If you are at it, you will crack it: How to build Persistence!
According to me, ‘Persistence’ is one virtue which trumps most shortcomings that an entrepreneur might have!
Background
During your entrepreneurial journey, you will face multiple challenges ranging from arranging money, having the right team, finding a clear road-map, avoiding becoming redundant, products firing / misfiring, overnight entry of competition, founders’ dilemma, work-life balance issues and many more.
There will be days when most of these will fall on your head — the same day, creating havoc ! Now, with time, in your 1000 day journey to success, (read more about significance of 1000 days here) you will find your own style to deal with these problems. One of the most important things to practice during this arduous journey is the art of persevering because if your persist, you will find a solution to any problem!
Ways to BUILD it
Persistence needs a positive attitude, and staying positive needs practice.
There are some days when things won’t go as per the plan. There will be 10 challenges, and you might not be able to solve them all. Having said that, no matter how tough the day is, you will fight battles and solve some issues for sure! This is where we need to focus; on the things solved and not only on things which didn’t get solved (need to practice this). Focusing only on what’s missing sends you in a loop! This loop distracts you and at times makes you want to give up! Instead, focus on the good so that you can stay in the game — remember, if you are at it, you will crack it (persistence)!
Now I don’t know if it can be cultivated overnight but surely with some hacks you can train your mental muscle to ‘keep you motivated’ and ‘focus on the positive’.
Things which I do to keep myself ‘motivated’
- Acceptance
Think of it like this -:
Running your business = Fighting a war
Challenges while running your business = Battles (For example: hiring, expansion, availability of funds, staying in the green, strategy)
Now in order to stay alive in the war, we have to accept two things -:
1. No one can fight all battles at the same time
2. No one can win all the battles they choose to fight
Being cognizant of these 2 facts helps in dealing with pressure on a bad day. Helps me stay positive. Try it!
Hack for building persistence — Enlisting battles (daily tasks) and dividing them in a 4–2–1 split. So everyday you know — all blue sky gazing ideas which can change our orbit — cant be pursued full time today — but giving them a little time each day helps us persist, make progress.
- Everyday training — Capture ‘Good Thing of the day!’
This one sounds awfully simple but believe me it works!
As you progress through your war, picking and fighting your battles, winning some and losing some, and focusing on the battles you have ‘won’ — and you need to train the mind to ‘take notes’ — daily. This needs practice — it’s like working out in the gym. If you need a fit body, you need to train every day! We bathe every day, we brush every day! Practice makes perfect. Now the brain needs similar practice. We need to train it to keep us positive — everyday.
We do it by, capturing ‘one good thing of the day’ daily (doing it daily trains the brain, and helps one persist in the game too). Everyday something good happens — big/small doesn’t matter — it could be as simple as ‘got a seat in the metro ride / spent 20 minutes with the child dancing/saw rainbow/beautiful moon’. Capture it.
I insist my team writes this! I do it myself too.
Capture your ‘good thing of the day’ in any format of your choice (Digital diary / Notebook / Daily activity report). Just going through this list of ‘blessings’ is enough to lift you up on an especially tough day. And doing this daily, at subconscious level trains the brain to look for the smallest of positives — everyday (builds persistence)!
We are all familiar with the theory of ‘ manifestation’ and this simple step is practicing ‘manifestation’ at its best! End every day with a positive note. Next day, we are right to fight whatever is missing.
Switch off — Reset — Replay
Finally there will always be days where nothing is going your way. Those are the days when you use this strategy. As outrageous / impossible to do as this might sound this is the only way to stop yourself from going spiraling down — step out of your war zone, put up a white flag for that day. Switch off!
Do whatever gives you happiness. Play with your kids/ go for ice cream break, speak to a friend, listen to your favorite upbeat music — just break the loop.
Do something which is not part of your regular routine, increase your serotonin, Adrenalin and go back to the war zone the following dawn, with a fresh mind!
