Season 02 Episode 04: Entrepreneurial Optimism

Entrepreneurial optimism is a superpower and can also be a little bit of a poison. Let's talk about it today.

Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. This is Chris Plackey. Thank you for joining me here on Leadership Is Feminine. And this whole season we're talking a little bit about magic and, and how magic realizes itself in your business uniquely. I think as an entrepreneur and as a woman, I believe a lot in magic. I think that we take a lot for granted. We dismiss things that happen, we overemphasize exertion, struggle, hustle, and we undervalue and under appreciate and under notice things that happen that really don't make a lot of sense. And like I say all the time, do you ever just stop and think, like, look at you, here you are, this woman who had an idea in her head and because of the world that we live in today, you were able to translate that idea into a material thing, service.

And make money.

And by extension then hire other people and pay them money. So now they make money. I think that's magic. And I think when you only talk about effort.

Only make it an individual exercise, right? It's just, just you doing it all, it you dismiss this whole unseen opportunity to tap into things that I just don't think we talk about enough. So I want to talk about optimism today because I think it's a superpower. As entrepreneurs.

I don't even know if you see it, but I want to point it out to you because I think it's very real. I think you have to be an optimist to even become an entrepreneur. Right. Like I do think obviously we talk about it as like risk taking, obviously. But that risk taking and optimism have to go together. Right. If you are willing to take the risk, that means that you believe something will work out. You're an optimist, you have this perspective that it's going to be okay. It's going to be better than okay. You see the bright side, you see that. And I was talking to my oldest son. This is a little while ago and you know, for the kids who are alive today, what a couple years? I mean, those of us who are older, certainly the pandemic has been incredibly hard for all of us in our own unique ways, which actually for me will end up making some changes to my business, which I will be talking more about as we go forward. But for our younger people in our society, I have a 21 year old son and I have, I have 17 year old twins. And I'm sure all of you can Relate to this, right? Kids are really, really finding. Working to find their footing in different ways. Some kids are totally unaffected. But I do think that most kids, in many ways are. And we were having a conversation, and my son actually said to me, is the world ending, Mom?

And of course, I don't know, but I'm like, no, it's not ending. He's like, yeah, but this is out of control, like. And I said, you know, there have been these moments in my lifetime and in other people's lifetimes when we thought it was the end. I remember when I was, you know, a teenager and the AIDS epidemic hit, and it was terrifying. We were right before we knew what it was. We were terrified. And we're still, you know, it's still something to be incredibly cautious of. But look at our relationship now, just even globally, with this hiv. And then there's been natural disasters, right? Or I wouldn't even call them natural. Like the Exxon Valdez and these massive oil spills where we just think the Gulf of Mexico is going to be destroyed forever. So there's a resilience to humanity and to this planet that I believe in. And so I hold that for my kids. Like, listen, I know this is terrible, and I wouldn't choose this either, but we're human, and we have a level of resilience. And I do believe in a bright future. I do believe there's so much to be happy about, excited about, to lean into. And so he actually said to me, how are you always so optimistic? And so I've been thinking a lot about it since he said that to me, because I am, I guess, you know, knowing the thought model like I do, I. When I first started learning that really understanding how what you think about really influences so much of what happens in your life, I realized that you can either keep thinking things that make you feel terrible on purpose, or you could decide to believe in a different future. Like, you get to pick, right? You don't know the future. Do I know the future? I don't know the future. So I would rather believe in something really cool than something awful because it makes me feel better.

And since I don't know what the truth is, I' ma pick that one. There's no use in doomsday for your business, for your life, for the planet. Do we pay attention to science? Of course we do. But we still have room in here. We have free will. We have opportunity. So, people, as an entrepreneur, I already know you do this. And what I want you to think about, too, is how this plays out even in your business, right? So I notice in myself, right, we might have really exceptional quarters, and then we might have quarters that are a little rougher, but I'm back at it. I always believe there's more cool stuff coming. There's more cool clients coming. There's more amazing work to do. I have so many ideas. My ideas stimulate the feeling of optimism. Now, optimism can work against you, I suppose, because you might be too pie in the sky. You might disconnect from what the potential is. You might. Your optimism can become overwhelming to your team if it translates into copious amounts of work.

So we have to be aware of our optimism. We have to have a note. We have to have sort of our trusted advisors that we consult with and we chat with and we connect with that help us think things through not just as dreams, but as plans. But I love a good dream, and I love believing in possibilities and options and new paths to follow.

We're never really stuck. I know there are times when we believe that we really are, and I know there are times when we really, really are experiencing our business and our life that way. And I believe as entrepreneurs, you have a heightened emotional awareness, and so you feel things ritually, deeply.

But I really want to invite you to lean into your optimism, especially if this is finding you at a time when you're struggling with that, when you've worked so hard over the past two years and we don't know what next year holds.

So much of that really will be up to us, I think.

And so don't hide your dreams, don't hide your joy, don't hide your belief in the potential of the future.

Because you're trepidatious.

I think we just need to all go all in. Dream. The dreams hold space for potential, for possibility.

Model that, because I know you already have it, or you wouldn't have that beautiful business of yours. Optimism is a brilliant skill, and I want to say one more thing about it.

Optimistic leaders are wonderful leaders to work for.

Optimistic leaders are able to cultivate, recultivate, recreate vision. So even when the team is feeling overwhelmed, downtrodden, frustrated, you have an opportunity as a leader to bring that skill of yours in and show people what is possible. If we just hold the optimistic view, if we work through what the issues are, but we do so with a refreshing perspective and not one that is heavy. As a leader, you set that tone. Pessimistic leaders hire pessimistic employees, and then they don't get the results they want.

And then they get frustrated because all their employees are so negative. But you got to look at that to truth telling. Yeah.

And I want to reiterate, if the last several years have been hard on you, it wouldn't surprise me if you are feeling pessimistic right now. But I'm willing to bet that is against the grain for you.

So as you think about winding down 2021 and winding up 2022.

How about we take the optimistic view.

For yourself, for your business, for your team, and even for the planet. More of us doing that raises the entire vibration of everything that we do. And we need that. All of us need that. Okay.

You're amazing, Madam Entrepreneur, and I want you to take that to heart and really sit with it today.

You're a magician. You really can create what you want. So if you've abdicated some of that power and authority over your life and your success, how about we take it back today? How about we write down the thoughts that make us feel optimistic? How about we identify the dreams that you have that trigger optimism, and let's go all in on those this time around. What do you say? Thanks for tuning in.