Introduction
One of my well wisher once said that the word “Entrepreneurship” comes from the sanskrit word ” Antaryamin” which means regulating the inner feelings or the soul.
when i thought through this 7 years back when he told me in a conference… i couldnt relate to it much, because i was just starting out on my second episode of entrepreneurship.
I had just quit by banking job then, with big dreams and started pursuing things only with my faith and courage. As i am writing this blog now in 2021… i can relate to the deeper meaning of it.
After all… Entrepreneurship is all about making your own road. It is like “Free Climbing” a form of mountain climbing without any ropes or gear. The biggest rope a free climber has is his own guts, intuition, courage, fearlessness… simply put it is the ultimate faith which he bestows on his inner self. He is guided by his soul. It takes immense courage, balance of mind to attempt this sport.
The real test comes as you climb higher and higher. The farther the high you climb, looking down can be really scary and can get the “Hello Out of YOU”. But for the one who regulates his inner feelings, his mind, can master this sport and can be as serene, calm and composed on the TOP.
Entrepreneurship is also like that. There are stories of entrepreneurs who were not able to even eat, due to the high pressure situation caused by the uncertainty faced looking forward. but when they overcome those high pressure situations, things took a tremendous turn and turned them into billionaires.
Warriors are forged in the battle field. So are entrepreneurs. True entrepreneurship is forged when faced with high pressure critical decision making moments.
So… the question is what makes these entrepreneurs to risk everything that they have to pursue a dream which no one else can see, but only themselves…. what gives them the faith to keep moving forward when no one else is willing to walk with them during the most tiring situations….
I have listed few inner guiding principles which i have experienced myself during my last 7 years of solopreneurship.
Vision:
Vision comes from the audacity and belief that you are not an average person. It comes from the belief that you are born to do greater things than of those who surround you. There are times that the attitudes expressed by entrepreneurs are mistaken for arrogance, dumb headedness or even false heroistic acts.
But they have a vision and they are able to see things which no one else can see. N Krishnan of TVS group (a business conglomerate based out of South India) who promoted the two-wheeler manufacturing division in collaboration with Suzuki Motor Co Ltd Japan in the 1980 launched TVS 50 a 50 CC moped with a vision of penetrating the rural market. A decade later, TVS 50 was a household name of rural India helping farmers to many rural SMB’s to transport their produces and goods. He had the vision that no body could see. Mr.Venu Srinivasan carried the torch and now TVS Motor company is the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India.
Mission:
Their mission is bigger than their own self! If you don’t have a Mission which is bigger than youself… then the roadblocks and the hurdles faced will crumble your inner strength. The emotional juice which keeps a entrepreneur going during the tough times keeps segregating only when the mission is bigger than his own self, his own sense of achievement, pride or fragile ego.
Steve Jobs is a well known world phenomenon for this quality. When he was thrown out of “Apple”, any one else with an average mind set would have given up. But he was one person who found that he still loved what he did and went on to create PIXAR and NeXT (which became MAC). PIXAR was bought by Walt Disney and NeXT was again absorbed by APPLE when steve jobs was called and returned back to the company he founded.
His mission was to create world class products which will be recommended by the users to their friends and family and they are proud of using it.
APPLE still does this and that is the reason why the stay ahead of the game.
Serenity:
They stay calm and serene even during the most challenging situations. Others around them might think that the world is falling apart.. but they are capable of staying calm and serene because that is the way they have rewired their brain. They have a strong heart and they are well prepared to start from the scratch if needed.
The best example of this is the Legendary toy maker “LEGO”. their factory was burned down due to fire accidents twice from the day it was established. But they raised like phenix and rebuild it from the scratch. Now it is undisputably the World No 1 toymaker.
High Press Threshold:
When an individual is grounded spiritually, he also has a space to turn into and look at his business situation from a different perspective. Human beings are driven by ideals and that is what unites them. It is not the force, violence or the laws which has helped human species to evolve and progress.
From the days of cavemen and from being a hunter gatherer we transcended to agriculturalists and now a technology driven society. These evolutions happened because humans are able to think and co-operate with each other by ideals and beliefs.
Being grounded spiritually means that an individual believes that there is a higher power and he or she has come into this world for a purpose. When this realization is deep rooted, an individual also develops to handle high pressure situation.
Conclusion:
The spiritual and entrepreneurial worlds can’t be separated. Entrepreneurs need to know what drives them, why they’re doing the things that they do. This is where spirituality comes in handy; it helps entrepreneurs understand their motivations and provide clarity for decisions to make both good and bad days more manageable. What are some ways you think spirituality has helped your entrepreneurship?