3 Lessons from Zen Entrepreneurship
Listening to clues, energy management and redefining success
I recently met my friend Robin Doenicke at his office in Tokyo. He runs a recruitment business called Zensho (the word means “whole life” in Japanese) that gives experienced recruiters a platform to do their own thing. It's a pretty cool option for recruiters who want to get out of the rat race! Robin has spent a lot of time in India with various gurus and dabbled with different shamanic traditions. Outside of business talk we had a great chat about meditation, non-duality and altered states of consciousness.
He showed me his library that has over 500 books on everything from martial arts to Daoism and mysticism. With Buddha statues and psychedelic Native American paintings, it’s definitely a different vibe than most of the typical corporate offices that have slogans like “be creative” or “believe.” Perusing the book collection I borrowed a book called Zen Entrepreneurship which stood out to me.
Zen Entrepreneurship is one of those fringe finds with a cheesy book cover and a few reviews on Amazon. It follows the story of a startup founder, Rizwan Virk, who gets wise advice from experienced entrepreneur Ramaswami who serves as a spiritual guide. He shows him the “Path of the Career Warrior” (gotta love it!) and tells him about energy channels, the “hidden worlds” and listening to the universe.
The messages in this book might have been harder to relate to a few years ago. Perhaps I would have thought it an amusing read, but I would have been more interested in the tangible advice about how to grow a business, build the right product, and raise money. Or, how to choose the right career where I would develop the most marketable skills. That’s the external stuff. However, after having tried multiple things and given my burnout experience, the spiritual element of work is a lot more interesting for me nowadays. The inner stuff is much harder to find good advice on.
Here are three lessons from Zen entrepreneurship:
1/ Listen to the clues
“It’s important that you learn to pay attention to yourself. To the feelings that you have inside you. Many meditation teachers will tell you to simply meditate and things will get better. In the real world, it’s not so simple. In the business world it’s not so simple. You have to use meditation as a mirror…to clear your mind so that you will be able to see the clues that are all around you and more importantly, inside you.” - Zen Entrepreneurship
There were many clues I ignored as an entrepreneur. In my previous business, I remember my mentor and advisor gave me feedback about a couple of team members, explaining why they were not the right fit and I needed to hire new people. My response was defensive and I told him that as a founder I knew the team best – which I did, but it’s often hard to see your own biases. My ego was in the way and didn’t allow me to listen to this big clue. Later, I was accepted into an accelerator program, but I refused to join it because I didn’t want the help and felt like I could do it on my own. These clues I ignored led to pain and suffering.
I’m a lot more open to clues nowadays and find it fascinating to ask, what is the universe telling me right now? There are little ones, like when I was off to a meditation retreat and happened to sit next to a guy who had a giant picture of a Buddha on his phone. I then got off the plane and was handed a copy of the Bhagavad Gita by someone else. Huh, interesting. Guess that means I’m on the right track. I have been having a lot of these lately and they are becoming hard to ignore.
Another example: The thought of starting a meditation retreat center has crossed my mind but not one I have spoken about much. Yet on at least four separate occasions, people have approached me asking if I am starting a retreat center in Japan, who also have plans of their own. One friend was already looking at properties a couple hours from Tokyo. Another was looking at buying up multiple properties a few hours west. While I am not ready to make any moves on this, it is clear I could partner up with others on this. Clues!
Sure, there are coincidences where you can explain it in a very logical way and say that because you are “putting yourself out there,” that people know what you’re doing and what to help you. There’s definitely truth in that. And I am not saying there is a conscious intelligence that cares about the daily decisions of humans (there’s a funny parody of stuff “the universe” gives white women with Bill Nye here).
But these coincidences do happen, and they are often a little surprising. For example, have you ever thought about a friend, and then received a call from them minutes later? Or maybe they appeared in a dream the day before. Or perhaps you felt something was wrong, and then later learned your friend or family member was in trouble or died. Over 50% of the US population reports having had some ‘unlikely’ coincidence like this.
They are also coincidences which seem very unlikely. Like the woman who kept finding Queen of Hearts cards in extremely improbable locations over a period of several years. How does that work? Quantum physics has the theory of non-locality, where particles are entangled in a way that are instantly correlated, regardless of distance. Is that the basis of these unlikely events? No one really knows.
That said, I feel like there is something a lot more mysterious about it all. When coincidences happen often or are so strange they seem to defy explanation, they are called synchronicity, which Carl Jung defined as “unpredictable occurrences of meaningful significance.” Jung saw these events as important as dreams (which are also great places to get clues), and believed they carried some message from the unconscious mind. Michael Harner says that in shamanic cultures synchronicities are “a kind of homing beacon analogous to a radio directional signal indicating that the right procedures and methods are being employed.”
