Love What You Do: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Never Surrender… unless well you’re soulless

I’ve been watching a lot of Shark Tank recently. The over-the-top investment show likes to feature a lot of horrible ideas. Does that mean that the people who are pitching them should close down shop and start over? Well, that depends. Some of these ideas actually become winners after the Sharks’ cynicism and insulting words only fueled the terps into really making it big. The show is even proud of this and showcases it in a recap.

Doubt is a great fuel. A burning passion to prove others wrong can drive people to the ends of the earth. If your startup is ever face-to-face with such dispassionate haters that you are starting to doubt yourself, look no further than to the words of Twitter’s own Andrew MacCaw.

I have a simple rule for quitting jobs, and it has served me pretty well in the past.

You should quit your job when you stop loving your job. Sounds straightforward, but how do you define that?

Well, I believe the definition of whether you love your job, is whether you look forward to Mondays. If too many weeks go by without this feeling, you should start evaluating your situation and working out if you could be happier somewhere else. Don’t settle. Life’s too short.

The other aspect to enjoying your job is learning. As soon as you stop learning, resign and move on. Working with highly intelligent people who are constantly teaching you things is a crucial part of of self development.

Happy Mondays, new lessons, less meaningless grinding. As long as you have those three things in your entrepreneurial arsenal you are on the right track because the moment you stop feeling those things, those passions, that connection to the goodness you are creating — well, you might as well pack it up and go onto corporate job hunting. You’ve already lost your soul.