Embracing the zen entrepreneur lifestyle can help you avoid burnout.
getty
I’m someone who loves a good quote. I keep a notebook of inspiring and innovative thinking from the world’s great entrepreneurs and use their words as a wellspring to draw on whenever I’m feeling stuck.
But recently, I came across a quote from John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil Company and the United States’ first billionaire. His words made me question which lessons today’s entrepreneurs are learning from the entrepreneurs of the past. The quote was this: “The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.”
It’s a bleak insight, and one that, after decades spent building successful healthcare ventures, I think is wrong. I’m not naïve about the reality that good healthcare is expensive and that good businesses turn a profit. But there’s a mission at the heart of the work I do, and it’s anchored by a vision of more people living longer, healthier lives. When we achieve that vision, it will be, in the words of Marvin Gaye, “An invitation across the nation. A chance for folks to meet. There’ll be laughing, singing, and music swinging. Dancing in the street.”
The Transformed Zentrepreneur
Mindfulness informs how I live and work, although—if I’m being honest—that wasn’t always the case. Early in my professional life, I drove myself and others too hard, believing that the quantity of my working hours mattered just as much as the quality. Stress, nights with little or no sleep, a steady beat of anxiety beneath the surface… that was how I started out as an entrepreneur. It wasn’t until my body began to break down under the pressure of that work style that I was forced to realize that I needed to find a different way to build a business.
One of the first things the people I work with today comment on is my calmness. I’ve been fortunate enough to study under some great teachers who’ve helped me build a practice centered around breathwork, body awareness, and visualization. As I began to weave those habits into my workday, I discovered that not only was I feeling physically better, but I was also making clearer decisions and leading other members of my team with more compassion. That compassion didn’t mean I was easier on them; it meant I recognized each contributor as an individual, positively impacting how I delegated and empowered them.
When I discuss the strategic advantage of being a Zen entrepreneur, I sometimes get pushback from leaders who worry that the mindset shift will cause them to lose their edge or slow their reaction time. It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what the secrets of a Zen entrepreneur actually are.
Beverage industry icon Ron Rubin, who founded The Republic of Tea, is a self-identified Zen entrepreneur, or Zentrepreneur. He says, “While an entrepreneur creates a business, a Zentrepreneur creates a business and a life.”
Too often, entrepreneurs focus ferociously on the business while postponing the life until some unspecified time in the future. But it’s possible to do both, ensuring true harmony between our work and our life.
Let me share a few secrets that have transformed my work life:
Pause for clarity
Schedule time on your calendar for intentional white space. Commit to silencing all devices during those moments. Focus on a short guided meditation or breathing.
Be mindfully aware
Rather than reacting immediately to crises and challenges, choose to respond from a posture of composure and thoughtfulness, staying centered while allowing yourself to consider the best solution.
See and recognize the divine
Choose to value human connection over the “win.” That means valuing the people you intersect with throughout the day. You may not always agree, you may have different goals, but purposefully approach each meeting with an open heart rather than a closed mind.
It’s the slowing down that enables me to speed up when I need to, focusing on the new opportunity and the next solution. Walt Disney understood the drive that comes from this approach to entrepreneurship: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”