9 Ways to Remain Grounded while Birthing a Business

Chasing dreams from a sound place

Starting a business is incongruous with staying grounded. You’re inspired, you’re focused, you’re asking your family to question your sanity with your decisions to invest your life savings…these are qualities associated with being in the clouds; not on the same solid ground that everyone else is operating on.

So what’s an entrepreneur to do when lost in the emotions and experience of doing something so exciting, rewarding, daunting, …yet, dependent on the energy the founder pours into the concept? The answer is simple: tune in. This can be done by trying on some of these ideas for size.

1. Physically connect with something stable. Like walk on grass with your bare feet. Feel not only the firmness of the support but the sensation on your feet. By shifting your focus there, then see if clarity surfaces when you return to whatever business challenge you’re facing.
2. Realize how small whatever fear you’re working with is. Reflect on the stars or a graveyard to think about how much energy whatever you might be grappling with deserves.
3. Gain perspective simply by story-sharing with other entrepreneurs. Feel connected to a social network to align with your interests and challenges.
4. Go visit your hometown; stay close to your roots.
5. In this same vein, remember who you are — what is on your values list. Remind yourself and you’ll find your way.
6. Pace yourself / build in breaks; ensure you have time to be you.
7. Recognize how attached you are to perfection.
8. Check in with your body — it will tell you what you haven’t yet rationalized in your mind. If you’re angry something didn’t go a certain way, your body (likely your abdomen) will know before your mind does. Check in, and breathe. This can go the other way too — if things go better than expected, your body will feel the glee before anything else, so get comfortable feeling and opening yourself to the depths this journey can provide.
9. Give yourself grace that you haven’t done this before and there will be surprises — you can’t possibly anticipate all hurdles. This entrepreneurial venture simply needs to fill your soul and pay for itself. That is it, and all you need to align with. Of course we want so much more for our birthed creation, but it has to learn a lot in its infancy, first. Be aware of activities or decisions that serve your exhaustion but don’t necessarily get you to a place where you’re not nurturing this thing day and night.

All the swaying and bouncing you do to keep your baby happy taxes your muscles. While its needs are 100 percent your needs, there is a point where you physically can’t give any more. Remember that while there are short-term rewards of seeing your baby into the world, if you haven’t taken care of yourself, who then is the business serving?

All in all, steal time to stand back and stare at your creation If you have other ideas on ways to remain grounded when starting a business, I’d love to hear them.

ABOUT LYNDSEY DEPALMA

Lyndsey is a Business Sanity Specialist and writes on the human experience of doing business. She is a former independent retail business owner and consults on starting up and business operations. She recently published her first book Ready: What to Expect When Starting a Business. Lyndsey loves making the most of her life experiences — this is often in the form of dancing, smelling (yes, really inhaling — she was likely a dog in a former life) and enjoying her family, including her two young sons.