As you get deeper and deeper into the business game, at some point you’re going to have to start getting tough.
Your tolerance to stress, pressure, deadlines, expectations, and delayed gratification has to continually increase as you progressively set your sights higher and higher along your journey.
I have personally suffered the consequences of anxiety and pressure, and at the moment I can’t think of anybody I’ve ever met who has built a successful business that hasn’t had these extreme moments that totally dominate your emotions and thinking until you get through it.
Business is tough, and if you have big goals you’re going to need to be tough too.
I have massive goals I want to accomplish in life, and to match the expectations I have placed upon myself I have built up multiple successful businesses from the ground up.
There have been a lot of stressful moments and time periods along the way, but three things that have dramatically helped me become tougher are:
- Reading about and adopting Stoicism as much as I can.
- Being mentored and having many friends more successful than me.
- Meditation and deep breathing exercises.
Stoicism
Stoicism has dramatically changed my outlook on life. I was already naturally utilizing many of the concepts which was assuring, but, the way in which other facets of the philosophy were delivered to me really allowed me to callus my mind to stress.
Success-Driven Network
Having mentors and friends along the way who were more successful than me always made me feel silly about my problems. I know people who deal in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and I’ve even met people who deal in the billions of dollars.
When I see the impact the decision making they are involved in, or have a look at their weekly schedule, it always made me think:
Hey Dan, you better harden up man. You’re stressed out about something and you’ve got buddies with more pressure than you and yet they are also handling it better than you. So, why do you have anxiety again? Take action instead.
Meditation and Deep Breathing
Lastly, guided meditation and deep breathing exercises have in many ways offered an “eye in the storm” moment for me, my thoughts and my emotions.
When I have several projects on the go with looming deadlines, I can get in a “funk” where time is passing and I’m just working my ass off without ever truly checking in with myself.
Who am I?
Why am I on this planet?
What’s important to me right now?
What are my goals?
How do I feel on the inside these days?
The “eye in the storm” moment is the moment you drop all of your chaos about what you’re doing and take a moment to check in with yourself, and then when you’re done, check in with a loved one.
Your success means nothing if you can’t share it with the ones you love.
But, you can only help people if you have already helped yourself first. You can’t help someone if you’re burnt out, unhealthy, and filled with anxiety.
Fix yourself and you’ll fix both your success and your relationships. “Checking in” has certainly saved me from losing loved ones in the past, when in my earlier days I didn’t do this and have lost many people whom I used to have close relationships with.
Through Stoicism, having successful people in my life, and utilizing deep breathing/meditation to check in with myself — I have become tough.
Not in a “I’m a tough guy” physical way, I am strictly talking about my toughness towards stress accumulation.
I can handle a lot, and if you’re reading this right now I’m willing to bet you have big goals in your life.
Take my advice and use these three tactics so you too can become anti-fragile.
Final Thoughts
On the topic of becoming anti-fragile, you need to start putting yourself into hard situations intentionally.
Do a day or two of fasting so you can realize what real hunger is.
Go alone to social events if you have anxiety speaking to people.
Cut out alcohol and drugs for extended periods of time if this is a go-to behavior of yours.
Join a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym if you’re afraid of confrontation.
You have to do something HARD at least once a month (yes, not just once a year) to become anti-fragile and remove the dependencies that you carry in life that make you weak.
If you don’t, you will forever bottleneck not just your business’s results… but you will be bottlenecking the fulfillment you could otherwise be receiving in life.
If you liked this article and you want help doing the right things along the way, let Kevin and I help you out and choose the best course of action for you today.
Dan Garner
Kevin McClelland
