Boss Lady

Endurance | What the military can teach you

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Being in the military, and serving in Afghanistan, has taught me many things. A key lesson was the value of endurance, and in my role as an empowering life coach, that also means business endurance too… the kinds of resilience you develop and can use to strengthen yourself and your business.

Endurance of sacrifice

Business enduranceJoining the military was no was easy decision for me as a woman, wife and mother.  There are sacrifices that have to be made to join up, and many are not willing to give so much of themselves or their family — and understandably so.

Many people laugh or look at me oddly when I say at times it feels like you are held captive.  For example, when I am deployed, having to constantly be in a bubble as I watch flights leave daily yet I am unable to go home to my family.  That anxious feeling simmers inside me at times when I work late because although I want to be home for my husband and children to make them dinner, and help with homework, I can’t.

Most people work eight hours and on that eighth hour they are able to leave — some are even forced to leave in order not to incur overtime.  Parents, mostly mothers, who work know they are going home to face other work: housekeeping, cooking, helping with homework and all the other things that add up to family life. In the military, you are a soldier 24/7, on duty and off. [tweet_quote hashtags=”#businessendurance” ]I cannot plan many events with my family. Birthdays, anniversaries are missed[/tweet_quote], and even funerals that I was not able to attend because of my oath and duty to the military.

Women starting and growing a business will find a similar extra demand on their time, and will find they have to juggle it with other priorities – often family ones.

Endurance of discipline

Daily life for everybody requires a certain amount of following rules. But in the military, that is decreed in every part of what you do, and is an important part of making sure the organization is cohesive and effective.

We have regulations that state how we can dress, how we can do our hair, how long our nails can be and what color nail polish is acceptable — and clear polish is the only acceptable color.  The innate feeling of being a woman, wife and mother is stripped from me as I am a soldier.

How military relates to the business world

When starting my business as a life coach it hit me how similar yet different it is in the workplace compared to being in the military.  People kept telling me that I was doing too much or that I am going to burn myself out and [tweet_quote hashtags=”#endurance” ]it hit me that some people had no idea about business endurance in the workplace[/tweet_quote].

In my eyes I have a mission to build my business and therefore that is what I set out to do. I found myself explaining to people that as a soldier, if I fail at my job or set my work aside for another day then it affects not only me but my fellow battle buddies, it could mean someone’s life therefore I cannot quit.

Regardless of being tired, hungry, hot, cold or missing my family I have to find it in my soul to keep on going without complaining. I understand that the workplace is not the military, but depending on what your goals are you may have to dig deep and determine what endurance means to you and what it means for you.

  1. You will have to endure making sacrifices for your career or business, and that might include having to sacrifice some family times you would prefer not to.
  1. You will have to be disciplined. Not just in following the rules of the business world but in setting rules for yourself and following them.
  1. You will have to draw on everything you have learned in your past experiences. Examine them to find where your strength and endurance can come from.

You can read more tips about finding your endurance in business here.

About Jamillah Foulkes

Jamillah Foulkes is the owner of Empower U-- your empowerment Life Coach – an officer in the U.S. Army. She has BA in psychology from Northwestern State University and a MSA in Human Resources from Central Michigan University. She helps people stop being the passenger in their relationships and start being the conductor of their life. People gain the confidence to transform unhealthy relationships with their partner, mother, father, friends, co-workers, etc… by learning how put a value their self worth. Visit our websiteor email jamillah.foulkes@gmail.com

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