“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. when you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” ― Arnold Schwarzenegger
Creating and running a successful business will demand just about everything from you. You will have to manage your time well, juggle a ton of commitments, be creative, innovative, aware of the competition, and so on.
It will feel like you are constantly putting out fires in order to keep things going. During the process, you will discover that very often, when obstacles rear their ugly heads and the possibility of failure looms over the horizon, you will need to have a strong resolve and a bulletproof mindset.
Running a successful business is not for the faint of heart or mind. The average person reading this may wonder, “But am I born with a strong mindset or do I build one?”
As with most things, it depends. Some people are naturally more determined and competitive than others. But everyone can train themselves to have grit and determination.
- Be aware of your goals and “your” why
Always be aware of why you started a business. What did you want?
Freedom? Bragging rights? Enough money to enjoy the trappings of wealth?
To give your children a life you never had?
There are no right or wrong answers. The only answer is the one that resonates with you. Your ‘why’ is the ultimate defining factor when it comes to strengthening your mind.
There are stories of moms who have fought off tigers or lifted extremely heavy objects when they needed to save a loved one. In normal situations, they would have never achieved these feats of impossibility.
But when their ‘why’ was urgent, they developed Herculean strength and got the job done. When you have clarity and know what you are working/fighting for, you will be able to dig deep and keep going. The sacrifices will be easier when the promise is clear.
Know your why and be aware of your goals – and your mindset will automatically become stronger.
2. Build momentum
Start off your day by doing the most important tasks first. Eliminate distractions and aim for maximum productivity. Avoid procrastination at all costs. It will make you lose belief in yourself and your mission.
Breaking out of inertia is one of the hardest things to do. So, once you gain momentum, you must keep going every single day. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
One of the keys to having a stronger mindset is knowing that you are doing the best you can. If you are slacking off here and there and not giving it your all, when the going gets tough, you may feel a twinge of guilt and blame yourself for not giving your best effort.
However, if you are on point every single day, you will know that you are capable and it does not matter what setback comes your way – you will overcome it through sheer persistence and willpower.
3. Watch your habits
We all have positive and negative habits. Write down all the habits which are helping you. Then write down the habits which are hurting you.
Next up, try and eliminate one negative habit at a time. Like Warren Buffet said, “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
By eliminating the negative habits, you will reduce the chances of you sabotaging yourself. For example, if you have the habit of scrolling on social media when you should be working on your business, you will be distracting yourself and wasting time.
Get rid of this negative habit and you will have more energy and time to focus on your business. There is also the mental edge that you will get knowing that you have eliminated a bad habit. This edge you get is EVERYTHING when it comes to strengthening your mindset.
The knowledge that you are in control and can overcome challenges is what gives you the courage and determination to develop a strong mindset forged from Bethlehem steel.
It always comes AFTER and not before. Therein lies the dilemma. You will need to work on improving yourself FIRST… and along the way, you will develop a strong mindset.
Affirmations, motivational books, gratitude journaling, and other techniques can help, but all are limited in efficacy.
To develop a strong mindset, you will need to fight several battles with yourself and overcome challenges first… and after that, you will develop a battle-hardened mind that can take on any challenge which comes your way. That is how it works.
