How do you keep going when the going gets tough

I've found trusted friends are the best place to go - and recently for what I'm building that's been the Wannabe Entrepreneur Community by @tiagorbf

1. Have a good chat with your partner/backer/believer - anyone that has a positive but realistic view on your business. 2. Have a break - even if it's one day or a just a few hours. Have a long walk, let your eyes look far, empty your brain. Sometimes good ideas can pop-up. Sometimes realistic decisions also pop-up. 3. Look back, and specifically on what is working and why. Even if it's a small part of your project; that could be the stepping stone for a pivot or a spin-off project. 4. Ask someone you trust to take a fresh look at your work - I have found an immense support from other entrepreneurs in my network. They know how tough it is, and they know how to spin their comment so that it's both realistic and supportive. 5. Detach yourself - we are putting all our energy into what we believe in and sometimes it becomes too much of our "babies". Negative comments are not personal, nor are positive ones. In the end it's a business. Family and friends are much more important. 6. Share - like you are doing now. We founded Weavit 18 months ago and it's been a lot of high and lows. But having worked in a large corp for 19 years, I can tell you the highs as an entrepreneur are much more worthy that the highs there :)

Looking back at how far you have come is usually the fire you need to keep on burning brightly into the future.

You must always have a springboard from work. You can go for a walk somewhere or play a game.

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." Small or big steps do not matter; we should keep on moving.

1) Remember why I started. Go back to the beginning and retrace the motivation 2) Look at the alternatives - do you really want to be a cog in a wheel? Realize quitting is the only thing with 100% chance of failure 3) Focus on solving one problem, ignoring the others - helps ensure you don't get overwhelmed and feel like you are in fact moving up the mountain 4) I like to look at the stars and remember how small we are - helps realize these "big" problems are on a tiny spec of a tiny spec 5) I pet the dog or do something to focus attn elsewhere for 15mins 6) I remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. Play the long game. 7) I talk to other entrepreneurs or read their blogs. The mental part of this journey is the hardest part. When you realize even the successful ones went through the same pain, it makes it easier. 8) I'm open with my spouse about how I feel. They know you the best and can likely point of the things you don't see that look like winning to them. Keeping secrets just makes it harder, just don't burden them with the weight all the time. That makes it worse. 9) I think about the book: How They Started in Difficult Times, esp. the Walt Disney story. 10) I try to remember that we get but one life and failure comes not from lack of succeeding, but from never trying 11) I seek out experts to help with the functional areas that aren't going well