Here’s How To Dominate Your Competition?—?Even When The Markets Are Against You

It’s easy to make excuses, especially when times are tough.

And over the past few weeks, times have been tough. The country seems to be gripped by political turmoil. And the markets have become volatile, creating a climate that’s not exactly conducive to entrepreneurial success. (Some predictthat a recession is imminent.)

Maybe now is a time for entrepreneurs to step back, pause their startup ambitions, and generally accept a bit of a standstill, right?

Wrong.

I’m here to tell you that you can still succeed and get a leg up on your competition in times of adversity — maybe even more so than during times of growth.

Here’s how.

Tap into the timeless requirements of entrepreneurial success: passion, purpose, a thirst for competition, and heightened awareness.

In any industry, at any time, the foundational elements required of starting a company or of driving your current one to success are the same.

• Passion. You have to possess a sincere desire to impact the world.
• Purpose. You need to have a coherent and achievable set of goals, along with a real plan to achieve them.
• Awareness. You have to be capable of making adjustments.
• Competition. Finally, you have to want to win.

These are what you need to succeed in booming times, but they’re maybe even more important when everyone else is feeling down and the road forward is a bit more complicated.

During these times, in fact, they’re what will separate you from others trying to play this same game.

This was reinforced for me during a fishing trip with Russell Brunson.

The other weekend, I accompanied Brunson, Lewis Howes, Trent Shelton, Anthony Trucks, and other influencers on a fishing trip to Idaho. We stayed at a trout ranch next to a stream with several different pools which, typically, are amazing places to fish for trout. (But don’t worry: we throw them back after catching them!)

We went to relax and share ideas with each other for future projects and collaborations, but we were also there for what we staged as a mastermind fishing competition. We split up in teams of two and set out for the pools to see who could catch the most fish.

I’ve always been passionate about fishing, ever since I was a boy, so I was very excited. I also wanted to win — to beat these other mastermind influencers. I could feel the old, athletic desire churning in my chest. We blew the whistle, and we began.

We all ran into trouble, though: for the first few holes, no one could catch a thing.

Everyone was throwing in, waiting, but no one caught anything.

After some time, I took a step back and thought about why. I was certainly as passionate about the game we were playing as my competition. I had my clear set of goals and a plan for achieving them, yet something wasn’t working.

Then I started making adjustments. I realized I needed to hide so the sun didn’t cast my shadow across the clear water, which was scaring the trout away. And I realized the trout were most likely to bite my line in the little pools which settle behind rocks in the fast-moving parts of the stream, as opposed to the depths of the middle of it, so that’s where I started casting.

It worked. The fish started biting immediately.

Meanwhile, my fishing partner, Lewis Howes, made no adjustments, and he didn’t see the same uptick in catching trout. But it wasn’t because he isn’t smart (he is; afterwards, we went skeet shooting — which I don’t care much about — and he kicked my ass). Rather, it was because he didn’t want to win enough to start figuring out what worked and what didn’t.

That was the only difference between us. I wanted to win more, and I worked more purposefully to find a way to do it — despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges.

This is how savvy entrepreneurs succeed when the market has turned and everyone else is down.

We’re all playing the same game. It’s how you react to in-game adversity and misfortune which separates the talented and passionate from the ultimately successful.

So many people — possessing of passion, purpose, and a desire to win — find themselves giving in to adversity as opposed to overcoming it because they don’t pair their fire or their purpose with awareness, the ability to recognize what you need to change and then adapt. They just keep on doing the same thing.

They just keep on throwing their line in the same spot in the creek and shrugging their shoulders, saying, “There’s no fish.”

Don’t be the guy who says, “There’s no fish.”

If you want to succeed in business or in the startup world, you can’t be lazy. You can’t make excuses. You have to want to win, and you have to have the confidence to try something new when your old strategies don’t work.

I caught 26 fish that day in Idaho. It was, in a way, one of the most gratifying days of my life.

In your career, be the guy who couples your passion with self-awareness and observation. Be an active and daring participant in your success — take control of it.

Be the one who catches the fish. That’s how you dominate the competition even when times are tough.