Business is difficult but having the 'business mindset' and building resilience can help to make aspects of your business and areas of life, more manageable. What is a ‘business mindset’? There's more to having a business-oriented mindset than just being a good salesperson. There are many aspects to it, to give you an idea of what’s required.
Let’s slow down for a moment…
It’s not just about making aspects of the business easier, having a business-oriented mindset can help you in your personal life too as many of the skills required to have the business mindset are universal and will help you to create more balance in your life, prioritize what's important to you, and stay motivated to reach your personal and ultimately your business goals. It’s a win, win.
Resilience is the capacity to withstand, recover from and quickly resolve difficulties.
When it comes to business, and even just life in general, building resilience is an essential part of having the mindset needed for success in your daily challenges. The table below should help to give you an idea of how the skills and attributes we’re talking about are transferable and the various ways in which adopting these can benefit you.
Mindset Attribute | How This Can Help in Business | How This Can Help In Your Personal Life |
|---|---|---|
Resourcefulness | Finding creative solutions to problems; reducing costs or increasing revenue | Overcoming Personal Challenges And Obstacles; Finding Ways To Reduce Expenses |
Risk-taking | Seizing new opportunities; gaining a competitive advantage | Taking Calculated Risks In Personal Life; Trying New Things And Stepping Out Of Comfort Zone |
Communication | Effectively communicating with stakeholders; building and maintaining relationships | Improving Personal Relationships; Resolving Conflicts Effectively |
Work ethic | Commitment to excellence and getting things done efficiently | Achieving personal goals; developing self-discipline and time-management skills |
Resilience | Withstanding, recovering from, and quickly resolving difficulties | Overcoming personal setbacks; staying positive and persevering through challenges |
Flexibility | Adapting to changing circumstances; staying nimble and agile | Coping with changes in personal life; learning to adjust to new situations |
What do Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Oprah Winfrey all have in common? Aside from the obvious answer of wealth, all three individuals have demonstrated over time, through their businesses and successes that they all share common but effective business mindset attributes.
- Elon Musk - Tesla founder, Musk is known for his tenacity and unwavering commitment to his goals. Despite facing numerous setbacks and challenges throughout his career, he has resiliently and consistently pushed forward, believing in his vision and his ability to achieve it.
- Richard Branson - The founder of Virgin Group, Branson is known for his risk-taking and willingness to step outside of his comfort zone and has always been known to be willing to take bold risks in pursuit of his business goals and this shows in the diversity of his businesses.
- Oprah Winfrey - Media mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey is known for her strong rapport-building skills and ability to connect with her audience, as well as her focus on positivity and personal growth.
All of these individuals have shown throughout their careers that they share the same core attributes in relation to business and life:
- Visionary thinking: They have a clear vision of what they want to achieve and are able to communicate that vision to others.
- Risk-taking: They’re willing to take calculated risks and make bold moves to pursue their goals.
- Resilience: They’ve all faced setbacks and failures, but they have been able to bounce back and continue to move forward in the face of adversity.
- Flexibility: They’re able to adapt to changing circumstances and pivot their strategies when necessary.
- Work ethic: They’ve all demonstrated a strong work ethic and commitment to their goals, putting in long hours and sacrificing personal time in pursuit of success.
By embodying these attributes, these business owners have been able to build resilience and achieve their goals.
Business isn’t just about success
I’ve always preferred to look at ‘failure’ less in the literal sense and more as an opportunity for success in life and business. Failure can be a daunting experience and can put many entrepreneurs that would otherwise be successful in their ventures off from even getting started in the first place. It can be useful to think of failure as a tool, and a valuable one in providing you with the opportunity for growth, learning and continuous improvement. Failure is inevitable in just about any part of life, for everyone. It’s an unhealthy approach, to simply try and avoid failure at all costs as it’s such a valuable source for learning and development. Take failure and use it to develop a pro-active approach to dealing with its root cause to prevent reoccurrence. It all helps to grow, develop and continuously improve.
Burnout
Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion that can be caused by a variety of factors including workload and chronic stress. Burnout is probably best known for reducing performance in employees but what’s lesser known is that it can also lead to feelings of detachment, cynicism, and pessimism.
Taking breaks and disconnecting from work is essential for avoiding burnout and maintaining your overall well-being. It's easy to become consumed by work, but it's important to remember that a healthy work-life balance is necessary for your long-term success and happiness.
One of the best ways to find a work-life balance is to set boundaries and honour your break time. Establish clear approaches for when you'll be working, and when you'll be taking time off, whether these are in relation to your breaks during the day or more meaningful time away from your desk, perhaps over a few days or weeks.
Shifting the focus to resilience
Building resilience is crucial for anyone because setbacks and challenges are inevitable, building resilience will help you overcome and recover from these more quickly. Here are some key ways to build resilience, starting right now:
- Practice self-care: Taking care of your physical and mental health is crucial to building resilience. Exercise regularly, eat well, get enough sleep, and find ways to manage stress, such as through mindfulness and meditation.
- Cultivate a growth mindset: A growth mindset is a belief that your abilities and intelligence can be developed through hard work and dedication. This mindset helps you to view challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
- Seek support: No one can go it alone. Having a strong support network of friends, family, mentors, and colleagues can help you navigate challenges and build resilience.
- Learn from failure: Failure is an inevitable part of business, but it can also be a valuable learning experience. Take time to reflect on what went wrong, what you could have done differently, and how you can apply those lessons to future challenges.
- Stay positive: A positive attitude can help you maintain resilience during difficult times. Focus on the things that are going well, express gratitude for what you have, and look for opportunities to learn and grow.
- Be flexible. Be willing to change your plans when necessary and adapt to changing circumstances. This will help you stay on track and make better decisions.
- Believe in yourself. Believe that you can achieve your goals, no matter how difficult they may seem. Remind yourself of your strengths and abilities and stay positive.
Mindfulness, Meditation and Resilience
One way to cultivate a resilient mindset is by practicing mindfulness and meditation. They’re great ways for helping to manage stress, staying focused on goals, and developing a generally more positive outlook on life as a whole.
Mindfulness is the practice of being present and fully engaged in the present moment. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to help people become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, and can also help them develop a greater sense of calm and inner peace.
Meditation is a more formal process but is equally if not more powerful than mindfulness alone. It’s a process that involves reflection, breath work, commitment and practice to be done correctly but like mindfulness, this has been proven throughout history to be an incredibly powerful way to reduce stress, anxiety, raise self-awareness and increase resilience.
Mindfulness and meditation are powerful tools for building resilience, especially when used in conjunction with one another.
Conclusion
Building resilience can be a challenging and sometimes isolating process, but seeking out mentorship and learning from the experiences of others can give business owners a strategic edge. A mentor is someone who can provide guidance, support, and wisdom to build resilience in your business and your personal life.
Learning from the experiences of others is incredibly valuable. Reading books and articles, attending workshops and conferences, and seeking out advice from experts can all help you build to build your overall resilience and business mindset to help set you up for success, in whatever you do.
