Is the entrepreneurial spirit an attribute or an identity?
Entrepreneurs keep reinventing or establishing new businesses with change in customer preferences, technology, competition and market influences, among others.
There has been a notable shift and rise in the number of entrepreneurs and the age at which people are willing to try entrepreneurship. Billionaire companies like Facebook, Google, Oyo Hotels, Ola Cabs, were not common stance till about two decades ago.
Entrepreneurship has become a phenomenon that is being pursued by many – youth who want to make a difference or have struck upon a concept; or people who have worked and want a second innings; or some who want to pursue their passions. Retirement at the age of 60 years has become passé.
When an entrepreneur establishes a business by taking a leap of faith, that act is an expression of the entrepreneurial spirit within.
Entrepreneurs keep reinventing or establishing new businesses with change in customer preferences, technology, competition and market influences etc. They stay alert and partner with experts for different areas to proactively take decisions.
For instance, Mukesh Ambani has expanded beyond the traditional oil refinery business into telecommunications, media, retail and many more.
Ajay Piramal sold his pharma business and moved into establishing ventures in real estate and finance. Other business conglomerates such as Tatas, Birlas, Mahindras, and many more move from one business into the next as an expression of their entrepreneurial spirit. Also, many senior leaders move between industries and stretch their learning experiences to grow professionally.
Be an entrepreneur of your life
We too can be entrepreneurs of our life by tapping into that inherent spirit of an explorer and observer. We can engage with experts on health, career, parenting, relationships, sports and hobbies to expand ourselves. We can reinvent our expression by taking risks, learn from every experience, devise our personal strategy of success and enrich our life with relationships through these explorations. Walking into unknown terrains compels a person to be vulnerable to deal with the unknowns, ignites the curiosity and keeps the learner alive.
Life is increasingly becoming more about experiences rather just success or recognition. Each experience exposes us to a different facet of our personality and enhances our self-awareness. Many of my clients and friends, while pursuing a job or business, run marathons or bicycle on rough terrains or climb mountain peaks, to raise money for a social cause and push their boundaries of resilience. One senior consultant enjoys cooking on weekends, another loves wildlife photography, yet another picks up the sitar to relax. I love learning singing and have recently taken up theatre. All these experiences stretch our boundaries and widen our horizons.
We are born explorers
Life offers many opportunities to experiment and explore our inner resourcefulness and be creative in our expression. When we are young, we explore the world through our senses and form perceptions. Through this exploration we discover our infinite capacity to learn and experience the abundance of life. As we get older, our attachment to our perceptions inhibit our ability to be creative and innovative; our fears become our reality; our dreams get smaller due to our assumptions; our expression gets inhibited by our expectations. We miss exploiting the infinite universe of possibilities and close ourselves to that abundance.
If Christopher Columbus had lived life being committed to outcomes rather than exploration, we would not have known the land of Americas. We too can choose to experience life as an explorer or live attached to our perceptions. We can never control outcomes; however, we do have the ability to control our response to outcomes. As we get older, we have the capacity to question and move beyond our perceptions to create opportunities for ourselves.
Anchor internally to live like an entrepreneur
We have the versatility to move seamlessly between different arenas by staying anchored to our instinct. After all, as human beings, we move with agility between different roles such as a parent, student, child, professional, friend, etc. Each role requires us to express a different dimension of our personality. In every role and stage of life, we are faced with choices and decisions. In each moment knowledge helps to filter information, however, it is our instinct that helps us move forward. By honing into our instinct and delving into our resourcefulness, we can successfully unleash our potential as human beings.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)
