Imagine an epic obstacle course designed to measure your mental fitness. Could your brain make it to the end in one piece?
Hey Moguls, Chris Clothier here. If you’re an entrepreneur looking to succeed, you’re going to need the kind of mental toughness that could fly through that obstacle course in record time.
Sometimes success involves taking advantage of failure, like I explained in my last lesson, which you can (and should) read here. That kind of mentality is exactly my point today—you’ve got to be mentally tough to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship.
What Is Mental Toughness?
Mental toughness is:
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resilience
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confidence
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grit
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drive
It’s the mentality that you’re just not going to be denied in the end.
This kind of thinking is the foundation for long-term success. Entrepreneurs are faced with daily challenges, and you’ll only be able to work through those challenges if you’re mentally tough.
If you want your business to be around in 5 or 10 years, you need a different type of thinking...
You need to be committed to being the 1 in 100 who made it. You need the work ethic and the mental toughness to push through and overachieve.
It’s mental toughness that separates the great from the average.
“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”
A Practical Example
A colleague of mine describes this mentality with his own story of making payroll...
He started his business with 20 employees, and 2 weeks after he started he had to make payroll for himself and all those employees. And to make payroll he needed sales. He had to get out there and get it done or it was going to impact his employees.
New business owners get mentally tough really quickly in situations like that—making sure all those people get a paycheck is a BIG responsibility. And once you make payroll, there’s no time to sit around congratulating yourself, because you need to make payroll again in just 2 more weeks.
All of this requires a different mindset.
You need to create sales, make room to pay your vendors, pay your employees… and still make a profit.
It requires mental toughness.
This mentality isn’t about being stressed or pressured all the time. There’s definitely satisfaction in watching your business succeed. But to see that happen, you need to be tough-minded.
Being an entrepreneur is not for the weak.
“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.”
~Bill Russell
They’re Everywhere
You can find examples of this sort of mental toughness everywhere...
In the sports world, greats like Nick Saban and Bill Belichick have that old school grind—do whatever it takes. And now there are young new coaches who need to be mentally tough to deal with all the data, the evaluation, the personnel.
In business, leaders like Zig Ziglar and Dale Carnegie talk about these principles and how to put them into practice. And new entrepreneurs and leaders are talking about how to develop this mental toughness in the market today.
Bottom line?
There is no magic pill for success. But with hard work and the right mindset, success is rght around the corner.
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
~Babe Ruth
Your Take
How have you seen successful entrepreneurs display mental toughness? How have you used your own mental fitness to succeed? Let me know below.
1. Commit to doing whatever it takes to succeed.
2. Plan and then stick with your plan to grow your business.
3. Don’t settle—go above and beyond in order to reach your dreams.
Chris Clothier
owns and operates three multi-million dollar a year marketing brands including 1-800-SELL-NOW, Find Cash Buyers NOW and Find Private Lenders NOW; each brand, under the REI Marketing umbrella, is designed to help real estate investors and agents reach a specific marketing niche.