My Mangy Dog Story

I think to make it as an entreprenuer you need a healthy dose of faith and an equal amount of commitment to keep the ball rolling when things go pearshaped. I’ll give you a favourite example; 19 years ago after my first year in Eastern Europe, one business I had started really went terribly wrong and I didn’t see it coming. It really knocked me for a loop and knocked me back down on my knees. I was devastated.

That evening, as I was running along the Baltic Sea, I felt I was done. I couldn’t see a way out, and was totally depressed. When I stopped, I saw this man with his dog and his guy throwing the stick into this dark freezing sea full of ice and this mangy dog is chipping in and out of the sea getting the stick sitting there waiting for the guy to throw it again and I’m watching the scene for 10 minutes. The dog doesn’t care about the ice, he doesn’t care about the freezing water, he doesn’t care that it’s late at night and it’s dark. All that mangy dog wants is the stick no matter what and in that moment as I’m watching this whole scene, I had this ‘Aha’ epiphany and then I realised that when things get tough we have to trust, we have to have the same trust that dog had.

So when things get tough remember:

1. All the terrible things that never happened that you worried about
2. All the good things in your life
3. Faith only gets stronger with action
4. And actions become easier with faith.

One characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is a deeply held belief, that they will achieve no matter what the cost. Faith is the foundational building block that allows, empowers and compels them to take the risk and to move forward with their dreams.

When I saw that mangy dog jumping in and out of the ice cold sea, and had the Aha moment, I realised I’d be okay. Ever since then, when something goes astray that I have no control over I think about that mangy old dog that taught me a few new tricks.