You Need to Persevere

The most difficult growth stage that all truly successful people must face squarely and master is that period of time which inevitably separates the here and now uncomfortable place of interminable struggle from the then and there elative state that is what you believe to be success. This is the period of time—often long and disappointing—when nothing seems to be happening and you feel stuck in a quagmire that borders on hopelessness.

This is the stage when self-doubt and the doubt of others around you very nearly cause you to give up. Most people who have gained success will not talk much—if at all—about this period of the dark night of the soul.

Everyone who achieves personal success has had to pay their club membership dues in this very difficult, and yet defining place. No one has arrived at the success destination without having collected some scars (and been part of the collateral damage) along the way. So, to expect to be successful without incurring some suffering—whether at the physical, mental, psychological or emotional level—is to expect to build muscle mass without painful daily exercise; play the piano as a virtuoso without perfect practice over long periods of time; or win a world boxing title without having to train relentlessly and take some knock-out hard punches without succumbing to them.

In fact, the role of suffering in your life is the discipline that makes you strong and prepares you to manage the wealth that will ultimately be yours. This is the growth stage where you must use the period of personal suffering as your rehearsal and perfect practice space for behaving as the successful person you aspire to become while in the throes of personal pain.

This is the place where, despite the pain of adversity, hardship and extreme difficulty, you begin to take on the behaviors and attitudes associated with living the life you have focused on since the beginning of your quest for success. It is here that you learn that you are, in this pain-filled moment, what you have always determined, aspired and struggled to become. In other words, you have so envisioned yourself from an Entrepreneurial Mindset of success that you are successful long before it is apparent to you or anyone else!

What you will learn in this very tight, uncomfortable place is that success and acclaim are not one and the same. If you are not lauded for the depth and breadth of your accomplishments and the value you have already created for others, then that failure of others to recognize what you have done is completely unrelated to your personal success. You are what you think, believe and behave that you are, regardless of your present circumstances.

Your challenge as an entrepreneur is to live as if the future were in the present, without regard for the physical and visible impediments that currently belie your future status. In order to reach the threshold of the series of events that will catapult you into the manifestation of all that you have worked for, you must manage well the most difficult and discouraging period of deep suffering that comes inevitably at the crossroads of your present situation and your future goal. And it is at this precise moment that you need to learn that perseverance is your best—and oftentimes only—friend. This is not the time to give in, give out, or give up.

This is the time to persevere!    

Champion A Noble Purpose

One of the major keys to personal success is choosing, finding, discovering or otherwise creating a noble cause or purpose that does not benefit you personally. Service to others is a prerequisite to your personal success. Your genuine concern for others, demonstrated by your giving of your time, talent and resources to a worthy endeavor, becomes a catalyst for moving you toward your own destiny.

As you invest the best of yourself in a noble purpose that has no visible strategic relationship to your personal or business goals, you are planting the seeds of your own business success. However, the motivation for your service to others must be pure: you must serve with no expectation of receiving anything in return—no award, reward, recognition, press coverage or opportunity to network with persons whom you believe could forward your personal agenda—not even your desire to hear a simple “Thank you.”

Your reward for championing a noble purpose is your willingness to serve others from a God mindset. Such a mindset seeks the best for others with no concern to gain a personal benefit. To serve from a God mindset is to choose to consider the welfare and interests of others over your own welfare and interests to such an extent that you can freely and happily give others your time and resources that you could profitably invest in service to your own agenda. Thus, serving from a God mindset is not being patronizing or condescending to others, but putting others on an equal footing with you. The energy you use to benefit others is at the same level of intensity as that which you use to benefit yourself.

You can only provide this free, no-strings-attached service to others when you realize that you are a child of God who has an unlimited supply of resources to bless others without the possibility of exhausting those resources in a manner that could possibly be detrimental to you.

Many people serve others for the wrong motives and, therefore, serve from a position of weakness. To serve others because you are compelled, either by job title, contract or forced, uncompensated servitude is to serve from a position of weakness. To serve others from a God mindset is to serve from a position of strength. Your service is not coerced, purchased or otherwise performed because you’re seeking an advantage, relationship, strategic alliance or other consideration that will inure to your personal benefit later on down the line.

Your God mindset service to others originates in and operates from a position of strength—your knowledge of who you are and Whose you are, as well as the inestimable value that your presence and personal involvement brings to others just because of your divine connectedness.

Because championing a noble purpose is directly related to your own personal destiny, you must choose it carefully. You may not be called to support a popular charity or heart-string-pulling charitable endeavor. It may be your lot to serve a noble cause that is not recognized as such by many. Indeed, the noble purpose you end up supporting may be one in which you have no passionate interest.

