Infographic: Are You a Victim of “The Struggle?”

This piece was originally found on growth everywhere, a site where the worlds top entrepreneurs are interviewed.

According to Ben Horowitz, The Struggle is when your dreams turn into nightmares.

“…Then, after working night and day to make your vision reality, you wake up to find that things did not go as planned. Your company did not unfold like the Jack Dorsey keynote that you listened to when you started. Your product has issues that will be very hard to fix. The market isn’t quite where it was supposed to be. Your employees are losing confidence and some of them have quit. Some of the ones that quit were quite smart and have the remaining ones wondering if staying makes sense. You are running low on cash and your venture capitalist tells you that it will be difficult to raise money given the impending European catastrophe. You lose a competitive battle. You lose a loyal customer. You lose a great employee. The walls start closing in. Where did you go wrong? Why didn’t your company perform as envisioned? Are you good enough to do this? As your dreams turn into nightmares, you find yourself in The Struggle.” – Excerpt from The Struggle

“The Struggle” is real. Here is how you get through it.

Key Takeaways

Remember that you’re not the only one

Whenever things get bad for me. I remember to tell myself that things aren’t as bad as they seem. The worst case scenario really isn’t that bad at all and in the grand scheme of things, whatever I’m dealing with isn’t such a big deal. I have an article about a Reddit co-founder that went through a series of devastating losses in a very short amount of time. Whenever I have a bad day, I read that to help put things into perspective. Then I move on.

Meditate

I try to spend 10 minutes in the morning to clear my mind and just be. No e-mails, texts or calls bombarding me. Just pure peace. There’s something unique about the calmness that follows you after a meditation session.

Join a peer group/mastermind

In Entrepreneur’s Organization, there’s a peer group called forum where I meet with a group of likeminded entrepreneurs with different businesses each month. We reveal virtually everything that goes on in our personal and business lives and try to help each other out. Entrepreneurship is a lonely game and it’s tough to find people that have been through similar scenarios to yours. Masterminds are another great tool to use to build relationships and share helpful information with your peers.

Exercise

Exercise is said to release endorphins that put you in a better mood throughout the day. The health benefits are given. I especially like exercising when I’m stressed or angry.