Entrepreneur and podcaster Matt Haycox has lived via highs and lows that will check anybody. He’s constructed multi-million–pound firms, raised tons of of tens of millions in finance to assist UK companies, and employed 1000’s of individuals. He’s additionally needed to decide up the items greater than as soon as when companies collapsed and the type of adversity most would shrink back from got here straight at him.
However ask him what defines him, and he gained’t say the cash or the setbacks. For Haycox, an important factor is staying unapologetically himself. “I do know after I’m not being true to who I’m — and I hate it. Stress has a means of forcing individuals to placed on masks, however that’s by no means been me. I’m me, for higher or worse. The individuals who get it, get it. And I’d somewhat be actual than polished.”
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Selecting optimism when it’s hardest
That authenticity goes hand in hand with optimism, which Haycox describes not as a character trait, however as a deliberate alternative.
“Some individuals confuse optimism with ignoring issues or pretending the whole lot’s nice in a state of delusion, however it’s not that in any respect.
For me it’s a mindset and ensuring you’re simply controlling what you may management. In case you go into something in life fearing the worst, it may well turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, however as soon as that – that it additionally works the opposite means too.
I’m an enormous believer in taking motion and making certain that your subsequent transfer is a constructive one, led by a constructive thought, nevertheless small step one is.
I discover momentum can turn into unstoppable when you get the ball rolling in the correct course.”
Entrepreneur and investor Haycox, 44, admits he’s had what he calls “years from hell,” when the partitions had been closing in and the stress felt overwhelming. However every of these battles, he says, left him sharper and extra decided.
“Each struggle I’ve come via has made me stronger, extra bold, and extra centered on what issues.
I wouldn’t want powerful instances on anybody, however I wouldn’t commerce mine both. They formed me.”
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Why well being now comes earlier than enterprise
A part of that optimism, he believes, comes from taking good care of himself bodily. Haycox is understood by his followers for placing as a lot give attention to his well being as on his enterprise.
“That is one thing that I’ve realized to like and prioritise extra as I become old, however for me now it’s all the time physique first, then head, then circumstances. Repair your physique, repair your thoughts, and then you definately’ve given your self half an opportunity of fixing what’s occurring round you.”
That philosophy reveals up in his every day routines — coaching, eating regimen, self-discipline — and within the excessive challenges he takes on. Earlier this 12 months, he climbed Mount Everest, an expertise he describes not as a stunt however as coaching for resilience. He did it alongside Ant Middleton, the media character and former Particular Forces soldier. The 2 first related via Haycox’s podcast, and he credit Middleton’s elite mindset with sharpening his personal method to overcoming challenges.
“I f—ing hate the consolation zone. That’s the place individuals stagnate and ambition dies. The good things’s all the time on the opposite facet of the dragon. If you would like the gold, you’ve bought to slay it! Everest was simply one other solution to show to myself that I can tackle troublesome challenges, however well being could be very a lot a key a part of my life now.”
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Classes from the wealthy and profitable
Haycox doesn’t simply draw classes from his personal life. For the previous eight years, he’s hosted a weekly enterprise podcast, with over 700 conversations recorded with celebrities, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, self-made millionaires, even members of the Royal Household.
“The small print of their journeys are all completely different, however the sample is all the time the identical — no person’s had it straightforward.
And the individuals who succeed on the highest degree aren’t those who keep away from issues. They’re those who keep optimistic and hold shifting ahead, it doesn’t matter what. Anybody on the prime of their recreation needs to be snug with issues going fallacious, and that’s most likely the principle distinction that units them aside. There’s a consolation in figuring out that f—ing up is inevitable for everybody, irrespective of how nicely you put together.
It’s a case of constructing positive it’s used to study and develop stronger.”
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When success means serving to others
That philosophy has had an influence past enterprise. Haycox frequently hears from individuals who’ve engaged together with his content material — typically in moments of actual despair.
“I’ve had messages from individuals saying one thing I mentioned or posted has helped them via a darkish time or my story has been in a position to present a constructive route ahead, when they may not have seen it earlier than.
It’s humbling when individuals say you’ve been in a position to assist, and it does assist put issues in perspective.”
It’s this human facet of entrepreneurship that Haycox says drives him right now. “I do know what it’s like when the challenges really feel insufferable. I understand how shut individuals can get to giving up.
If my story or my voice could make somebody really feel much less alone in that second, or assist them discover the energy to maintain going, then I’ve accomplished one thing that issues.”
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Fatherhood and a recent perspective
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Turning into a father for the second time has additionally given him a brand new perspective. “It does change the way you see the world. After all I nonetheless wish to win, I’m nonetheless extraordinarily bold, however I do suppose extra about what I’m passing on, and the relationships I’ve with my household.
That’ll all the time be extra necessary than any quantity in a checking account.”
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Staying true, it doesn’t matter what
For Haycox, it all the time comes again to being actual. “I’ve had large wins and large losses. I’ve lived via storms most individuals can’t think about. However none of it has ever made me wish to cease being me. Stress, negativity — they’re actual, however they don’t outline me. I outline me. And I’ll all the time select to remain true to who I’m, and to be optimistic about what’s subsequent.”
It’s exhausting to not see him because the embodiment of that outdated saying: powerful instances don’t final, powerful individuals do. And if his previous is something to go by, Haycox’s subsequent chapter would possibly simply be probably the most compelling but.