How Do You Deal with "Entrepreneurial Terror"?

Berto said:
Good suggestions above, thanks guys.

I dream in PHP when I'm in coding mode. This last one was about RDBMS normalization. Yikes.

But no business dreams. I'm really not much of a business man. I just like me my technology and niche.
Click to expand...

I've had a dream about code before and I wanted to kill myself when I woke up. I felt so overwhelmed.

Being an entrepreneur or a programmer does not need to -- and shouldn't -- define who you are. It should just be something you do. If you're spending 24 hours of the day thinking about code and business and fretting over bugs when you go to sleep, you need to take a step back. Remove yourself a little. There is such thing as being in too deep and missing the forest for the trees.

As both an entrepreneur and a programmer, you need to find a balance. Your duties as an entrepreneur require you to step back and take more of a management role in your business, providing it overall direction and not worrying about the gritty details. But your duties as a programmer require you to dive deep into the gritty details of your business and work out even the smallest bugs.

How do you reconcile these differences? How do you balance these two roles? It's probably the toughest thing to do as a one man business, but if you can figure it out you will be successful. Don't let the programmer inside of you get in the way of the entrepreneur, and don't let the entrepreneur inside of you get in the way of the programmer.

But don't forget your third persona....yourself. At the end of the day, you are more than just a programmer or entrepreneur. You are yourself, not your business. So when you are done working for the day, shut everything off and relax, because you're going to need to be at your best tomorrow.

[/motivational_post]
 


chatmasta said:
I've had a dream about code before and I wanted to kill myself when I woke up. I felt so overwhelmed.

Being an entrepreneur or a programmer does not need to -- and shouldn't -- define who you are. It should just be something you do. If you're spending 24 hours of the day thinking about code and business and fretting over bugs when you go to sleep, you need to take a step back. Remove yourself a little. There is such thing as being in too deep and missing the forest for the trees.

As both an entrepreneur and a programmer, you need to find a balance. Your duties as an entrepreneur require you to step back and take more of a management role in your business, providing it overall direction and not worrying about the gritty details. But your duties as a programmer require you to dive deep into the gritty details of your business and work out even the smallest bugs.

How do you reconcile these differences? How do you balance these two roles? It's probably the toughest thing to do as a one man business, but if you can figure it out you will be successful. Don't let the programmer inside of you get in the way of the entrepreneur, and don't let the entrepreneur inside of you get in the way of the programmer.

But don't forget your third persona....yourself. At the end of the day, you are more than just a programmer or entrepreneur. You are yourself, not your business. So when you are done working for the day, shut everything off and relax, because you're going to need to be at your best tomorrow.

[/motivational_post]
Click to expand...

This is so true. Us programmers/entrepreneur has a mixed agenda haha.
 
This thread got a lot more awesome than I expected it to be. Thanks all.

I do my best thinking in the water too - pool or shower (not ocean, when out there on a good day, I think about NOTHING but the action).

Last night the lady came over and provided good distraction. We slept like rocks. That's another solution nobody's mentioned ;)
 
chatmasta said:
I've had a dream about code before and I wanted to kill myself when I woke up. I felt so overwhelmed.
Click to expand...

lol, I once blacked out in a party and apparently had a nightmare, because the next morning guys told me that I was mumbling "They are speaking in Python, they are speaking in Python!"
Sadly I can't remember a thing :D
 
ShadowCaster said:
lol, I once blacked out in a party and apparently had a nightmare, because the next morning guys told me that I was mumbling "They are speaking in Python, they are speaking in Python!"
Sadly I can't remember a thing :D
Click to expand...

That would be pretty scary IRL. Not sure how the tabbing would work though.
 
rockstar45177 said:
Be sure to never confide that in any of the women you fuck as they will be sure to use it against you later on bro
Click to expand...

Hm? Care to explain? Of all the best relationships I've had, it's been with women who LOVE my ambition/drive combined with geekiness.

They like the fact that I got something bigger going on than simply partying, working for someone else, or being a volleyball bum out here.

I got no problem saying "I was up at 4am, gonna need a nap and a backrub:)"

Doesn't happen often enough for it to be a huge problem, but when it does, I TRY to live by a 20 minute rule - if I'm not sleeping, no laying around in bed for more than 20 minutes. Get up and do something.
 
heavy ass squats and oatz baby. i havent found anything else in the world that puts my mind to rest other than getting under some heavy ass weights and leaving all your worries in the gym.
 
Berto said:
So last night, I slept like dog shit, fretting over some technical glitch that I thought of during my sleep. I was half awake / half asleep and unable to solve it in that mental state.

Finally got up at 4am, got to work, and couldn't remember what I was even worried about.

5 hours later, I just stumbled over the problem and solved it in 45 seconds. WTF. A shitty night of sleep for pretty much no reason.

This lack of sleep and overall anxiety over some business issue is sometimes known as the Entrepreneurial Terror. Do you ever get it? How do you handle it?

I am usually fine, but technical stuff gets me the most often. A pen and paper and forcing myself to wake up and relax would have probably done the trick here.
Click to expand...

I use a pen and paper as well.. I have notes scattered all over my desk, but it helps me get shit done. There are always so many things on my mind.. I HAVE to write it down, or I'll forget about it and move onto something else.
 
You know what helps me fall asleep? Focusing on the "spots". Not sure how to explain it but when you're in the dark and you're eyes are closed you can usually find little red fire fly like spots dancing around. (some sort of visual deprivation thing I guess) anyways following them as the float around sends me to sleep in record time: like 1 to 2 minutes. Where as just laying there waiting for sleep to come to me usually takes me an average of about 20 minutes. If I'm lucky.

Seriously, find the spots. It will be your last conscious thought for the night.
 
turbolapp said:
You know what helps me fall asleep? Focusing on the "spots". Not sure how to explain it but when you're in the dark and you're eyes are closed you can usually find little red fire fly like spots dancing around.

Seriously, find the spots. It will be your last conscious thought for the night.
Click to expand...

I know exactly what "spots" you're talking about! I discovered them in 2001. 6 years later I was finally released from psychiatric unit of my local hospital...
 
I don't think being a full-time entrepreneur favors "making it". You either need to be crushing it, or getting out.

That's where the entrepreneurial terror comes in. It's a push, sink or swim. A natural correcting mechanism, like bankruptcy is for poorly run firms.

Sort of fortuna audaces iuvat, but applied differently.

Soul crushing anxiety favors mediocrity.
 
guerilla said:
I don't think being a full-time entrepreneur favors "making it". You either need to be crushing it, or getting out.

That's where the entrepreneurial terror comes in. It's a push, sink or swim. A natural correcting mechanism, like bankruptcy is for poorly run firms.

Sort of fortuna audaces iuvat, but applied differently.

Soul crushing anxiety favors mediocrity.
Click to expand...

What the fuck did you just say?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Berto
Anyone ever get it when they first wake up? That huge knot in your stomach. You just lie there for a few mins as your mind awakens, and while you realize your current life situation again. After a few mins, you go for your morning piss, then settle yourself in the computer chair to see what the previous night brought you.

After about 30 mins, you realize it's the same shit as the previous day, and you continue on without anxiety. Anyone else?
 
Kind of off-topic(?), but does anyone else get some of their best ideas while in the shitter?

I think it's got to do with increased bloodfow to the brain from the straining.
 
handrewrites said:
Kind of off-topic(?), but does anyone else get some of their best ideas while in the shitter?

I think it's got to do with increased bloodfow to the brain from the straining.
Click to expand...

Yes! That's why I never go there without a tablet or at least cellphone to write things down
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom