The sky is falling!
Ever since the media’s Chicken Little response to the tremors in the financial markets, I’ve felt like shouting from the rooftops “now you know how it feels to be an entrepreneur!”
I just lost 9% overnight?! Fill a bathtub and get the toaster. I’ve had enough.
Wait… I actually gained 13% while in the bathroom? I’m f**king Superman!
This is a guest post on capitalizing on — vs. countering — the “entrepreneur’s disease” (manic depression) through 4 cyclical stages. This is done by pairing appropriate activities to specific — though not necessarily positive — emotional states…
The author is Cameron Herold, former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, whose professional resume includes:
-Helping build revenues from $2 Million to $105 Million in 6 years (no debt or outside shareholders)
-Building a PR team that landed more than 5,000 stories in those same 6 years
-Hiring 220 people in 4 months
-Leading the sale, branding, and integration of 450+ franchise locations.
-Teaching his psychological theories at the Entrepreneurial Masters Program at MIT.
I first saw this presentation at an Entepreneurs’ Organization (EO) event in Omaha prior to my successful Warren Buffett quest at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting.
I encourage you all to read this, especially with the fear mongering that is just getting started.
Skip CNN and just watch 4:08 – 5:00 over and over.
Cameron:
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, once wrote:
“First and foremost, a start-up puts you on an emotional rollercoaster unlike anything you have ever experienced. You flip rapidly from day-to-day – one where you are euphorically convinced you are going to own the world, to a day in which doom seems only weeks away and you feel completely ruined, and back again. Over and over and over. And I’m talking about what happens to stable entrepreneurs. There is so much uncertainty and so much risk around practically everything you are doing. The level of stress that you’re under generally will magnify things incredible highs and unbelievable lows at whiplash speed and huge magnitude. Sound like fun?”
Many ultra-successful entrepreneurs are even clinically diagnosed as manic-depressive or bi-polar. Francis Ford Coppola has it. So does Ted Turner.
This article is about the emotional intricacies of being an entrepreneur – about what you’re going to feel during the journey.
The concept that we’re going to examine is called the Transition Curve. It resembles a rollercoaster.
Regardless of whether or not you believe you will ride an emotional rollercoaster running a business, you will. You have two fundamental choices: you can hold on and scream, or you can wave your hands in the air and have some fun.
I’m going to walk you through these different analogies, but let’s first look at the various stages of this process, which repeat.
* Stage 1: The first stage of the concept is called “Uninformed Optimism”. At this stage on a rollercoaster, just getting to the top of the rollercoaster, you experience feelings of an adrenalin rush, characterized by excitement and nervous energy.
* Stage 2: The second stage is called “Informed Pessimism”. As you ride over the top of the curve you now have a bit more information. Feelings of fear, nervousness, and frustration begin to set in. Perhaps you even want to get off of it.
* Stage 3 – The third stage is called “Crisis of Meaning”. You’re past scared. You feel despair. It’s as if you’re standing on the edge of a cliff ready to jump, and you begin to think “Today the rollercoaster’s going off the bottom of the track for the very first time.” You feel helpless and you’re both terrified and frozen.
* At this point, you face a critical juncture. You can come off the bottom of the curve and crash and burn, which is when your business goes bankrupt, you lose your marriage, you start drinking, or you end up in a doctor’s office because of stress. Or you can come around the corner because you’re getting support at “Crisis of Meaning” and you can enter an upward swing call “Informed Optimism”.
* Stage 4 – Informed Optimism. You’re calm. You’re informed. You might even say you are cautiously optimistic.
Capitalizing on All Emotional Phases — Activity Pairing
Here is the critical point – at each stage of the curve, you can do things to leverage the feelings and energy — positive or negative — that you have at that moment. Fighting against these phases is like working against a natural force.
Stage 1 – Uninformed Optimism
As an example – at Stage 1 – Uninformed Optimism – it’s both a great place and a dangerous place to be for your business, depending on what you are working on or in at that time.
When you’re starting your business, you have seed financing, some friend and family money, or you’ve just started the business with $50 in your pocket. You can start a business without a lot of money directly because you’re benefiting from uninformed optimism. You can take risks when you’re feeling like this. Because you’re so full of excitement you don’t really know what’s coming yet. So you’re uninformed and your fully optimistic – or you wouldn’t have started.
When you’re at Uninformed Optimism you should be doing things like:
* Talking to the media. Imagine if a newspaper calls you when you’re at that stage of uninformed optimism. How’s your media interview going to go? It’s going to go amazing because you have unbridled excitement and big thinking.
* Talking to potential investors. That’s why everyone was investing through the 90s with the dotcom bubble. The entrepreneurs were so full of uninformed optimism and enthusiasm.
* Doing speeches in public – the audience will love you.
* Recruiting new employees – they’ll all want to work for you.
