“The majority of people are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard, and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune.” – Napoleon Hill
In truth, how long a person can keep going in pursuit of a valued goal, will often be a function of his/her mental attitude, based on available reserve of mental stamina s/he has built up.
I’ve written severally about the importance of mental attitude/stamina in the past. For a person seeking noteworthy success, it needs to be maintained in readiness to cope with inevitable bouts of adversity.
Here’s why:
It’s often the mistakes, setbacks and disappointments that many people experience, that cause them to abandon the idea of running their own businesses. Or any other goals for that matter.
So, Knowing “How” Does Not Say If You’ll Last Long Enough to Finish Doing It!
It’s not enough to know how to do something; you must also have the mental stamina to cope with the attendant challenges/difficulties that will come up when you are engaged in your chosen endeavour.
Sadly, this requirement is not recognised by many who seek success today.
Yes, this aspect of a success conscious mental attitude is what is missing in our society.
It is neglected in all the various forms of formal/informal education provided in every facet of our society. This mental preparation is what is lacking when many people start-up their businesses.
They would often have consulted the right people; attended the seminars; mastered the technical aspects of running the business, BUT they often neglect to develop the mindset/mental attitude needed to keep going when their plans fail to work as expected.
This prevents them from digging in to discover the “wisdom” necessary for survival/success in the real business world. They take these aspects for granted and many, very many, find this to be their undoing in the end.
People Who Succeed Despite Prolonged Adversity Often Credit Their Mental Attitude/Stamina
Today, few have (or seem willing to adopt) the mental attitude needed to achieve sustained successes. Most do not realise they need to develop considerable reserve of mental stamina, to cope with periods of potentially traumatizing difficulties.
People who succeed do not leave such important things to chance! Consider the following examples about well known personalties…
Years after retiring, Michael Jordan is still revered by his peers, coaches and fans – worldwide – for his mental toughness. So is Mohammed Ali.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti was the same.
Time and time again, he emerged from prison/nasty confrontations with government agents, to continue preaching his message. He had mental stamina, and this enabled him persist despite tremendous physical and psychological pain and suffering he went through.
In business, the nearly 10,000 failed attempts recorded by Thomas Edison (in inventing the light bulb) remain in the record books as evidence of superhuman achievement in mental ruggedness!
Your (Psychological) State of Mind Determines Your Mental Attitude
Historical evidence abounds to confirm sports psychologists help individuals and teams turn their fortunes around by guiding them re-gain the mental attitude needed to achieve success.
These guys study how their clients think under different situations. So they know what to say to them to get them to think or act in a particular manner. Many get paid handsomely because they do a good job!
But not all people need (or can afford) to hire psychologists to help them achieve their goals.
There are individuals who develop this ability to maintain the mental attitude required to achieve repeated success, by learning actively from others directly or through books, seminars etc.
Quite often, each one of us will have no difficulty deciding what option (getting help or doing it ourselves) suits us best. What is important is recognising the need to be able to MAINTAIN the right mental attitude for success at all times.
In my opinion, if you can’t teach yourself to do it, save yourself the time and pain, and get a coach or mentor to walk you through the process until you’ve mastered it.
Your success depends on your ability to maintain the right mental attitude, especially in the face of prolonged adversity!
“You must strike again, and again, and again. And never give up! Never! Never! Never! Until you reach your destination. …– you’ve got to be unstoppable. That’s right. If somebody tells you no, o what? If a door is closed in your face, so what? If things don’t work the first time around or the second time around, so what? I wanted to be in a magazine. I called the publisher of that magazine for tow years. Every week I called him. Why? I’m unstoppable.” – Les Brown