Rules for Entrepreneurs – good habits to develop

I went to a seminar the other day and the speaker mentioned these 16 key items to being successful in business. I thought they were great habits for everyone to develop and included a 17th for good measure.

Habits of Mind for successful entrepreneurs

1. Persisting
2. Managing impulsivity – when you get ’emotionally flooded’ it gets hard to respond appropriately. Remaining calm, thoughtful and deliberate
3. Listening with understanding and empathy – genuinely looking to understand the other viewpoint
4. Thinking flexibly – being able to change perspective as necessary
5. Thinking about your thinking – Brain needs time to process, it’s in the quiet time that understanding can happen. 3 x 3 mins per day
6. Striving for accuracy – doing your best – (but not perfection, that is impossible)
7. Questioning and problem posing
8. Applying past knowledge to new situations, know that you have the capability to use your past to help your future. You cannot really fail
9. Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision – Fuzzy language = Fuzzy thinking = Fuzzy results
10. Gather data through all your senses – don’t use just your mind
11. Creating, imagining and innovating – something Kiwi’s are good at, our number eight wire thinking
12. Responding with wonderment and awe – every day.
13. Taking responsible risks – it’s in loss or perception of failure that learning and growth can happen, learn to live on the edge of your competence and try new things often
14. Finding humour – especially of oneself
15. Thinking interdependently – able to work with others
16. Remaining open to continuous learning
17. Paying it forward – giving something back

The ideas are from ‘Habits of Mind’ Art Costa

Hope you find the above thought provoking.