Forging Mental Toughness
Being a business owner means putting yourself out there. That can be scary no matter the capacity. You don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers or followers for it to be terrifying. You put yourself out there when you put your time, energy, and heart into mowing a lawn; that’s a scary thing. To continue putting ourselves out there we need to choose to build up our mental toughness. Being mentally tough doesn’t mean being mean or rude to others. It simply means that you don’t let others’ negativity get to you. I wish it was as easy as waking up one day and deciding to be tough, but it’s not that simple. It takes time to grow confidence in yourself and understand your worth as a business owner.
Imposter syndrome is a very real thing and it causes your mental toughness to take a hit. Imposter syndrome is believing that you are not good enough to be in the position you are. Who are you to be owning a business? How could you possibly be successful? You don’t know what you’re doing, you’ve never done this before! These along with many other negative thoughts could be running through your head. I struggled immensely with imposter syndrome. Why do you think it took me this long to get where I am now? Not only did I have negative thoughts inside my head, I had the people around me saying similar things. Over time my confidence grew which in turn caused my mental toughness to increase. Once I was confident in the day to day activities of my business I could show others that I no longer doubted myself.
Like in any business it’s easy to play the comparison game, but never compare your start to someone else's finish. You can’t even compare your start to someone else's middle. We all have our own journeys in our lawn care business and you know what? I am proud of you no matter where you’re at! The fact that you wake up every day and go after what you want says a lot about who you are. Not everyone is brave enough to go after their dreams, so you should be proud of yourself for your hard work no matter where you are in your journey. You will always have the haters, the ones telling you “I make way more than that in my business” and that’s fine. You created your business to accomplish your goals and that should be all that matters. The size of your business does not determine your success.
You will encounter people in life that just want to bring you down. Don’t let them! Whether it’s a stranger in real life or behind a screen, a loved one, or a customer, don’t put up with it. Be mentally tough. You have the right to have boundaries and don’t allow that negativity in your life. Of course we all have our bad days and say things we don’t mean, but if someone is repeatedly putting you down day in and day out, why allow them in your space? Some of you may notice, but some of you may not, that I don’t have hardly any negative comments on my content. Want to know why? I delete any negativity instantly. They do not deserve any time or space on my pages. I will continue to be authentic and it’s your decision whether you like me or not, but why put negativity like that out into the world? What purpose does it serve? If I watch a video that I don’t like or agree with, I change what I’m watching. What’s the point in blasting someone on the internet, do you get anything out of it? Do they?
No matter the circumstance it’s important to build up your mental toughness. We live in a world of weak minded people, but life’s tough, so get a helmet! You can’t cry and complain about everything in life. If things aren’t going your way, you simply pick yourself up and move forward. Everyday we are learning and evolving as people and business owners. So be thankful for all that you do have and all that you have learned. We need to lead with gratitude and the rest will follow. No matter where you are in your journey, it's important to be thankful and stay humble. There is always something to have gratitude for.
I want you to try this with me. What are three things that you are thankful for? I’ll go first…
- The fact that it is 50 degrees and sunny out as I write this post.
- That my family loves and supports me.
- That I have a roof over my head.
Your turn, what are your three?
I hope this post gives you the motivation you need to work on your mental toughness. I also want you to remember that owning a business is a journey, and you have so much to learn from it and you should never give up! You made a commitment to yourself and maybe your family to accomplish a goal of having a successful business. I don’t know about you, but for me a commitment means NEVER giving up. You work until it works! Show yourself and everyone around you that you have what it takes to succeed.
