A very wise man once told me (OK, it was recently):

There’s a certain freedom in being completely fucked.

He was quite right. Just to be clear: He was speaking in the context of running a startup. A lot of startups get very close to crashing directly into the wall and exploding. A lot more startups get to that point than you realize (you just don’t get to hear all the stories.) When you get right to the wall and things have nearly completely fallen apart, you can either collapse and give up, or put your head down, crash through the wall and hope that your brains don’t explode out your ears as a result.

Getting to the stage of being completely fucked can be liberating. And the minute you’re free, you have an opportunity to get re-energized, re-inspired and re-focused. You can throw all your plans in the garbage, take the hard lessons learned and apply them and your talents in new ways that you hadn’t previously given yourself the chance to think about.

Crashing into the wall (unless that means you actually go bankrupt and you’re out of business) can free you. It gives you that chance. And as an entrepreneur it’s those moments that you need to seize and own. Otherwise you wither away and disappear.

Thank you wise man.

image courtesy of shutterstock.