“I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.” Maya Angelou
Women’s History Month is a great time to look at the words of Maya Angelou and the lessons they have for entrepreneurs. The quote above is from the famous Maya Angelou poem, “Still I Rise” The poem has two important lessons for entrepreneurs. These lessons are:
- Your life is someone else’s dream
- As long as you are alive, you can rise again
These lessons are important and learning them can make life better for you at work and home. Let’s take a few moments to explore these lessons in detail.
Your life is someone else’s dream
It is amazing to realize that the life you live at home and at work is the stuff that makes up other people’s dreams. No matter who you are – married, single or divorced, there are people who wish they had your relationship status. No matter what kind of work you do, whether unemployed or the leader of a Fortune 500 company, there are people who wish they were in your shoes. This notion should not be unbelievable to you After all, the life you live and the goals you have reached were once things you have dreamed would happen.
The fact that your life is what others dream of achieving should help you to feel a sense of accomplishment and gratitude for the life you live.
[Tweet ” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.” Maya Angelou”]
As long as you are alive, you can rise again
A few years ago, gospel singer, Donnie McClurkin had a song that was a big hit. The sing was called, “We Fall Down.” The gist of the song is that everyone makes mistakes. Everyone falls down at one point or another, but we can get up and try it all again. This is an important idea. The fact that we can fall down, then get back up and try again is a remarkable, wondrous thing. The idea of this should fill a person with awe and excitement.
It is scary to fall down aka to mess up, to make mistakes and to do things the wrong way. Everyone knows that doing all those things are a fact of life. Everyone knows that they happen to everyone on the planet at one time or another. Even though everyone knows that fact, it is still scary. At the same time, we must recognize that part of being a grown up means doing things that are scary. In fact being an adult means that one does things even when they are scared. In other words, scared is not a show stopper.
The key part of the song and a key part to the “I Rise” poem is that while falling down may be inevitable, so is getting back up. The rise comes. As many times as we fall and no matter how hard we fall, we can always find a way to get up and rise to the new challenges that life has for us. The fact that we can rise and still shine after a fall should provide a sense of comfort, relief and joy.
Take a moment now to think about this fact. No matter how hard you fall, no matter how many times you fall, you can get up. You can rise again and succeed. Knowing this fact should fill you with a sense of comfort, relief and hope. Never forget that you can always rise, you can always win, you can always succeed.
They say those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Entrepreneurs who want to succeed should ABL aka Always be Learning. So, the question for you this magnificent day is, what lesson do you think a smart entrepreneur can learn from the idea that your life is someone else’s dream and you can always get back up again?
That’s a great poem and s great lesson.