We lose perspective as entrepreneurs. One of the reasons I wrote this book, was to help people recognize this and manage our teams and ourselves through it. We lose sight of the fact that the rest of the world does not wake up with the passion, determination and focus that we do. Something has
spurred us to take this wild journey to create our venture.

Our heart and soul are in it. Our business life and personal life (if you have one) are intimately
intermingled. We think about it twenty-four hours per day and our dreams are not of sipping piña coladas or a relaxing day at the spa, but rather having our first real paying customers.

It is unlikely anyone else is losing sleep, shunning their personal lives, or investing their heart and soul. A problem develops, however, when we have the expectation that anyone associated with our venture wakes up with the same visceral desire to see it come to fruition as we do. Our business may be our oxygen, but for even the most dedicated employee or supportive spouse, it will never be what
gives breath to their lives. We must accept that this is a unique place that we occupy, and if we expect others to have the same perspective, we will be disappointed.

We usually understand this when it comes to people who are tangentially involved in our business—like family, friends and team members that aren’t involved in the day-to-day. While we might accept and even understand this for friends and family, this skewed perspective is hard to overcome when it comes to our team. We say things like, “So what if they are only working for equity?” or “Did they think sleep was part of the job description?”

When we don’t recognize that no one cares as much as we do, we not only become frustrated, but we alienate our team members that are working hard, and usually for below-market compensation. We must have realistic expectations not only about their work effort, but also about how much they care about the long list of things that run through our mind each day. Our teams aren’t failing to care enough—we as leaders are failing to recognize and accept that no one cares as much as we do and take measures to bridge this gap.

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