MBA981 Fighting Depression in Entrepreneurship

Hey. Oh. Welcome to the Hundred Dollar MBA show, your personal travel guide along your business journey with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the hundred dollar MBA, a complete business training and community online over at 100 MBA net and today's lesson is an important one. We're going to be talking about fighting depression in business. We hear a lot about the wins in business, the climb to the top, the victories. But what not a lot of people talk about is that journey to the top is not easy. A lot of us don't make it because it's an emotional roller coaster and some of us have days where we just don't want to do what we have to do. It's hard to get up in the morning. You don't have that spring in your step and it's for a lot of reasons. Now, you may not describe the challenges you're going through as depression, but you're definitely not feeling motivated, you're not feeling yourself, you're feeling sluggish, you're feeling tired, you're having doubts, you're starting to feel, is this all worth it? I certainly had those thoughts and feelings myself. I know entrepreneurs myself that have struggled with depression because of, of the nature of what we do. We pour in so much into what we build and often if we don't have the right strategies or tools or people around us to help us get through the dips in business, because there will be dips, we sometimes don't make it, we don't make it to the other side. So today I want to share with you some things that work for me. How I fight depression, how I fight that struggle. How I make sure that those days where I wake up and feel, ugh, I don't feel like doing this are not too many and not too many in a row. This is a big one. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. You see a skyscraper going up. You know what AIG sees? AIG sees life insurance and retirement solutions protecting the crew, business insurance covering companies around the globe and career opportunities for up and comers. You see the skyscraper AIG sees the people and the companies inside are ready for whatever comes next. Learn more about AIG Insurance Solutions and Careers@aig.com. i want to preface this episode with of course I am not a professional health expert. I'm only going to share the things that have worked for me. And maybe by sharing them, you can take them on and try them out and see if they work for you. I also want to say that going through depression is not easy. It's a serious thing. And if you're really struggling, I do recommend you do get professional help. This episode is one to recognize the fact that this is real, that people do go through depression with entrepreneurship, to let you know that, hey, you're not alone. We all go through these things to make you aware of this and of course, try to share a little bit of the strategies that have worked for me. Now, everybody's different, but for me, I go through some tough times emotionally when I'm struggling in my business. And when I say struggle doesn't mean that we're going out of business or we're losing money or any of that kind of stuff, but it just means that we're having some challenges, whether we're not growing fast enough, whether we're not happy with the way things are developing with our products or services, whether I'm just trying to solve a problem that just is tough to solve. And when I struggle emotionally, a lot of it can be solved with just taking a break. I'm a big believer of perspective. I'm a big believer that when you have perspective, it's priceless, because life is relative. Everything is relative. If I say poverty to you, your idea of poverty might be completely different than somebody else's. Because of your perspective. When I say crisis to you, you might think of one thing, another person might think another. Now, by taking a break, you get to step away from what you're working on, what you're doing, and just reflect on, hey, I have a life, by the way, I'm trying to build this business. I'm trying to build my empire, my legacy, all that kind of stuff we all love. But I also have a life. I have a family, I have loved ones that care about me. I have friends, I have personal ambitions. I have. These are other things that constitute your life. And by taking a break, you're reminded of that, and it puts your problems and the way you feel about your business in perspective. Now, when I say a break, yeah, it could be a week or two and a holiday and you travel and all that stuff. But it could just mean a day off, One full day off, where you do not look at work at all. Some of us are just go, go, go. I am a victim of that. I go constantly. Sometimes I go months without having a full day off. And when I say off, I just mean completely shut off. You don't have A business on that day, right? You don't check email, you don't check messages, you just live life. Just pretend you're retired for that day, right? Some of us will have feelings of anxiety, like, oh, I should be doing something. Some of us are going to feel a little guilty. But you got to take time off to get that perspective. Another way to gain perspective is to also have close relationships with other people in business. It's great to have a great network and a large network and meet people at conferences and know people by name. But if all your relationships are just surface based, you really can't get perspective. This is why I really encourage people to have a mastermind group, a small group of people where you meet regularly once a month or every two weeks or whatever. And it's a safe place where we all can be honest. You might be surprised, you might think that your business is doing horribly and you should be doing much better and you're feeling down on yourself and you're doubting yourself and all this stuff. And then you talk to somebody and they're like, hey man, that's completely normal. I went through the same thing. Or you're doing better than I am. You can't get that perspective unless you have those intimate relationships, close relationships with people where your guard is down, where you open up and you're just honest with your situation. Now a lot of people, they like to have small mastermind groups making sure that everybody in the group don't have any kind of competing business. So, you know, they don't feel vulnerable by revealing what they're struggling with. So those are some big picture things I really want to emphasize. I am a big believer in breaks and, you know, having perspective through other people. But what about when you wake up in the morning and you just feel like, ugh, I don't know if I could do this. I don't know if I can, you know, do another day of what I have to do for my business. You feel like the problems are piling on. You feel like you're not, you know, satisfied with what's going on. You might be going through some financial