Are you an entrepreneur starting or running a business that's heading toward Life Support?

Behind all the best ideas, planning and strategies, and all the time and resources entrepreneurs invest in their ventures, often what differentiates success from failure is a matter of mindset.

If your attitude isn't balanced, your decision-making will not be either, and where there is poor decision making, then even the best ideas powered by the best resources will have little chance of success. It's one of the golden rules of entrepreneurship that rarely gets the attention it deserves. How you show up to work each day will determine how you tackle the challenges that come your way.

Just think about it for a minute. At this moment, countless aspiring entrepreneurs are coming up with great ideas, spending untold hours developing and perfecting detailed business plans and strategies. But, most of this effort goes to waste as entrepreneurs fail to follow through on all their plans. In fact, 90% of startups will fail right off the bat.

At a time when entrepreneurs have access to a wealth of educational and financial resources, sophisticated tools for data capture and analysis, and a connected world at their fingertips, this trend seems surprising.

Often, the biggest obstacle standing in the way of entrepreneurial success is ourselves. Our efforts are sabotaged by our thoughts and emotions and the internal blocks that prevent us from seeing the situations in front of us clearly and objectively. To usher in success, you need to learn how to stay focused on the things that matter most, figuring out what you need and, where necessary, separating it from what you want.

6 Steps to a Productive Entrepreneur Mindset

So, how can you develop a healthy entrepreneur mindset? Consider the following six steps:

1. Figure out your why. One of the most important strategies to help you keep your attitude in line is to constantly remind yourself of the reason you are starting a business in the first place. This is your “why,” your personal mission that you will not compromise on no matter what. Your business then becomes much more than a money-making gig or a profession; it's a piece of the world you want to change or improve. When the going gets tough (and it will), nothing will help to settle your mind and regain your focus more than remembering what inspired you to start the journey.

2. Get support from others. To help you stay focused, you need to surround yourself with the right people, and while your friends and family may seem like a natural source of support for your venture, it doesn't always work out that way. A study by the Economist Intelligence Unit reported that 78% of startups felt that building a dedicated business network is crucial to entrepreneurial success. A solid network of industry professionals, a mentor, hired experts, such as a business consultant or an attorney, as well as a group of peers can be a wellspring of support, objectivity, and advice.

3. Become an expert at setting achievable goals. Successful visionaries may be described as having their heads in the clouds, but in order to get anything done, those goals also need to be grounded. It's not that entrepreneurial objectives can't be ambitious. (Go ahead; reach for the stars.) It's that there needs to be a plausible path to get there. Most entrepreneurs fail at execution due to the lack of a concrete framework or methodology that is repeatable for setting goals, deciding which ones to pursue, and monitoring performance.

Many entrepreneurs also make the mistake of taking a “buffet approach” to business growth and development. In other words, they set too many priorities. By having only one or two major goals, it becomes easier to focus business resources on achieving them.

4. Gather data, analyze, and plan. Following on the heels of the point above, when faced with a new opportunity or trying to figure out if your strategies are working, you need to have a set framework of action and validation. This includes gathering data (the research phase), analyzing the results (the validation phase), and planning the next steps based on those results (the execution phase).

A vital part of ensuring execution is staying on top of your results. Entrepreneurs need to define their key performance indicators (or KPIs) that they can continually measure and monitor to determine what's working and what's not. The successful initiatives can then be continued and enhanced to boost performance. The failed efforts can then be abandoned.

5. Develop discipline. To fulfill the last two points above, it requires discipline. Execution done right is a disciplined process, a logical series of connected actions. Relying on research and the monitoring of KPIs will give your decision-making much more objectivity so you can make rational choices, not emotional, off-the-cuff ones.

And, while we're on the topic of discipline... You won't like every aspect of starting and running a business, and you don't have to. But, when things need to get done, sometimes you have to brace yourself and do it.

6. Stay curious and open-minded. At the end of Steve Jobs' famous Stanford commencement speech, he brought up a quote printed on the last page of an old publication, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” The principle behind these words is not to be afraid to try new things, to be open enough to learn-- even from unusual places-- and to be connected to yourself enough to know when it's the time to pursue an opportunity and when it's the time to move on. In other words, you need to cultivate curiosity, be open to learning from those around you, and even from your past mistakes and to train yourself to follow your intuition.

Developing a successful entrepreneur mindset may take a lot of time and work, but it will pay for itself many times over in sound decision-making.

About the Author

Robert Moment is a Personal Branding Strategist and Executive Leadership Coach who specializes in teaching CEOs, Executives, Professionals, and Entrepreneurs how to unlock their potential to succeed and be the “Go-to” leader in their industry.

Robert is the author of the following books:

·       What Makes You Stand Out

·       Executive Leadership Coaching Guide

·       Principles of Leadership Development

·       Entrepreneur Success Habits

·       Always Believe in Yourself

Visit www.WhatMakesYouStandOut.com to download FREE chapters of Principles of Leadership Development.