Why Entrepreneurs Must Develop a Growth Mindset (and How to Do It)

In order to craft success, entrepreneurs must develop a certain mindset — a growth mindset. In short, an entrepreneur with a “growth” mindset is able to learn from mistakes and use them to “grow” their business, whereas those with a fixed mindset might dwell on failures and see setbacks as a reason to give up.

Let’s take a look at 5 ways that entrepreneurs can develop a growth mindset and drive their ventures on a road to success.

1. Embrace All Challenges

If you beat a challenge, you reap the rewards. If you don’t, you learn some valuable lessons, so there’s always a bright side to embracing challenges — as long as you don’t fear failure and you instead have a strong desire to learn new things.

If you avoid challenges you’ll never grow as an entrepreneur, and your business will follow suit. Remember, entrepreneurs with a fixed mindset have an intelligence that is static, but those with a growth mindset have an intelligence that can be developed.

If you don’t embrace challenges, you’ll never achieve higher things, and this concept applies to all aspects of life.

2. Expect Setbacks and Learn to Power Through Them

Setbacks happen, you have to expect them. Where things become tricky is when you dwell on the reasons for failure and give up as a result, often blaming yourself in the process and gradually killing your own self-esteem. Persisting in the face of setbacks will help you develop a routine of falling down and getting right back up — smarter, wiser and more experienced than before.

When you develop this routine of powering-through, future setbacks will start to feel like nothing more than a bug on a windshield, and you yourself become stronger than ever before. It’s perfectly okay to contemplate the reasons for failure, because that’s how we learn to do better next time, but if you beat yourself up over it you’ll develop a fear of trying.

3. Realize That Your Efforts Are Fruitful

You should never focus on an ultimate goal for two very important reasons. Firstly, you’re acknowledging the fact that achievements are finite, which they’re not. Secondly, success rarely happens overnight — it can take months or even years. You need to focus on smaller, more easily achievable milestones, otherwise your efforts will always seem fruitless.

Patience is a virtue and it’s hugely essential for a growth mindset — always celebrate the smaller milestones and leave the ultimate goal at the front of your subconscious. Priorities!

“Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs.” — Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars.

Who are we to argue with the most mindful Jedi that ever lived?

4. Listen to Criticism and Use it to Improve Your Business

Criticism isn’t a bad thing if you’re using the feedback to improve your business. Sure, criticism may hurt at times but it’s very useful. If you are to develop a growth mindset, customer feedback is something that you can’t ignore. At the end of the day you’re building your business for an audience, and so who is better to help refine your business if not the audience itself?

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by Daniel Schwarz via SitePoint