How to Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset

If you want to become an entrepreneur, then it’s important to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. You might do a lot of entrepreneurial things but it’s not the same as starting a business from scratch or being an entrepreneur yourself. Some of the questions that are important to ask yourself are: how do I recognize the entrepreneurial mindset in myself and how do I nurture that entrepreneur in me? And what does it mean to use my entrepreneurial mindset? 

IT ALL STARTS WITH YOU

Your mind is your control centre so when you can control your mind, you can control the outcomes. This is similar to the concept of creating your own reality. It’s important to adopt a positive mindset because we all want to live a positive, fulfilling life. I know a lot of people think it’s easy and will say just have a good mindset, and you’ll have great results, but what does that actually mean?

Your mindset decides how you see the world, so it’s important to remember that your mind is so powerful that it determines how you experience life. The first step is to determine the parameters of what your mind really is. You’ve got to understand the world you want to live in and remember how you perceive all the things in your life is in your control. People could say by doing this, you’re in denial or you’re native but it’s actually productive because the way you choose how to view something  affects your effort and motivation. 

In terms of adopting an entrepreneurial mindset, it’s important to envision yourself within the world within the business (whether you’re offering a product or service, you’re adding value to the world) and then you can create your reality by determining which attitudes you want to foster in your entrepreneurial journey. A good task would be to come up with 3 things that sets the parameters of your reality.

Your mindset also says a lot about who you are and it gives information to your identity. Everything grows from our identity. If you want to be clear about who you are, it would be helpful to answer the below:

• VALUES: the things that are important to you
• PASSIONS: professional and personal 
• STRENGTHS: what are you better at average at in a room full of people
• GOALS: short term or long term

This activity should give you an idea of what your mindset is and how you want to run your business.

GROWTH MINDSET VS FIXED MINDSET

In a study conducted by Carol Dweck, she concluded that when people are praised for their efforts and motivation, they operate on the notion that I did well because of the effort I put in. These people tend to be braver in going about their lives and are more open to taking risks.  The study showed when people are praised by titles instead, there’s a pressure that builds in them to live up to that label.  These people are more afraid to take risks and therefore have a fixed mindset and believe things that happen to them are out of their control. 

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, it’s  even more important to have a growth mindset and it will be more beneficial in your business to have the mindset that everything is possible instead of confining ourselves to labels. A helpful activity I recommend is to grade yourself a number 1-10 (10 having a growth mindset and 1 having a fixed mindset ) and ask yourself where do I land on this scale? You can then better assess the trajectory and necessary steps to get to having a growth mindset.

HEALTHY MINDSET

When you adopt a growth mindset, you are more likely to also adopt a healthy mindset. More often than not, a healthy mindset means you are experiencing happiness. As entrepreneurs, it is common to be operating in full work mode 24/7. It’s great to have a zone of productivity where all we do is go, go go, but it’s important to remember that you can’t live in that zone forever. A healthier strategy is to allot a fixed time to be productive, where you can produce your best results. 

On the flip side, it is equally important to recognize a zone of unwinding where it’s okay to not solve those problems at that time. This allows you to create balance in your life and is great for your mental health to avoid burn out. Energy is sacred so you need to make a conscious effort to guard and manage your energy. 

CELEBRATING SMALL WINS

You have to no matter how well you think you’re doing or not doing, you must celebrate the small wins. These little highlights are stepping stones for your business and it’s actually healthy to feed those wins into your mind because it supports your mind to see things more positively. 

PRACTICING GRATITUDE

Practicing gratitude relates to celebrating small wins because it gives you an opportunity to be thankful for where you’re at in your life right now. When you learn to practice gratitude, it does something psychologically to your mind and you’l start to feel happier about what you have. 

In the world of business that has ups and downs in a dog eat dog world, everything sits in your mind. It’s all about developing a healthy mindset and creating balance to produce results. 

In summary, in order to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, it takes actionable steps and work. One last advice to take away from all of this is to schedule a fixed amount of productivity time and unwinding time, to note three things that you are celebrating in your business and to note  three things you are grateful for (personal or professional).