Founder of Compadres, Clive Burcham knows that trauma, fear and failure don’t just test entrepreneurs, they can refine them. In this latest instalment of the Keep Talking series, he talks about his own journey with mental health and feelings of purpose.
. Anchoring ourselves in health, purpose and genuine connection shifts the work from simply succeeding to becoming deeply, and sustainably, human.
Humans are wired for progress. We are inherently all entrepreneurs. To create is encoded in human DNA. Sometimes we get mentally short-circuited by the voltage. I’ve spent decades building, selling, breaking and helping businesses and organisations. The highlight reel is nice. The director’s cut shows vivid scenes of panic, impostor syndrome, fear, overthinking, and the 3 a.m. “what if it all falls over?” loops.
My earliest scar and lesson in mental health arrived when I was eight. “Your father has passed”. At that moment, I didn’t know what “passed” meant? My dad was gone. As we know, grief doesn’t vanish – it gets layered over by new memories. Unfortunately, my childhood was littered with physical and sexual abuse, neglect and some other gory sh*t. It was followed by a treacherous life and compensatory overachievement. Complex PTSD, Depression….and some.
Beautiful mountains are fault lines, collisions of tectonic plates and my many faults became an upward advantage. A screwed up Prefrontal cortex, Amygdala and Hippocampus, from the multi trauma events led to heightened intuition, creative problem-solving: Entrepreneurism.
Your pain can be your Purpose.
As a high school dropout, I’ve managed to make enough mistakes in business to fill a multi-season series on Netflix. Eg: A near-sacking from a global client became a breakthrough after I asked for three days grace to fix it and came back with a better business model. We then billed millions per year. That confirmed another truth: with the breakdowns come the breakthroughs.
Confession: In the name of helping people “changing the world,” I once held my hand up to my then 2 yo daughter and wife because I was on an “all important” Saturday morning work call. Nothing dramatic happened – except the most important thing: I missed a small moment that mattered. That was what I call “an entrepreneurial a**hole moment”. Since then I’ve learned a simple rule: children spell LOVE, T-I-M-E. Our teams are similar. If your calendar has no space for people, or school drop offs, your business plan sucks or your career is off track.
A few practices that keep me mentally healthy:
1. Health. Physical exercise, mindlessness, therapy, deep relationships with deep great friends, nature, therapy, food without barcodes, being a contribution to others. The word NO.
2. Purpose over identity. Don’t attach yourself to a company, title or project. Attach yourself to your Purpose. When markets shift (and they do), a purpose gives your nervous system somewhere solid to stand.
3. Bank quality time. Rush kills intimacy. Intimacy drives intuition. Intuition drives great ideas and better decisions. Protect time with kids, friends, key teammates and clients. The ROI shows up when the career and cash floats away. Your relationships are the true 10x.
4. Fear (and imposter syndrome) is the compass: Fear usually points to the next step. Action metabolises anxiety. Worry is an addiction at the sacrifice of your progress to live your purpose and potential.
5. Shrink the noise: Humans are great at overthinking. We all get 500 x 14 second unhelpful thought missiles every day. Feelings aren’t real, they pass like clouds. A problem is a solution waiting to happen.
6. Collaborate: You have the power to create anything. The distance from idea to impact is now brain to thumb. The rocket fuel to your idea might be sitting next to you, and is definitely in your sphere. Ask for help sooner.
If you’re struggling right now, you’re not broken. Share the load. The goal isn’t to be the hero – it’s to be healthy enough to be useful to the people, to have a purpose that is bigger than you. Like Ian Perrin has with Keep Talking.