  

So, you must consider what your motives are when you choose a noble purpose to embrace and/or support. It is at this point that self-examination, criticism and self-criticism will bring you back to the Law of Iron Will.

You cannot know your true motives for doing a thing or choosing a particular path. But you can challenge yourself to examine your motives and seek guidance from above, as well as from others around you. This is true not only with respect to what motivates you to choose a worthy purpose to champion, but also applies to the choices you make in every other area of your life.

The Law of Iron Will

The key element of preparation for success in your business is your understanding and utilization of the Law of Iron Will. The Law of Iron Will requires that once you make a decision, you must be unwavering in carrying it out, despite whatever obstacles or apparent impossibilities confront you. You cannot second-guess yourself because other people and/or institutions have issues with what you have decided to accomplish. The Law of Iron Will allows you to commit your decisions to God and resolutely carry them out, no matter what the odds of your success may be according to the well-established and revered pundits of the day.

Every truly successful person has had to take a stand on ground that was not confirmed or believed in by others. Every significant breakthrough in science, education and industry has come as the result of single-minded, steadfast opposition to the conventional wisdom of naysayers who oppose change and cling to the presumed safety of the status quo.

The key to the Law of Iron Will is your definiteness of purpose. By focusing on the definite object that your decision represents and concentrating on that object while waking and sleeping, you develop the toughness of mind, tenacity of spirit and tautness of emotions to withstand, counter and overcome all the objections and negative assaults of the do-nothings and under-achievers who don’t have the courage and drive that you do.

The Law of Iron Will supports and cradles you during the difficult and oft-times lonely struggle to bring to fruition the new product, service or application that you have created through utilizing your imagination and the concomitant skills and abilities that you have developed along the way.

The Law of Iron Will is the full body, mind, spirit and emotions armor that not only protects you in the thick of all aspects of battle, but also allows you to simply stand your ground, unmoved and unshaken by the negative forces arrayed against you.

Finally, you can’t continue to think about success in the abstract: you must speak its definition to yourself every day. “Success is maximizing my personal growth and development, the highest and best use of myself, the resources I receive, and the resources I create, with the intent to become all that God has created me to be.”

Thus, success is a competitive activity in which you engage only yourself and no other person. You are not in competition with anyone else, because no one is willing to give more than you give, care more than you care, or provide the service you provide above and beyond what you are compensated. You are the only person who can keep you from attaining the success that is uniquely yours. Your success is measurable both in quantitative and qualitative terms by examining your own life in the light of the Law of Iron Will.

Be A Successful Entrepreneur In 2020!

If you can answer “yes” to 5 critical questions, then you are ready to take the next step to become a successful entrepreneur in 2020.

The 5 critical questions that require a “yes” answer are: 1) Can I live with my business 24/7?; 2) Am I willing to work 12-18 hours/day?; 3) Am I open to change my life?; 4) Can I tolerate my business?; and 5) Am I prepared for my business to fail?

Determine to live with your business 24/7. A business is like a REAL person (in fact, if it is incorporated, it is considered a legal person!) Like a newborn baby, it needs to be fed, clothed, nurtured, developed and grown—it has to be tended to, cared and planned for all the time! Unlike a “9 to 5” employee, YOU must Mind Your Business at all times!

Be willing to work 12-18 hours/day. You must have the physical and emotional stamina to run a business that can wear you out physically and emotionally. You also need a family or other support system that will “have your back” in rough times. You need to develop good planning and organizing skills to keep you clear on what you must do EVERY DAY to keep your business going.

Be open to change your life. You must be willing to give up some things you’re doing now in order to run a successful business. You must be strong enough to handle rejection from family and friends because you won’t have the same amount of time to spend with them. You must learn how to make major decisions on your own—often quickly.

Choose to tolerate your business. You must get your business’ approval before you make any major life decisions. You must be a self-starter who can develop projects, organize your time, and follow through on details without supervision. You must learn how to watch your daily income and expenses closely and how to read financial statements.

Be prepared for your business to fail. If you’re a first-time entrepreneur, odds are that your business will fail! Starting a small business is always risky. 50% of all small businesses started fail within the first 5 years. Businesses fail due to lack of experience, insufficient capital, poor location, poor inventory management, over-investment in fixed assets, poor credit arrangements, personal use of business funds, low sales, competition, and unexpected growth.

Think deeply, plan carefully, and decide whether you have the “stomach” for owning your own business. Understand the risks, but be motivated by the rewards. No worthwhile goal is easily attained or quickly achieved. As this brand new year unfolds, decide to do something you’ve never done before so that you can reap results that you’ve never had before. Find your place and space and work with patience, perseverance and persistence until you achieve the dream you have in your heart for yourself and your family.