It's been six months since I took a sabbatical from The Balance Beam. I was asked to create a major presentation for The Frazzled Entrepreneur and I couldn't do that without bringing back the entire program. In the meantime, I've picked up a lot of readers, and many of you may be unfamiliar with The Frazzled Entrepreneur, The Balance Beam, The Balance Sheet, and our own Auntie Cyclone. So let me take a few paragraphs and explain a little about what we're up to . . .
What is a 'frazzled entrepreneur'? It's not only quite simple; you also may recognize elements of yourself in it. A 'frazzled entrepreneur' is anyone who is in business and who has more month left at the end of the money and more work to do at the end of the time. A 'frazzled entrepreneur' is a business person who's always running out of resources and whose motto could be that old Pennsylvania Dutch saying, "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get."
Becoming a frazzled entrepreneur takes very little skill at all. In fact, it's exactly as easy as rolling down a hill: just let gravity take you. All that's required on your part is to 'go with the flow' and let the current carry you along, bouncing you off one set of rocky rapids after another. Surprisingly enough, being a frazzled entrepreneur doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be a failure at business. We frazzled folks have learned the hard way how to take a beating and keep on pushing forward. Of course, if you're a frazzled entrepreneur, your business may not fail but it'll never be much of a success (at least not for very long) and your personal life is apt to be a disaster.
There are a number of elements that a frazzled entrepreneur may lack (and I've come up with seven critical ones that I'll be writing about as we go along). Yet, whether it's just one element or all of them, here are some characteristics that you'll often find in a frazzled entrepreneur. Number one, you'll find a sense of arrogance (that we call hubris), which simply means that this guy or gal may be highly educated and highly accomplished, but you can't tell 'em anything. As a result, number two, you'll find that frazzled folks are stubborn and set in their ways. They're not open to new ideas or perspectives, nor can they be easily diverted from their chosen path. Number three, they tend to be oblivious to the bigger picture. They may be extremely detail-oriented, but that doesn't result in high-quality work; it simply means that it takes them longer to produce a sub-standard product or service. Number four, they need to handle everything themselves, or, when accepting help, they micromanage most tasks. Number five, their personal lives (if they have them at all) are generally either pathetic or in a shambles. In most cases, work comes first.
You may not see yourself in all of the five characteristics I mentioned. However, chances are very good that you'll see elements of several of these points reflected in the way you live your life. If you want to boil the essence of the frazzled entrepreneur down to a single litmus test, I'd ask you to judge — honestly, now — how's your work-life balance? Do you consistently find the time and other resources that you need to manage your business well, spend enough quality time with your family and loved ones, and pursue your most ardently-desired goals? If the answer is 'no', then you may be one of those frazzled ones!
I know that I've written this before in the past, but it bears repeating (to paraphrase French King Luis XIV): The Frazzled Entrepreneur, c'est moi! I learned my lessons the hard way: by watching an enterprise founder while struggling to maintain a modicum of personal life. I wasn't extremely successful back then and, even now, I tilt off-kilter from the balance beam. The difference today can be traced to the fact that now I know what a balanced life looks like, I know what steps I need to take to regain and to maintain balance, and I know when I fail to maintain my personal equilibrium what the results will be and who will be at fault (that would be me).
Avoiding the fate of the frazzled entrepreneur cannot be seen in terms of a solution to a problem any more than you could consider a jet aircraft in mid-flight to be the solution to the problem of gravity. Successful flight (including a successful take-off and an equally-successful landing) consists of a carefully-balanced complex of forces: gravity, thrust, lift, drag, etc. When all these forces are in proper proportions you experience the phenomenon of controlled flight. Yet, having achieved it, you can't just step out of the cockpit and sit down to tea without a care. Maintaining controlled flight is a science, a skill and an art. So is establishing and maintaining a reasonable work-life balance. The forces at work on you, your career and your family are never static, and seldom give you any significant warning about trouble ahead.
If you can establish just seven critical life strategies, you may never become a Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or George Soros, but you can become a serene and happy person. You will find that, as you bring the various forces of your life into a more reasonable balance, your goals and ambitions themselves will change. You'll find yourself becoming — maybe not the person who you'd always worked to become — but the person you'd always dreamed of becoming. There's a real difference and, if you learn to avoid the frazzled entrepreneur trap diligently, that difference can flower in you.
H. Les Brown, MA, FCC
Copyright © 2009 H. Les Brown
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