* Networking for new clients – who wouldn’t want to buy from you?
When you’re at Uninformed Optimism there are also some things you should avoid doing:
* Spending money is a bad thing to be doing at this point. Because when you are really excited and full of optimism you think nothing will go wrong. The last thing you want to be doing is spending all this money because the reality is – at some point, you’ll cross the curve and discover harsher realities.
* You don’t want to be doing business planning
* You don’t want to be working on your budget
* You don’t want to be making buying decisions
* You don’t want to be making hiring decisions
* You don’t want to be doing your accounting, or your bookkeeping.
* Anything that requires you to be making financial decisions or planning logical shouldn’t be done when you’re at the manic energy or uninformed optimism stage.
Remember that when you’re at that uninformed optimism stage, anything that’s outward facing — talking about your company, selling the story, raising money — is well-matched. Simultaneously, at that stage, you don’t want to make buying decisions, or hiring decisions, or planning decisions, or budgeting decisions.
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Stage 2 – Informed Pessimism
At Stage 2 – Informed Pessimism – you have more information now. You’re not as excited as you once were. Coffee is helpful to get you started. You are worrying at times. You aren’t depressed or scared – but you’re somewhere in between scared and excited. You’re just a little bit pessimistic now. The great aspect of this stage is that it prevents you from making careless mistakes due to overly optimistic thinking.
When you’re at Informed Pessimism you should be doing things like:
* Planning the next phase of your growth
* Intermediate-term strategic planning
* Budgeting, as you’ll be more realistic
* Purchasing things like advertising – you’ll be careful with where you spend your money and will not over-purchase advertising based on exuberant pie-in-the-sky sales forecasts.
When you’re at Informed Pessimism, there are also a few things you should absolutely avoid doing.
Do not:
* make hiring decisions.
* talk to the media or do speaking events.
* work in roles where being excited would help you get a better result – wait until things turn around emotionally for you.
Stage 3 – Crisis of Meaning
This is a scary stage and can feel like you’re standing on the edge of a building needing to jump. It will feel like all the odds are stacked against you and that everything is going wrong. It will be hard to get out of bed in the morning. Sleeping at night will be close to impossible due to worries and fear. You’ll feel like you’re paralyzed and can do little more than clean your filing cabinet drawers successfully.
When you’re at Crisis of Meaning you should be doing things like:
* Cleaning your filing cabinet drawers – seriously. Doing a few little things can often perk people up.
* Reaching out to your support groups like friends, family, your church, groups like the Entrepreneurs Organization etc. to ask them for help, advice or to just lend an ear.
* Trying to set your TOP 5 daily and only work on the most important items each day.
* Taking breaks and going for walks, getting exercise, getting outdoors.
* Writing lists – lists about what you are strong at, lists about what you love – make lists that, when you read them, will help rebuild your confidence.
* Realizing that many others have been in this exact same place and usually turn the corner, just like you will.
* Remembering “The Little Engine That Could” – I think I can, I think I can – it can take time, but things will rebound.
When you’re at Crisis of Meaning there are also some things you should absolutely avoid doing:
* Don’t talk to others who are depressed.
* Don’t talk to others who are “half empty” types
* Don’t take any “all-in” Vegas poker type risks where you put everything on the line hoping for a big win.
* Don’t try to “rally the troops.” Your employees, the media ,etc. will all smell fear. And your fear will lead to making things worse
* Don’t turn to the bottle. Vices during stages of depression will lead to you spiraling out of control.
* Don’t think that you can “handle it” all on your own. You can’t. And when people “need” others, your true friends really will be there to support you.
* Don’t try to learn more. Reading books and magazines about how to be successful or how to grow your company will only make you feel worse about your current situation. They’ll just make you feel even more bogged down. Reading stuff like this is great when you round the corner though.
Stage 4 – Crash & Burn
I don’t really waste any time explaining this stage or what to do here – because if you slide off the curve, here it really is over – the company is done and/or so are you in the role leading it. Usually this is bankruptcy or forced sale, etc..
Stage 5 – Informed Optimism (or Hopeful Realization)
This last stage is much like when the little engine that could turned the corner – and realized “he did”. You’ll start feeling excited and energized again. You’ll start rebuilding your confidence. And you’ll start to feel momentum working in your favor again. You’ll also have a lot more insights and experiential learning to draw from. You’ll realize you have more competence and confidence than before and everything will start to go your way again.
When you’re at Informed Optimism you should be doing things like:
· Hiring
· Strategic Planning
· Reorganization of your team – putting the right people in the right seats
· Cutting the wrong people
· Generally getting everything in order to really start growing again.
When you’re at Informed Optimism there are also things you should avoid doing:
· Don’t lose focus.
· Don’t let your confidence slip.
· Don’t get cocky or you’ll fall backwards off the curve.
