Leadership for Entrepreneurs – The Courage to Create Something New

Want to listen instead of read? Click here to listen.

One way entrepreneurs show leadership is demonstrating courage when it's time to create something new in their business. Right now, it's time to envision what we want to manifest for the coming year. Late October is good for planning, before the rush of the holidays, before the New Year is here. Creating what one wants in the coming year requires courage, letting go, and clear vision.

• It's an act of courage to consider closely your current life and work, asking yourself what is working well and what no longer feels right. It's much easier not to look, to go along in the path one has already created, staying in the comfort zone. The downside of the comfort zone is that it doesn't create much in the way of forward movement – it's more like marking time, marching along in place. Over time, vague feelings of dissatisfaction or longing may arise, telling us it is time to sit and feel our way into the future. If we put aside these feelings, they will most usually lurk inside of us, gathering strength and coming out in stronger ways – anger, illness, self-sabotage. On the other hand, if we allow and even encourage these feelings, they can be helpful messengers, giving us strong clues about what we need to change or let go of in both our personal and professional lives.
• Letting go is an act of courage, too. Get this: for the new work to succeed, what is not working must end. Trying to create something new while at the same time expending the same level of time and energy to keep up the old will end in failure every single time. It is a subtle form of self-sabotage. It gives us the message that we are not quite committed to the new, want to hedge our bets by hanging on to the old while we see if the new will work. This is a costly and unwise action. It perpetrates a lack of total commitment to what we want to create, making manifestation of the new much harder than it needs to be. It keeps alive self-doubt, a surefire way to fail. Manifestation is nothing more than full commitment to what you envision. If you let go and step forward, you set in motion the energy that supports you in creating what you want.
• Clear vision, a vision that has energy and good vibe, will sustain us when things seem blocked. Clear vision comes from taking time for ourselves, creating the quiet, unfettered space to ask what is working and what is not, what we have not yet done in life that we really truly have a deep desire to accomplish, what are stuck places in our personal lives. Clear vision creates an energy of allowing things to happen that take us where we want to go. We create this vision by stating dreams and desires, leaving aside the many “yes, but” statements or the reasons why we cannot do what we see. Clear vision is freeing, not clinging. Clear vision holds the best for one's heart and mind. It isn't hampered by what others think or want us to do. It feels unburdened.

Here are five questions that I use when I do personal retreats with my clients. Set aside some October time and find your own courage to create something new for the upcoming year.

1. What secret hope or dream do you have that hasn't yet seen the light?
2. What tasks are on your plate that you really dread to do?
3. What one thing would you take off your calendar if you could?
4. What one thing needs to change in your personal life – just pick one thing from the laundry list in your mind.
5. Are you willing to block off time for something new next year?

Answer these five questions and see what new vision arises. See how your energy feels. You may just find that you have found the courage and clear vision to let go, creating and manifesting something new.