“Get comfortable being uncomfortable”
Guess what team- I made it through the first week of the semester and whilst my mind was blown, it’s thankfully still attached. To be honest, I am struggling to find the words to articulate what it was like- every time I sit down to think of any, a visual of a tsunami wave appears instead and then my mind goes blank. (poetic huh?)
Hand’s down the most exciting part of my week was just being present. In class. Listening to guest speakers. Doing group work. Eating lunch at long wooden tables in the dining hall. All of it has been amazing. A highlight was listening to the most energetic passionate guest speaker who come and talked about her 25-year dream that become her entrepreneurial pursuit at the age of 52. Aside from sharing an amazing list of recommended leisure reading on entrepreneurship, she shared this pearl of wisdom “the problem with governments who are the traditional change agents of a society, is that they are restricted by their status as an elected committed. However, for the first time ever, business can lead global change through the power of unrestricted entrepreneurship and therefore anything becomes possible”. WOW- so the small change that you or I commit to now might make us as powerful as a government in the future? I’m down for that.
Probably my biggest win this week was my glow bubble (aka a group of amazing, talented people who I consider to be punting alongside me) grew to include people beyond my immediate circle. This is rather exciting for two reasons- firstly as I can finally say “not just my mum thinks I’m cool” but also the feeling of knowing someone believes in the vision as well as you … well that is motivational.
On the other hand, my biggest challenge this week was realising that I feel uncomfortable in my new foreign world most of the time. On day one of summer school we were all told that one of our biggest challenges we will need to overcome as entrepreneurs is adjusting ‘to not being the smartest person it the room’. I internally giggled at this as I would never had called myself the smartest person in a room and quickly brushed this challenge off as someone else’s story. Well, the reality hit this week when I tried to import an established event calendar into my phone and I realised how rubbish my previously prided IT skills truly are. Unable to complete a task or revert to my known resolution pathway (call IT support and get them to do it for me!) I was overwhelmed by the realisation that in this new world of start up’s my personal establish currency value is devalued and in that moment, I felt that I had no identity, personal power and worst of all, no one to delegate to! Whilst this tale does have a happy ending (calendar is now in my phone!) it was a real wake up: I need to get comfortable being uncomfortable because that feeling is not going to go away anytime soon- in fact its guaranteed to multiply.
Aside from recognising that my personal growth journey is in overdrive, here are my big take away thoughts this week;
“I need to learn how to say thank you without giving a hug”. Today, it took me about 45 minutes to write a thank you email that ended up being 30 words in total. (#winning). It’s lead me to an interesting observation; how rarely (as adults) we have to say thank you to someone for doing something for us. I challenge you to think about the last time you said thank you to someone who was not a family member or a stranger that got out of your way as you exited a train. I’ve realised that I struggle when I need to say thank you with words alone as my ‘go to’ is to ‘give a hug’ to express the magnitude of my gratitude. (and if you’re lucky that will be extended to a bear squeeze!) J I definitely need to work out a way to thank people who will provide incredible support along this journey that will not involve socially unacceptable behaviour amongst near strangers.
“I still need to side hussle”. I thought leaving my job would mean that my creative mind could focus 100% on my projects. The reality is my new job (school work) takes up a lot of my creative mind (hey- not complaining!) and traction on my projects will only come in the next few months if I continue to side hussle. (In semester two I will get a dedicated class to work on one of them, so really excited for that!) This weekend I am going to sit down and put together a rough project plan of my milestones to make sure I don’t waste a week without dedicating some time (even if it is just one phone call) to my own projects. No doubt my future self will thank me. I’ve invested so much mentally, socially and financially -failure is not an option hence structure is my ticket onwards.
The three words that describe my current state of mind are; fulfilled, grateful and scattered.
