“People romanticize their plans but dread the execution. The magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding.”
The fear of the work and the process is more real than we like to publicly admit because it requires us to step out of our comfort zones.
When I started Fundi Bots, I had all these grand dreams, ideas and plans that I knew I wanted us to achieve.
But I did not want to do the fundraising, because my comfort zone was in building things and innovating, not in meeting people and convincing them to fund our ideas.
So I spent years trying to get other people to handle the fundraising role, convincing myself that I wasn’t qualified or competent enough.
And while they were relatively successful, they still couldn’t articulate the vision with the passion and clarity that I had (which is another leadership challenge I’ll talk about later).
The same discomfort with building new business prospects, and pursuing leads led to constant cashflow issues at my previous companies. We cycled through marketing and salespeople like crazy.
But over time I learnt that when your ideas are too unique or too new for the market, then you, the founder are the best person to communicate & convince other people to join or support your work.
And I realized that as I kept avoiding the work that was important, as I stayed away from the process that was necessary for success, the money got less and people started leaving.
Which meant that each day, this dream of better education for Africa’s children kept fading away.
And so, with help from advisors and partners, I re-calibrated and slowly found a way to make fundraising fun and engaging for my personality type.
I worked on communicating better, and sharing more, and generally putting myself in uncomfortable spaces and places.
Because I knew that that’s where the magic was and that’s where the success would be.
And it’s worked well so far.
But, I’m still very uncomfortable. I’m still not a fan of crowds or large audiences. I don’t like giving speeches or being interviewed on TV.
But I know that all these things are necessary and are part of the process for the success of Fundi Bots.
[ Side note: Speaking of extreme discomfort, in less than four days, my YouTube channel will be launching. I’ll be sharing these stories and interviews with other entrepreneurs on YouTube.
Show some support by subscribing here. ]
And also, I now have a wonderful team that complements my weaknesses, and we have leaders in the organization who enjoy the things that make me uncomfortable.
Which means I’m beyond happy to let them thrive where I would struggle.
For example, I was recently invited to a learning conference in India. On closer inspection, I realized there was a lady on our team who would be exceptionally perfect for that conference.
And she tells how very heavily extroverted the entire event was, and how much fun she had!
So, the painful lessons I’ve learnt through this years-long metamorphosis will never be lost. For Fundi Bots or myself.
I have also learnt to love the process. And because of that, the success and the results that we dream of are closer and more achievable.
So, your dreams of results may excite you, but the reality will only appear after you’ve gone through the necessary process.
It’s never an easy process, but it gets easier because with time, you get better and you get stronger.
Learn to love the process.
Happy new week!