stress. So there's two things I like to do. Number one, I like to use Dale Carnegie's strategy, the one he shares in his book how to Stop Worrying and Start Living. It's a three step strategy where it's one, you think about the worst thing that can happen in the situation. What's the worst that can happen? That your business folds and you don't have a business. You still Got skills, you still got people that, you know, most of us have some sort of thing that we can fall back to, even if it's just, you know, waiting on tables. You're not going to die, right? You're not going to die. You'll be inconvenienced for a bit. But most of us have a way out, have a way to keep surviving and rebuild ourselves. Yes, it's not the best scenario, but it's good to know what's the worst that can happen except the fact that that could happen. So that's step three. So step one is ask yourself, what's the worst that can happen? Step two is accept the fact that that could happen. And then step three, of course, try to improve upon that situation. How can we make sure that we try to improve better ourselves or better our situation so that worst case scenario doesn't happen? Something better happens than that. And that kind of gets you in this mode of, okay, what can I do to, you know, take control of this situation? That strategy is great, but sometimes I need something really quick when I wake up in the morning just to put me in the right mindset when I'm feeling that way. And a really easy thing to do is just to think of three things you're grateful for. I know you've heard of this before, gratefulness and all that stuff, and it sounds cheesy and it sounds cliche, but it's really powerful because it reframes your mind and makes you recognize the fact that it's not all bad, that your life has meaning. Your life is more than just your business. And every day it could be three different things. It could be, hey, I am so lucky to be with somebody that loves me and that we get along and we have a great time together. Or it could be, I'm grateful for the fact that I have my health. There are so many people that are struggling with their health, popping pills and, you know, trying to manage their conditions. You might be, I'm grateful for the fact that I've had the opportunity to try a business, to actually try to be an entrepreneur. Some people never actually have that chance or even make that leap, have the courage to do that, and you're doing it. So the fact that you have this experience, even if it's not going as planned, the fact that you have this experience is a blessing. So I think really quick, three things on the top of my head when I wake up in the morning is it puts me in a frame of mind and it makes me feel like, okay, life Is not that bad. I can get through this. I can make it happen. And there's one more strategy that helps me when I get up in the morning and just feel like, oh, I don't know if I could do this. And I think back when I felt that way before, when did I have a huge challenge, a huge problem, maybe even a crisis? And I think what happened, well, probably we got over it, right? We solved it. I'm still alive, right? I still survived. So by reminding yourself that you've gone over hurdles before, you've conquered other challenges in the past, it reminds you that, hey, you can do this now too. Whatever the challenge is, you can get past this. This too shall pass. Right now. I mentioned health before. Like, you're grateful for your health, but you have to remember that if you're going through these tough emotions, if you're waking up feeling depressed and things like that, you have to understand this is part of your health, your mental health, your emotional health has a lot to do with. With how you perform as an entrepreneur. You cannot perform at your top performance, at your top peak performance if you're not healthy, period. So one of the best ways to motivate yourself to feel better. I know sometimes it's easier said than done is to understand, hey, I gotta be healthy. I gotta give myself a break. I gotta exercise. I gotta be a weld oil machine inside and out, or my business will suffer. A lot of the problems I have now are probably because I'm not, you know, paying attention to those things. I'm neglecting my health. A lot of us put our health as a last priority, which is horrible. Especially when we're younger. We think, oh, I'm young, I got energy, I can work long nights. And that could be true. But you gotta make sure you put time for exercise, eating right and getting enough rest. I mean, exercise alone will give you that energy. It'll give you those endorphins. This is just biology. Sometimes when I'm just feeling down, I feel like I just gotta move my body. I gotta do something to get me out of this funk. I know Tony Robb has taught me this in the past, where motion creates emotion, where if you feel down, just move your body by just moving around. Going for a jog, going for a walk, you know, hitting the gym, playing some basketball, playing some tennis, whatever it is that is going to change your state of mind just biologically. There are so many times where I just felt down. I felt, you know, really almost like helpless in a situation in business where I just Stepped away from it for one hour, where I just went and played some basketball, went to the gym, just went for a walk in the sunshine. Came back, felt a whole lot better. I can't explain why. I don't know. Nothing has changed. I didn't get any special advice. You just get your body on your side. It's like you get your biology on your side to help you through it emotionally. Another strategy that really helps me is to question my emotions, to question the thoughts that are going through my head. Sometimes we let thoughts go in our head and we don't even question them at all. So if you get a thought in your head, like, maybe you're not good enough for this, maybe you don't deserve to have what you're looking for. Maybe you just don't have the skills or don't have what it takes. These thoughts can seriously cause some depression. So I like to question these thoughts, like, where does this come from? Who said I don't have what it takes? Who said I didn't deserve this? I said that. No one else said that. And then I go a little deeper. Well, maybe the reason why I'm struggling is because I'm telling myself that I don't have what it takes. Maybe if I told myself the opposite, that I do have what it takes and I do deserve it, that might change things around. You got to challenge the thoughts that cross your mind. Can't just let them go through your head and just accept them as they are. You got to keep your mind on its toes. Right? Sometimes we feel like when we have struggles in business, we tell ourself a story like, man, this is a lot of hard work and this is a lot of struggle, and we're having a lot of challenges. Maybe this is not