Inside The Upside community, you’ll find a sea of go-getters. But many of them will tell you that being a go-getter–the A+ students in life–didn’t result in the type of success they had imagined for themselves.
We have several Upside members who went to Ivy League schools, won all the awards, earned multiple degrees and were always top of their class.
And almost all of them will tell you that they are not where they thought they would be as a result of all those A+s and checked boxes.
Not better or worse. Just not where they expected.
That’s because the corporate world didn’t always reward us for putting out our best work. There are no grades on that investment banking pitch deck you worked on and you don’t get extra credit for grinding away til the wee hours on that new product launch.
And the A+ certainly didn’t prepare us for the twists and turns that would shape our career decisions, like starting a family, divorce, caring for a sick parent, traveling the world, taking risks or wanting to try something completely new.
The skills required to achieve an A+ are not always the same as those needed to succeed and be happy in a career.
And entrepreneurship?
It doesn’t play by any of the A+ rules.
Entrepreneurship rewards those who are resilient, confident in their decisions, nimble, open, unafraid of failure, and with an appetite and tolerance for the uncomfortable.
This is pretty much the opposite approach to an A+.
In fact, I’m often fascinated by the backgrounds and history of some of the entrepreneurs I consider to be hugely successful, because they often:
Struggled in school.
Got average grades.
Did not go to an Ivy League university.
So, if you were the A+ student and you ever wondered why building a business around your expertise feels so dang hard at times…
…it’s not because you’re not smart enough.
…it’s not because you aren’t working hard enough.
…it’s not because you’re not good enough.
It may be because you need to unlearn the A+ way. Here’s how to start:
Instead of sharpening your expertise, sharpen your resilience and embrace failure as the stepping stones to success that they are. Just because you stumble and fail, doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
Instead of working harder, work smarter. Those who put progress over perfection get more done and can scale much faster than those who agonize over perfecting and polishing every detail.
Instead of measuring your worth by others’ standards (the A+ way), reflect deeply on how you define success for yourself on your own terms, without the judgment of others or your ego influencing that definition.
And if you want to be surrounded by other recovering A+ people who are all on the path to more resilience, confidence and the entrepreneurial way, I invite you to join The Upside community. We’ll support and inspire you to take that next step in your business…
No judgment.
No grades.
Some failures.
And lots of momentum forward.
