“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” – Lionel Messi
Anyone can read that and think “well….duh.” It’s no secret that turning a dream into a reality takes hard work and sacrifice – but how much hard work? And what sacrifices? While the concept is clear, everything can get a little hazy as soon as you delve deeper into the specifics. Here are 5 specific areas where successful entrepreneurs are willing to make sacrifices and focus their efforts.
- Wake up early, no phones or tablets in bed
Successful entrepreneurs make waking up bright and early a habit. When you’re awake before 7 a.m. you have time to meditate, exercise, and plan out your day before it actually begins. This prevents you from rushing around stressed, unfocused, and frazzled.
Make a goal to wake up every day for the next 10 days (yes, even on the weekend) by 6 a.m. Take 30 minutes to meditate and plan your day and another 30 minutes to exercise before you even pick up your phone.
Speaking of phones – you should also be making it a goal to not use your phone, tablet, or computer in bed. Short-wavelength blue light can affect your mood, energy level, and sleep quality. Exposure to your electronics in the evening can impair melatonin production and have a negative impact on your mood. It may feel like a big sacrifice at first, but giving up electronics in your bed and making it a habit to wake up early daily will have a significant impact on your productivity and levels of success.
- Get uncomfortable
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as an entrepreneur is to be risk averse and stay safely in your comfort zone. To accomplish something you’ve never accomplished before, you have to do things you’ve never done before – and that’s uncomfortable.
Our brains have a hard time differentiating between good and bad discomfort. Bad discomfort is intended to signal avoidance from something dangerous – such as seeing smoke in a building or walking on a cliff ledge. Good discomfort, however, is simply a sign that you’re about to do something unfamiliar with an unknown outcome – but it’s not going to kill you.
That’s why one critical component of hard work is taking the time to consciously differentiate good discomfort from bad discomfort. Ask yourself “Will this physically hurt me? If this goes bad and it ends up being a worst case scenario, can I recover from it?” If it won’t physically hurt you and you can recover from it, push forward and get it done – no matter how uncomfortable it may feel.
- Be wrong
So many individuals spend countless hours brainstorming and daydreaming about their goals without ever actually taking steps towards it. Why? They tell themselves something like “I’m not experienced enough” or “I don’t know enough yet” or “I’ll work on that once I (fill in the blank) first.”
Here’s one secret that every successful individual had to learn early on – you cannot learn how to do something “right” until you first do it “wrong”.
It is through trying, failing, and trying again that we gain knowledge and skill. The pathway to success is one big scientific method progression. You have to start now with what you know now. Make an educated hypothesis, pursue it, collect your data on the outcome, analyze the results, and repeat – but this time with a slightly more educated hypothesis than you had before.
In order to be successful, you must be willing to fail and be wrong over and over and over again. Take your ego and fear out of the picture and this process becomes a lot easier. It’s ok to be scared – but it’s not ok not to try.
- Take responsibility
People love to blame others and external factors because it places responsibility on everyone and everything but themselves. However, when you blame others, you are also giving them the power to determine how your story – and your life – plays out.
In order to be successful and make your dreams a reality, you must be willing to take responsibility for your actions – the good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s the only way to learn and grow. Don’t personalize or internalize failure and criticism – these are natural, essential parts of the learning process. Face your mistakes and shortcomings with grace, a touch of good humor, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
You will be amazed how empowering it is to take back the responsibility for how your story plays out. Once you are willing to take responsibility, you immediately take back the power to write your own ending and make your biggest goals a reality.
- Stay away from people who erode your quality of life
Each individual has a finite amount of time and energy during their lifetime. You have a finite, limited amount of time and energy each day and over the span of your life. Once you get serious about your goals, you realize the need to cut out anything – and anyone – that monopolizes the valuable resources of time and energy without moving you any closer to your big life goals.
There are always going to be toxic people that are usually pretty simple to spot out and remove. However, there are other types of people that aren’t necessarily toxic, but don’t add to your life or align with your major life goals. When you realize how short life is and how much it will take to make your goals a reality, you also realize the need to give up people and relationships that sop up your energy while only distracting you from what matters most. It is OK to be particular about where and to whom you give your time and energy. In fact, you MUST do this in order to have the time and energy you need to accelerate towards your life goals.
Your character and success will be determined by your attitude and how you spend your time. If you want to be successful, you not only need to work hard and make sacrifices – you need to be very specific and particular about where you work hard and what sacrifices you make. If you’re ready to take charge of your life and command of your future, make a conscious decision to master your mindset and carefully allocate your time and energy towards that which matters most to you.
If you are interested in a life coach and business mentor that can help walk you through this process and reach your goal in the next 20 weeks, check out my website at circuitcomplete.com or text/call me today via my personal line – 801.602.9101.