Ascent Strategy

I’m a year older today and this birthday in particular feels like I have a lot to celebrate. I learned so much in this past year about entrepreneurship and letting go of the old. Here were some lessons that were particularly meaningful to me —​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
〰️ Surrender when it feels hard. My grit and resilience in continuously pushing through difficult moments saved my past businesses in monumental ways — it’s a coping mechanism that has been tried and true for me since I was little. ​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
This past year though, I hit a lot of walls I couldn’t move past and my grit and resilience had no charm on breaking them down. I kept trying and trying, and nothing worked. I knew that continuously trying the same thing was ridiculous, so I learned how to surrender, even when it felt counterintuitive to do so. ​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
Grit is a highly respected characteristic amongst entrepreneurs, but surrender is not. I spent the last year getting acquainted with surrender and witnessing all the ways in which it has helped me grow. And all the ways it’s a secret weapon. ​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
〰️ Your work should be expansive, not limiting. I asked myself a lot of hard questions about my identity as an entrepreneur and whether it was expanding or limiting me at my current chapter of life. ​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
There are numerous ways that entrepreneurship is expansive to step into when coming from a structured work background. The flipside of this is also true, there are ways that a structured work environment is expansive in ways that entrepreneurship can’t be. ​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
No version of this is perfect, and being open-minded to both perspectives is what plants the seeds for interesting evolution. Pulling my ego walls down helped me come to an honest understanding on how to mold my professional growth in a way that feels expansive for me. ​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​​
What are some meaningful lessons you experienced this year as you take another trip around the sun?