I used to hate Mondays. I started feeling anxious during Sundays and I ended up fearing Sundays too.
Then I became a full time entrepreneur and that kind of changed everything. I don’t feel anxious on Sundays and Mondays seem to be days when I’m most productive. Even though as entrepreneurs we are more or less working 24/7, I’ve started to take Sundays off, especially during the most hectic wedding season. That has made me so excited about Mondays! I sit down and have so many ideas I can’t wait to put into action.
So here’s one of those many ideas put into action! We all still need motivation on Mondays and so I’ve decided to make all my Mondays full of motivation. Because my life wouldn’t be anything without music (she writes while listening to some awesome tunes from her headphones!), my motivation peaks when I’m listening to just that right song where all the lyrics come together and carry me through the best of days and the worst of days.
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Today I’m thinking about persistence. For me persistence is when you don’t give up even though world crumbles to pieces around you. Persistence is one of the most important qualities of an entrepreneur and without it, there’s really not much of a future. Most of our stories aren’t full of dancing in summery flower fields while unicorns are prancing around us and the sky is full of triple rainbows. Come to think about it, that is one creepy example… Most of our stories are full of life putting us on our knees. And that doesn’t happen once. It happens twice and it keeps on happening. Winners are those who get up time and time again even though feeling discouraged.
And oh boy, do you feel discouraged! I had my (literally) pink glasses on before I jumped into being full time photographer. Somehow I thought after reading books, blogs and discussing with other photographers that being a full time entrepreneur meant all the worries and troubles would just melt away once telling the world you’re now a full time photographer. Years later all I can say is that NOPE, it doesn’t quite work out that easily. Clients don’t come flying through windows and doors just because I now have all the time in the world to create photographs and I didn’t start making tons of money overnight (she grimaces and sighs while remembering that time last year when all her money run out of said windows and doors). It has required a lot of persistence to admit how wrong I was, open my computer and start doing all those little chores I need to do even though I didn’t feel like it and the most hard thing has been saying no when I felt like saying yes.
Persistence is not choosing the easy route. Persistence is not being afraid of making mistakes and when you make them, you learn from them. Maybe you’ll not learn right away but when you make that same mistake twice or more, at some point you will learn from them. Persistence is being brave enough to listen to your heart. Persistence is making right choices for you and for your business, staying true to yourself. Persistence is doing everything it takes for the thing, that is most important to you.
When you have something that makes you do whatever it takes, do it. Sometimes you don’t feel like doing anything, and that’s OK too! Even though we are working with something that is our passion, we all have days when life gets to you. As entrepreneurs we have a luxury of being able to decide what we are doing and when we are doing it. If you don’t feel like editing photos at this very second, take a moment to update portfolio on your website. Go out and take a bunch of photos for your Instagram feed or schedule bunch of posts (psssst – Planoly is awesome for scheduling your Instagram posts!). Find your own balance, your own way of working and don’t believe what other people tell you if you know it’s not the right way for you. People who love to stay up late and wake up late in the morning will never be super productive in the early morning hours (and vice versa!) and there’s nothing wrong about it. Next time you find yourself listening to someone saying that early bird gets the worm, hide underneath the covers. Be persistent in being yourself and be persistent in doing all the things that are right for you.
Whatever it takes
Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do whatever it takes
Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains
Whatever it takes
You take me to the top, I’m ready for
Whatever it takes
Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do what it takes
Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
// Johanna
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