August 24, 2020
There has been a lot of press about building grit and resilience in kids in the past few years. Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance has been a best-seller in the family and education communities. In psychology, grit is based on an individual's passion, motivation, and determination to achieve a certain goal. The American Psychological Association states that grit is what separates the very best from those who are simply good enough.
Grit and resilience is not just for our kids. There’s no mistaking the fact that an entrepreneur’s path is a challenging one. I consider myself an entrepreneur. My team and I work with entrepreneurs on a daily basis and see that it is the person who has taken the road several times, through many years, before they finally strike upon success.
Building an educational business, managing employees, raising capital, expanding market share, developing products and services, and now a pandemic – these are all the types of responsibilities that can eat away at a founder’s mental and emotional perseverance. Yet many founders and entrepreneurial teams hang in there. Looking at the successful teams, what stands out for the tough times and how they continued to persevere is resilience.
When compared to most career paths, entrepreneurs endure a lot of stress. According to a Gallup Well-being Index report, 45 percent of entrepreneurs said that they are stressed, while 34 percent of them said they were more likely to have “worried a lot.” In addition, entrepreneurs were reportedly far more likely to experience mental health issues such as depression or substance addiction than traditional workers.
True resilience is more than surviving. It’s thriving in spite of loss, challenge, and disruption. We all know everything does not run smoothly constantly. During this pandemic, when small businesses in the education arena are challenged, we all falter, and we all have days when we want to quit.
Real resilience is your ability to absorb life’s challenges, such as the pandemic and your business’ challenges and be resourceful – being innovative.
That means on the other side of a disruption, your business survives, and you gain something you didn’t have before. Yes, you may also have losses, but you’ve learned lessons, gained new insights, or found new innovations.
Because of this new attitude and outlook, you’re able to act in new ways. Your performance increases, your influence expands, or your community broadens. All because you, the business owner, ended up better than you were before the disruption, which can be measured by your sales, profits, return on investment, and market share.
If you are looking to build capacity and resilience for your business, Advancing Global EDU can help. Contact us for a complimentary consultation. We look forward to speaking to you.