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Welcome to the Shed and Shine podcast. I am Gino Wickman. This is where Rob Dube and I help driven entrepreneurs shed their shit, free their True Selves, unlock true entrepreneurial freedom and shine. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us and we hope to make a huge impact on you. Hello and welcome back. This episode I call Celebrating the driven entrepreneur. And the context here is first and foremost, I take you back to the three discoveries for freeing your true self and discovery number one being I am driven. And the whole point of that discovery is to understand that you are driven. You are a driven entrepreneur and it is a blessing and a curse. And what came to me this morning is thinking about that exact topic. I remembered something that I wrote now almost seven years ago that just kind of came to me in a flash, and I'm going to read that to you today.
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And the idea, and the reason for this is I want you to sit back and just celebrate who you are. But also, as I say, I call it a blessing and a curse. We're going to talk about both the blessing and the curse in an attempt to really help you understand you and discover fully that you are driven. So as I read this and share this with you, rule of thumb is that 80% of it should resonate. In some cases out there, 100% will, but 80% or more if it resonates, this is you. And so there's some things that won't resonate and just let those go. Just let those pass right through you. But 80% of this at a minimum will and should fully resonate. As an entrepreneur, you are an idea generator, a dreamer. You have lots of ideas, both good and bad.
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No one gets it right all the time. You are very creative and great at coming up with solutions and improvements, either by creating something new or tinkering with something that already exists. You are a learner, you're curious, you enjoy discovering new things and learning about them. You want to grow, reach, push the envelope. You're more comfortable with the discomfort of stretching than the contentment of the status quo. You see the big picture. You're able to connect the dots, in ability, that's almost a sixth sense. You have street smarts and common sense. Your mindset is one that's always thinking about the future. You make decisions from your gut and they're usually proven right or you push hard to make them right. You are a great strategic thinker and very persuasive. When you lock in on an objective, nothing stops you. You win people over with your passion and excitement for the project at hand.
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You're inspirational to those around you, whether selling them something or getting them to follow you and your thinking. You're also passionate and obsessive. When you focus on an idea to develop, a problem to solve, a product to create or something to build, you have unlimited energy. Once you see an image in your mind, there's no stopping you, regardless of whether what you see is actually possible. You are an optimist and believe every cloud has a silver lining. This is a common entrepreneurial trait. You have a strong work ethic. You can outwork almost anyone. You lose track of time when you're focused on accomplishing a goal. You're driven, ambitious and self-motivated. A fire burns inside of you and you have a tremendous sense of urgency. A hunger, a desire to be successful. You are relentless. You're financially motivated and want to make a lot of money, not because you're greedy, but because you want to provide for your family, yourself and others.
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You have a burning desire to be financially independent. My experience is that most entrepreneurs want to make a lot of money and most are extremely generous with their money. As marketing guru Joe Polish says, entrepreneurs solve problems for a profit. You have the toughness to stick it out. Angela Duckworth, in her book Grit, defines grit as passion and perseverance in pursuit of long-term goals. She makes the point that success rarely comes about because of intelligence, IQ or even talent. Grit is the determining factor of success, and you have grit. I've never met a true entrepreneur that didn't have grit. With it comes tenacity, commitment, a strong will, dedication, stubbornness, obstinacy, determination, resiliency, and persistence. You tend to be dominant and can be overpowering. With your strong ambition, you're naturally competitive winning is important to you. You're hungry and want to be the best. So you're goal-oriented and have a clear sense of urgency.
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You have strong business acumen. You may not necessarily understand a financial statement, but you see the big financial picture. Simply put, you know how to make money and typically have demonstrated this ability since an early age. You see opportunities to make money. Not only that, but in your younger years, you also tended to sell stuff, be it lemonade, candy, t-shirts or whatever. An entrepreneur is a risk-taker, which means that once you see the opportunity, you'll take the leap, knowing there's no guarantees. You aren't afraid to challenge the status quo and be a changemaker or disrupter. You are a rebel by nature and take great pride in that. You aren't a rule follower. At the same time, you take total responsibility. While you aren't afraid to take the ball and run with it, you're totally accountable for the outcome. If you fumble, you blame no one else.
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So those are the blessings and I urge you to celebrate that, bask in that as a driven entrepreneur. And with that said, I now want to take you to the other side. The curse side, the dark side, the downside of being a driven entrepreneur. And I'll explain to you why after I share this. And so here goes. Entrepreneurs also have some not-so-positive characteristics. You have trouble staying focused and get bored easily. This tends to make you inconsistent. You also tend to be disorganized, a control freak and a perfectionist. You often have ADD or ADHD, which as someone who has it like you, I'm now convinced is actually a gift. In his powerful and enlightening book, The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America, John D. Gartner imparts an interesting theory about entrepreneurs. He says part of their MO could be considered a form of mania.
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Gartner, a psychologist shows that many of the great past entrepreneurs may have had hypomania, which he describes as a mild form of mania that endows a person with unusual energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and a propensity for taking risks. One notable hypomanic case he cites is Andrew Carnegie, who built the American steel industry. Gartner explains that the reason there are so many entrepreneurs in America is that most of us are immigrants. It lies in our genes because of our forebearers who had the will optimism and daring to leave their countries for the promised land. In addition to the preceding traits, entrepreneurs tend to be selfish and very independent. They can have egos and exhibit narcissistic behaviors. While your 6 cents makes you a revenue-generating money machine, you aren't necessarily financially savvy. You tend to spend money as fast as you make it, and you can't make sense of a financial statement.
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I know many successful entrepreneurs who are flat broke after making millions because of this challenge. I was one of them at age 33, you may also have been labeled as having a learning disability, unfocused, a delinquent or a derelict. Dr. Edward Hallowell, psychiatrist and former faculty member at Harvard Business School says in a Success Magazine article that the entrepreneurial brain has pop. In his formula, pop equals grit, plus imagination, plus optimism. "People who start their own business have pop. They never give up. They keep inventing new solutions and believe in the pot of gold," says Hallowell. He also says that he has spent more than 30 years working with entrepreneurs around the world. He helps them capitalize on their massive psychological strengths and minimize the carnage that their weaknesses can wreak. So there it is, the pros and the cons, the blessing and the curse. And the idea here is when I share with you the curse side of being a driven entrepreneur, the idea is not to depress you or make you feel less than.
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It's to help you become aware because this is what we're talking about in this podcast. In the book Shine is helping you to shed that stuff, understand the dark side, be aware, and just simply manage it, have fun with it. And so a lot of times a driven entrepreneur, which I also call visionaries, will feel picked on when these weaknesses are brought to the surface. The idea is to be humble. Laugh at yourself, have fun with it. And if ever you are becoming defensive about your shortcomings, that's just simply your ego kicking in, trying to protect you. You're taking it personally, and that's an opportunity to be aware of that reaction and that emotion and go to the root and shed.
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Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us, and please tune in for the next episode. Until then, if you'd like to see where you are on your True Self journey, go to shedandshinepodcast.com, to take the True Self assessment and receive personalized guidance. If you're all ready to begin your inner world journey with Rob and myself, please join us for the next round of the 10 Disciplines group coaching program. We wish you all the best in freeing your True Self, stay focused and much love.
