Our five Essential Traits for Entrepreneurial Excellence are: Work Hard, Work Smart, Stay Humble, Serve Others, and Stay Hungry!
We have featured the entrepreneurial wisdom of MJ Gottlieb in several columns. His business partner Gary O’Neil recently shared some advice on how we can all up our game to the point of excellence. MJ and Gary inspire us every day to hang in there, work hard, and stay focused.
Excellence begins with belief. It is one of the seven Non-Negotiables of our company, Fishbowl, and Gary nails why it is essential to achieve excellence and mastery in your chosen profession in this statement:
“If repetition is the mother of mastery, then belief must be the mother of achievement,” he says. “Like most things in life, we won’t take action in anything if we don’t believe in it. So the million-dollar question becomes how do we strengthen our belief system – the rules that our brains play by to get us to move and do?”
Here are the traits that Gary believes will transform everyday entrepreneurs into super-achievers:
1. Shape Your Reality, Shape Your Life
Perceptions undoubtedly shape what we consider to be real or unreal. In many cases we focus on limiting beliefs that hold us back from achieving who we want to be and where we want to go. Comfort zones are like comfort foods, where we have control and understand the outcomes.
But in order for us to grow and achieve new things, we have to live outside of what we know and seek a greater reality that we may not yet understand. In order to shape our lives, we must confront and fix our belief system. That’s where it all starts. So what’s the secret to it all, you may ask?
This quote from Socrates is a great way to look at it: “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
In many respects we will always be tied to things that have been imprinted on our brains since childhood. It will be next to impossible to get rid of those beliefs entirely. The best way to start changing your perspective is to build new ones in areas that are limiting your ability to progress.
2. Expand Your Possibilities and Relentlessly Visualize Your Achievement
In order to break down specific limiting beliefs, you need to discover why you deserve what you’re trying to achieve. Possibilities are often thought of because we see other people accomplishing them. A famous example of this is the long-distance runner Roger Bannister, who was the first runner to break the 4-minute mile barrier. This “evidence” provided people with the possibility it could be done. Within a year of his setting the record, 24 other people broke the 4-minute mark. Once it was done, more people believed they could do it as well. These runners didn’t lack the physical ability to do it before Bannister, but they lacked the faith.
Bannister relentlessly visualized the achievement in order to create a state of absolute certainty in his mind. Reaching any worthwhile goal entails some discomfort. During your journey, stress, pain, and setbacks are bound to occur, but strong visualization builds an unbreakable level of certainty – an unyielding belief that you will be successful regardless of the circumstances. As Bannister himself put it, “The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.”
3. Break Down Barriers and Move Beyond Fear
If life was easy, we would all be successful at everything we do. Mental barriers are tough to break down, but that’s where winners thrive. Once you believe you can do it, what is left are barriers you create. Most are imaginary, but nonetheless real to us. When these barriers hinder us, we need to do some real soul-searching to remove them. It’s that place that allows us to be real with ourselves – where we de-clutter and regain our focus. We don’t allow negativity to build a wall between us and what we’re trying to achieve.
It seems like fear runs amok in so many aspects of our lives. It’s natural to be fearful – we all experience at times. So if we can’t get rid of it entirely, what do we do? Manage it the best we can, or expose ourselves to it gradually. Think about jumping into a cold pool. Some may jump right in – fearless. Others may start with their toe, then their foot, until they’re completely submerged. Even if they can only beat the fear in small doses, they beat their fear – and that is all that counts.
4. Prepare to Be Confident
Great athletes are confident in themselves because they have dedicated relentless hours to their craft. This rule should apply to you, too. No matter what you’re trying to achieve, learn it up and down so you’ll build the necessary confidence and certainty in tackling the challenges you’ll face.
5. What Gets Measured Gets Done
Specific goals should have specific time limits. The longer you let something run, the less likely it will ever happen. Motivation and progress decrease and the belief you will actually make it happen will turn to dust. Like the old saying goes, “A goal without a measurable outcome is just a pipedream.”
Don’t be afraid to share your goals with friends and family so they can provide support and advice, and you can use that as fuel and a reminder of what you are trying to achieve.
Set high expectations for yourself. A lot of the great successes we see come out of the necessity to make dramatic changes in our lives. If your goals are too easily attainable or small, your motivation may wane because you’re already close to achieving it.
Most importantly, begin today. Dale Carnegie says, “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”
We’ll end with one more quote from Gary O’Neil, “Win the small battles because eventually they will add up, and before you know it you will have won the war! Work hard, work smart, stay hungry.”
Additional reporting for this article was provided by Mary Michelle Scott, Fishbowl President. The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning is available from Amazon and additional training content is offered at www.7nns.com and www.fishbowlworkforce.com
