Being in business for yourself is the most demanding self -development course you will ever do. It is full of ups and downs, fun and tears.
We are not the first on this journey, and to help us on this journey we have the wisdom handed down from some of the great entrepreneurs of the 19th and 20th centenary. I love reading their stories and knowing their struggles and successes and reading the wisdom they have left us.
Albert Einstein a famous physicist was also an amazing philosopher and has left us with some of his great wisdom many of which you have heard. A true genius in both his understanding of Physics and his understanding of philosophy. A German Jew, he saw what was happening and not only renounced his German citizenry, but was instrumental in helping many of the Jewish university staff move to England and get jobs.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein
Jim Rohn was one of the first motivational speakers that I ever heard and one of my heroes. He made his fortune in an early multiple level market and then went on to be an author and speaker. I find many of his thoughts very inspirational. He mentored Mark Hughes, the founder of Herbal Life and then Tony Robbins. He is also credited with influencing Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canefield, Brian Tracy and T. Harv. Eker.
Some of his famous mindset quotes:
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going”
And another I think is very pertinent: “You must take responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.”
He is also the person who suggested that you were the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Wayne Dyer is my guru and I love so much of what he has written. His most famous mindset quotes saying “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” This really is the basis for the work I do with EFT. Changing how we look at things can change everything, and is very powerful.
Over the years I watched his work change and he brought more of the spiritual into his writings towards the end of his life. I think this sentence sums up his beliefs. “There is no greater power in Heaven or on Earth than pure, unconditional love. The nature of the God force, the unseen intelligence in all things, which causes the material world and is the center of both the spiritual and physical plane, is best described as pure, unconditional love.”
Sometimes I have found that a piece of mindset quotes from some of the old masters has really helped me to understand and keep going and others are so simple, but describe such profound truths, like number 1, from Napoleon Hill.
- Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. Napoleon Hill
- Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. Mark Twain
- If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. Napoleon Hill
- What is not started will never get finished. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you are fortune, Jim Rohn
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. Albert Schweitzer
- There are three things you must do in order to become wealthy. You must have the right mindset, discover your purpose in life, and find a business that expresses that purpose. Andy Fuehl
- What you think, you become, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you create. Unknown
- Be thankful for the hard times, because they have made you. Leonardo Dicaprio
- Too many of us are not living our dreams, because we are living our fears. Les Brown
- Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently. Marie Forleo
- Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs. The future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so. David Brooks
Adopting an entrepreneurial mindset is more than a mindset shift, it is a lifestyle change. You will need to act, think and behave differently to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Over the years I have watched as people attempted the jump from paid employment to their own business. Many do not make it, and I believe that the big reason is that they are not able to make the shift in their mindset, in their thoughts and in their life. It is very different than working for someone else.
Some of these great salesmen, philosophers, and self-development mentors can teach us a great deal of how to navigate through this world. Times might have changed, but human beings haven’t.
Which ones are your favorites, or do you have other another that guides you and keeps you moving forward?