time enough. It won't fall into your lap. You have to make it. Then look at how far you've brought yourself to this point and appreciate it. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, just to the person you were yesterday. Appreciate and get inspiration from the little things. Show people you are grateful; hug them, buy them coffee, do them a favor. These acts will make you happier than money or material wealth. Consider taking a job where your talents help make a team stronger. It's important to be challenged in your area of expertise, but it's more important to take a notepad and to observe your colleagues and learn what makes them good at what they do, because they have the skills that can help your future business(es). Learn what to do and what not to do. It's not about the money, it's about the process. When you screw up and get yelled at or feel embarrassed, that's a good thing. It's another experience under your belt; another data point to reference. When you don't get yelled at or feel embarrassed, that's very bad; it means no one cares to push you forward—including yourself. Always find something to improve and when you fail, fail forward. As for your business, it takes $0 to validate an idea. Find three customers to pay for your product or service before building it (just a rule of thumb). You can do this while holding a full-time job. Don't build something you think people want; build something you know they want. As PG says, do things that don't scale. That's how you learn what your customers want. When you run out of time in the day to keep up with the unscalable work, considering what "big wins" will help free your time up to do more unscalable work. |