Conclusion
This cycle repeats itself. Enjoy the ride instead of fighting it.
Guest author Cameron Herold’s training modules are used by CEOs and companies in more than 15 countries.
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
I thought this was a great post when someone sent it to me last year and I keep coming back to it as the rollercoaster continues. It is a big help to know that others have been through this ….
This post came along at just the right time, we are now on the upswing back up in the informed optimism. It's been a VERY tough ride but we feel we are going to weather this storm and be a much more capable and stronger company going forward.
hmmm, what happens if you read excellent articles like this if you are at the "crisis of meaning" stage when you shouldn´t be reading stuff like this? Seriously though I feel that I keep swinging back and forward between the crisis of meaning and informed optimism phases I miss the power and drive of uninformed optimism…
I am at the stage of informed pessimism. It feels terrible. The mere fact that this is a cycle kinda gives me a small reassurance that life does go on. I wish you could give me some ideas of things to do during this stage. It would help instead of dont's. (i just wait out the period?). I admire the article and thanks.
I was trying to explain this to someone the other day – you have articulated it much better than I did. Thanks!!
Great to watch that old cartoon again. Thanks for breaking it all down.
I disagree that the time for media interviews is during the stage of uninformed optimism. When you're uninformed, any well-informed, critical question can turn a great media hit into a rout. Wait until you've reached the point of informed optimism, if possible (though I'm aware that most businesses need media during the launch, which usually corresponds with the point of uninformed optimism).
Brilliant! Thanks for making the madness make sense and for normalizing these incredible highs and lows with useful action do's and don'ts. Looking forward to reading more of your work!
Hi Tim, I really like your stuff, but MAN YOUR BLOG COLOR SETTINGS ARE BLOODY IMPOSSIBLE TO READ!!!
This post put a smile on my face. Possibly an acrid smile… Going through the coaster motions myself there's a strange comfort in seeing the "tracks" laid out in this post. Can you make this post a PDF dwnload. thank you. Justin Z
Hi Tim, Two things: 1. I also have problems reading the text on some posts. In Chrome the text shows up as gray on a black background. In Firefox it shows up as black on a white background. 2. I'm starting a company with a friend right now and this post has been a great road map of what is to come. We are transitioning from Stage1 to Stage 2 right now. I'll put a reminder on my calendar for July: "Nightmares start now." =) Keep up the good content!
Thanks for the tips Cameron. I already discovered some time ago that buying stuff when you're exited is a bad idea. In general, big decision making in a non-stable emotional state is not a good idea. Dan Reilly discusses that too in his book Predictably Irrational [0] . Andy Beeching already mentioned the similarity to the hype cycle. I think there's a lot of patterns in "nature" like this: up, a little bit down, very down, crash / up again. Culture Shock [1] is a great example, and I think it's related: * Honeymoon Phase : similar to phase 1 * Negotiation Phase : 2 and 3 (where it leads to depression) * Adjustment Phase : phase 5 Phase 4 (crash and burn) would have the culture shock equivalent of just leaving the country. As with quitting a business, that's not necessarily a bad choice. In terms of timing: from what Ive heard, culture shock tends to vary greatly in length too; from months to years. Other striking similarity: in phase 2/3 people in culture shock tend to become obsessed with cleaning. [0] http://bit.ly/gTc3V [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock
A great post, accurate in all ways in my opinion.. Being a lifetime entrepreneur and restaurateur for a long time, it is so true.. Seeing that bleak place at the bottom needs to kick you in the head, and kick you into action, remembering your 'best of times" can help to remind you that life is not over, it's only money, and that you DID have the good busy times, that tend to be result of positive actions that can be repeated. Also, always be analyzing your business and adjusting, keeping your business in the sweet spot can make life much easier. Good luck everyone!!
Good article. Suggestion – can you add a retweet feature to your site for sharing?
Tim — GREAT THREAD I posted some of the following on the "Entrepreneur …Myth" thread and meant to put it here. I think a lot of folks are missing the point here and tell me what you think of my re-cap. 1) Un-informed Optimism —2) Crash-Burn Escape Velocity 3) Informed Optimism Burn-Out Escape Velocity has two roots: 1) Humility (an “ability” or “skill,” in terms of speed, at recognizing truth and submitting to it) and 2) Forward Moving Will-Power. Will and Humility (given the above definition) can we ever move-forward and submitt to self-realized genius. Thanks for Shining the Light Brother, Octobox
I've been an entrepreneur since the tender age of 20 & been through the highs and lows of the transition curve countless times. I've celebrated extreme success by drinking so much that I woke up the next morning with raspberry jam on my toes. And vice versa, I've been so down that my diet consisted of French Vanilla ice cream and Lucky Charms for 14 days straight. (Believe it or not, I am quite fit!) My point: With experience and time, the curve gets less extreme and your emotions more level. You'll begin to notice where you are on the curve and instinctively know how to manage yourself. So, celebrate your successes and then stay in your pj's in the bad times, but know that the stages of the curve happen all through your life over and over. ENJOY THE RIDE!
