Entrepreneurship will throw challenge after challenge at you, but it’s possible to power through successfully.
BY FAISAL HOQUE | Oct 8, 2014
Also featured in LinkedIn Pulse Entrepreneurship & Small Business| Nov 9 2014
Nellie Bowles, in an article on Re/Code, writes about the tragic suicides of three entrepreneurs involved in The Downtown Project in Las Vegas.
Their stories show the potentially extreme isolation and psychological impact of entrepreneurship.
Although the buzz about entrepreneurship continues to grow, in reality, more than 70% of ventures fail. Most entrepreneurs make a lot less money than if they worked for someone else. The road to success is often long and lonely — brutal hours, massive amounts of stress, and a huge amount of personal sacrifice. And in some cases, failure takes an unimaginable toll, such as ending one’s life.
I believe we need much more conversation about the psychological makeup and impact of entrepreneurship.
So, let’s first summarize why would anyone want to become an entrepreneur?
To survive: They have no other choice.
To pursue a dream: They want to fulfill their personal and/or financial dreams.
To make a difference: They want to make a difference, to do something that has a positive and long-lasting impact.
Those who survive and ultimately thrive in their entrepreneurial journeys have one thing in common: It’s called “grit.” It is the courage, the resiliency, and the power within each of them — not the circumstances outside — that keeps them moving. This is the topic of the next book I’m coauthoring with Lydia Dishman.
Angela Duckworth, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and her colleagues in their research define grit as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” It’s now believed to be the most important trait of successful people, and Duckworth writes that “the gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina.”
I believe grit is an attitude; it’s your belief that you can conquer anything. It’s not giving up, nor giving in. It’s the ability to go from days to weeks to months to years to reach your destination as you define it. To me GRIT stands for:
Gut
Resiliency
Inventiveness
Tenacity
Trusting your gut
Gut refers to instinct. It’s the ability to jump into something based on your feelings without knowing all the facts. It’s how we tap into our subconscious mind to guide ourselves.
When something is right, the choice often becomes strangely easy. It feels natural; you are not forcing it; there is not a lot of conflict. When something is not right, if you are really tuned in to yourself, your body reacts to it. You feel it in your stomach.
The trick is to develop “guts,” the courage to trust yourself to choose the right path. Every time I have failed, it started with me going against my gut. Like anything else, trusting your gut comes from awareness, devotion, and confidence. In this case it is your emotional self.
Read the entire article @BusinessInsider.
image: The 621st Contingency Response Wing/flickr
