I don’t normally get too personal in these blogs, but heck – I preach authenticity and think I do a decent job of it, so I didn’t want to stop short now…
I got dumped Monday night.
It wasn’t a very long relationship so it wasn’t some earth-shattering event, but hey, it’s never fun. And when it catches you by surprise, it sometimes can take a day or two to get back to “normal”.
Anyway, I bring it up for 2 reasons:
1) because I like to share the difficult times as much as the good times with you guys, because I didn’t start Solopreneur Grind to be like a lot of the other content ie. happy Instagram pictures of me counting cash, popping bottles and driving Lambos
2) I’ve been dealing with the interplay of personal and professional life, which is a topic I like to cover in-depth
What I mean by #2 is that it can be even harder to deal with personal struggles as a solopreneur when you don’t have an office to go to, colleagues to rely on, or just the ability to have a sick day and do nothing.
Sure, I could call my own sick day and do nothing, but it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole and if I take time off, my business stops dead in its tracks.
Luckily I tend to find work therapeutic, mostly because it takes your mind off of other things and keeps you motivated, so it’s usually a good thing to do when going through any kind of tough times.
But when it comes to relationships, family struggles, etc. that can be more emotional, it’s also important to take some time to express those emotions in whatever way you need to.
Suppressing them for too long will just delay the inevitable.
As usual, it’s a tough balance…
For me? I’m just getting back to work as usual, and spending extra time on self-care through things like meditation, exercise, time with friends, chats with family/friends, etc.
Having a great support system is also one of the best remedies.
And if you’re going through some tough personal stuff as well (doesn’t have to be a breakup), feel free to let me know (@solopreneurgrind on Insta). Sometimes just typing it out to someone and getting it off your chest can make all the difference, and I’d be happy to give you my thoughts or well wishes if you want them.
The easiest way to get back on your horse and continue forward in a positive and productive way, is to focus on an existing or new goal. Focus on progress you’re making in your life, and things will quickly begin to look up (or you’ll forget the bad stuff quicker!).
First, you need to uncover what you want to progress toward. Progressing randomly, aimlessly, won’t help for very long.
You’ve probably heard one of the following before:
– find your passion
– what’s your mission?
– what do you want to do in life?
Those are also fairly general statements/questions, but they’re mentioned so often for a reason.
From my experience and from reading about others experiences, the sooner you can find or pick an end goal… a mission for you/your company…a vision for a company you want to build…a picture of a life you want to live…
The sooner and easier you’ll be able to start progressing toward it.
From my end, my law practice just doesn’t motivate me the way it used to, so I’ve shifted some focus to a related tech/software idea.
I can still maintain my practice and benefit financially, but what’s getting me up in the morning is building out this software – and eventually company – so I can reach my end vision of building out a tech company.
Anyway, if you’re in any type of slump, or sadness, or lack of motivation, you need to take action and start progressing towards something. It could also be as simple as finding a new job…
And if you want to read some books that are great examples of people finding their mission and focusing ruthlessly on it, I recently read (within the last 3ish months) the biographies of Phil Knight (Nike), Steve Jobs and Jack Ma (Alibaba).
They were all amazing and eye-opening reads, with Phil’s book (Shoe Dog) absolutely blowing me out of the water – couldn’t put it down.
Hope this helps!
