Dear Entrepreneur, 6 enemies of growth that you must avoid at all cost.

As an entrepreneur, being able to control my own time and do what I love most through my passion and talents has been able to fuel and shield me from the mundane aspect of life and boring Mondays and volatile weekends.

This doesn’t mean that it’s been easy, quite the opposite really. It’s been tough, it’s been bare knuckles, and it’s been blood and sweat. Just that I love what I do hence it’s made it easier for me to endure and be able to grow and help nurture others to help achieve what we desire and plan for.

The psychological aspect of entrepreneurship is one aspect that few people ever discuss. The pain. The tears. The depression. The negativity. The struggles to keep one’s dream alive. This is an area we all hide away from the glare of the public view. We share the glamorous aspect of our success and triumph.

We showcase how we are superheroes. We showcase how powerful we are and hide how vulnerable indeed we get and how pathetic it gets sometimes. We hide a key aspect of growth yet, life is all about balance. Like day and night. Pain and pleasure.

In my entrepreneurial journey, which has felt like a bus ride to western Kenya aboard an Eldoret Express, full of chickens, sweat, dust and insensitive humans, what I have learned in essence is that balance is key and without balance, we cannot talk of success or triumph. We cannot talk about progress or purpose for balance is what prepares us for success and triumph.

As is every journey, obstacles are part and parcel of it to test our character and resolve. To test our courage and determination. To test our personality and essence. The enemies of growth and innovation. The detractors of purpose and vision are essential because opportunity only reveals to those who are ready. To those who are prepared.

Good things require a foundation of stability and vigor. Blessings reveal when you are ready to handle them. Because if you are not ready and prepared, then your failure will be more than just failure but it will be fatal to you and your purpose and vision.

However certain issues are self-inflicted and they make our journey even more difficult and, in most instances, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. It is paramount to know these negative aspects so that it is easy to avoid them and ensure that your psychological realm is stable and you are able to focus on what is more important for your growth. The top 6 negative aspects to avoid as an entrepreneur are;

1. Culture of blame

Blaming others is a mark of weakness and frailty. Take responsibility, acknowledge and move on. Harness the lessons and embrace them.

2. The desire to please all

The best way to fail is to try and please everyone. Focus on what is key. Whether you will be attacked or praised, does not matter. What matters is that you achieve that what you purposed to do from the beginning.

3. Big Egos

Pride comes before a fall. Titles mean nothing. It’s how you treat those below you that defines who you really are. Pride will always and definitely mess your workflow. Humility is the denominator to sustainable growth and teamwork.

4. Self-doubt

One of the biggest challenges anyone can face is to have self-doubt. This is the worst form of insecurity any entrepreneur can go through as it means that you question every decision and action that you doing. Best way to deal with this is to simply move and do what needs to be done. If you succeed, then you will be happy, if you fail, you will learn and do better the next time.

5. Micro-management of talent

The best way to kill a business or an idea is to micromanage it. The best way to destroy a team is to micromanage it. Avoid micromanagement at all costs. Trust your team. Learn to delegate. Learn to listen to others. Be teachable.

6. Impatience

Criss Jami, Killosophy once said, ‘The common man prays, ‘I want a cookie right now!’ And God responds, ‘If you’d listen to what I say, tomorrow it will bring you 100 cookies.” Impatience is the denominator of failure.

If you can master patience, you will wield success as you please.