10 Successful mantras of entrepreneurs

Being a successful entrepreneur takes time, patience and resilience.

A famous line which can resonate with many, is that “running a successful business is a lot like losing weight; the principles are simple but the practice is difficult.” In an attempt to get inside the mindset of the current successful entrepreneur, I did some research into what mantras they follow, what has made them tick and what they challenge to repeat every single day.

Why should you live by any mantras? Because, that’s what gets your house in order. Success is a moving target and so instead of trying to chase a moving target, here are the 10 success mantra you can implement. Here are my top 10 finds from the research carried out:

No.1: Stop comparing yourself to others

One of the most important things for a successful mindset is being able to look at your own strengths, and see your true value. It’s actually one of the keys to success, because without this ability, you will be unmotivated, and won’t believe in yourself.

There’s a nice saying which goes “don’t compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20” Everyone has a different journey. We are all unique.  One day may be great – the next may be more difficult. Life is not easy, your path may have bumps – but focus on yourself & not those around you.

The biggest competition for you today is your yesterday.

Apart from that when you compare with others, you will try to be someone else instead of being yourself.

No.2: Less is more

Micro-managing and trying to be involved too much in everything is a disaster. It effects your productivity, creativity and causes a lot more stress than you’d anticipate. Figure out what matters most. It doesn’t matter what scale your business is at, there are things that matters the most. Figure those out. Spend the time on what matters most and try avoiding the things that doesn’t make an impact.

As an entrepreneur there can be so many social media websites where you can focus your marketing efforts and it could be that none of them are working for you or all of them are just working for you.

Drop all but one marketing channels and focus all your time, energy and money on that one channel. Focus on being best at it and once mastered move over to the next one.

Take one step at a time and aim for less. Channelize all your time and effort in one direction.

No 3: Be both a doer and a marketer

As an entrepreneur you have to have an attitude to serve before you are being served. Successful entrepreneurs are joy carriers bringing a bold spirit to all they influence. They think positively, assume success, and work with a clear vision of what they want to be, not what just what they have to do. Spirit is not inherited, acquired or borrowed.

Successful entrepreneurs are both driven and ardent promoters. This means they don’t just focus on their product, service or solution — they also market their work. Great works deserve a spotlight — successful entrepreneurs ensure the focus that enables the marketplace to be influenced.

No 4: Attitude is everything

One of the most important steps you can take toward achieving your greatest potential in life is to learn to monitor your attitude and its impact on your work performance, relationships and everyone around you.

There is a small test you can perform to know if you have the right attitude or not. If you have projects or ideas as half finished, you may not have the right attitude to be a successful entrepreneur because it’s not about what you have thought or has started but it’s about those that have made it to the finish line.

We all have a choice. We can choose an inner dialogue of self-encouragement and self-motivation, or we can choose one of self-defeat and self-pity. It’s a power we all have.The key is to realise it’s not what happens to you that matters; it’s how you choose to respond.

No. 5: Never stop learning 

One of the best things about life is that we never have to stop learning. There are always new skills to learn and techniques for us to adopt. When you look at the most successful people in the world, they understand this. Warren Buffet spends most of his time reading. The best entrepreneurs in the world don’t act like they know everything. They all understand the fact that they have to continuously learn to be successful.

For us to live life to the fullest, we must continually look for ways to improve. Even in our own companies, we should strive to help our organizations in areas that are outside of our comfort zone. Companies from all over the world have recognized this. Billion-dollar examples like Zappos and Facebook invest heavily into their own employees. Realizing the power of teaching, they promote from within and support their staff to learn to skills to bring back to the company.

No. 6: Assume accountability for results

Playing the blame game does not get you a “get out of jail free” card. Clients and customers are never moved by hand-ringing excuses nor made more confident by shifting the focus to the supplier who failed to deliver. Being late signals a lack of commitment, regardless of the reason. Being unprepared telegraphs you don’t care about your client or customer, despite the demons you tussled the day before. Winners show up ready to perform and are only interested in efforts that yield a path to achievement.

No. 7 Do not procrastinate and learn to Focus

Try to take the following approach: always execute the most important task in the moment. If it is important to be done right now, I don’t put it off, whatever be the reason.

In his book “The one thing” Gary Keller describes how having focus is a matter of “deciding what things you’re NOT going to do”. He describes success as sequential not simultaneous and explains how “if you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one”.

So here’s the trick if you want to create a habit — you’ll need to use your will-power/discipline juice in the beginning. This is hard. But keep at it. According to research, it takes, on average, 66 days to develop a discipline into a habit. This number might vary for you depending on your situation, but remember that it’s not something that you can do over-night. But it is possible. And once you turn a discipline into a habit, you become better at it AND it becomes easier to execute.

No. 8 – Keep a journal

Why should you write? For one, writing brings order in your life. Writing helps you to give your thoughts structure. Writing gives you clarity. You have many thoughts throughout the day about your business, ideas that you feel could potentially be developed into game changers, opinion about various things, etc.

Once you start penning these down, you will notice that your thoughts translate into action. And this is because when you start to write, you get more clarity about your thoughts. You are compelled to think deeper about the topic rather than a mere uninformed opinion.

No. 9 – Know when to switch off

You need to take care of your health. If you want your business to run well there needs to be a parallel to how you look after yourself. If you burn yourself out there is no way you can function properly in your business.

A lot of entrepreneurs we researched spoke of the importance of mediation. “Many people often find they are constantly going over problems in their minds and this can lead to judgment becoming clouded. For entrepreneurs, meditation is of exceptional importance since decision-making is a key to success. Meditating on a regular basis will allow your mind to rest and recuperate and for you to make clear well informed decisions.

No 10. – There’s no shame in failing 

Ben Huh, founder of Cheezburger  once said “Don’t fight failure. Take it in and redefine what motivates you. If you can get up over and over again after being knocked down and teach others to do the same, then you can become a person of character with strong moral values and a center that can’t be shaken. After all, the practice of failure is necessary and never giving up is really the mark of an entrepreneur,”

Being an entrepreneur can be tough. It can yield fear and sleepless nights but it can also be a massive adventure of exciting achievements and can provide a deep source of pride.

Following these 10 mantras can help turn a challenge into a successful adventure of a lifetime.

Whatever be your circumstances or challenges, these rules will keep you warm when the chill sets in. These rules will keep you going in the toughest of times.

Over to you…

Have I missed anything? I’d love to read your comments and any ideas you too might have.