I've said it before, and I'll remind you (and me!) many more times: your identity isn't determined by the success or failure of your company, book, nonprofit, or whatever you're pouring yourself into. Yet entrepreneurs get messages from every direction that suggest otherwise. A customer leaves a bad review and we take it personally. Someone else raises a round and suddenly we feel behind. We hear “no” more times than we can count in one week and start to think we're the problem. Imagine how much energy that costs us. When your worth is settled and your identity is secure, you can build from an entirely different place. And oddly enough, when we stop trying to prove ourselves, we're free to attempt things we might never have had the courage to try.