I was just finished reading a book that led to this thought: every great entrepreneur is learning enabled. Think about the fact that what society traditionally calls attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, or learning disability is merely passion that a person and has their ability to control that passion.
That was the great stream of thought that I picked up on after I finished reading a book by Paul Orfalea called Copy This: How I turned Dyslexia, ADHD, and 100 square feet into a company called Kinko’s.
It is the auto-biography of how Paul turned a small copy shop in California into the largest copier in the world. Paul grew up with dyslexia and ADHD. He states in his book that he was not learning disabled, but instead learning enabled. I have to agree with him.
Moreover, I would say that most great entrepreneurs that I meet have some variety of being learning enabled.
Myself, I need to make sure that I am busy beyond belief for it to grow. Otherwise, I am bored. Might complain here and there that I am busy, but the fact is that my mind is constantly working on 100 things, so having a lot of projects allows me to focus. Sounds weird right, but times like now when I can barely control my schedule force me to focus on what is important to my business.
I see this in other entrepreneurs that I work with. Where do you think the idea of a serial entrepreneur comes from? It comes from the fact that we have over-imaginative ideas that we allow to run free from a society that generally does not truly understand the ideas of the creative.
That is what makes being an entrepreneur great. We have come to a point in our life when the ability to dream catches up with our ability to act on those dreams. Our learning enabled is a side affect of brilliant ideas and dreams. Sometimes we need to be reeled in. At the same time we understand that having a team of people to get us back to reality is necessary to build a world class operation that changes the world.
In that respect, maybe we are similar to Miss America in our desire for “World Peace!” They say, “World Peace” and we say, “Change The World.” Our beauty contest, however, is counted in ideas created and businesses made profitable.
Entrepreneurs are a unique blend of professionals who are constantly innovating to a better destination. That is why being learning enabled helps keep us aware of what can be possible in the world.
So THAT’S why I fall asleep if I’m not doing something! I am just way too smart for my own self!
TK,
Exactly!
Andy
I am with you Andy.
I can totally relate when you are saying that the more projects you have the more focused you are. It is well known that busy people get things done!
I know that lots of people might get overwhelmed by what you said (wrote) but I believe that ones that considers themselves an entrepreneur will ride on the opportunity to learn about their ability to focus vs. getting overwhelmed and not do anything.
I added the book to my list of books to read. It sounds very intriguing.
Thanks for taking the time to write this post. Much appreciated.
Much love, light and joy,
Sigal Zoldan
Clinical Hypnotherapist & Master Results Coach
Sigal,
Busy people definitely get more done!
Let me know what you think of the book?
Andy