The 5 Components of the Mindset That Will Let You Live Your Dream Life It takes more than action to find your version of success -- you need to master the mindset!
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Entrepreneurial genius Walt Disney perhaps said it best when he declared, "If you can dream it, you can do it."
Action might take you places, but action coupled with an entrepreneurial mindset will give you the power to create a life of your choosing. The first step toward any endeavor is the imagination and idea to dream up a new endeavor.
The status quo was once horses, until Ford envisioned something unheard of: the automobile. The norm was computers the size of entire rooms, until microprocessors and personal computers were dreamed up.
Related: 6 Horrible Excuses for Not Chasing Your Entrepreneurial Dreams
You can't get to new horizons without some dreams, but you'll need the mindset to take you to the destination because you'll encounter countless bumps along the way. Here are five steps to success for an entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to do the things that create your dreams.
1. Decide to bet on yourself.
You have to know and decide that you are the solution and that you are going to choose to bet on yourself. Author and entrepreneur James Altucher wrote a book and began a platform off of this idea called Choose Yourself. The premise is something that entrepreneurs know well.
This mindset will allow you to endure life's challenges and put you in the right frame of mind for every action you take. An entrepreneurial mindset starts by establishing and reaffirming that you have the skills, desire, work ethic and are in every other way able and capable of handling whatever life throws your way. In other words, you got this.
2. Commit to being 100 percent accountable.
Entrepreneurs don't hang on someone or something when it comes to their success. You have to decide right now that your life is your creation and reflects your choices up to this point. No blame and no more shame.
As Suze Orman says in her book, Women and Money, "Blame renders you powerless. Shame only serves to hold you back." This is a key step in the entrepreneurial journey where you take full accountability for your actions. It's not that employee's fault for not getting their job done, it's yours for hiring that employee and allowing them to fall short. It's not the fault of the economy, society or government, it's wholly up to you.
That's the entrepreneurial mindset and that's why you will always see individuals, despite economics, geography, circumstances and gender massively succeeding. These are people who have decided they are committed to their success and being accountable 100 percent to themselves.
Related: 10 Simple Qualities That Can Help You Achieve Professional Success and Satisfaction in Life
3. Enough is never enough.
Some people might cry out, "Enough is enough! I can't take it." Not you. You can take anything because you can handle anything. You can survive and flourish despite any circumstances.
As Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks said in his book, Pour Your Heart Into It, "Every experience prepares you for the next. You just don't ever know what the next one is going to be."
You don't know what the current situation you're facing will mean for the future, but with the entrepreneurial mindset, you know you can handle it and it will lead to something bigger and better in the future.
4. Passion is my drug.
The success mindset is fueled on an endless supply of endorphin-enabling passion. You don't need drugs, caffeine or any other addiction to get you psyched for the day. You're high on this life you're creating, moment to moment and stoked to be a part of this lifestyle.
As Whit Hobbs said, "Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, however old or young, and bounding out of bed because there's something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you're good at -- something that's bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again today."
The entrepreneur's success mindset is driven by pure passion for a dream.
5. Pay the price.
The success mindset of entrepreneurship comes at a cost. You don't just hop into this life and this way of thinking without enduring some growing pains. You'll probably lose some friends, you'll definitely lose some sleep and you'll need to lose a lot of excuses.
In his Life's Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown perhaps summed this up best with this saying: "You pay a price for getting stronger. You pay a price for getting faster. You pay a price for jumping higher. And you pay a price for staying just the same."
We're all working with the same 24 hours and we're all paying a price for our achievements or our stagnation. You choose to pay the price of achievement as an entrepreneur and you'll need to value the success mindset enough to be willing to forgo comfort and certainty.
Related: Silence the Negative and Hateful Noise and Fight for Your Dream
