The monthly editorial is the final piece of content that is written to bring everything sweetly together under one theme. Usually, it all comes together smoothly but this month we hit an editorial snag. A rumble of discontent was heard around the Catalyst team wrapping up the issue. The question “Arent you tired of all the inspirational content and positive news?” brought a vigorous nodding of heads, followed by some joking and irreverent comments.

Let’s be real here, everyone gets tired of being positive all the time because life just isn’t like that. As leaders we are generally blessed with an excess of positive genes, resilient personalities and never-say-die attitude, but we also suffer from Monday-itis and Is it Friday yet? blues.

So, this is the edition where we acknowledge and deal with the fact that business isn’t always fun, leadership isn’t always easy and mere mortals can only survive a limited number of Zoom calls before they reach for the sick note or complain that “My camera’s not working” or “Gosh, my internet is a problem”.

In preparation for this editorial, I did some quick internet research, asking Google: “Why is life so hard?” (347 000 results) and “Why is business so hard?” (31 million results), which was immediately gratifying to realise that choosing to be an entrepreneur is 10 million times harder than just living life. Us entrepreneurs do love to win a race.

Next, I queried “Why do we love bad news stories?” and got a massive 40 million results. In contrast, “How to grow your business” only yielded a miserable 702 000 results. It seems that as a global population we are far more interested in lapping up bad news than we are in seeking the skills and inspiration to get ahead.

It seems, therefore, that if you want to get ahead of the 40 million that wallow in bad news you only have to be one of the 700 000 that apply yourself to finding, mastering and applying new skills. And that, is what this edition and this publication is all about.

In this issue you will find out how to make money when starting a business, learn about the enemies of growth and how you can conquer them, and where leaders get the best ideas. You will also find inspiration in Guy Raz’s book How I Built This as well as tips to navigate Zoom life.

This edition has what you need not just to survive in business, but to thrive as well.