The Keys to Reinventing Yourself or Your Business

With all the challenges of the last year, the pandemic has also revealed new growth opportunities. There has never been a better time to reinvent yourself or your business. And there are three key qualities all successful business owners and business leaders have in common.

This last year has been a challenging one for everyone, and the pandemic has taught us a lot about ourselves, our relationships, and our work.

We have all been forced to reflect on what really matters to us. It has also shown us that we need to be more open: open to being more flexible, open to listening to others, open to pivoting as needed, and open to new opportunities.

As we start to turn the corner and see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, it is those (businesses) who have been 'open' that will have survived, and for many, they will emerge entirely changed.

The pandemic also revealed new growth opportunities in the ways we learn, work, and live. But to be open to growth and opportunities, one must first be Open to the Possibilities.

When you live with an open mind, you see opportunities instead of obstacles or setbacks. But oftentimes, we don't seize opportunities because they are rarely presented in a simple, straightforward way; most of the time, it is a collection of dots that you have to connect before you can see the big picture.

Whether an entrepreneur or a corporate executive, all successful business people shared 3 common characteristics, which have defined their success.

1. They are open-minded to see opportunities as well as open to pivoting when necessary.

2. They seize opportunities, whether they (fully) know what they are doing or not.

3. They have grit and persevere, knowing life is a marathon, not a sprint.

Successful people also know business opportunities are not one and done. Meaning, opportunities and ideas are like seeds; you must plant a lot of them because not all seeds will grow. But if you plant them with the right focus and intention, the most significant seeds will flourish.

Keep on sowing your seeds, for you never know which will grow.

- Albert Einstein

However, even the most successful business leaders know that they can do all the right things and have the right components in place, and it still may not work out the way they had intended. But again, they are open to pivoting and discovering new ways or other opportunities.

Which brings us to grit. What is Grit?

Grit is defined as passion and sustained persistence applied toward long-term achievement, with no particular concern for rewards or recognition along the way.

- Angela Duckworth

In a powerful Ted Talk, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth says that Grit is the key factor to success- to any success.

Angela Duckworth is a psychologist, a researcher, and the world's leading expert on Grit. She has studied non-IQ competencies, including self-control and Grit, to predict success both academically and professionally.

Whether a student, an athlete, a business leader, or an entrepreneur, Duckworth attributes Grit to determining someone's success.

It combines resilience, ambition, and self-control to pursue goals that may take months, years, or even decades to achieve. Duckworth says,

Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.

So now, more than ever, as life for everyone has changed, an openness to see things differently, to look for and seize opportunities, and to dig deep, to be resilient and persistent, in pursuing goals and dreams will determine the next wave of entrepreneurs and business leaders.