Entrepreneurship can be one of the most difficult jobs. In tough times, all the responsibility falls onto you. Under these circumstances, it’s easy to turn to self-doubt and begin looking for an exit.
However, how can you stay the course and overcome self-doubt as an entrepreneur?
1. Remember Why You Started
You started your business with a purpose. You wanted to achieve something. You wanted to create a specific outcome for yourself, your family or other people.
So, remember that. Get connected to your why and brainstorm how you can find a different way rather than a lesser goal. As Robert Brault said, “We are kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.”
2. Realize that Quitting Will Only Feel Good in Moment
If you don’t have to quit, you shouldn’t. If you’ve still got options to keep your business running or to change your entrepreneurial direction, then don’t let your temporary feelings of doubt detour you from your goals.
Jesse Itzler once said, “When you come to a point when you have to make a key decision, remember how that choice will make you feel tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that, and the one after that.”
The pain of continuing is temporary, but the pain of quitting lasts forever. As Jim Rohn has said, “Potential underutilized leads to pain.”
3. Appreciate Yourself
The entrepreneurial journey isn’t always going to be easy. The famous saying goes: “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.”
So, don’t focus on the things you don’t have, and instead, appreciate everything present in your life and how you can use it. Much of our pain comes not from ourselves but from focusing on things outside of us.