Blindsided with Bad News
Have you ever had one of those moments in life where you just want to scream, "THAT IS NOT FAIR!" In every area of your life, you will at some point feel the dream crushing, heart pounding, sadness of rejection and loss. In your career, however, feeling blindsided by a decision that you had no control over is a very different animal.
The more passionate you are about your career, the more difficult it becomes to not take every hard knock personally. Whether you get fired, demoted, or just receive a piece of bad news, losing control over your dream is a difficult pill to swallow. I've had so many of these moments in my career, from years ago to just yesterday, and I'm not a very calm person when the word "no" is placed before me. However, the beautiful part of being an entrepreneur (or viewing your career with an entrepreneurial mindset) is this:
Someone else's bad decision doesn't have to dictate your next move.
If you live your life with an employee mentality, you probably put a high value on security and feel comfortable placing your dreams in someone else's hands. That's all fine and dandy, until someone decides not to value your dream with the same level of respect. Essentially, you are living with a false sense of security.
On the flip side, when you live your life with an entrepreneurial mindset, you hold onto your dreams a little more tightly and live a lifestyle that could be deemed as "risky" in the eyes of others. You're careful with who you trust to share in your dreams, and you don't let someone else's direction dictate your success or failure.
Hear me out - living your life as an entrepreneur (or with that mentality) will not ward against disappointment. However, it will influence the way you handle disappointment. If you believe that you are ultimately in control of your dream, someone else's decision to chip away at that won't make you lose everything. Instead, you will analyze the situation, process, and pivot.
If you value your work and your talents, then make a choice to persevere, even when the bad days hit hard. There will always be people who will stand in your way, but use them as a learning experience. Sometimes, figuring out who you don't want to be is one of the greatest ways you can shape your character, in business and in life.