I am a startup enthusiast since I believe that entrepreneurship is the perfect cocoon for ideas that, in many cases, will promote our evolution. What I honestly don’t believe is in self-imposed innovation since for me, creativity is not a product of the mind but the consequence of a natural flow of one’s talents.
How often do you have incredible ideas when you are taking a bath, driving, listening to music, running, meditating or in the middle of the night? And what’s the common denominator here? The mind is not interfering.
For this reason, I think it’s somehow brutal the concept behind some Accelerators that shake (not stir) entrepreneurs-in-making until they expel an idea. In return, they get a share of the business that is generated by somebody else’s creative process. The important angle for me to observe is that somebody is usually bootstrapping, mind-blown or too inexperienced to make a good judgment.
Some studies show that the second biggest cause why startups fail is “Investment too soon” which for me leads to the same principle: unfair and unequal negotiation ground (the so-called “one-sided” clauses). On the other hand for these systems to prevail it means that many potential entrepreneurs believe that this how creativity should be boosted. I can imagine that some good ideas pop up from these processes but it still comes across as unnatural to me.
I wonder if Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk would have been pioneers if they would have been subject to those “Idea Centrifuge” …
Three months ago I decided to quit my job because my soul truth was screaming too loud for me to continue to ignore it. That calling was partially caused by a personal event (my heart was badly broken, in case you might wondering) and made me realize that all my life’s choices were coming from a place of fear and lack (namely of lack of self-love, self-confidence etc.).
So the upcoming days, weeks and months became almost unbearable because I felt deeply uncomfortable and I couldn’t find my place in that company. Of course, I couldn’t! I didn’t belong there anymore. Despite some skeptical family and friends, one very peaceful and farsighted day I woke up and said to myself “Today is the day”. I went to the office that day and I asked to speak to my boss and we gently said goodbye.
I’m a mom of an amazing 4-year old, I had only saved enough money to cover for the upcoming 2-months of expenses and I wasn’t eligible for unemployment benefits. But more than all of those “cons”, I had some super powerful “pros”: my experience, my will to be the best version of myself and with that set a good example for my son and also my never-ending pronoia — a weird sense that the Universe is always conspiring on my behalf.
Little that I knew that this life-changing event would turn out to be the first day of my journey as an entrepreneur. You see, I thought that consultancy and coaching would be my next move but I couldn’t be wronger.
Yes! I am an strategy consultant and a coach and I love that part of my job, but I am much more than that. We all are! Human-beings are a complex and wonderful species that conceals multiple gifts if we just allow them to flow.
In my case, from the moment I got out of my comfort zone my natural talents — some that were familiar others that were totally unknown — started blossoming and naturally showed me the way ahead…and what an exciting journey it’s been unfolding in front of my eyes!
As a result of my own experience and of what I’ve observed, I started to believe that in order to access that magical stream called creativity, human-beings need get out of their comfort zone or away from what society says it’s possible. And that is also when evolutionary quantum leaps occur.
But what I also believe is that we can only access that fountain of revolution once we get rid of our mind’s straps and follow a different and uncharted path called the heart.
For some reason that I feel is about to change, many still believe that business decisions should be conducted by rationality and data. I couldn’t disagree more. Intuition is the best and most accurate tool we possess but we simply forgot how to use it.
And here’s why: Whereas the mind gets trapped by ego, fear, and other vicious projections, intuition is that untouchable “gut feeling” that has always warned us when something is terribly wrong — we feel sick — or incredibly right — we get super excited. And where does intuition come from? The heart. Just like creativity. So if you’re in the pursue of a great breakthrough maybe start by taking your mind of the equation and let your passions tell you what road to take.
Love,
Filipa
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Filipa Larangeira is an entrepreneur, Human-Accelerator for businesses and people, Speaker, Author and Coach that supports her work in human and sustainable pillars. She is also a proud mom, surfer in the making, meditation addict and her secret powers are her intuition and the ability to innovate without limitations.