How your work makes you feel and what you learn from it are as important as why you want to do it. So here is my answer to her: six activities that sum up how it feels to be an entrepreneur:

1. Cliff Jumping

That feeling of exhilaration and release when you finally take the plunge after peeking out over the edge for too long. When you’re done, you wonder why you didn’t do it sooner (even if you fall flat on your face the first time round). You realise that you don’t have to wonder how cold the water is, how high the jump is, or how much fun you’ll probably have. Now you know!

2. Hot Yoga

You walk into the studio for the first time in your tights, feeling all self-conscious about your muffin top or less-than-firm derriere. To make matters worst, the person beside you somehow manages to contort her/his body so much you’d think the Cirque Du Soleil troupe were in town, while you struggle to even keep your sweat from stinging your eyes. You could walk out halfway through the class, but then you realise if you give up halfway through, you’ll only ever be half as good … and you’ll never be able to put your feet behind your ears.

3. Swimming

You plunge into a 50-metre Olympic pool and think “I can do this!”. You start doing your breaststroke. Then your muscles start to burn and you keep stretching forward hoping to touch the wall. It’s not there. Three strokes later – not there yet. You start to wonder where the heck that wall is. You feel that you can’t do this anymore, so you stop.

You look over to what you didn’t finish and there it is. That wall is there. The size of the pool hasn’t changed but, when faced with some difficulties along the way, your mindset and attitude have. You realise your goals may be steadfast, but you will never reach them if your determination isn’t. They need to match up.


4. Riding A Rollercoaster

You're scared and you're nervous, yet you're excited. You get on and take a seat, double checking every safety feature to make sure you don't turn up in tomorrow's headlines for the wrong reasons. The ride starts - you scream, you laugh, you curse, you cry and you wonder whatever possessed you to get on the rollercoaster. But the ups and downs of taking the risk make you feel so alive.

The ride is done. You run back to the end of the line. This time, your hands are up in the air, you smile for the camera, and you are raring to go again.

5. Basketball

You're the team captain and everyone is looking to you to win the game. You're worried someone on your team might fumble or miss a score. So you dribble past everyone and score. The audience and your team mates cheer. This time, you have the ball again, but you've never seen your team mates score. So you go for the hoop and you score again! The audience cheer. Your team mates are silent. You win the game eventually with a few more goals but, at the next training session, no one tells you that the venue has changed.

In every everything that you do, there are three victories to be won. The goal itself, the hearts and minds of your audience (people who matter), and your team mates' support and respect. Will you have the integrity to win them all?

6. Cycling

Whatever success you have, chances are you did not attain it without the good grace of someone else. Whatever knowledge you possess, you have it because someone was generous enough to pass it on one way or another. Don't be stingy with lending a helping hand and passing on knowledge. You have so much more to learn from people - as much as you think you have to give.

Keep the cycle going.

 Visit Cyan Communications to find out more about Cheryl's work.

_{This post was first published on Cheryl May Ng's Linked In and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.
Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image credit: Woman Swimming Freestyle from Shutterstock}

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