Sounds just like the roller coaster of life, haha. My friend & I are in Phase I right now and I am so happy I came across this right now. As always, thanks Tim and thanks Cameron.
Wow – great reading all the comments here again – just came back on to see the thread. Glad it's made such an impact. Let's all have fun riding it again in 2010 too. Cameron
Hey @casey – keep focused and you'll ride it out – this roller coaster is one we never get off of though – so enjoy the ride….
@Michelle Ayres you're bang one – the ride totally does get flatter over time as we gain the emotional intelligence to handle it all. Great point.
@holly thanks for the idea of RT'ing – and sharing with others – the more that learn this the better.
@Adguru hope your year since this post has had you riding the ups and downs a few more times – and getting used to it also…..
Paraphrasing Mattel, "manic depression is hard!" But seriously, most of us with actual brain cooties will not be ticked by the misuses of the idea of "manic depression", but the hyphenation in "bi-polar" is the 2% that wil cheese 80% of them off. It's called "bipolar disorder" because someone thought "manic depression" was too harsh, but it's hardly about two poles. *time to move the complaint bracelet*
Great article Cameron. You are definintely on your A game here. I would like to add that when you are at the bottom of your roller coaster, this is the time to take personal time to do things outside of business. Go skiing, ride motorcycles, climb a mountain, take a trip visiting friends, or anything else that can alter your mood in a positive way. By shifting your focus away, it can bring in positive emotions and get you back in the right frame of mind.
Firstly, I'll say kudos to both TIm and Cameron for following this post up for two years. That is serious dedication. Not too many people give a shit for two years. I think the stages illustrated are very good guidelines for new entrepreneurs. As you go through more and more "opportunities" and businesses, it starts to flatten out and that rollercoaster gets leveled out with patience, knowledge, and experience. There is one element that is not illustrated in the picture though, and that is the input of family/ spouse in your ear. If I could BOLD this statement, I would: If you do not have the support of your spouse/ partner/ family, multiply the illustration x2. You spend your time trying to convince not only investors, but your own family that what you are doing is worthwhile and will work. God / Mohammed / Ghandi help you if it doesn't. Entrepreneurs have two jobs; first convince the wife that it's a good idea, and if that goes well enough, you know you can get investors. Put the wife on that rollercoaster for the 5th, 6th, 7th, time, and if you can do it the 8th, you've both got the vetting process down pat and you'll probably succeed. Regards and best of luck, CFly
I work in the design and creative community. I am a business coach who deals with this cycle day to day with clients and their teams. I ran across this post while creating a new blog post for my site. I will be linking to this as I just love the diagram…I use your book with many of my clients…keep up the good work… F
This is a good post but it is an abbreviated version of Joseph Campbell's Heroe's Journey… Something to check out if you haven't seen already.. http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
Thank you very much for this post. It helped me this roller coaster of emotions. Ervin
If there was a way I can "clip to brain" instead of evernote that would be stellar. As always thanks for the great on target and relevant post.
Excellent post. I recently crashed 'n' burned and this article really helped motivate me, as well as, regain my confidence. Thank you. Now, back to it, eh? 😉 P.S. I really like how you've phrased your "Comment Rules." May I use it on my sites as well?
WOW!! ive never read anything on ths topic before. this is me!! i do this in so many areas of my life. ill be coming back to this post many times during each stage 🙂 currently at informed optimism
I think this post just might have saved my life. Thanks.
great read. GLAD I'm not alone on this one…really. that discussion = 100% truth spoken. thanks.
Hang on, so you shouldn't make hiring decisions at any of the first three stages?
Thank you so much for posting this. I'm sure I had read this awhile ago, but perhaps I'd forgotten. Reading it again just now really made my day! Thanks again, cheers, and congratulations on the new book! -Drew
Sometimes it's better to give up while in the crisis of meaning instead of go back to informed optimism if the benefits are good but not great.
Very actionable post. Thanks for sharing!
Very insightful post. Just as I feel so worthless and hopeless, I am just only in the Crisis of Meaning, not yet (but very close) to the crash and burn stage.. Thanks for posting this article.
Thank u! Both self-employed and social-entrepeneur for a zillion years – – so that includes my past lives (a joke!) – – so the article is very helpful 2 me. And I luv that it gives specific practical suggestions!
2 years and 6 months later, this article is still as valuable as the day you sat down and wrote it. This is so true of any kind of objective you're approaching. It's true of creativity. It seems to me like a natural human function called learning, and fear. Certainly this is the reason why psychologists have clearly identified a relationship between manic depression and creativity… how many creative people are bi-polar. That's kind of the reason I came to read this. I definitely experience this entire cycle. It's fun to know the process, and embrace it the entire time! Word. Thanks for posting this my reality scrutinizing, life negotiating friend.
