A Close Look at the Entrepreneurial Mindset: Is This You?
Why have you chosen to become an entrepreneur?
Is it that the 9-t0-5 lifestyle doesn’t agree with you, that your creative energies wither and die when you are forced to work in a cubicle?
Or is it something larger than that? A dream, perhaps, of enriching the world in ways never before imagined? An idea that you just know will alter the course of history and make life better for millions?
“I Just Want to Be My Own Boss!”
Maybe you just want to be your own boss. You bristle whenever anyone tells you what to do, especially if that someone is obviously not as smart as you.
Other entrepreneurs feel the same way, as you’ll read here.
A Passion for Excellence
Or it could be that you are determined to do the work you know in your heart you are meant to do, no matter what it takes. Whether you get paid well for it or not, you are interested in the process.
You care more about how you spend your time and about how your mind and body are engaged in your work than you do about any other thing. And if you should happen to be paid well for what you do, that’s a bonus.
As Steve Jobs said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
If this is your attitude, most likely you are—or will be—paid well for what you do, because loving what you do leads to excellence, and excellence is still valued in this world.
But It’s Not All Fun and Games
Whatever your initial motivation, you’ve likely since discovered that being an entrepreneur involves lots of hard work, long hours, inevitable failures—and the occasional thrill of a win.
Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs
Successful entrepreneurs have several qualities in common. Among them are confidence, creativity, determination, independence, a thirst for knowledge, a penchant for building relationships and an insatiable drive to promote themselves and their latest venture. Read more about successful entrepreneurs’ shared qualities here.
Most would agree that, above all, entrepreneurs are risk-takers.
Moderation in All Things
Some would even argue that entrepreneurs’ best qualities can be their Achilles heel, as you can read in this article, because anything taken to the extreme can cause a problem.
As a matter of fact, entrepreneurs who have taken things too far share some of the same qualities as people who have become addicted to gambling, including symptoms of withdrawal when they try to take a day off from the stresses of their work.
While there’s nothing wrong with gambling for fun and relaxation, gambling can become a problem when gamblers take risks they can’t afford to take and continue to gamble despite the consequences.
In the same way, entrepreneurs who focus all of their attention and energy on their latest business ventures at the expense of their relationships and even their health may suddenly realize one day that their lives are out of balance.
In addition, there is some research that has shown that entrepreneurs are more likely than people in the general population to develop mental health disorders. If you are preoccupied for most or all of your waking hours with your latest business venture and you just can’t seem to think of anything else, you may have slipped into this state.
Get Help if You Need It
If think you might have taken things a little too far in the wrong direction, find out more here. To learn more about behavioral addictions in general, click here. And if you think you or someone you love needs help, click here to find out more.
However, most entrepreneurs are just dedicated people, and their fine focus on their business is just that and not an unhealthy obsession. They are simply calculated risk takers, not gamblers.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Moderation in all things, especially moderation.”
This world needs innovators and entrepreneurs, now more than ever, so run with your passion, you brave entrepreneur, you, and someday the rest of us may thank you for it.
