7 Beliefs Of Successful Entrepreneurs
Researchers have been trying to identify the ‘right’ kinds of beliefs for entrepreneurs, for quite a long time. They are measuring the beliefs of entrepreneurs, and how these beliefs affect the outcomes of their businesses.
Which beliefs correlate with entrepreneurial success?
And which beliefs correlate with failure?
My goal in this article will be for you to have a look at your own belief system, and to see whether or not it might be necessary for you to start questioning some of the beliefs that you currently hold.
As W. Somerset Maugham, a British novelist and playwright has said:
If you don’t change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?
Perhaps today is the day for your to start changing a belief that has been holding you back for years. But to do that, you need to take the first step — to recognise, that you need to change something.
1.“My primary focus is always on the factors that I can control”
Just imagine you are driving a car, and the whole time you keep thinking about other cars that might crash into you, or the engine which might blow up.
Not only would you be a nervous wreck, but you’d also probably be the one to end up not paying attention to the road, and crashing into another car.
Thinking about stuff outside of your control only does two things:
- It makes you anxious
2. It takes your attention away from the things that truly matter
Instead of focusing on the next single step of action that you can take to bring your business forward, you focus on all those things that could potentially go wrong.
As a result, you do nothing of any value.
Yes, the world can blow up tomorrow. The stock market can crash. Your factory can burn down. All your customers could decide to switch to your competitor.
A lot of things can happen.
And yes, these things might even force you change your plan.
But for the most part, it doesn’t make sense to focus on the factors that are outside of your control.
You can have a contingency plan for some realistically problematic scenarios in place — but your primary focus should always be on the next step you can take to turn your vision into reality.
2.“No matter how bad the circumstances, I am capable of finding a solution”
We all know that in building a business, a lot of thing will go wrong.
All the time.
Entrepreneurs who believe with all their heart, that they can handle any situation that comes up, will win. They have the necessary self-efficacy to remain calm in difficult situations, and to focus on finding a solution.
They perceive challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. They perceive failures as temporary setbacks — and as ultimately helping them to make their business stronger.
Nothing is stopping them from pushing forward.
When these people set goals, they do everything in their power to achieve these goals. When these people have put something in their minds, they allow nothing to distract them from achieving it.
They are constantly in forward motion. One day at a time.
3. “Risks are a necessary part of the process. I minimise them, but tackle them if needed”
Entrepreneurs are not extreme risk takers. They make a very clear analysis of the risks and the opportunities involved in regards to any given venture. If the potential rewards far outweigh the risks, they go for it.
If not, then they let it be.
Or, they find a way to mitigate the risk.
One of the most famous stories showing this is how Richard Branson approached the beginnings of Virgin Air. He leased his first planes in a way that he could always return them at no extra cost — if his business plan failed.
Entrepreneurs are not scared of taking risks. But they also don’t expose themselves to unnecessary risk, if they can avoid it. They don’t particularly enjoy risky situations, but they accept them as a necessary part of the process.
For them, risk is always part of a calculation.
A calculation about the potential benefits, and the potential losses that could result out of the consequences of taking that risk.
4. “I don’t let stress get a hold of myself. I use it to propel myself into action”
Being in an uncertain environment. Having a lot of money and resources to loose. Being forced to constantly work long hours. Experiencing change all the time. Having responsibility for others.
There are a lot of reasons why entrepreneurs face high levels of stress.
And yet, current research has come to interesting conclusions. Successful entrepreneurs are often suffering less from stress, as compared to other people.
Notice how I didn’t say that they experience less stress.
Rather, they suffer less from it.
They understand that there is a positive kind of stress and a negative kind of stress. The positive kind propels you into action, whereas the negative kind only makes you anxious and creates negative thoughts.
Successful entrepreneurs don’t allow stress to overcome them. Instead, they use the stress as a source of energy, which makes them work even harder.
5. “There is always something to experiment with- and new things to explore”
Curiosity and exploration are one of the most important entrepreneurial traits. There is always a better way. there is always room for improvement. there is always some new idea to test.
Entrepreneurs believe in the value of continuous experimentation.
They are never satisfied with the status quo. They never think that something is good enough. They never stop trying to find new problems-, and new ways of solving them.
This doesn’t mean that successful entrepreneurs are not committed to one single course of action.
Exploration can easily happen within the boundaries of the domain in which they operate.
What it does mean, is that for them…
… there is always room for growth.
… there is always value to create.
… there is always potential to go forward.
6. “When a situation is unclear or ambiguous, there is always a way for me to improvise”
Entrepreneurs need to act quickly and decisively. When they are in a situation where there is no clarity (e.g. due to a lot of unknown factors , they immediately start trying to find a solution.
They always strive to understand the situation, and take control over it. They focus on acquiring the necessary information, learning as much as they possibly can, and bringing light into the unknown step by step.
Entrepreneurs are not afraid of highly complex challenges.
In fact, they thrive within them.
They believe that every single challenge they face, is taking them closer towards the achievement of their goals.
7. “No matter how hard I get knocked down, I will get up”
No matter how many of their businesses fail, successful entrepreneurs will go at it again. No matter how disastrous their situation seems to be, entrepreneurs will always keep moving towards their goals.
Resilience is one of the key attributes of successful entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs know that nothing ever works at the first attempt. They know that in order to make something difficult happen, they have to keep going at it over and over again.
They don’t allow themselves to be discouraged by the obstacles they face along the way. Regardless of how many trials it takes, they will go for it again and again.
Entrepreneurs push forward through sheer willpower.
When everybody else thinks that there is no way of doing something, they keep going nonetheless. They believe that it is always possible to find a solution, regardless of how dire the situation may seem.
No matter what, they make the most out of whatever little resources they have.
Conclusion:
In order to succeed as an entrepreneur, you will need to build the belief system of one. In some cases, this may require you to change the way in which you are looking at the world.
Here are the seven most important factors:
- The belief that you have complete control over your life and business
- The belief that you can solve any problem that will arise
- The belief that taking moderate risks is necessary
- The belief that stress can help you increase your performance
- The belief that exploration and experimentation is a never-ending aspect of business
- The belief that you can handle highly complex- and ambiguous situations
- The belief that you can always recover from any problems, and that you can always keep pushing foward
Finally, here is what you need to ask yourself:
Which of these beliefs is currently not a part of your worldview? Which of these beliefs are you not living on a daily basis?
What steps can you take, to integrate these beliefs into your daily decision-making?
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