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Key Takeaways
- Resilience is a skill you build before a crisis, by practicing clear, focused decision-making on everyday setbacks.
- Accept hard realities quickly, expect problems to come in waves and take time to recover and reflect once the crisis has passed.
Ask any entrepreneur about the worst leadership crisis they’ve ever faced, and they’ll have an answer immediately. It probably wasn’t their proudest moment, but it likely made them a stronger leader.
Those defining moments don’t always happen at work. Mine came on Mount Kilimanjaro, when my wife suddenly lost her eyesight from altitude sickness near the summit. What followed was a 24-hour descent to get her the medical care she needed. As the chaos unfolded, I fell back on a mindset I had developed over my career as an executive and an endurance athlete. It allowed me to stay focused under extreme mental and physical stress.
No one can predict the curveballs life will throw at them. Funding falls through. A natural disaster shuts down your business. A business partner falls ill. You don’t need a life-or-death crisis to build resilience as an entrepreneur. You do need a framework, so every setback becomes a chance to strengthen the mindset you’ll rely on when real adversity strikes.
Here are three habits that have served me well, and that every entrepreneur can start practicing before they need them.
1. Train your mind to perform under pressure
In a crisis, your mind will become either your greatest strength or your greatest weakness. The difference lies in whether you let fear dictate your actions or train yourself to think clearly under pressure. Like any skill, performing under pressure can be developed long before you need it.
Throughout my career as a technology executive helping organizations scale and navigate change, I have trained my mind to enter what’s known as a flow state. My approach is based on the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who pioneered the study of flow.
His research suggests that the deep focus of flow can be cultivated. It’s a state leaders and elite athletes can draw on when they’re mentally exhausted or under extreme stress. The science of flow is extensive, but you can start applying its principles the next time you face a crisis:
- Define a clear objective. Don’t try to solve everything at once. Work through the crisis one step at a time.
- Eliminate distractions. Ignore the noise and keep your attention on what matters most.
- Focus on the next critical decision. Don’t overwhelm yourself by considering every possible outcome.
- Pivot as new information emerges. Adapt your approach without losing sight of your objective.
Apply this framework to even the smallest setbacks. The more consistently you practice it, the stronger your foundation will be when the stakes are highest.
2. Get past the impossible fast
Entrepreneurs are optimistic by nature. It’s one of our greatest strengths. But in a crisis, your optimism must be grounded in reality. Accept your situation quickly. Don’t waste time asking why it happened or dwelling on how insurmountable it feels.
Instead, focus on the problem directly in front of you. When you replace emotion with action, you’ll either solve the problem faster or know exactly what help you need to overcome it.
Just don’t assume that solving the first problem means the crisis is over. In my experience, adversity rarely happens in a vacuum. One challenge often triggers several others. Expect setbacks to come in waves, and rely on your mental endurance to keep moving until you’ve addressed them all and your business has regained its footing.
As a track athlete, I was taught to run through the tape. You don’t slow down as you approach the finish line. You keep running straight through it. Lead the same way. Stay disciplined and keep moving forward until the entire crisis is behind you. Only then should you let yourself exhale.
3. Build recovery into your process
I was so focused during our descent that I barely noticed my own exhaustion. It wasn’t until my wife received medical care and made a full recovery that the adrenaline wore off and the emotions I had pushed aside finally caught up with me.
Recovery is about more than rest. Take time to honestly assess what happened and how you responded. What did you do well? What can you improve so you’re better prepared next time?
I have tremendous respect for first responders. After every emergency, they conduct an after-action review to assess their performance. It’s part of their professional DNA. They capture and share lessons learned so the entire team can perform better the next time they’re called.
Entrepreneurs should adopt the same mindset. Too often, we treat sleep deprivation and impossible deadlines as badges of honor, then charge headfirst into the next challenge. Resist the urge to move on too quickly. We spend so much time focused on reaching the summit that we rarely think about the journey back down. Yet that’s where some of our most valuable leadership lessons are learned.
Your reputation as a leader isn’t built when everything goes according to plan. Develop a mindset like flow before you need it. Train yourself to move past what seems impossible quickly. Then take time to rest and reflect. Together, these three habits will help you respond with confidence and clarity when the next challenge strikes.
Key Takeaways
- Resilience is a skill you build before a crisis, by practicing clear, focused decision-making on everyday setbacks.
- Accept hard realities quickly, expect problems to come in waves and take time to recover and reflect once the crisis has passed.
Ask any entrepreneur about the worst leadership crisis they’ve ever faced, and they’ll have an answer immediately. It probably wasn’t their proudest moment, but it likely made them a stronger leader.
Those defining moments don’t always happen at work. Mine came on Mount Kilimanjaro, when my wife suddenly lost her eyesight from altitude sickness near the summit. What followed was a 24-hour descent to get her the medical care she needed. As the chaos unfolded, I fell back on a mindset I had developed over my career as an executive and an endurance athlete. It allowed me to stay focused under extreme mental and physical stress.
No one can predict the curveballs life will throw at them. Funding falls through. A natural disaster shuts down your business. A business partner falls ill. You don’t need a life-or-death crisis to build resilience as an entrepreneur. You do need a framework, so every setback becomes a chance to strengthen the mindset you’ll rely on when real adversity strikes.