The Mindset of a Hustler
There are many entrepreneurs that inspire me and I love watching interviews, where they share their stories. There are many lessons to be learned from entrepreneurs, from people in the startup world, from people who saw a problem and got so passionate about it that they found a solution that exploded into a massive success.So why not look to the entrepreneurs for inspiration, even when we do not aspire to become entrepreneurs ourselves. They have a certain way of thinking about things and reacting to the world around them, that we can easily take and apply to our own everyday lives, regardless of where we are and what we do.
Fail and try again
Many of us are so afraid to fail, to look stupid and to not get the result we wanted. Not entrepreneurs. Their default is trying, failing, trying again, failing, trying again, failing. On and on until they catch on to something. This persistence and drive is often what leads to success down the road. You will never know if you never tried and most of the time you are not going to get it right the first time. Maybe next time you find yourself afraid and excited at the same time, try asking, “What is the worst thing that can happen?”
Get curious
When things go wrong though, it is not necessarily enough to just do the same thing again. Sometimes you will need to adjust, to rethink and to get curious about what went wrong. Maybe your approach was off. Maybe there were some assumptions you did not test. Maybe you have yet to find the actual root cause of the problem. This is an encouragement to not get scared away by the failures but to get drawn in. As Tom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, said, “Fail often so you can succeed sooner”.
Get comfortable in the uncomfortable
To do anything new and different there is always going to be a level of discomfort. We might often let ourselves be stopped by this discomfort, but that makes it really hard to try something new and really grow your skills and yourself. We try all the time to avoid discomfort, but entrepreneurs lean into the discomfort. They understand that the discomfort, the fear, and your heart beating faster means that there is something interesting there. There is something to learn, something to grow from. Brain Tracy, bestselling author and entrepreneur, reminds us to “move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”
Entrepreneurs are just human beings. They make mistakes, they also have bad days and most importantly they also doubt themselves all the time, even after success, money and fame. The most important thing to take from entrepreneurs is that we rarely lose anything from trying. Mostly there is just something to gain. An experience, a lesson, new information, a friend, an opportunity. 2018 might be a good year for using a bit of entrepreneurial spirit to try something new!
