Most business owners avoid their fears and hide, but not the mentally strong entrepreneur.
Sure you’ve heard that you should exercise your body every day, but what about your mind? How many of us purposely give our mind a good solid workout regularly?
For entrepreneurs, whose primary asset is their smarts and business acumen, it is as vital to building your mental fitness as your physical fitness.
Sure you can challenge your brain with crosswords but that is not the type of mental strength exercise that I’m discussing here. I am talking about the type of inner mental strength that will improve your ability to manage your thoughts and emotions to skyrocket your daily productivity.
1 - They fire their inner critic
If you have negative beliefs about your ability to succeed it can seriously hinder your progress. This type of failure thinking is often a self-fulfilling prophecy that eventually becomes your truth.
Instead of falling victim to this inner critic, give them the boot and fire them immediately!
The best way is to not ignore the negative thoughts, instead accept that they are present and actively do something more positive to counteract their depressing messages.
An example is to objectively look at a situation and see both sides, negative and positive, in a given scenario. Write down both the good and bad traits that you bring to the table.
Quickly, you will find that this written reality check will lessen your irrational negative talk and bring you more balance and confidence.
When you find personal flaws that are getting in the way of your business success, devise a plan to reduce them. Recently I found that my planning skills were not as strong as I needed for a new business launch, so I took a course on project management to improve this critical skill.
2 - They Say No
Recent studies of the traits of successful entrepreneurs noted that the level of difficulty a person has with saying no is related to higher than average levels of stress, burnout, and often serious depression.
The mentally strong don’t have issues with saying no, because they are aware that if they cannot say no, they won’t have time or energy to say yes to their own important goals.
Reframing the situation and seeing that saying yes to another’s requests, delays or eliminates your goals is often enough to change this self-defeating behavior.
A good way to practice saying no is to delay the request. Tell the person that you want to think about it for a day. By adding some delay time you usually will find lots of reasons to say no, or decide that the request is valid and you want to say yes. Then you can say yes and know that you have committed to an activity that supports your life and business goals.
3- They welcome pain
Mentally strong entrepreneurs know that pain is often the pathway to true progress. Just as the famous boxer, Muhammad Ali said that he did not start counting his sit-ups at the start of his workout, he only started once they started to hurt, because he knew those were the ones that built his strength beyond his present condition.
Business owners too face painful situations daily such as pitching new clients, calling customers for late payments, negotiating supplier discounts, and developing competitive strategies. The truly successful business owner faces the tough tasks head on because they know that gain comes after pain.
4 - They say thank you
To practice gratitude and shift your mindset to a more positive mode, write down at least 10 things you are thankful for each day. It will only take 10 minutes. The average person can list five easily, but the mentally fit entrepreneur stretch themselves to make a full list of ten items.
Try this at the start of your day. It will shift your mindset 180 degrees to a place where you are able to look at the world with more peace and power.
5 - They don’t blame others
Business people who are strong mentally don’t blame others for their problems or limitations.
Instead, they take full responsibility for the present situation and actions. By doing this they own their power and don’t give it away to other people.
Only when we are rigorously honest with ourselves can we move forward out of the problem and towards the solution. Blaming others keeps you stuck and fuels negative thinking.
Don’t expect to become mentally strong overnight. Work towards it each day with proactive and courageous actions and you will become a more resilient leader and a better entrepreneur.
Marsha Kelly sold her first business for more than a million dollars. She has shared hard-won experiences as a successful serial entrepreneur on her Best4Businesses blog http://best4businesses.com. Marsha also regularly posts business tips, ideas, and suggestions as well as product reviews for business readers. As a serial entrepreneur who has done "time" in corporate America, Marsha has learned what products and services really work well in business today. You can learn from her experiences from shopping the internet for tools, supplies, and information to build your businesses and improve lives financially.