Why I Love Working With Start Up Founders

Walk into any established company and into the C level and you will usually find an appointed team.

A team of individuals who have worked up through the ranks, been shown the ropes, trained, mentored, guided and supported.

I do not believe that accountability is part of the recipe for success

In fact I believe it is a strong part of the recipe for stress, overwhelm and burnout.

I don’t mean to dismiss accountability out off hand and this isn’t semantics either.

I do not believe that hard work is the secret to success

In fact I believe that in many cases applied as the primary tool in the tool kit it leads to stress, poor health, overwhelm, and strained or broken relationships and without the promised success. (The definition of which surely must include freedom of time, health and great relationships.)

What red flags tell you things aren’t working?

That’s a question I ask myself every 6 months or so, life changes often so new answers emerge all the time.

Our brains are wired to take the most energy efficient path through life.

I can’t remember where I heard it,

but the best or rather most useful description I’ve heard as to what pain is, is that pain is the brain saying,

🛑 Stop doing it like that

We could start seeing overwhelm as a good thing…

We don’t of course.

We don’t because overwhelm comes with a negative prediction of the future.

If you could achieve greater happiness, health and success by doing either MORE or by doing LESS which would you choose?

That probably seems like a daft question, right?

Why would you choose to add stuff to your to do list taking away more precious time when you could choose to do less?

The first sign of overwhelm is the realisation that what needs to be done can’t be done without sacrificing what you said was important to you.

That’s the inner conflict that causes the feeling of overwhelm.

[How Minding Your Language Could Transform Your Life]

If you were aiming for EXCELLENCE. And you were clear that excellence meant to improve upon what you did last time.

There is a temptation to play amateur psychologist

To diagnose their behaviour.

We want to reduce them to cause and effect.

When success means winning the game you’ve opened yourself up to a roller coaster of stress

When the process didn’t produce the predicted result you’re behind, losing, a loser.

Each mistake, error, ignorance or incompetence is met with anger and frustration as all was not what you expected or hoped for

I start the day with meditation 🧘‍♂️

You likely have a very different image in your mind to my reality of the dog whining for a walk, or one of the kids waking up and putting the tv on but it is what it is.

“I’m not drinking today mate. I’ve got some things on that are REALLY important to me and so I want to have a clear head tomorrow .”

I remember the first time I said it.

And I really meant it.

When you’re the global CEO of 8 companies all relying on you to provide strategy, direction, focus, clarity and support the stakes are pretty high.

Now imagine you’re in chronic pain 90% of the time, your energy is shot and you’re averaging 3 hours of sleep a night.

Same old story for leaders everywhere…

I’ve worked with leaders of small start ups to large corporations, from teams of 2 to team of 4,000, from leaders of one company to CEOs overseeing 5-8 multi-million €€ companies and 5 things show up more consistently than any other.

A Nervous System in THREAT has a bunch of indicators.

Of course you don’t need to have all of them but in my experience people tend to think they have a bunch of disconnected things.

A positive prediction of the future followed by a positive response

^^ that is how neuroscience defines thriving

This is leadership

Think of something you currently do that you wish you didn’t…

Do you have it in mind?

Have you struggled to stop 🛑 despite knowing the cost of doing it, the logic and benefits of stopping?

Have you tried both carrot and stick?

I’m guessing the answer is yes.