LESSON 10

THE 5 COMPONENTS OF THE MINDSET THAT WILL LET YOU LIVE YOUR DREAM
LIFE

Entrepreneurial genius Walt Disney perhaps said it best when he declared, “If
you can dream it, you can do it.”
Action might take you places, but action coupled with an entrepreneurial mindset
will give you the power to create a life of your choosing. The first step toward any
endeavor is the imagination and idea to dream up a new endeavor.

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The status quo was once horses, until Ford envisioned something unheard of:
the automobile. The norm was computers the size of entire rooms, until
microprocessors and personal computers were dreamed up.
You can’t get to new horizons without some dreams, but you’ll need the mindset
to take you to the destination because you’ll encounter countless bumps along the
way. Here are five steps to success for an entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to
do the things that create your dreams.

1. Decide to bet on yourself.

You have to know and decide that you are the solution and that you are going to
choose to bet on yourself. Author and entrepreneur James Altucher wrote a book and
began a platform off of this idea called Choose Yourself. The premise is something that
entrepreneurs know well.
This mindset will allow you to endure life’s challenges and put you in the right
frame of mind for every action you take. An entrepreneurial mindset starts by
establishing and reaffirming that you have the skills, desire, work ethic and are in every
other way able and capable of handling whatever life throws your way. In other words,
you got this.
2. Commit to being 100 percent accountable.
Entrepreneurs don’t hang on someone or something when it comes to their
success. You have to decide right now that your life is your creation and reflects your
choices up to this point. No blame and no more shame.

As Suze Orman says in her book, Women and Money, “Blame renders you
powerless. Shame only serves to hold you back.” This is a key step in the
entrepreneurial journey where you take full accountability for your actions. It’s not that
employee’s fault for not getting their job done, it’s yours for hiring that employee and
allowing them to fall short. It’s not the fault of the economy, society or government, it’s
wholly up to you.
That’s the entrepreneurial mindset and that’s why you will always see individuals,
despite economics, geography, circumstances and gender massively succeeding.
These are people who have decided they are committed to their success and being
accountable 100 percent to themselves.

3. Enough is never enough.

Some people might cry out, “Enough is enough! I can’t take it.” Not you. You can
take anything because you can handle anything. You can survive and flourish despite
any circumstances.
As Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks said in his book, Pour Your
Heart Into It, “Every experience prepares you for the next. You just don’t ever know
what the next one is going to be.”
You don’t know what the current situation you’re facing will mean for the future,
but with the entrepreneurial mindset, you know you can handle it and it will lead to
something bigger and better in the future.

4. Passion is my drug.
The success mindset is fueled on an endless supply of endorphin-enabling
passion. You don’t need drugs, caffeine or any other addiction to get you psyched for
the day. You’re high on this life you’re creating, moment to moment and stoked to be a
part of this lifestyle.

As Whit Hobbs said, “Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are,
wherever you are, however old or young, and bounding out of bed because there’s
something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you’re good at --
something that’s bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again today.”
The entrepreneur's success mindset is driven by pure passion for a dream.

5. Pay the price.

The success mindset of entrepreneurship comes at a cost. You don’t just hop
into this life and this way of thinking without enduring some growing pains. You’ll
probably lose some friends, you’ll definitely lose some sleep and you’ll need to lose a lot
of excuses.
In his Life’s Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown perhaps summed this up
best with this saying: “You pay a price for getting stronger. You pay a price for getting
faster. You pay a price for jumping higher. And you pay a price for staying just the
same.”
We’re all working with the same 24 hours and we’re all paying a price for our
achievements or our stagnation. You choose to pay the price of achievement as an
entrepreneur and you’ll need to value the success mindset enough to be willing to forgo
comfort and certainty.

Five Characteristics of the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Published on May 5, 2015
Paul KeischFollow
HW Engineer at Honeywell
What makes a person an entrepreneur? Is it simply the fact that they own a
business of their own? Is it that they are willing to risk their own money to get their
products/services out to a customer base? Is their a mindset that makes a person an
entrepreneur? If so, can anyone learn it or is it something you are born with?
These are all good questions and worth answering but knowing the answer will
not make someone an entrepreneur. Becoming an entrepreneur really means
understanding and engaging in the Entrepreneurial Mindset.
A short history lesson is in order at this point. It has been said that at the turn of
the 20th century, more working adults were entrepreneurs and business owners than
employees. By the end of the 20th century that statistic had completely turned around.
Nearly all working adults are now employees and entrepreneurs and business owners
are in the minority.
What made the difference in such a short amount of time? Well, there were many
factors that contributed. The transition from a rural agricultural economic base to an
urban industrial base was the major cause. Couple that with two world wars, the
mobilization of the citizenry through planes, trains, and automobiles, computer
technology and a global economy and there you have it. It became easier and less risky
to just take a job than to risk it all on your own thoughts, dreams, and ideas.
The problem with this worker is that, when surveyed, a great majority of
employees do not like their job. They go to work to collect a paycheck and stay because
they are so in debt that they can't afford to consider anything else. They often have a
desire for more but can't find a viable way out.
Entrepreneurs know the way out! The biggest problem is to help people
unleash the Entrepreneurial Mindset in their own lives. Entrepreneurs do not think
like worker bees. They have several characteristics that cause them to stand out in
the crowd:
1. Entrepreneurs are free thinkers (some call them dreamers). They are people who
always think beyond the moment and look for better, unique, or more efficient
ways to do things.
2. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers. Looking for better, unique, or more efficient
ways to do things always lead from the dream to an idea to fulfill the dream.
3. Entrepreneurs are innovative in their approach to change. They subscribe to the
definition of insanity that says, "Insanity is continuing to do the same things you
 have always done, in the same ways you have always done them and expect
different results."
4. Entrepreneurs are willing to fail to eventually win. Not everything they consider to
be good or right works out in the end. However the real entrepreneur learns from
failure and moves ahead to the next right project.
5. Entrepreneurs abandon the employee mindset that looks to short term
paychecks to building a powerful money making business that works for you 24
hours a day/7 days a week!
Entrepreneurs are not born, they are built. They first learn how to dream and then
dream about things that are important to themselves. Then they work to bring their
dreams to a viable business plan.
Anyone can join the ranks of the world's greatest dreamers. The tools and
knowledge are available to anyone who wants to learn. The secret is whether or not you
are willing to learn the lessons that will change your mindset. Will you?