The Occasional Haunting Thoughts of a Founder
Just some random thoughts from my salad brain I've been having recently that keep on playing on repeat that I simply had to put in writting.
As I’m finishing up “Medici, The Godfathers of the Renaissance” after what feels like forever (reading it since February), I noticed that there’s one thing that keeps weaving through the entire narrative. The thing that made this family hold power for generations to come was not exactly the wealth that they yield but the discipline they had across multiple spheres of their lives. To commend oneself is a power of its own and yet so few of us seem to understand its potency.
This month, this train of thought led me, like it has so many times before, to wonder if discipline is a luxury people in survival mode just can’t afford. If you’re constantly struggling to make ends meet, can you really, truly afford to be disciplined, when there’s all these small fires burning everywhere around you that need your immediate attention. Can you really focus on one task at a time, when burning tongues seem to be crawling your way at the speed of light threatening to swallow up everything you care about along the way? But then again, can you really afford not to?
Throughout my entire entrepreneurial journey, I’ve been pondering on this same question, spinning it over and over and over again in my mind. By now it’s stuck there like an earworm taunting and haunting me with no solid conclusion at sight. If there’s one thing I know for sure is that discipline is a muscle. You need to flex it by constantly putting it to work, but what happens when you’re born in chaos, moulded by it? Is it possible then to achieve such state? And if so, how do you get there?
Over the years, I’ve been working with many female seamstresses who came from nothing and I’ve noticed the same behaviour keep repeating itself across the board. While stuck in survival mode, the only thing that they care about is making enough money to feed their families whichever way possible. While hardwork is embeeded in them, there’s no question about it, the dicipline, organizational skills and time management are something that seem to elude them. Regardless of how helpful they might be, these women can’t seem to grasp the concept. The short-sightedness presides over, keeping them from growing further and it pains me to see this is the case. I’m constantly failing at my attempt to demonstrate and make them see just how vital of a role this skillset plays in the growth and success of their small businesses, as well as their personal one. No mater how it’s articulated (and believe me I tried so many different ways) my advice always seem to fall at deaf ears.
So I guess if you’ve read this far and expect to see a point to my rumblings here there is none , but I do want to genuinely hear what you think about this. Is it possible to change the mindset of someone stuck in survival mode? Is it meaningless to try?
Other things that inspire and push me to stimulate that other parts of me not related to the founder role. Okay, okay, there’s still something that’s related to it like this book “The obstacle is the way” by Ryan Holiday, which if I’m being honest, I really expected more of. At the risk of sounding like an obnoxious Ms. Know-It-All, but I was aware of everything that’s written in there, but even if I weren’t, the thing I believe makes this book a bit superficial to me is that despite explaining what it is that world leaders have done in the past or do right now when faced with obstacles, the author doesn’t really navigate you towards what to do to achieve that state. Like for instance “Control your emotions” chapter. Well gee, thank you, as if like I didn’t know that controling your emotions is powerful. How? How do I do that? Does it require breathing techniques to calm down your nervous system? Does it require to stay silent when you so desperately need to talk? That being said, I'm still at the very beggining so I’m planning to give this book a chance, cause I’m a bit nuts, once I start something, I want to finish it. Hey, maybe it’ll grow on me, but from what I’m currently reading, the hype is not worth it.
Traveling is where I draw most inspiration from. While I love being in nature, preferably somewhere where there are no reptiles, I also love being in urban places, because I’m very fond of spending entire days in museums. It’s where I feel most at home just soaking up the history of civilisation and this month the museum of choice was Edvard Munch. While I’m not a particular fan of Edvard’s later nude, slightly wierd pieces, I did like some of his early work, like this nature series. On some of them, I found the colors to be very soothing, as well as the compositon. It sort of transports you in a world when life was simpler.
Totally not related to business, but absolutely related to the other me, the one who’s an actual human being and who’s been dormant for a while, I’m also into podcasts. I genuinely enjoy discovering new and interesting stuff to listen to, so I can show off and defend my “Ms. Anoying Know It All” title. For this reason this month I’ve been listening to some pretty interesting and equally terrifying stuff like the Ozempic and the Nuclear War epizodes from DOAC and the Vitamin D epizode from Studies Show. Speaking of, here’s a list of all the podcasts I find interesting and are on my “to listen list”. Oh, do feel free to leave some of your favorite podcast episodes in the comment section. I’m always in the mood for new stuff.
To top it all of, as the cherry on the cake, my Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship this year. For those of you who know me, the Celtics have been an integral part of me, ever since I was in high school. I’m never not rooting for them and it's one of my biggest wishes to one day have court side tickets at the Garden. Annnnnddddd, remember when I wrote that nothing seemed to be working for me last month? Well this month was the total opposite, as a grant we applied for last year was actually approved. Even though I’m sure I’ll figure it out, my inner self is equally as ecstatic as it is terrified, because now comes the scarrier part that is how we put actionable steps to make Bastet Noir bigger and better.
So life has been pretty good this month, not gonna lie.
Well, that’s it folks. I hope sharing my fears and my daily shenanigans was usefull for all of you who are founders. Another part of this series is coming out next Sunday. Until then, because sharing is caring, if you know someone who is an independent fashion designer and will find my articles helpful please share it with them. I know I would have been grateful if I could find this stuff when I was beginning. It would have saved me a lot of time and money.
I know time these days is a precious currency, so thank you for reading.
Hasta la vista lovelies from my Salad Brain.