meant to be. Maybe we're going down the wrong path. Well, where did you get that understanding just because it's hard? Are there any positives that are happening? Are you getting more clients? Are you getting any money? Have you grown financially in any way? Have you grown professionally also? If it wasn't hard, wouldn't everybody just do this? Isn't it supposed to be hard? Don't all those great entrepreneurs out there have a struggle story? A story where they had to overcome some crazy odds to get where they are with crazy amount of rejection? So challenge the thoughts that go through your mind. Yes. It seems like a little bit nuts. You know, you're having an internal conversation, but you got to do that, got to evaluate what happens in your mind, because ideas are very powerful. Good and bad ideas. You know, the words that you tell yourself, they create these ideas. And these ideas, they produce a reality, your reality, and you start to believe it. So if you want to change your reality, change the words you're telling yourself, right? Change the thoughts that are going through your head. And instead of trying to insert new thoughts, that's really hard. Just challenge the ones you have in your mind right now. Challenge the ones that are giving you the most trouble. Guys. We'll have more on today's episode. But before that, let me give love to today's sponsor. Today's episode of the Hundred R NBA show is supported by the Running Remote Conference. When we started our business, we chose to make our team a remote team. We wanted access to the best talent around the world. So if you're thinking about building a team without borders, without walls, then you need to attend the Running Remote conference. You're going to hear from experts from big companies that run their teams remotely. And I'll be there to speak about how to motivate your remote team beyond compensation. Head on over to runningremote.com to buy a ticket to today. It's going to be in beautiful Bali and you can save 15% off by using my coupon code 100 MBA15. I want to wrap up today's episode with a few more thoughts, a few more strategies that have worked for me. When it comes to fighting depression in business, one of the biggest things you can do to improve this whole situation is to change your environment. You got to make sure you're around positive people. You can gotta be around people that are supportive, that believe in you. If you're in an environment that's toxic, you're in an environment that just puts you down, you need to change that. You just have to. And for some of us, that's really a challenge in itself because that's our family. And when it's your family, you have one of two choices. One of them, you just be straight with them and say, hey, you're just not helping me. I'm feeling this way, that way because of the way I'm being treated. And I need that to change. And for some of us, we're going to have to make a tough decision where we got to change our life so we can be in a healthy situation. But even when it comes to your acquaintances, your friends, your family, you know, over the last 10 years, when I've gone through this journey of entrepreneurship, especially when I went full time as an entrepreneur, my group of friends has changed dramatically. I just had to be around people that would support me. I wanted to spend my free time with people that get me that. Every time I said, hey, what's going on with work? What's going on with life? It wasn't like, oh, God, work. Don't talk about work now. I want people that are passionate about what they do. I want people that look forward to going to work. I need people that are up so I can get up with them, you know, so I can feel positive as well. So you may want to start looking at your friends, the people you spend the most time with. I'm not saying you can cut them out of your life completely, but maybe spend more time with new friends, make new friends, people that you admire, people you look up to, maybe people in your industry, even if that means spending time with them just online with video chats. It's gonna make a world of a difference. And lastly, if you're going through something really serious and none of this stuff is really helping you, and you really tried to really implement a lot of stuff I talked about today, then I highly recommend you get professional help. There's nothing wrong with getting help. There's nothing shameful about that. We all need help in some ways in our life. Just like if somebody needs to get fit physically, they hire a fitness trainer, right? Somebody wants to improve their financial health, they, you know, get a financial advisor. You need to get fit with your emotional health. You definitely need somebody to help you with that, especially when you're in the position where you just can't help yourself anymore. Again, I know entrepreneurs that have gone through a tough time and got professional help, and we're able to bounce back. And really, really, we're glad that they got that help. It pulled them out of a dark place. So know that you're not alone. We all go through our struggles. We all have tough times and have some really bad thoughts and feelings sometimes, and we're not totally into what we do all the time. But you can get through this. You can make it happen by, you know, trying, by applying, by being positive, and also, if you need it, getting the help of somebody else. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 NBA show. Really appreciate everybody who listens to this podcast. I just want to take a minute just to thank you, listener who's listening right now. We may have not met in person or online or anything like that, but I personally want to thank you because you make the show possible. You listen to the show, you support our sponsors, you allow this whole thing to be possible. And it motivates me to keep bringing out new lessons every single day. So thank you again for being an awesome subscriber of this show. Alright, that's it for me today, guys. But before I go, I want to leave you with this one more thing I want to share with you when it comes to this topic. And I know it may sound cliche or you've heard of it before, but for me it means so much. And to remind yourself that, hey, last year just went by, I'm a year older and time is going by and life is short. Life is too short to not feel good, to not enjoy it, not to feel loved and love others. Remind yourself of how short life is, how the years just keep rolling by, how the months keep rolling by. And you don't want to live with regrets. You don't want to get to the end of your life and feel regretful. All right, tomorrow we're going to be switching gears and talking about how to empower your team, your employees to manage themselves so you don't have to be involved in every single thing. Hit subscribe so you don't miss that one. Until then, take care. Sam.