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8 Habits of Highly
Effective Entrepreneurs
How you live and work each day is the foundation of your
success
Sherrie Campbell
CONTRIBUTOR
Psychologist, Author, Speaker
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors
are their own.
Effectiveness comes down to producing desired
results.
The most successful entrepreneurs have
mastered being effective because it makes them work smarter, eliminating
unnecessary effort and wasted time.
Success cannot happen with any consistency
when approached in a lazy, haphazard, hit-or-miss fashion.
Effectiveness is rooted in discipline and
routine, not talent or genius.
Successful entrepreneurs make sure to be
detailed, organized and fully prepared before executing on any goal or plan.
Here are eight characteristics of effective
entrepreneurs.
1. Visionary
Successful entrepreneurs spend a significant
amount of time thinking, creating and visioning.
Being innovative comes naturally to all of us
if we can discipline ourselves to enjoy the process of being in constant
discovery.
The use of imagination is a successful
entrepreneur's most powerful asset.
The most effective entrepreneurs dare to
dream, take action and turn their dreams into a reality.
This visionary quality sets them apart from
those who do not dare to dream as big.
Standout entrepreneurs do not see a limit to
their creativity, success, ability to make money, have a positive and lasting
impact on others, or to involve themselves in new ventures.
2. Early Risers
The most effective entrepreneurs are early
risers. They support the belief that the early bird gets the worm.
They start their day visualizing what they
want to achieve and speak affirmations of success over their mindset.
Many also start their day with some form of
physical activity. It’s the method they use to wake themselves up, get their
blood pumping and their mind alert and active.
Getting up early and getting a jump on their
day allows them to get into the office before others arrive.
This gives them some time to set themselves,
collect their thoughts and generate lists of priorities to most
efficiently organize and tackle their day.
3. Scheduled
One of the easiest ways successful
entrepreneurs increase effectiveness is through being scheduled.
They live a schedule based on putting
their responsibilities first and leisure activities second.
Socializing is important and life-giving and
successful entrepreneurs recognize the value in getting out to be around
people, not just for the human interaction and feelings of interconnectedness,
but because being around others reduces stress and increases innovation.
The most effective entrepreneurs choose to
schedule social time at the end of their day when work-pressures are off.
When responsibilities are put first, this type
of discipline helps successful entrepreneurs enjoy their free time unencumbered
by nagging responsibilities that we not met during the day.
4. Sleep
To be effective, successful entrepreneurs
appreciate the importance of sleep.
The more sleep they get, the sharper, more
emotionally available and mentally on-point they tend to be. Ariana Huffington
in her book The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at
a Time shows the well documented body of evidence on the bi-directional
relationship between sleep and stress; a lack of sleep creates an increase in
emotional reactivity and a decrease in frustration tolerance, which contributes
to another night of poor sleep.
It’s a horrible cycle. If poor sleeping
patterns are left unmanaged, effectiveness and success become impossible.
5. Simplicity
Simplicity is the secret weapon successful
entrepreneurs swear by to increase their effectiveness. They live nearly
obsessively by simple yet practical routines.
Creating simple routines helps them avoid
taking on workloads which are beyond what they can reasonably handle.
They are the most productive in achieving
their desired results when not too overwhelmed with stress.
For this reason, they set protective and firm
limits around themselves and their time, understanding even superhero’s need a
day off.
In his book The Way of the Quiet
Warrior Tom Dutta teaches there is no path to efficiency without
self-care.
6. Journal
One the easiest ways to increase effectiveness
is to develop the habit of journaling. The most effective entrepreneurs put
pen-to-paper and write down what is important to them, the things that were
both good and bad during their day and ideas on how they can improve.
They write lists, goals, gratitude and
sometime write simply to vent their frustrations.
Journaling calms the emotions caused by stress
or conflict by providing a much needed disconnect from the daily grind of
consistent talking, emailing, taking calls, and other distractions which come
along with electronic devices that never allow us to fully unplug.
Successful entrepreneurs value participating
in an active inner dialogue with their inner critic as it helps them to
transmute this negative voice into a positive coaching voice that is all about
overcoming odds.
Entrepreneurs are the most effective when
they’re strategizing ways to beat a challenge.
7. Flexible
As important as routine is, successful
entrepreneurs also understand how imperative it is they be flexible enough to
pivot on demand in response to unforeseen or changing circumstances.
Being flexible enough to change direction
greatly increases their chances at success and it also enhances their own
learning, growth, and education.
The routines they live by are simple by design
because this simplicity makes it easy for them to maintain their life and
career no matter their circumstances.
Effective entrepreneurs make it a habit
to only need the bare essentials.
This increases their productivity because
their set-up to work and communicate doesn’t require anything special from them
to be effective whether they are at the beach or in the office.
8. Curious
The most effective entrepreneurs view
boredom as the great killer of success, which is why they make sure never to be
bored.
They happily spend endless hours working and
doing what they love to do. They have made it a habit to be open and curious
about everything in life and in their field of work.
This curiosity keeps them asking questions and
generating ideas for what their next steps are going to be. Because they choose
to remain open and curious, it is impossible to drain their creative
reservoirs.
Curiosity is just another aspect that
contributes to effectiveness for them. It is my belief that curiosity is the
key difference separating an average success from a great successes.
In my book Success Equations: A Path
to Living an Emotionally Wealthy Life I teach that people tend to stop
working when they run out of creative energy, while effective entrepreneurs
have a radically different approach in that they never stop generating new
ideas or paths to follow.
Sherrie Campbell is a psychologist in Yorba Linda,
Calif., with two decades of clinical training and experience in providing
counseling and psychotherapy services. She is the author of Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person. Her
new book, Success Equations: A Path to an Emotionally Wealthy Life, is
available for pre-order.
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