The trick to being a happy entrepreneur is finding the sweet balance between ambition and contentment.
Too much ambition and you forget to appreciate what you have.
Too much contentment and you start to stagnate or regress.
It’s a scale.
Sometimes we flit wildly between extremes. We’re chasing our dreams, doing all the stuff, then we realise how busy we are and start to feel overwhelmed, so we cancel all plans and book a relaxing trip, to get back to contentment alone.
Or we’re feeling so content that it’s boring. (After all, they're right next to each other in the emotional guidance scale). When everything seems settled and manageable, when there’s no change, it can feel like something is missing. That’s when we crave ambition again, so we start a new project or come up with huge business ideas.
Erratically sliding up and down the scale is not the goal.
Happiness comes from finding that sweet balance in the middle of ambition and contentment, where you appreciate what you have, you are grateful for whatever brought you here, but you still have that fire in your belly to see what else you can do.
So how do you find the balance?
- Surround yourself with ambitious people but introduce a gratitude practice
- Keep a progress journal while finding more joy in the ordinary things you do
- Give your work all of your effort while reminding yourself how much you love it
Ambition to contentment. Where do you sit on the scale?
