Ask Yourself Why – Finding Your Purpose Is Key To Healthy Entrepreneurship

Becoming an entrepreneur sounds very cool: you come up with an idea that you see a market for, you go to hip networking events, seek funding and eventually nurture your baby into a profitable, scalable business. And of course there are fluffy clouds and unicorns along the way, you are always your best self, and never feel like working anymore because you just looove what you’re doing – and so does your whole team. Right? Wrong.

Entrepreneurship is a marathon and as such, its bright side tends to be the talk of the town while harsh facts conveniently hide in the shadows. Small Business Economics found that 72% of entrepreneurs are affected by mental health problems. Not to mention burnout, now a legitimate medical diagnosis recognized by the International Classification of Diseases, World Health Organization’s handbook. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job and reduced professional efficacy are listed as the official symptoms.

Now that we’ve managed to paint a rather dark picture, let’s see what the remaining 28% and YOU can do, starting today, to stay positive and prevent the same issues from arising.

Read along if you dare to change and take action for your own and your team’s sake – and sanity.

1. Slow down. Take time to catch your breath and be present.

2. Ask yourself WHY? Why are doing what you do? What is your driving force?

3. What is your purpose in life? Try to clarify and reinforce this in your everyday life.

4. Take action. Act upon your goals, find your motivation and design your ways of working accordingly.

5. Encourage others! Help your team also find their why and purpose in life – both personally and professionally.

Wanna learn more about how to create and sustain motivation? Interested in how important it is to find your purpose and pass it on to everyone in the company? Or how the role of management is reshaped in a purpose-driven organization?

Join us on 5-6 June at Arctic15 in Helsinki and make sure you visit the Mindset Track – it might turn out to be the key to your life-purpose. Get your tickets here.

Speakers include Adeo Ressi, CEO, Founder, Founder Institute, Stewart Rogers, Analyst-at-large, VentureBeat, Marvin Liao, Partner, 500 Startups, Carl Frauenstein, Director of Program, Monacotech and Dmitri Sarle, CEO, ArcticStartup.