Dear Entrepreneur,
As an entrepreneur, I am astounded at how little the business world talks about the value of personal development.
I’ve done a lot in my 29 young years on this earth. I was a video game developer as a teenager. I was a comic book creator earlier. And I was an animator in college. But nothing, and I mean nothing, has tested me like entrepreneurship.
Throughout this past decade, I’ve found myself in moments where I would hyper-focus on my business, lose sight of myself, and then things in my life would crumble. Personal relationships. Health. Emotional well-being. Everything suffered, all because I felt like my business was my child, and I would go whatever distance to see it succeed.
This is unhealthy. And the moments you push too hard, you end up causing more damage than good.
I know I will be an entrepreneur for the rest of my life. There’s no going back now. I am forever changed. It’s the only lifestyle I know. But if there’s one thing I hope to do for the entrepreneurial community along my journey, it starts larger dialogues about the importance of personal development while building a business.
Don’t lose yourself in the process of building your company. Entrepreneurship without personal development is a disaster.
With love,
Chidi