Accidental Entrepreneur: Positivity
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to my 17th weekly article as this week is called “Positivity.”
Maintaining a strong morale during adverse times, being grateful/appreciative for what you have and rooting for others to win are the key elements of this week’s blog.
Also be sure to check out my Youtube channel for this week’s vlog.
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My goal is to be able empower folks to go after their goals and reach their full potential!
“ஆக்கம் இழந்தேமென்று அல்லாவார் ஊக்கம்
ஒருவந்தம் கைத்துடை யார்”. — திருக்குறள் (593)
“They who are possessed of enduring (positive) energy
will not trouble themselves, saying, ‘we have lost our property’.” — Thirukural (593)
Attitude matters. For starting a task or creating a world changing idea the first step is to have a good attitude. For me it is being Positive. Early in life, during college and later in career, a simple attitude change can help people achieve great things. As I look back at my life this was the one simple but simple characteristic that I carried through my early life after losing my father at twelve years old, living through a bloody civil war, escaping and traveling to a continent without any plan/notice to becoming a very successful entrepreneur in the greatest country on earth.
Appreciate What you have: As we lived in Sri Lanka, a third world country with limited resources, I felt we had so much to share and enjoy. During that time, we had to work in the field of our family stores in the mornings + evenings, then to go to school and tuition centers afterwards. During the weekends and holidays we would participate in the community activities without any complaints. It was a blessing to have a community that cared about you and used nature as resources for all activities. It didn’t cost us monetarily to be happy.
As I moved around the world, I learned many lessons from people in Africa (Botswana), UK and USA. While the systems and priorities are different in each region, the successful people were the people who were content with what they have and genuinely acted positively without complaining about their situations. As an example, the community I lived with in Botswana were mostly immigrant single men who had traveled from Asian countries to earn money for their families back home. We used to get together during the weekends to enjoy each other’s company and exchange fun stories. During the gatherings, we would host barbecues, called Braai in Botswana, and a few of them would sing fun songs from back home while others would dance to some Sri Lankan Baila songs. As a group we would lift each others’ spirit and flow positive thinking into the conversations. It was truly magical.
Happy For Others’ Success: We’re all born with a competitive bone in our life. That competitive attitude drives us to do good and provides a scale to measure our capacity which is an important aspect of life. While it’s good to be competitive, that doesn’t mean we can’t be happy for others’ success. Thinking that each of us have unique capabilities and approach the world in different ways normally helps us all survive and thrive. Life is not a zero sum game and Being happy for other people’s success is not a bad thing.
During my startup days, I rooted for companies to succeed that were in the same or similar market even though they are our potential competition. We looked at this in different ways. Most of the time, startups are trying to create a new market or new category in an existing market. While it is important to have a unique and differentiating product with IPs, having two companies defining/creating a market helps reduce the burden on one company from a marketing perspective. Both startups that I was part of had very healthy and strong competition. At the end of the day we were the trailblazers and created billion dollar markets for larger companies to follow. Being positive and happy for the success of our competition reduced the stress on us and reminded us that the market is real and we were not thinking out of the realm of possibility.
Positive during Hardship: In life, everyone goes through hard times. I lost my father at 12, I lost my school at 14, & I left my home country at 18. When I started the first company, I was 28 and left a well paying job to be an entrepreneur. None of these situations or decisions were easy. Being positive and having a “Can do” attitude helped me through all of these. Early in my life, my mother and siblings and community helped me through it. Even during the hardships + war, I asked my wife for her hand when we were just 18 and she agreed to it. Ahila, my wife, helped me through all my life hardships and supported and encouraged me to achieve great things.
My coworkers and employees at both of the startups used to ask me why I am always smiling. That was my game face & I wanted to show positivity. As a leader, I needed to show the strength and can do attitude for others to follow. It is easy to be negative and say it can’t be done. I believe that every problem has a solution and starting with a simple solution followed by iteration makes problems achievable. I rarely showed frustration or negativity even when others were or the situation warranted. That simple attitude helped me through so many difficult situations.
As you can see, being just simply Positive can get you places you never thought of achieving. I exercised it in my life, during education and career. Showing a positive attitude and being positive during hardships, relieves the pressure and eliminates the blockage. In some cases the effect is multiplied and we achieve great results. Try to be Positive and show Positivity around the people and community around you. You can achieve great results too.
