Entrepreneurs need motivation by the bucketful, but some days it’s easier to stir up than others. It’s fantastic to have big, long-term goals, but the power of little should never be under-estimated daily ones. These easier to attain goals keeps one going even with a nightmare client, a nearing deadline, or when lose all your data in a computer crashes.
When motivators become habits, that’s what can make the difference between startups success and failure.
Only one knows his or her’s best ways to stay motivated—but it’s still worthwhile to shake things up and try brand new approaches. When one was only dreaming of a startup, there was probably zero issues with motivation. The dream of working for self, having unlimited income and making own schedule was enough to keep you going.
The reality? Sometimes entrepreneurship can be just as dull, taxing and boring as working for corporate.
Here’s how to stay driven:
Remember the dream
An entrepreneur should never forget what made him want to be an entrepreneur in the first place. Besides enjoying the freedom of doing things own way, an immense sense of fulfilment fills when seeing ideas come to fruition.
However, when confronted with disappointments and frustration, it’s easy to lose sight of this dream. Instead, focusing on the achievements and what has gotten one this far, and pushing on is important. If there is one thing in common all established entrepreneurs say, it is that the road to success is paved with failure.
Celebrate every goal achieved
To keep the passion burning and stay motivated in the startup, it is important to see progress. So a startup should set bite-sized goals that can be achieved daily/weekly or monthly and feel good about with every goal accomplished. While these may seem like baby steps, the purpose is to build confidence and to continually move forward.
As time goes by, and with success building on success, ability increases to pace and start setting bigger goals.
Accept setbacks as learning opportunities
One of the most common reasons for losing motivation is to feel overwhelmed when an unexpected obstacle comes along and throws the plans off-course. Getting discouraged by such setbacks is never an option. Rather, eyeing the opportunity to learn and fine-tune business strategy helps reduce bigger losses by failing early.
Refusing to let any obstacle hold back is already a major step forward. But if the problem is too big to tackle at one go, breaking it down into more manageable sizes and making a list of possible solutions, weighing the pros and cons for each sets what it takes to succeed in a scaling startup. Very often, an obstacle is only as daunting as we make it out to be.
Get inspired by stories of success
Having a network of entrepreneurs to talk to can be an invaluable support system. Not each other share advice and feedback, it’s also encouraging to hear that one is not alone in the challenges.
It’s also helpful to read about successful entrepreneurs and hear about the challenges that they have faced while building their ventures. Some of the best startup success stories started with great challenges!
Take time to unwind
Getting caught up in early entrepreneurial enthusiasm might lead to taking on too many tasks too soon, leaving a feeling of burned out. An entrepreneur knows this has happened to him or her when one gets bothered by even the slightest things and have difficulty focusing on the task at hand.
At times like these, one needs to take a breather and recharge. Going for a leisurely run, spending time with loved ones, catching up on a book or taking a nap; anything that will take the mind off work for a period of time.
Being well-rested and recharged helps to think better and clearer, making a more productive worker, and this means their startup will definitely benefit from it.
As an entrepreneur, it is absolutely vital that you stay motivated about the vision.
Even though there will be days where one can’t help but question self, those are the times when one should reflect and reaffirm the beliefs. Because