Oh… how this article speaks to me as I go through the first roller coaster trip. I wanted to start a business ever since I was an 8 year old selling brownies and lemonade in front of my house. Now, almost exactly 20 years later I feel like I'm ready, that I've gathered all the information I need to go from the beginning to … I guess… the up and downs of the roller coaster. Thanks for writing this and giving me hope when things were getting dark and scary!
When I originally commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added" checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thank you!
Thank you TIm, Great read and I can certainly relate.
Very helpful, specially the tasks you have listed what to do and not to do when going thro bad times. Its really encouraging to hear that I am not the only one to pass thro bad times. Really helpful.
Cameron/Tim, awesome post. If I had read this a few years ago, I would have saved myself a few hundred thousand dollars learning things the long way around with "experience". I was even told to see shrinks – I eventually realized that the people that thought I was crazy were all living a different life to what I wanted (retiring at 60, living an "okay" life etc…), so I simply scaled back on telling them what I really was thinking and thus saved myself from taking meds for ADD or Bipolar. I also started to read and hang out with more entrepreneurs so thus felt more "normal". I have a strategy that I pre-warn employees/partners etc about my tendency to get over-excited about ideas/concepts – so to scale back the vision a little and extend the timeline a few years and we will get there (I used to think it would happen within a week). I found that talking to "non-dreamers"/pessimists/"normal thinking" people drove me crazy. So I stopped discussing my "big ideas" with most family members, normal employee friends and people who are generally not likely to be believers or take any action towards the vision. If you start by spending a lot of time in "youology: studying what you want/what you are like and general mastery of self" or as Steven Covey calls it "with the end in mind", the roller coaster becomes smoother. The way I figure it if Nelson Mandella can spend 27 years in prison to eventually get what he wants, whats a few years of highs and lows to achieve the bigger dream. The "crash and burn" is just an option if you want to take it, it is never a crash unless you want it to be (in hindsight it is easier to say this). Thanks for posting – rare to find such insights from true entrepreneurs! Amir
Very helpful, specially the tasks you have listed what to do and not to do when going thro bad times. Its really encouraging to hear that I am not the only one to pass thro bad times. Really helpful.
Thank you TIm, Great read! I sent you an email! Would you be available to answer a couple questions? Great Site BTW!
Wish i had read this 3 months ago – spot on, very few people talk about the emotional struggle when doing a startup.
Great article! Just enough information and delivered perfectly! Bravo.
My god, the accuracy of this article is astounding. It's been a few months since I've launched my company, and the mental roller coaster has already started in ridiculous ways. It's both disheartening and exciting to know that I haven't even scratched the surface of what will come. …but at least my bipolar mood swings with respect to business isn't solely genetic. I guess I can stop being mad at my parents for a bit.
This is a fantastic post. I've been through all the stages 100x of times and I am still not used to Crisis of Meaning… it's actually the stage that's usually taking the longest. I love your cycle drawing.. I'll print it to remember that good things are around the corner:) Thanks!
Hey Tim, can you please explain why you recommend not to read books (to learn more) when in phase 3? I asked myself the question: "How to solve an inner conflict what seems to exist in phase 3 without external input?" The answer I came up on this was: "The results of output, is input for you too. It let's you know: I still have the power to make things better myself" Would you say reading in phase 3 leads to work procastrination?
Sometimes we all need a good scare. Love the post.
A beneficial tip for anyone facing depression is to intentionally take a break from feelings of anger or sadness in order to stop and consider all of the positive things in your life. By taking stock of the good things with which you have been blessed, you can shift the focus away from your troubles and lift yourself out of your depression – at least temporarily.
OMG this is so me! Starting up an iPad magazine with absolutely zero experience and limited budget has been one hell of a learning curve and I've certainly been through/still going through all of the stages! Nice to know that I'm perfectly 'normal' – there's been a lot of questioning of sanity along the way, days when getting out of bed seemed too hard and crash and burn loomed large, but I look back at just how far I have come, how much I have achieved and grown along the way. Cautious Optimism is the current phase… 🙂
Hi Cameron, as someone who has (Internally) struggled with the label "Bi-polar" I have spent the last 15 years doing a version of what you described above – but relatively without forethought. I still find myself making the error of over exuberance wrt financial decisions upon the rebound. I really enjoyed this article and the structure it laid out. And perhaps, more importantly, I really appreciated the tone of the article as being positive and can do rather than "you should de-stress and do nothing with your life" – which a shocking amount of medical literature recommends. Thank you for this contribution. I really appreciate it. Joseph "Soxy" Price
Thank you for this! Now I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one freaking out.
