Mementum

I’ve been feeling serious heat lately to make things happen.

(The kind where I can’t sleep until I’ve exhausted myself with effort, which, I think is how it should be when you’re trying to start several gigs at the same time (we’ll leave the wisdom of that “several” part for later).)

The urgency I feel is uncomfortable, yet, it pleases me. This is the exact state I’ve heard other entrepreneurs describe as the kick-start that began their ascent to a defined success.

Your back is against the wall.

It’s a feeling of your back against the wall. Somewhere, somehow, something draws your final straw.

It might be your $8.57 debit charge bouncing. Or the useless task you must do at work, because someone told you so again. Or a social injustice you witness and can’t bear to see once more. A problem that still isn’t solved.

Whatever it is, it puts a line in the sand over which you vow never to cross.

I think this is key to building the stamina a startup requires. If you haven’t drawn that line, then you’ll continue to back up, to avoid the necessary risk, to put off the needed sacrifice.

Once you hit that wall, it becomes the foundation of your defense from failure, lost potential. It’s the launch pad you use to finally catapult toward the vision floating around your head. And that’s when you begin leaping forward.

Is your back against the wall?