Posted by JuJuan Buford @JSBUFORD
AUDIO VERSION - http://bit.ly/themostimportantstoryatcatchjsbuford
Success is an Inside Game
At this point in your entrepreneurial journey, if you’ve discovered your passion, purpose, or your WHY you truly deserve an applause. The reality is that the majority of entrepreneurs aren’t willing to take the time to do so, making them susceptible to emotional and psychological fatigue. They often become shiftless, and may find themselves chasing legitimate (sometimes) opportunities, that are not sacrosanct with their reasons for being in business in the first place. And the axiom, if you take aim at two ducks, both will escape is no truer then when applied to entrepreneurship.
Still, even after having completed this phase of your entrepreneurship journey, it isn’t close to being over. If your why is the destination or your north star so to speak, then understand, you still need to have a rudder to keep you moving in the right direction. Experts estimate that the mind entertains between 50,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day. That's an average of 2,100 to 3,300 thoughts per hour. And all these thoughts are forming narratives in your mind. They are telling stories, good and bad alike, and more importantly these narratives are shaping your self concept.
Why is the aforementioned so important? It’s because your self concept ultimately determines what you take aim at, the extent you believe you can achieve, what you expect from the environment around you, and your reflexive responses to it.
I’ve heard it said, the most important story you’ll ever hear in life is the story you tell yourself about yourself. Belief is a muscle, and positive affirmations, mindfulness activities, chronicling small victories: these things are like creatine, or are tantamount to the healthy diet your belief muscles need to continually grow. These keys to self-actualization and identity help to corral and focus all these thoughts in the direction you desire to go.
We are all susceptible to disappointments, negative news and people; and bad things happen to good people all the time. We all experience and are exposed to loss, heartache, lusts and distractions, social media tirades about what’s happening next with Monique & Steve Harvey, and other people’s problems. And all these things are vying for your attention. All the stimuli from television advertisements, to breaking news reports, and the latest social media app have all been created by people who understand the engineering of our minds better than most of us. And if you are not purposely doing something to combat these influences, you might as well stick a fork in your entrepreneurial dreams.
Fear is as Primal as Hunger
We are programmed to fear, observe and move away from obstacles, and see things that are different or not normal as dangerous. This programming was very useful when we were running from predators centuries ago, and dealing with the elements, allowing us to survive until this point. These are our natal survival instincts that have been honed for centuries and are indelibly imprinted inside our thinking like a silent autopilot, steering the ship absent announcement.
And we’re on autopilot most of the time. If we weren’t we would become overwhelmed by all the thousands of thoughts and stimuli being thrown at us every second of the day. Our brains basically sift through the observations that our senses capture, and identifies the things that are necessary for our survival, or those things that we intently focus on. In other words, the oldest most ancient part of our brains is determining what we see, and what we don’t see. It is the primal circuitry dictating to us in the background. And all of this is very bad for the entrepreneurial spirit and mind because we know that success and growth is not found in our comfort zones, and we know that thinking negatively blunts creativity and limits our field of vision.
Consider for a moment that if you were to ask people randomly, how are they doing? How are they feeling? Most people begin to articulate their problems, their fears, complaints, or why they’re not feeling too great. Rather than illustrating all the good things, the bright spots, or the solutions they’re excited about. It is a natural tendency to go negative.
And then when you lean into what you’re excited about, slowly but surely most people look at you like you’re an alien for being on 10 or enthusiastic about your life.
Mindfulness is a Muscle
And that is why it’s important to be mindful about what are you thinking about when you lay your head down at night, and when you awake in the morning? You have to have plan to inoculate yourself from all the BS.com that is waiting for you, waiting to influence, and engage the worst tendencies of our brain’s circuitry. What are you doing to systemically counteract and control the thoughts that are reverberating through your mind?
How much time are you spending reviewing positive affirmations about yourself? Do you have a vision statement that outlines what your best life looks like? What you could be, absent the excuses? What you believe you could be if all the obstacles were to dissipate in the wind.
What would you really be doing with your time? Who would you be spending your time with? Ultimately, you will become and you are becoming on the outside, what you believe and what your dominating thoughts are on the inside. And for some of us, that’s scary. Look and listen to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, news headlines, radio and talk show chatter… this is what is dominating most people’s minds.
We all know of that guy or girl. Always ready. Can’t wait for something bad to happen, so they can have an excuse to unleash the turmoil swirling inside of them. Don’t they find what they’re looking for most of the time?
Here’s a suggestion. Assuming you’ve taken the time to craft your WHY. You’ve achieved clarity about the person you want to become; you’ve begun to take pen to paper and craft an incredible vision of your best self, and your affirmations are available at your fingertips. And if you haven’t completed these exercises, it’s ok. They’ll never truly be completed, because all of these things (your growth and development) are a process. The important part is you’ve gotten started.
Write down the top 10 highest impacts or tasks, whereas if you’ve achieved them, over the course of today or a week, they would make the biggest difference in your life. Notice, I didn’t say the top things you believe you can achieve. Because, if you’re suffering from a lack of confidence or belief, you are more than likely have a hard time summoning the creativity to draft a game changing list.
Belief and Confidence is Found in the Doing.
Once you’ve drafted the list. Check off 3 items that you can begin chipping away at right now. Reverse engineer them, one small step at a time. Snowflakes turn into snowballs. Write down three small steps you can take within the next 24-48 hours to get the ball rolling. Belief and confidence is found in the doing.
And keep this to do list, this high impact list, accessible to you at all times. In the bathroom, at your desk, on your mirror, in your phone, your computer screen, in your journal, written on index cards that you keep in your pocket, wallet, or purse. In other words, if your life depended on you having to produce evidence that you participated in this exercise, you’d be able to produce the evidence in less than 5 seconds.
Look at this list, every hour on the hour. Look at it with the same frequency that you look at your phone. Remember, 50,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day. 2,100 to 3,300 thoughts per hour. This is you hitting the reset button on your life to combat the gravity (negative people and influences) and the whirlwind (the bad things that happen, that we cannot control) competing to determine your thoughts, and thus the story you are telling yourself about yourself.
It’s going to be inconvenient at first! Working out is literally tearing muscles. It’s supposed to hurt.
- Positive thinking is a muscle
- Focus is a muscle
- Committing, doing inconvenient things is a muscle
- Belief is a muscle
Develop the muscles to achieve your best life. These are just a couple suggestions to get you started. If this content resonated with you please do hit the like button, share it, or offer your commentary. I’m all about sharpening the saw, and delivering value to listeners. Stay tuned for additional episodes, and visit the growing Facebook community at https://www.facebook.com/catchjsbuford/. Make suggestions, offer insights, and share your success stories. And as always……..
#entrepreneurshipisempowerment
JuJuan Buford is a Detroit native, a successful entrepreneur, activist, writer, and public speaker dedicated to helping families, entrepreneurs, and business owners establish thriving enterprises, achieve financial independence, and build lives of satisfaction.
Follow him online here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jujuan-buford-25997a2a
Twitter: @JSBUFORD
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/catchjsbuford/
