Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that the struggle for success was more valuable to them than the actual success they achieved.
Why would this be when it is the successes of entrepreneurs that get praised? Is entrepreneurship really all about achieving success or is it about the journey, the adventure, and the struggle along the way?
I think in today’s society, in the media, on social media it is the ‘Have’ that is pushed.
What I mean by this is that the end goal of action the things people wind up having after putting in the work is what gets made popular. It is the making of millions, the acquisition of fast cars, grand houses, and the selling of businesses for vast sums that garner attention.
But being a successful entrepreneur requires a certain level of commitment, dedication, hard work, and struggle. Most people only see the end result, the ‘overnight’ success. They see what a successful entrepreneur can have as a result of the struggle for success.
And yet, at the end of the day, it is the ‘Do’, the struggle, the overcoming of obstacles, the moments when it nearly fell apart or when it did fall apart, the pain, the tears, the get back up and brush off the dirt and try again moments that defined us, that teach us, that are character shaping, that fill the pages of our biography – this is what really counts.
It is all about the story, not the ending!
In fact, I think you will find that the ending, that success itself will be a let down for most entrepreneurs if they do not soon thereafter create a new even loftier goal.
Sure, in every game, winning is the goal, the thing we direct our efforts towards. But to really play a game we must be willing to win and to lose. We play games because we enjoy the ‘do’ part of games, the action of playing the game.
If winning and success were the only reason we played we probably would not play as you can’t win every time. The game of business and entrepreneurship is no different. You are not going to win or be successful every time and it is a long game.
We need to value the struggle for success more, we need to find enjoyment in the struggle and be willing to be entrepreneurs for the struggle as much as for the success.
The struggle is the catalyst for growth, the struggle is our teacher, the struggle is what makes for the best stories and it is the struggle that makes the success oh so sweet.
Isn’t it time we made the struggle more popular, isn’t it time we promoted the efforts, actions, exertions, pains, sweat, tears, and the ‘do’ part of entrepreneurship?
To be successful entrepreneurs, to have what successful entrepreneurs have, we must first do what successful entrepreneurs do. It is the doing that comes before the having!
