Psychology and business success go hand in hand. It’s been well documented that people like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson all have unique mindsets that have contributed to their success.
Thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny, and all that jazz. Not to be annoyingly philosophical, but your thoughts are powerful.
If you’ve developed a maladaptive psychology that’s hindering your progress, adapting the following 11 habits will improve your business savvy.
1. Have positive beliefs.
A positive mindset is arguably the most important mental habit of all and is essential for gaining momentum in business. After all, thinking that your startup is going to tank before you ever get it off the ground is a recipe for disaster.
Even though negativity is likely to creep in the minds of even the most positive of thinkers, swiftly stamping it out and keeping your eyes on the prize is key to ascension.
2. Have unshakeable confidence.
What do multibillionaire business titans like Mark Cuban and Donald Trump have in common? They’re insanely confident and continually choose to press onward rather than allowing self-doubt to cripple them.
Even if Donald Trump makes a remark that makes him sound like an idiot to everyone else in the room, he doesn’t lose any sleep over it because he’s inherently confident in himself. While attaining this type of confidence is often easier said than done, you should strive to achieve at least a solid level of self-belief and recognize your inherent value.
3. Use fear as fuel.
Fear is primal and has aided in the survival of the human species for thousands of years.
But guess what? Even the ultimate alphas and winners of this world face fear in some form on a continual basis.
The key to success is knowing how to manage it and turn it into excitement to improve your performance. In fact, Fast Company reports that “many professional athletes and successful entrepreneurs frame their anxieties as feeling ‘pumped up,’ harnessing those normal jitters to work in their favor.”
4. View mistakes as a learning tool.
While some people view mistakes as something to be avoided at all costs, successful people tend to embrace them and view them as something that’s actually beneficial. The bottom line is that you’re going to make mistakes — probably a lot of them, in fact.
But this shouldn’t deter you from taking risks and experimenting. Simply accept that you’ll make your fair share of mistakes, and keep pressing onward.
Just make sure that you’re legitimately learning from them and not making the same mistakes over and over.
5. Refrain from second guessing.
Flip-flopping on a decision is a quick way to put yourself in a state of anxiety and can drive you crazy. While you don’t want to be overtly rash and impulsive, you should have the guts to stick with a decision and follow through with it.
6. Don’t dwell on mistakes.
This ties into the previous two points and will help you get back on track mentally whenever you make a mistake. Just chalk it up to experience, and move forward.
7. Maintain objectivity.
Let’s be honest — humans are innately biased. Therefore, complete objectivity in all instances is simply impossible unless you’re an emotionless android.
Nevertheless, you should strive to maintain objectivity as much as possible in your business ventures, and try to view things as a neutral third-party.
8. Take action.
Anyone can have a brilliant idea and simply fantasize about what the outcome would be. But to make progress and truly gain any traction, it’s necessary that you actually take action and put forth the effort to turn a vision into a reality.
9. Have laser focus.
Another habit that some of the most successful entrepreneurs have is tuning out external distractions and devoting their attention to the task at hand.
Shutting out interruptions and engaging wholeheartedly in what you’re doing should help you achieve optimal results with fewer wasted motions.
10. Minimize multitasking.
According to scientific research, “humans don’t do lots of things simultaneously. Instead, we switch our attention from task to task extremely quickly.”
What does this mean for improving your business savvy?
It means that multitasking can actually diminish your productivity and drain your mental energy. That’s why you’re usually better off focusing on one task at a time and giving it your full attention.
11. Know when to take a break.
Burnout and exhaustion are something that almost everyone faces at some point or another when running a business. When you’ve hit your wall, your productivity and effectiveness are likely to suffer, and carrying on is futile.
That’s why it’s important to know your limits and give yourself adequate time to recharge your batteries when necessary. This way you can come back with a sense of renewal and able to give it 100 percent again.
Conclusion
Developing the right mental habits is the first step in the sequence of improving your business savvy. In time, these habits should be the catalyst for increased efficiency and productivity, reducing much of the friction that you may have previously experienced.
Are there any specific mental habits you’ve developed that have positively impacted your ability to run a business?