5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Become More Psychologically Resilient

Discover how you can build your psychological resiliency!

Entrepreneurship is the backbone of any free-market economy. Globally, small and medium-sized businesses represent roughly 90% of businesses and employ over 50% of the workforce.

Yet entrepreneurs face many obstacles that threaten their survival, including financial insecurity and market uncertainties. Unsurprisingly, roughly 50% of new ventures fail within the first five years. In this challenging landscape, entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience is a key personal resource and competitive advantage. But how can entrepreneurs develop resilience?

5 ways to become more psychologically resilient

Psychological resilience is made up of two defining elements. First, someone must experience adversity, which threatens their performance or well-being. After experiencing this adversity, a person’s recovery to their initial level of performance or well-being is known as positive adaptation. This ability to bounce back after facing an obstacle is resilience.

Even if you weren’t born with an inherent ability to weather every storm that comes your way, you can still learn to become more mentally tough and adaptable. Here are five ways to develop personal resilience so that you can triumph over the next obstacle you face:

1. Cultivate a growth or learning-oriented mindset

Prioritize learning over short-term performance, seek out challenges, embrace failures, and experiment with ideas, even if you don’t achieve immediate success. Adopting a healthy mindset about adversity can change how you respond to inevitable bumps in the road.

2. Proactively learn from others

Seek out formal mentors who can offer advice and knowledge about how to overcome entrepreneur-specific challenges. Invest time in reading about how other entrepreneurs overcame adversity while launching and accelerating a business.

3. Develop strong social support networks

Social support is critical to overcoming adversity, whether it comes from family, friends, colleagues, or mentors. Support networks offer instrumental guidance, like helping entrepreneurs look at problems from new perspectives, as well as emotional support for managing negative emotions and stressful experiences. Find people and organizations you can lean on.

4. Focus on your core strengths and capabilities to achieve success

Believe in your ability to manage the unexpected. Dive in passionately to what you are building. Passion is the fuel that keeps entrepreneurs motivated and committed to learning, despite obstacles.

5. Participate in local entrepreneurship programs

By engaging with local programslocal programs, entrepreneurs can find and use essential resources, including specific knowledge and industry connections, to help them bounce back when adversity strikes (or even proactively anticipate challenges).

Like building muscle, building psychological resilience takes time, effort, and the right technique. By investing in learning, believing in your capabilities and vision, using failure as fuel for growth and leaning on social support, anyone can become a psychologically resilient entrepreneur.