Entrepreneurial Mindset

Today let’s talk about the Entrepreneurial Mindset: Excellence v.s. Mediocre

Let me share a story with you: One of our friends, James is an awesome mountain hiker.  As he was hiking up a steep mountain trail, and half way through, he was so exhausted and thought to himself “  There is no way I can finish this trail...I think I’d better turn back.  Just right before he was about to give up, there was an old gentleman in his 70th, hiking down towards to James and said: “ It is much closer than you think!”

Just that ONE sentence, James was encouraged and empowered! He didn’t just finish up the hike less than the estimated time, he was also rewarded to enjoy the magnificent views at the mountain top! (Talking about an Entrepreneurial Mindset shift!)

In life and in business, how many times as we thought ourselves, we already give it all, and not got to where we want to be yet, we give up! Stats shows that over 90% of the entrepreneurs failed during the first 3 years of business, because great percentage of them gave up too early!  Sadly to say, there are many of them were operating in the mindset of mediocre, just get by, or just satisfied with the average result. In the above video, I enclosed the awesome footage I shot at Hoover Dam, and here is what I learned about Hoover Dam’s story:

“Hoover Dam is a testimony to a country's ability to construct monolithic projects in the midst of adverse conditions. Built during the Depression; thousands of men and their families came to Black Canyon to tame the Colorado River. It took less than five years, in a harsh and barren land, to build the largest dam of its time.” (Now, that's a great example of Entrepreneurial Mindset of undertaking it by strength)

As I enjoyed the magnificent tour in Hoover Dam, I cannot help thinking about the men and women who involved in this amazing project encountered some serious challenge, and even some of them gave their lives for it...they didn’t give up, settle for less, but pursued for the excellence.

That’s why even today, years later, Hoover Dam still stands as a world-renowned structure. The Dam is a National Historic Landmark and has been rated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders.

“YATEER” the Hebrew word for Excellence-the literal translation is: “the mountain or island that juts out above the rest .”

While the word “Mediocre” is from the Latin “mediocris” which means of “middle height or degree” but literally means “somewhat rugged or mountainous.” It is derived from the words “medius” for “middle” and “ocris” for “rugged mountain.”

As I explained it briefly in the video “half way to the mountain top.”  When you are in the mountain top, you get to enjoy all the views, get refreshed and empowered, and be ready for the next summit; although it might requires an extra push, but often though it just required a  mindset-shift as what happened to my friend, James. 

Most of the people think to be excellent is hard work, think again!  As we are created for greatness; in fact, to do mediocre work is actually harder on us because we are causing our conscience to condemn ourselves. It is like climbing a rugged mountain, stuck in the middle of it, no view, nothing to enjoy and feel so defected, not fun at all!

So I’d like to encourage you today, to align your Entrepreneurial Mindset with excellence, make a decision to go to the mountain, don’t give up, you might find it is much closer than you think! If you find the content has inspired and encouraged you, don’t be selfish, share with someone you care! As always, your comments and sharing is much appreciated!

much love,