What does it really take to be a successful entrepreneur or business owner? There are obvious things: a vision, a plan, a customer-base, a supportive bank. But at the heart of every start-up is an actual human heart. In a world obsessed with quick-start templates and flashy methodologies, it is tempting to become distracted by the how-to mechanics of the “Five Easy Steps to Instantly Start a Wildly Successful Business” and lose sight of embodying the qualities necessary to follow those five easy steps. It’s worthwhile to remember that while methodology matters, substance is everything.
Part One: Grit
Grit has become a buzz word of late, but what does it look like in the day-to-day operations of your business? It’s easy to get philosophical about what it means to have grit, but a more impactful way to challenge your grit quotient is to assess ways you have personally actualized perseverance and resilience. Reflect on moments in your life when you decided to dig deep and finish the job to absolute completion. What low moments did you face? What drove you forward?
One of the most effective techniques for developing perseverance is manifestation. Your mind is a powerful tool in manifesting what you desire. Try visualizing the moment immediately after you smash through a proverbial brick wall. More importantly, feel the satisfaction of the moment your hard-fought perseverance pays off. The most important element of manifestation is to experience the feeling of triumph after you have mastered the challenge, not the process of navigating through the challenge.
This manifestation technique is used by karate experts exhibiting the enviable, superhuman ability to punch through a stack of bricks. These masters of visualization do not focus their attention on the middle of the bricks they wish to break through. Instead, they move their visualization beyond that point and focus on the space behind the bricks where they ultimately intend for their fist to land. That endpoint is where they concentrate their energy, which eliminates the “try” aspect of this seemingly impossible task. There is no “try” when your mind lives in a reality where the bricks have already been broken. Consider removing try from your vocabulary and watch the bricks crumble.
But what if the bricks don’t break? This is when resiliency plays a key role in determining the ultimate outcome of your efforts. Double down on your intentions and refocus your energy on the result. After all, you didn’t come this far to only go this far.
When faced with a seemingly hopeless business challenge, the Mobius team gathered around the conference table. The bleakness of the situation was palpable. All of us were tired and frustrated. There were f-words, eye drops, and some rage eating. It was a big, big mood. We allowed ourselves the space to be disappointed. As we began discussing the problems we faced and the unlikelihood of success, we could not help but ruminate on how imperative this objective was to our long-term success.
As we talked through how important this particular endeavor could be for the future of our company and how badly we wanted to accomplish this goal, something began to shift. We could not talk ourselves into giving up. Glimmers of hope emerged as we reformulated our strategy. We hashed out a new plan and concluded that this was the single, most important undertaking we had across all our internal initiatives. “We’re going to do one thing,” became the battle cry. We shifted schedules and reshuffled priorities, making this one thing the absolute focus of our collective energy and time. It became The One Thing. It was as if this bundle of collective energy was an unstoppable force. It became bigger than any one of us, or any challenge we faced.
Although it took many more months of hard work, we accomplished the One Thing. The impact of accomplishing the One Thing had a long-lasting ripple effect across our company and team; it became the catalyst that propelled us forward, and we built upon our success, brick by brick. It was a testament and tribute to the power of our individual and combined grit, making the One Thing a real and resounding anchor point in our business story.
Cultivating your own business can be incredibly rewarding, especially when you look back and appreciate the grit you embodied along the way. Grit is the bedrock on which to build the foundation of your business. So get gritty.
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In my next installment, I’ll expand upon Part II: Gratitude, and Part III: Google, two other key components of success that every entrepreneur needs to know.