You Don’t Need a Yoda to be Successful

 

Everybody tells you, if you want to be successful, you need to find a guru. Nonsense. Now, there’s nothing wrong with having a mentor or, better still, multiple mentors. But you don’t need to have one All Knowing Guru to teach you everything about what to do and when to do it. Most of the things you need to know and will have to decide will always be up to you. You’re either up to the challenge or not. If you depend on one guy to make all those decisions for you, you’re not a CEO … you’re an employee … or an acolyte.
Again, don’t be some teetotaler here. It’s good to have a mentor. Better to have many skilled in areas and experience you need to help you make good decisions. But you still need “you” to step up and get it done. Here are some ways to make YOU your best guru.

Give yourself routine impossible goals. Challenge yourself, give yourself the gift of specific benchmarks that force you to learn things you don’t know and do things the “old you” would not attempt.

That involves risk taking. Sure, you think you are a risk taker because you are stepping out in business. And, well, you are. But that’s not the only risk you need to take. If you want to reach levels you would not otherwise, you need to take risks. Value failure more than cowardice. One is a teacher. The other is a shackle.

Learn more about the business and industry you appreciate. While not everyone gets to transform their hobby into their main job, some do. Others find something they love that IS marketable. Someone once said if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. Know what? That’s pretty much true. Yes, you have stress and bottom lines and deadlines, but you also have joy and appreciation and fulfillment.

I could say “believe in yourself” here, but we both know you’re a bit of a narcissist. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have the guts to jump out and be a CEO. Don’t be shy about it. Embrace the belief that you have a better way or a new idea. If you can’t fully commit to that, you’ve already failed.

Give yourself opportunities to succeed. We already talked about failure. Enough about that. Set yourself up for some confidence-building wins. You can learn as much from winning as you do from losing. Never forget that.

Roman Temkin is a successful entrepreneur from NYC.