Along with the eternal question of what comes first, the chicken or the egg, comes an entrepreneur’s internal struggle of what defines our success, our reality or our mindset. Certainly there could be a powerful argument for reality to be the hands down winner. When you are in the midst of starting or operating your business it is hard to claim success when you are paralyzed nightly on the ever-growing number of bills, the long list of unfilled efforts and invoices, the disgruntled employees or missed opportunities. When you are muddling through the day to day of making it all work, the challenge to claim success seems hard to claim without some external measure of success like someone highlighting your work, cash at your disposal, or applaud of your efforts and praise of your income or groundbreaking ideas. Instead you are left in the day to day grind wondering where is the pot of gold at the finish line?
What I think is the much more factual, albeit less glamorous, answer is that success comes from how we think instead of what any one moment can define us as successful or not. Today’s time and age is a perfect testament to this as the roles of success may be upside down for quite some time. While there may have previously been individuals how could put a check on success based upon their net income, investment portfolio, employees hired, or business articles written in their praise. In the blaze of what was and the ashes of what will remain after COVID-19 all of those external titles may quickly disappear. Instead everyone, from those who were applauded from being successful, and those hustling to pay the rent, will have to dig deep and redefine what makes up success. Taking us back to where it all began, internally. When they had a dream, that turned into a vision. Gumption that was followed up with action. Passion that lead to purpose. And the quite voice that said not only that the impossible could be done, but it was our destiny to seize it. For those who are able to dig deep and make their external success a mere reflection of the internal mindset that motivates and inspires them in their mind we will see the new wave of success that comes becomes we accept the mind first mentality to creating the life of success.
