Every successful business person has an opinion about what it takes to achieve one’s professional goals. In spite of some natural variance in opinion, you will commonly find experienced entrepreneurs naming things like “passion,” “a willingness to fail,” “confidence,” “networking skills,” and “a devotion to learning” as some of the more important traits to have in the process of establishing a successful startup.
But no matter what sector an entrepreneur works in, what generation he or she is from, or the path he or she pursued to find success, there is one characteristic that most entrepreneurs will unequivocally agree upon as a requirement for succeeding in this challenging field of business. That characteristic is grit, a term best defined as “a combination of commitment, perseverance, and passion in the pursuit of long-term goals.” “Grit” brings to mind a certain inner strength and courage to carry on toward achieving your entrepreneurial dreams, even when you fail to see meaningful progress after long periods of tireless work.
As important as it is to have grit as an entrepreneur, not everyone is born with this key trait. Luckily, business leaders and psychologists alike contend that grit can actually be cultivated by those who are not naturally inclined to it. Listed here are five simple habits that can help an entrepreneur to build grit.
1. Pursue the right projects for the right reasons
The first thing to know about having grit in business is that it’s important to choose projects that are meaningful to you in some way. Being passionate and interested in the goal you’re pursuing is going to be crucial to keeping you focused over the long-term. It’s only possible to lead with grit if you care about what you’re doing and find it mentally and/or emotionally stimulating. This means different things to different people, but many find they are most capable of demonstrating grit when they’re working toward a business goal that benefits people or society in some respect. Overall, if you want to build grit, choose to pursue a project that naturally inspires or motivates you to put in hard work.
2. Practice flexibility and creative thinking
Entrepreneurs with grit are adaptable in the face of unexpected obstacles and rely on creative thinking to get through difficult periods of business growth and development. People who hope to grow their grit will need to let go of rigid thinking patterns and instead practice flexibility in the face of change.
It’s important to have a clear vision and a strong commitment to your entrepreneurial plans, but being adaptable will keep your strategy from falling apart when your original ideas are unworkable. Adopting and refining your ability to balance flexible thinking with confidence and commitment is a key component of having grit. Increasing creative thinking as a means to solve business problems will help balance the tension between these two traits and increase your “grittiness.”
3. Set small goals
The best way to develop the perseverance aspect of grit is to be diligent in the pursuit of concurrent short- and long-term goals. Working toward a meaningful goal over a period of many years can be draining when you don’t see a lot of return on the investment of your time and energy. However, setting small goals for yourself or your company within the structure of your long-term plan can help to bring a sense of satisfaction to your work when it’s most needed. These small instances of positive reinforcement can help you to become more resilient—an important component of grit.
4. Cultivate hopefulness
It’s easy to be plagued by doubt during the most difficult phases of startup development. Fear of failure and worry over letting the team down can make any entrepreneur fearful in the process of building a business. Grit can get you through these periods, but growing that quality often requires embracing hope, as well.
In this instance, hope is not a form of blind optimism wherein an entrepreneur naively wishes for things to go well and expects that the universe will deliver. The kind of hope that helps to grow grit is the belief in yourself, your vision, and your ability to carry yourself through difficult business phases. To grow your grit, have hope that your talents as an entrepreneur will allow you to take meaningful action and make tomorrow more productive than today—then get to work and see what happens.
5. Connect to “gritty” people
Perhaps the easiest and most effective thing that an entrepreneur can do to grow grit is to be around other people who have this quality. You should be able to find grit in not only the people who are working directly with you but also those who make up your professional network. Research suggests that the people we spend our time with have a much more significant influence on our thinking patterns and habits than we may realize. To grow grit, seek out people who already have this trait. “Gritty” peers and mentors can motivate you to think more positively, believe more strongly in your abilities, and encourage you to persevere when you feel like giving up.