The Entrepreneurial Life Knocking You Down?
Is the entrepreneurial life knocking you down? One of the biggest consistencies in running a real estate business is that things often don’t go as you expect. Whether you have been in the business a long or short time, you will still face set backs. However, this is not what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. What separates these two groups is how they move beyond these setbacks. Epictetus said it best: “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
Although most of us know this to be true, it’s not always easy to deal with setbacks. So what can you do in these situations to move powerfully through them? Here is a list of 15 things you can do to move beyond the frustration and get into solutions mode!
(1) Take Full Responsibility for what Happened
Although it may seem obvious, it is the first step in this process. You will never make changes going forward if you blame everyone and everything else. Successful people don’t blame anyone. They take full responsibly for what happened.
(2) Learn to Reframe the Situation
When things don’t go as expected, you have the choice to interpret what happens in many different ways. There are empowering ways to interpret what happens and disempowering ways. Begin reframing your own setbacks in ways that empower and support you.
(3) Determine what you can do Differently Next Time
Before moving on, write down everything you learned and would do different next time. It’s one thing to have these ideas in our head, and it is another thing to write them down.
(4) Develop Flexibility
Flexibility and adaptability greatly increases your ability to move beyond ‘unexpected’ circumstances. The entrepreneurial life thrives on flexibility!
(5) Get Honest with Yourself
This is one of the hardest but most important ones. If you’re not honest with yourself, you will not understand how to make things better in the future.
(6) Deal with Conflict Head On
When things go wrong, there are typically people and conflict involved. Directly deal with the conflict; that way, you can learn from it and move forward. Avoiding the conflict does not help anyone involved.
(7) Seek to Understand Instead of Being Understood
There is great power in first seeking to understand before seeking to be understood. Listen First, Speak Second.
(8) Communicate your Truth
In addition to being honest with yourself, you also need to be honest with others. When discussing what went wrong with others, you must speak your truth.
(9) Move your Body
Exercise is critical all the time, but especially when you need added clarity about a situation. Exercise releases endorphins which create feelings of happiness and euphoria. Get to moving! No excuses.
(10) Quiet your Mind
This can mean different things to different people. But regardless of the form it takes, it will have an incredible effect on your life. Scheduling time to quiet your mind allows you to have space to see things differently than how you see them during your crazy busy days. The entrepreneurial life can be hectic, make sure you carve the time out for quiet.
(11) Don’t allow your Past to Equal your Future
As you move forward, don’t allow your past to equal your future. Just because something didn’t work out the first time or the fifth time, doesn’t mean you should never try again. You will of course need to correct and do things differently. However, don’t beat yourself up and get stopped. Move through the fear and begin again with new learnings and insight. Learn from the past, but don’t dwell on it.
(12) Learn from Others – Success Leaves Clues
Success is all around us. When things go wrong for you, find every success story you can and learn, learn and learn from others.
(13) Accept that Progress is More Important than Perfection
Often, we get stopped after things don’t go well because many of us are shooting for perfection. We are wanting a home run on the first deal. Everyone wants to become a millionaire overnight. Let go of the “overnight success” concept because it is not possible. What is possible though, is to make progress and course correct every time.
(14) Take Action and Don’t Give Up
Once you course correct, learn what you need to learn, and take action on the next opportunity. Don’t allow yourself to become gun shy and give up. Most people try something new, it goes wrong, and they never do it again. People who succeed are not any luckier, they just keep getting up more times than others.
(15) Help Someone going through the Same Thing
After you learn what you need to learn, make it your mission to help someone else going through the same experience. It feels good to help others so they avoid the mistakes that you made early on!
Congratulations on the entrepreneurial life! I hope you found these tips, suggestions and ideas helpful.