What are the skills to learn to make the falling less hurt? To shortn the depression or to make it less deep? Is it dangerous to shortn the recoverying-time of feeling bad by maybe medics or self-hypnosis or other psychological techneques? If no how do you overcome that time? In the last year I followed the advice from the 4hww and I experienced a hypomanic episode with having a lot of fun and success. Everything worked brilliant for me and I was really euphoric and thought about having found the last part of the puzzle I am working on for years – which is my life and personality. My life felt like a big party. Sadly after 3 month having fun the 4hww party ended. Social honorship for my activities came delayed. My energy decreased. I was not able anymore to stick to my plans concerning timelines. To make things worse I was clinging on the 4hww principles which includes setting deadlines to all my activities and breaking the relationship to my mother (due to 80/20 analysis). I thought she belongs to the 80% of people pulling me down, what I nowadays (6 month later) still think. My performance in all areas that were important in my life went almost down to zero in that time and I thought that the personality I formed myself to be within years was destroyed with in month. These areas include, friends, fitness, entrepreneurship, and studying at the university. When trying to work at the computer I got a headache. Sports did not bother me. Leaving home did not bother me. I ended up eating massive really massive amounts of cake and other unhealthy shit like 6 icecream-stics one after the other gaining 10kg in a period of 1-2 month. Before that time I was really fanatic in sports training sometimes arround 10 times a week doing model fotoshootings and maintaining a body fat percentage of 7%. One day I was not even able to remember the 4hww principles and the routines of the hypomanic dream-time experienced in the past months. Trying badly to survive I spend my day either working or walking arround in my apparment or from the appartment to the supermarket and back, eating and sleeping, putting myself almost in social isolation. That leaded to a really decreased comfort zone. Yoga helped me. Education helped me. Acceppting that things had gone wrong helped me. Focusing on recovering rather than big dreams helped. Now after depression I recovered. I do my sport 4-5 times a week. I build more selfconfidence day to day increasing my comfort zone again. I still feel shocked and scared a little to reexperience what I described above. To overcome fear it would really help me to know how to avoid these situations or make them less worse. It feels good to have a plan B in the pocked if you do not beleave that “steeling lunch from children” works 😉
Really, really great post Tim. Thank you so, SO much. I have never felt so despondent with my life's work as I did today – and then this just magically fell into my lap. I knew i was bipolar or whatever you want to call it, and i knew that it was cyclical and to just wait it out; but this information is truly … remarkable. I am lucky to 'know' you. Everything happens for a reason. Be well! DB
Spot on, been through all of those in mini cycles and bigger longer term cycles, cant really add anything at this stage, but as I am just embarking on a new venture I find it very relevant and helpful, thanks
Yep, very good to be aware of. It helps to learn how to use the lows of emotion as well as the highs. Rather than groveling in self pity it's we can make it work for us. Coaches help with that a lot. Sometimes we just don't know how to handle something because of the our closeness to the situation. With the right questions we can pull back and see the bigger picture.
Amazing advice. The specifics of what to do and what not to do in each stage are so helpful. I think the big thing I'll take away from this is not to try to learn new things while in the Crisis of Meaning stage. I tend to do this, and it hasn't helped in the past, and reading this article helped me see why. Next time, I'll focus on gaining my confidence back and getting things under control, not focusing on technical details and trying to LEARN things specifically.
Great article thank you! I'll keep that in mind next time I feel *pessimistic 😉 thanks so much
Woah… Thank you for posting this!
Wonderful post. Feels like I've come to the right place. Where many before me have come and dipped their toes in stage 3 (I'm swimming in it.) Nice to know there's company to be found here. And that stage 3 is just that, a stage. While reading the descriptions of stages 1 and 2, I thought, "yes! That's how it is. Precisely." And so on with stage 3, "yes! Terrible! Here I am. Please pretend you don't see me, as I'd like to hide and vomit somewhere without disturbing anyone." I started my first business, entering the category of entrepreneur, last year. I didn't want to start my own thing. I'm a designer. I can take on anything, but my field and preference is design, and things like marketing, selling, shipping, operations, official government documents, they all freak me out a bit. However, no one else is creating and putting out there what I believe should be made available, to myself, and everyone, so I'm having a go at it. Nice to know that there's life after stage 3. Thank you.
Thank You Tim! It was very comforting to read your text. When we see clear expressed these different phases and the inherent feelings, that we feel confused when we are going through it, it just calm down all the hopeless feelings and give hope and strength to re-start again with more consciousness of all of it.
Dear Tim, In 2012 I was to be the food of the month on QVC. They ordered 47,000 cases of NoOodles and my supplier only shipped me 5,000 cases and even worse did not tell me until it arrived at the warehouse. That was the worst time of my very hard journey as an entrepreneur. For years I had learn to believe that my highs and lows were not normal that something was wrong with me. My mom has sent me your symposium on harnessing the bi-polar entrepreneur. I can not tell you how happy and relieved I was after I read it. You and your books have inspired my life in a positive way and I will continue to share what I have learned from you with my tribe of NoOodlists. Thank you… Thank you… Thank you! Chef Terri
My life makes sense now. Tim you are a smart man, great work. Thanks for the post.
