Tis The Season To Be Jolly

Except when you don't feel jolly, what do you do about that? The single, biggest obstacle facing you as an entrepreneur is your emotional condition. Energy doesn't arise out of a mind that is defeated - without hope, there's little action. We have CEOs and CFOs and CMOs but who is the CHO, your Chief Happiness Officer? That would be you. Except it comes without a title, salary or any training. You are expected to know how to find the energy and gusto to get everything done, while inspiring those around you to join in. How do you manage that? Running your own business is a huge undertaking - that's why barely 10% of Americans, the greatest entrepreneurial nation on earth, own their own business. And out of 100 people who will start a business, 80 of them will close it down after just 18 months. If your Alexander Technique business has been around longer than that, celebrate. My guess is that you have survived because you put a high value on self-development. Entrepreneurs who succeed spend time with personal development. Alexander Technique teachers are already way ahead on that score - self-development has been your obsession. Many Alexander Technique teachers come from dysfunctional backgrounds - I am no exception - and you continue to learn how to manage your pain, emotions and ontology to function successfully in the world. Your business is an extension of your mind - it will rise and fall by your insight or ignorance. Your mind moves between states of increasing enlightenment and innocent stupidity - it is constantly in flux. It is never still. Do you know how to move it in the direction you want? The State Is Awake Years ago, when I knew nothing about business, marketing or sales, I would have some free time during the day in Tokyo. Instead of working on my business, I would head off to the Shinjuku to see a movie - usually some dreadful Hollywood action adventure. One day I finally noticed something weird. Depending on the movie I saw, I would not teach well that night. It got so obvious, I decided to give up going to the movies before teaching. It was like I had dumbed myself down. I struggled in the class to chisel a sharper edge to my observations and insights about my students' activities. Wow, I realized: my mind needs caretaking. It was the first time in my life I realized that my state of mind is itself a quality that needs nurturing and care. How do you manage the down times? Like sun and rain, they will come. Have you got a plan for that? Making A Plan For When You Are Down, So Your Business Will Continue on Up [NOTE: This second half of my blog is a paid area describing practical ways to implement what has been described above in a Facebook group with 47 other teachers and students. You can join anytime to be part of their discussions.] Depression is a mental illness, and it will poison your business unless you apply it's antidote. Your best course of action is to find a mentor you trust - with your feelings, or your business or whatever it is that is causing you to lose hope and collapse your will.

There are legendary stories of entrepreneurs spending their last dime on a series of tapes, or an intensive seminar and mentor relationship, then using that information to leverage themselves out of despair, like phoenix rushing from the ashes. This forum is part of your plan to stay awake, but you need something other than that. This is part of your biz development, not a side show when you have time for it. Make sure you, the instrument of your success, is well cared for: you are the Porsche in the garage, the Babe in the woods, the precious artefact on public display. Healthy minds have clear objectives, yet are flexible: whatever the crisis that fills your day, have a plan to work with the inevitable emotions that accompany it. All else flows from this. Ignore this factor and simply try to push on - as we often do - life gets harder and harder. I know a few of us in this group - myself included - have recently been struggling with emotions that drain our urge to act, so I personally would love to hear from you: How do you manage your emotions? How do you ensure your ontological state serves you and the people you love? This is a uniquely personal thing, but this is a sophisticated group of people who have evolved many strategies of self-development over a lifetime of experimentation. I am sure none of us relies purely on Alexander's Discovery - it is a core that we combine with other ideas, teachers and strategies. Please share yours, it might help someone in our group know how you deal with negative thoughts and emotions that are sucking the life out of your business efforts… https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/