5 Must Have Habits for An Entrepreneur

“One thing that separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” — Steve Jobs

As enticing as the word entrepreneur sounds, it’s also fraught with challenges that run to the core of who we are inside. It’s a journey on a long and windy road with the unknown twists and turns way through a sea of despair and uncertainty, battling against the darkest fears, forcing to furiously fight our way towards the shores of hope and prosperity.

For most, it’s a symbolic journey, one that reveals their deepest hopes and dreams, illuminating the pathway to self-discovery and eventual freedom from 9 to 5 rut.

However, as exciting as the start of any entrepreneurial journey is, we also know how mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and of course, financially taxing it can be to run and manage a business in the long term. There is an umpteen amount of stuff that has already been there on internet on the word “successful” and so is the misconception around it. Now for an entrepreneur, this word is the way of living but how many of them really practice it.

Peter Drucker once said the entrepreneurship is not about science or an art but it’s about practice. And let me add, a consistent practice. So, It’s really important what you practice in a day and how much you practice. Over the period of time I have realized that to become stronger in the game of entrepreneurship, I need to develop some different muscles that keep me afloat in the drenching sea of uncertainty. So, it’s all comes down to the founding blocks i.e habits that you practice. It all comes down on which things you spend your time that determines the success for an entrepreneur.

So here are the 5 habits that I believe we as an entrepreneurs need to develop those muscles to get through the drenching and uncertain journey.

1) Taking Care of Body — Physical and Mental Exercise

You don’t have to walk around looking like The Rock or an Instagram model to be a successful entrepreneur. In fact, if you track the photos of today’s top entrepreneurs and CEOs, they looked quite different before they had all this money.

The point is not about looks. It is that a strong body fosters a strong mind. You’ve got to have one of those if you are going to make it as an entrepreneur. You don’t have to be doing several hundred burpees a day, or have mastered the most complicated yoga poses. Even just walking on a daily basis can help.

Make sure some type of exercise and getting outdoors is on your daily schedule.

2) Time Management — Making Daily Routine

Time is life’s greatest equalizer. We all have the same amount of time in the day. It doesn’t matter who we are, where we’re from, the color of our skin, religion, and so on, we all still just get 24 hours in a day. That’s 86,400 seconds. That’s it. Not more and not less.

What does make a difference, however, is just how we use the precious time we do have. Do we squander it? Or do we use it effectively, masterfully managing our time to achieve our goals? The world’s most successful people are also some of the world’s best managers of their time. If you’re serious about long-term success, then you need to instill this daily habit into your life.

Use the quadrant-time-management system, first envisioned by the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and later popularized by Stephen R. Covey in his book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” You’ll find this to be the best strategy for managing your time and eventually achieving your goals.

3) Always Learning New Skills

Bill gates read 50 books a year, Warren Buffett thinks that everyone should read 500 pages a day. This is really crazy. Whether we believe or not, there one thing they do better than anyone. And maybe anything. So, don’t think that dedicating more hours reading the book is coincident. It is really worth making time, normal people who don’t have time to read the book they have hard jobs and some people like to read book 5 to 10 books a year. Also, they are curious to add new skills. If you would like to become a successful entrepreneurs, I would say grab this habit to get succeed.

We have to constantly be learning and evolving, becoming better at our crafts while also adding other ancillary skills that can help us in business. Don’t be afraid to continue learning, whether it’s in your line of work or a completely different line of work. That information can benefit you enormously down the road.

Find skills that you can learn and commit to improving a little bit each and every single day. Even if you only spend 20 minutes per day learning a new skill or even a new language, you can vastly improve your business prospects over time. It won’t happen quickly. But it will eventually happen as long as you stay committed.

4) Persistent Actions — Develop Action Taking Skill

As cliché it may sounds of taking action has been hammered home in the self-help genre for ages. Everyone speaks about taking action, but not everyone can follow through and do it. We get sidetracked and veer off track. Things come up and we lose our focus or we end up procrastinating towards our goals.

However, this is by far one of the most important daily habits you can have to reach eventual success. Still, the problem is overcoming the silent killer known as procrastination. However, there is a so-called hack for this. It’s called the 15-minute rule. Take the one thing that you’ve been putting off for the longest, set a timer on your phone, and do it for just 15 minutes.

All it takes is 15 minutes. Don’t promise yourself more than that. Just 15 minutes. What you’ll come to find is that after those 15 minutes are up, you’ll have built some momentum and you might keep going. And even if you don’t continue, you’ll have broken the stifling pattern of procrastination.

5) Connect with Like-Minded People

Often, we’re so caught up in trying to make a buck, that we forget to connect with others. This isn’t just about connecting with customers. Sure, that’s important. This is about simply connecting with others on a deeper level, not a superficial one. Ask them about their lives and learn something new. Maybe you’ll walk away with a great story or learning experience.

Seek out ways you can connect with people that are already in your life along with finding others that aren’t already in your life. Listen to them when they speak. Be inquisitive. Be curious. Learn about their lives. Figure out what makes them tick. You’ll feel mentally, spiritually and emotionally more sated, allowing you to better focus your mind’s eye on the proverbial prize.