Searching for the hidden secret for success, especially in menopause. Can women over the age of 50 make it?
Goat Number Three – Menopause Entrepreneurs
A few kids pulled a prank on their school. They got three goats and painted the numbers 1, 2 and 4 on them. The school was closed for the day because everybody was looking for goat number 3.
We believe our own logic so often, that we keep looking for that third goat in life and in business. In our own model of reality, there must be that logical step, or that thing, that makes it all fall into place.
We think that if we do A, then B will occur, but in most cases that does not happen, except maybe with gravity, well come to think of it, even that happens most of the time.
Real help
Nearly all of self-help books and articles which tell us the 3 ways to do this and the 10 steps to solve that, just provide hints and not solutions for the reality of our lives. That secret juice, the magic formula, seems to exist only in hindsight. In his book “Real Help”, Ayodeji Awosika points out in a painfully direct way that being stuck in a rigid model of thinking will not help you much. He tries to shake you awake and show you “The Real Reality”. You can keep chasing the third goat as much as you like, but it will still not be there.
For me, Mr. Awosika’s writing is liberating, positive, and motivating!
In the startup world, it sometimes feels like you are butting heads with the unknown, and chasing that third goat in an effort to take control of your endeavor.
The advice given generously by so many authors is sometimes unclear. Work hard and it will all be alright… “Take these steps and you will make it”… “Your chances may be almost zero, but”…. with a little bit of luck ..you will come out on top.
They don’t tell you how to find the thing between hard labor you invest in your brilliant idea and full-on success. It is a ghost nobody can pinpoint which is the secret sauce to all achievement, lady luck!
I wanted to run for my life Goat Number Three – Menopause Entrepreneurs
When my co-founder and I started this project to create an app for menopausal women, I almost quit and ran for my life. Right from the start, I wanted to be clear on all the hurdles and all the problems that we were going to face along the way and that we needed to solve.
My need to have a clear road map that set out all the likely obstacles was the way I handled reality in my past career. It ensured that everything is set out before me. I knew where the problems would be and I could tick them off one by one as I solved them.
In my current reality, this new way of existence in the world of the unknown, of unclear stumbling blocks, without a map, without a list of steps I can check off is like chasing the goat that is not there.
To be clear, nothing is different in this world of startups from that day I wanted to flee, but I am still here. The one thing I want to leave you with is that it is fun and challenging and at moments completely crazy, but I am happy navigating the unknown. I would never go back to that mapped out corporate life I had before.
This pursuit is worth all the sleepless nights and chaotic days. The switch in my head that now says it is OK to live in a world where goat No 4 comes after goat No 2 is what makes it all worthwhile.
M
