I’m from Boulder, where there seem to be more professional rock climbers than people like me who like our feet planted firmly on terra firma. Whenever I drive up a canyon, I can see the tiny figures of people halfway up a sheer rock face, appearing to defy both gravity and common sense.
Our local newspaper has a regular column for rock climbers and a recent one caught my eye. Chris Weidner, in “Don’t just get stronger, get smarter“, offers four tips for mental toughness that seemed directed at us solopreneurs as much as it was to those about to scale the side of a mountain.
1) Make learning your goal, not achievement. While it’s important to focus on what you want to accomplish, pay attention to the landscape and signposts along the way. If you are too attached to meeting your goal by using a specific technique or by marketing to a specific market, you won’t see the indications that you need to veer off in a slightly different direction. Stay flexible and always open to taking in new or unexpected information.
2) Free yourself of wishing behavior. For rock climbers, wishful thinking sounds like “if only that foothold was better” or “if only I were a little taller”. For solopreneurs, it might be “if only the business environment were better” or “if only my clients had more budget”. Instead of putting your energy into the things you have no control over, focus on what you can control and affect. Your attention is one of your most strategic resources, and it needs to be focused on what you can accomplish.
3) In the midst of doubt, come back to what you know. It is easy for solopreneurs to feel overwhelmed; we are responsible for every aspect of our business, and its success or failure is on us. Sometimes we listen too much to our doubts instead of our strengths. If you feel like you don’t know what to do next, take a deep breath and think about your focus. What is one thing you can do to understand your situation better? What one step can you take that gets you in the right direction?
4) Get out there and try hard. I have always believed that failure is a sign that I am stretching myself and expanding my possibilities. Some of my business efforts have worked surprisingly well; others have failed miserably. If I defined myself by my failures, I would have closed my business years ago. Instead, I know that I always have to be pushing my comfort zone, and doing something slightly beyond what I see as my capacity.
While you may never be climbing a rock face, consider adopting the mental toughness required of serious rock climbers.