Ha ha…brilliant article. Good to know I am not alone. Many Thanks Tx
OMG, this is exactly what I needed to read, thank you sooooooo much. Cheers Gerry 🙂
Great article, the really hard part is "slide off the curve". Most of the time we just crash and burn.
Great content. I recently read about strategies on how to overcome the emotional rollercoaster of being an entrepreneur here http://www.entrepreneurial-insights.com/how-to-overcome-the-emotional-rollercoaster-of-being-an-entrepreneur/
Great read! As a relatively new entrepreneur I have lived these phases. It is reassuring to know that it's "normal" and I'm not alone. Thanks for the post!
Oh no, I have read the whole post while being at the end of stage 03! Hopefully this post doesn't fall in the "how to be successful" category 😉 Seriously I am struggling lately as everyone wants my money but it seems no one likes to give me theirs. So the question is, what has to happen that you will make the turnaround? Just cleaning will hardly help earning money and if you shouldn't talk to customers and alike it is hard to get traffic to your site. For me the best thought to keep in mind is the big fat baldy dude in the red BMW Convertible! I worked in the finance industry before and could easily attach some (let's say) stereotypes to that metaphor. And I am much more afraid of ending up like one one of them. So crash and burn is not an option! Greetz from Germany cR
Fantastic article – like my life story – One saying I always try to remember whilst on this rollacoaster is : "The Reward is the Journey, Not the Destination"
Wow, I know this post was written years ago but I just came across it and have to say how helpful I think it is. As an entrepreneur I have been through all 4 phases multiple times and wish I'd read the advice about what to do (and especially what not to do) at each stage earlier. Really great, practical advice. Thank you!
Stability is exactly what I need in my business ventures or I can get burnt out quickly. Your work has helped me create new jobs and reach my goals. Thanks for these tools!
Thank you so much for this- just crashed and burned after 8 yrs of the first 2, now crrawling back up- in a completeloy different place- so good to hear that this is normal have been completely alone with this until now.
This year, I started teaching high school for the first time and this chart perfectly describes the first-year teaching experience. For me, the uninformed optimism came from viewing inspirational teacher movies like The Ron Clark Story and Freedom Writers and reading books like Educating Esme and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The informed pessimism started when a lot of my students didn't turn in their first assignment. The crisis of meaning started the day two students stormed out of class. I spent two months cycling between Crisis of Meaning and Informed Optimism and I read this article over and over. I thought I could keep myself from Crashing and Burning. Then, true to the article, I ended up in the doctor's office from stress. Then I resigned. But here's the surprise: I thought Crashing and Burning would feel awful, but actually I feel better than I have in months. Having done the best I could, I feel at peace walking away.
This is really good. Pretty much spot on as far as the stages of a start up go. I think I am just coming into stage 5, balanced, not over excited, controlling my fear – ready to push through logically. I think I indeed went through every one of these. Love the article!
Hey Tim! It would be great if your articles were like 4 minutes learning. I love them by the way, but takes too much time and that does not fit so well to your value proposition. 😀
This really spoke to me. I am currently at month 20 of building my business and often experience these radical changes in my motivation and general workflow. This article breaks down the mental battle I go through on the daily and brings to the table logical and actionable responses to those feelings. My only question would be: Is it normal to experience all 4 phases in one day or within a few days?weeks? I would appreciate any insights.
OMG. THIS!!!!!!!! I am currently at stage 4 (and so much happier here at the moment!). Stage 3 sucked. Plain and simple. I never want to go back there again but not I'm seeing the cycle repeats itself so I'll embrace it, ride it out when it happens again, and likely refer to this amazing post! Thank you so so much! I only wish I would have read it 5 years ago… 🙂
I've been struggling with bi-polar disorder for 20 years now. I've tried to deal with it in different ways. I read this post about 3 months ago and decided to put into action some concepts in this post to help out my business. I've had great results. I've increased revenue by 15% in the last two months by using how I feel to determine the action I should take.
Just started my freelance copywriting business 4 months ago, and this 100% relates to what I just went through. Of course, freelance copywriting has relatively low risk, but yet it still felt like a risk (and people around me treat it like a big risk, which I don't think it really is), which made it feel more intense. Step 2 really helped put me on the right track and pinpoint things that were a complete waste of time. I cut out about 15-20 hours of extra copywriting work a week to focus on 10-15 hours of the most important copywriting work. This brought me over the hump during step 3. Now I'm approaching step 4, guess I'll plan the next wave of growth =)
Wow. I just realized I was doing this for years! Yeah, since I was 13 I am already business-minded and circumstances like this always happened in different magnitudes at some point in my life, and I am sure most people too! This helped a lot for my next moved. I'm controlling my emotions now, both positive and negative. This is a very helpful article. Cheerios!
