Find Your Tribe

David Graham October 28, 2015

Business Building, Leadership Insights

This past week was an overwhelming entrepreneur week for me; contract negotiations, uncooperative technology, scheduling nightmares and the list goes on.

I’m sure, like me, a lot of you who are riding the arc of the entrepreneurial journey are thinking “where have I heard this before?” Being an entrepreneur or a solopreneur requires us to wear several different hats. These demands can be quite overwhelming at times as we battle a never-ending list of “to-do’s”. The tendency to feel unaccomplished and “not enough” can get the better of us.

It’s at times like these that we entrepreneurs need a “tribe” that can help us cope with our work pressures.

Your tribe could be a group of people that includes family members and friends, or a group of people who have the same job or career goals as you. I define a tribe as a group of people who want nothing but the best for you.

Thankfully my tribe was there for me last week.  My network of fellow coaches and entrepreneurs helped me out of the weeds with support and encouragement and my family gave me hugs that could last a lifetime and a Thanksgiving dinner that continued to give all week.

We wake up every morning and head straight for our desk and 6pm can roll around pretty quickly. While this practice may be the best thing to do to accomplish the days tasks, it can leave us feeling isolated at the end of the day. We’ve heard that it can be lonely at the top, but it can be even lonelier if you hold multiple positions and find yourself stuck in the vacuum of personal expectations.

Researcher and author, Brene Brown says that as humans we are hard wired for connection.  So perhaps we should create a ritual where we take a step back occasionally and consider…

  • What energizes me to do my best work?
  • Who do I need to connect with for inspiration?

Your tribe is there for you.  Sometimes you just have to reach out.

David Graham

Dave coaches good leaders who want to be great leaders and he works with leaders to build high performing, super-focused teams. For transformational experiences, he takes teams out of the boardroom and into nature.