Entrepreneur Has to Lead Himself – And Be Enthusiastic!

Jussi MoriIt’s a battle out there. Better, stronger, faster and cheaper. These kind of ghosts are hunting us in our everyday work life. And it’s driving us mad. Information overflow, hyper connectivity, stress at work and the current economic crisis are not helping us to lead a peaceful and sometimes even a thriving life. Is it really that bad? Think back. When did you have had your last truly peaceful moment?

Now when we look at all the challenges we face every day, in the end it’s obviously all about your own attitude, how you handle those challenges. Problems begin and end in our mind and in our own mind alone. This is at least what I’ve come to realize during my few years as a more or less successful entrepreneur. I’m still finding my way every day, plucking forward, coping with issues on all different levels, yet I still try to find the energy to share knowledge “for free” with the community. All this needs quite some strength.

Where does all this energy come from? First of all I think it’s about enthusiasm combined with the already mentioned attitude. The true meaning of the word enthusiasm comes from ancient Greek and it actually means “possessed by god”. If you truly love something, believe in something and it feels right, you can summon the energy to go the extra mile and endure any hardship life throws at you. Hardships should be seen as challenges, which bring you forward and help you grow personally as well as in your professional life.

Now in the end I think its enthusiasm and attitude that brought me to the place where I am at the moment. I know I have still a long way to go to reach the place where I want to be. But I truly believe this can only be achieved with enthusiasm, attitude and of course in the end of the day, hard work.

As a gamification evangelist and thought leader, it is like being a sailor “in the blue ocean” which is a metaphor for being in an industry which is new and not yet tested. The course is set, the future is unknown, and I can’t be sure if my ship will keep on sailing. All what I know deep inside of me is that I am doing the right thing and I can see the sun rising at the horizon.

The writer is partner at Peaches Industries, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for SharePoint and a respected gamification evangelist. Within the scope of modern collaboration and communication systems, he specialises in the SharePoint solutions of Microsoft and the SharePoint Cloud services within the Office 365 product series.