And here I was thinking I was just crazy. Lol. Great timing. I am I the midst of a startup (not my first rodeo) but you get caught in the moment and forget it is all one big ride up down and around. Thanks Tim. PS love the new book.
Hi All, I just want to ask if anyone ever tried using medical cannabis as an alternative meds? I have read many articles about medical marijuana and how it can help you in terms of chronic pain, glaucoma, eating disorder/anorexia, anxiety disorders and panic attacks, inflammation, even cancer and a lot more. [Moderator: Additional text and link removed.] Cbd and thc are also new to me and I don't even smoke. If this is true I cant find any solid conclusive evidence that speaks to its efficacy. Any personal experience or testimonial would be highly appreciated. Thanks
And it starts all over again. Nice explanation of the highs and lows of owning a business.
I’m a “very unique” 😉 fan – 48-year-old, premenopausal wife, mother, communicator, dreamer and entrepreneur. Just listened to you and Tim Urban and was very interested to hear you talk about your genetic disposition to bi-polar disorder. I KNEW we had more in common! 😊 Are you going to share more management tips for others who deal with this? I could really relate to what you’ve put in place to keep the dark wolves at bay.
This is so brilliant, I can't even…thank you Tim for this post. Bookmarking and using, probably daily, for at least the next five years.😀
The graph makes a lot of sense Tim Ferriss! I just went through the "Crises of Meaning" phase and trying to move forward towards "Informed Optimism" phase. 😁 [Moderator: additional text and link removed.]
Woah I wish I discovered this article 3 years ago… Thank you so much Tim
HI. Thanks for sharing this. This is really a great post.
Love how you broke down all this information. Makes a ton of sense. Thank you!
I tend to overdo it and keep myself busy all day, often running myself ragged. When I have free time, that is when my mind wanders and can get me into trouble. I empathize. Thank you for your blog.
Tim – we need to share this again – more than ever due to covid – I.e. our mutual friend Tony last week…
Excellent point of view. If I were to contrast the two ideas, how do you think it would be to best approach this?
Hi, I read your article and found it very interesting. Thanks for the write-up.
Hello thank you for the super helpful article. I have been teetering between stage 4 and stage 5 and not realizing it. I am a new entrepreneur 3 years full-time. It was so helpful and insightful to read this article and understand what the process has been as I round the corner. In stage 4 but most recently been, I instinctively stopped reading all the books the people I've been connecting with around business growth I just pulled back from all of it not realizing what was happening but just knew that it didn't feel right or good and I had no interest in it. And I was able to be kind to myself and accept that's where I was even if I didn't understand what was happening I trusted the process of growth. So glad I listened to my gut instinct these past weeks as I now feel my inspiration, optimism and intelligent recognition of stage 5 returning. Grateful for this article. Thank you
@TheZov, Thanks for the comment. What seems to be the color problem? The black background around the exterior? Best, Tim
Hi Holly, Thanks for the suggestion. The last time my developer and I tried this, the retweet plugin caused the site to hang and overloaded the server as it needed to ping Twitter. Any suggestions for alternatives? Best, Tim
Hi Joe, Thanks! Feel free to borrow my comment language. Just thank Brian and link to him, as I did. Best, Tim
Love it – if you think you're at IO for too long, you might be back at UO again 😉 Enjoy the ride… sure beats working for the man. Cameron
Thank you for your comment, Mark. Just remember: we all face the demons. It's easy to feel alone, but there are thousands of people — in the exact same instant — feeling the same doubts and overwhelm. Looking at is as part of a ride that inevitably turns upward is a healthy mental model that has helped me a lot. Hopefully it does the same for you. All the best, Tim
glad you're enjoying the ideas… Cameron
LOVE your comments – thanks – please share the ideas – LOTS of entrepreneurs to help with this… Cameron
Glad it spoke to you… Cameron
Hey Rob – Glad you liked it – Drop me an email Cameron at BackPocketCOO dot com and I'll email you the chapter of my new book Double Double which dives even deeper into the emotional roller coaster now. Enjoy the ride… Cameron
Sorry, my question has to be directed to Brian!
You're welcome – glad it helped.
You're welcome.
Glad you liked it.
You're welcome.
Glad you enjoyed it.
You're welcome.
Wonderful comment Amir. Thank you for sharing in 2011 for it's giving me solace in 2013.
Glad you liked it – it's solid stuff. email me for more on it if you'd like… Cameron@BackPocketCOO.com
Hello Tim, use the social elite share plugin…May be it'll help you
No, to Tim. He's the post's author 🙂 …