Peaks and Troughs

Life, in general, is full of peaks and troughs; one minute you’re up and the next you can be knocked back down. However with startup life the peaks and troughs seem to be so much bigger and so much more frequent. Well that’s at least my experience.

It’s crazy, literally within a day I find my state of mind and mood can yo-yo with the simple flow of emails into my inbox. One message takes you one steps closer to ‘success’ whilst the next one will knock you two steps back.

The troughs can be tough; they strip your confidence, make you question your skills and abilities and can make you wonder why you bother. However equally the peaks are exciting and engaging, make you think you can conquer the world and for me at least are the reason I do what I’m doing.

Is it a weakness to have peaks and troughs? I don’t think so, I reckon it’s being human. I would be hugely impressed if there is someone out there who doesn’t have moments when they feel down and questions themselves. The important thing is to learn from them and a few bits of advice I would share from my own personal peaks and troughs are:

• Firstly peaks and troughs are the extremes, it’s best to remember you belong somewhere in the middle. When it all equals out it’s usually where you find yourself.
• When in a trough remember others have been there and they will likely find themselves there too so reach out to them for help. Also remember however bad it seems, it’s only temporary this will help keep you in ‘the middle’.
• When in a peak be mindful that it’s potentially short lived. Stay grounded and again that will help keep you in ‘the middle’.

As the famous modern philosopher/fictional TV character David Brent once said:

“Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. And you don’t know whether you’re in a trough until you’re climbing out, or on a peak until you’re coming down. And that’s it you know, you never know what’s round the corner. But it’s all good. “If you want the rainbow, you’ve gotta put up with the rain.” Do you know which “philosopher” said that? Dolly Parton. And people say she’s just a big pair of tits.”