I am reading an immensely enjoyable book called, “How to Get Rich,” by Felix Dennis, Chairman of Maxim.
Sharing sage but simple truths and applying them to archetypes like ‘Young, Penniless & Inexperienced,’ ‘Slightly Better Off and On the Way Up’ and ‘Senior Manager or Professional,’ Dennis speaks clearly to the pursuit of tangible rewards, staring risk in the face, having chutzpah, the goodness of experience, the importance of team-building, having a plan, executing on it and gaining the confidence to overcome fears of failure.
As an entrepreneur, this is a timely topic for me. I have won (Tribe Communications – sold to Zoom; Whistle Communications – sold to IBM; Rapid Logic – sold to Wind River; Me.com – sold to Apple), lost (UXComm, Kenamea), had noble pursuits that did not achieve market success (CafeNet, Verdada) and still have two stories in progress (Snapp Networks, vSocial).
In the past, I have written about wanting to work with Pigs over Chickens, Keys to Success, Paradoxes on the Path to Winning in the Market and How to Change Your Life.
Today, I want to talk about the importance of embracing mental toughness in learning to cope with people (customers, co-workers, partners, investors, etc.) whose paths you invariably cross in the pursuit of success.
Trust in this. The minute you commit to being a member of the “A” Team, a Winner and a Do-er, the bullshit of others ceases to be a valid excuse for failure.
To be clear, failure happens when it happens but there ceases to be a moral basis for failure. Winners fight until they cease to believe or when the last bit of oxygen has been stamped out.
To steal a gambling analogy, think of this as being ‘All In.’
But there is one critical caveat, a moment when all bets are off. I am not talking about blind faith or stupid risk taking, to be sure. In fact, if I could not answer a strong yes to ANY of the four questions below, I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing:
- Do I believe in what we are doing in terms of our value proposition for customers?
- Do I think that we are going to deliver what we have promised?
- Do I feel that this is a worthwhile, compelling use of my time?
- Do I feel that I am continuing to get better and gain skills that I will be able to carry forward?
Would you? Seems obvious. Less obvious is why people make themselves unhappy when the answers to the above questions are all YES.
Related Links:
- Are you working with Chickens or Pigs? Hint your want to work with Pigs.
- The Five Keys to Business Success: Some pattern recognition on lessons learned.
- "Strategic" vs. "Win-able": Early customers and The 1.0 /3.0 Paradox.
- Metamorphosis - Change your Life: Real life change in 12 months.
