11/12/2021
: The entrepreneurial mindset:
__Two qualities that will always work against you: envy and contempt!
There are some people that you have never met [yourself personally] and yet you hate them passionately, even though if you were to actually search your own heart, you will find they have never done anything to you--Really?
What you may be feeling towards them may actually be either envy or contempt.
People often find themselves competing with others outside of their specific business area. This is wrong, and is usually due to envy.
Next thing you develop an intense hatred toward someone who has done nothing to you. Others just develop a contempt for someone because of where they come from. You might not like something from a different ethnic group, religion, or your disapproval of their lifestyle. And yet they really have nothing to do with you. It’s also not good.
In entrepreneurship, envy and contempt can really cloud your judgment or close your mind to real opportunities and even threats to your business.
I never want to find myself in a situation in which I anyone. It is an area of personal ministry. I might hate what someone does, but I never hate them [as a person]. If I find myself with feelings of hatred or contempt towards a person, it is the sort of thing that will have me fasting, and asking the Lord for forgiveness.
Another thing you have to consider seriously, and get to know about yourself: If you have a low tolerance for frustration, entrepreneurship is not for you, particularly in Africa. Being able to handle is a key quality for success as an entrepreneur in Africa.
Unless you have powerful relatives, ethnic kinsmen, or you are willing to pay bribes, the fact is, you are going to find yourself frustrated at every turn, particularly in Africa. [And I have commented to you here time and again for years about the serious risks of going those routes to "avoid frustrations"].
Personally, I have a very deep tolerance for frustration. I don’t frustrate easily, it is a quality of my faith. I could not handle it otherwise: It almost always seems like someone is trying to block, delay, steal, derail, or destroy what you are trying to do.
This is when I turn to my reservoir of faith to handle the frustration.
From experience, it would seem that my approach works [at least for me]: I eventually win! And what surprises me, it always turns out that the effect of the frustration favored me!
Be patient. Don’t give up!
Image caption: , Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