Whatever you want to call it, I think these synchronicities provide a sense of awe and wonder…and perhaps they are clues in which direction to go in. You can trust that these clues are taking you somewhere, as long as you follow them. As Steve Jobs said,
“You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
2/ Prioritize the flow of Energy
“The study of energy is central to the esoteric student. Both Tibetan Buddhism and various forms of Shamanism deal with this in different ways. The Career Warrior thinks about energy all the time, and not just in relation to the human body. If you go to certain places, you will notice that the energy is different than the energy in other places…”
- Zen Entrepreneurship
The creation of the modern workplace has required us to work at fixed times throughout the day, regardless of how we’re feeling. When you were tired/hungover you had to drink some coffee and push through it. Remote work challenged that and led many people to realize that they would rather prioritize their energy levels and work when they felt the best – in the early mornings without distractions, or perhaps after the gym or yoga class.
What you eat alters your energy and how efficiently you’re using it. Music pumps you up or chills you out. Not moving lowers your metabolism, and decreases your energy levels. Getting acupuncture releases energy into your cells (ATP changes in acupoint cells). You can see taking a walk in the park as “a break,” or you could see it as a way to change your energetic state. After spending time in nature, you have less thoughts crowding your mind and energy is flowing more smoothly and you are feeling more “grounded.” Another book on cultivating energy is the Power of Full Engagement.
My experiences with kundalini yoga have been very energetic. I have felt electricity coursing through my body. At times, this was too much and at other times it was an energy boost. If you want to feel this, give the Breath of Fire a try for a few minutes. Also the Chinese concept of Qi, or life force/energy that flows in your body, can be cultivated through practices like Tai Chi or Qigong. There is a practice called microcosmic orbit circulation where you can start to feel your tongue vibrating and energy flowing through your body.
Certain places recharge my energy, like going for a barefoot hike in Ome, a beautiful trail west of Tokyo. There are many power spots in Japan (and all over the world) that feel distinctly special, like you’re entering a portal. I once visited a temple in Japan, years before I started meditating, and had what I’d describe as a non-dual experience (I lost the feeling of having a self for a few moments) mixed with déjà vu.
Even within the city, you can feel huge fluctuations in energy. I like to go to a cafe near my place that has very high ceilings. I find myself in a more creative state, and feel more free than being cooped up in a crowded cafe. Some studies even show that high ceilings boost creativity. And of course, the energy of others greatly influences you, too. I have been around people who I do not know or have not spoken to, and felt contracted or an immediately negative vibe.
Practically speaking, if you understand what energizes you, the people and places that energize you, and know how to control your own energy, these are very useful skills to your success. Speaking of which…
3/ Redefine success
“Only when we truly know ourselves, when we’re aware of our own destinies can we really, truly be successful in the business world. Otherwise, we’ll end up being either unsuccessful, or worse, unfulfilled.” - Zen Entrepreneurship
I started a company, hired a team, raised money, and even though I got burned out I was able to sell off some of the assets. In the process I gained a ton of valuable experience. Was I “successful”? It depends on who you ask. Personally, I learned a lot, but I was’t fulfilled in what I was doing and wouldn’t consider myself successful from that perspective. Some other people would say I was, but who cares what they think?
A lot of people consider external factors as a sign of success or achievement in life. Money, prestige, career, promotions, the number of countries you’ve visited or experiences you’ve been able to amass. The problem with using external goals as measures of success is that it’s often a grind. And there's absolutely no guarantee of happiness!
In fact, many studies show that we’re born with a base-line level of happiness. We return to baseline regardless of the positive/negative experiences in life, whether that's making a lot of money or losing a leg. However, we can change this baseline, which I wrote about here through playing non-zero sum games (where there is no winner or loser) and activities like meditation. These are tools to govern our inner life, not our outer life.
All of this tells me that it doesn’t make sense to use external goal posts as a measure of happiness. How would things change if we redefine success as an internal state of fulfillment, not an external one. How do I feel every day? Do I find my work meaningful? Am I full of joy, contentment, happiness? Or am I dreading the day? Am I creative or am I exhausted? Can I see myself doing this indefinitely, or can I barely continue on for the next two months? This is more about fulfillment than “success.”
And I would rather be fulfilled (my own feeling) than successful, a definition that is usually based on some external metric decided by others. Of course, I can use tools like prioritizing my energy to achieve this “goal,” and listen to clues to guide me along the path!
Thanks for reading…would love to hear your comments!