To get the key to being a successful entrepreneur, you need to go to genuinely successful entrepreneurs. Academics may be able to tell you theories to show the accounts. But only those who have become successful entrepreneurs in real life have found the valid key to being a successful entrepreneur. You have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people.

Self-development books are often more helpful than business institute books because most of the best-selling self-development books on business are written to research successful people in various fields. By analyzing their knowledge, habits, way of working, etc., the writers find out the common qualities and types of successful people, which can be helpful for everyone.

Over the years before Napoleon Hill wrote his self-development classic “Think and Grow Rich,” he interviewed and researched over 500 remarkably successful people. Charles Duhig, the author of the book “Smarter Faster Better,” has done the same. In these books, in general, the reasons behind the success of the most successful people are highlighted so that the readers can also be successful in their lives by applying them.

Writer, journalist, and researcher Kevin Cruz has done just that. However, he did not write a book. Instead, I interviewed 200 successful people who are currently alive. Most of them are successful entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, and six billionaires.

He asked everyone a ubiquitous question: “What is the number 1 reason behind your extraordinary productivity or performance?”

The answers are given one by one, but 12 of them have come up the most, and almost everyone interviewed follows one or the other.

Kevin has published an article on these issues in Business Insider, where he has beautifully summed up the problems. So today, we are presenting to you in the form of 12 key mantras to be a successful entrepreneur so that you, too, can use them to improve your success.

So let’s find out –

The Key to Successful Entrepreneurship:

01. Successful entrepreneurs work by calculating minutes instead of hours

Most people work by calculating hours. Entrepreneurs even figure how many hours they work a day. But in Cruz’s words, “ultra-successful” or very successful entrepreneurs work as minutes. Explaining the matter, he said, “The best successful entrepreneurs are aware of the whole 1440 minutes instead of 24 hours a day. And they realize that time is of the essence. Money is available when it is gone, but it is not returned when the time comes.”

There is a story about Bill Gates. A few thousand dollars once fell from his desk. He didn’t make it anymore. Because he could earn more money by using the time he spent to pick it up, whether this story is true or false is in doubt. But the message behind the story is as accurate as daylight. If time is valued more than anything, time returns it many times over.

So, one of the key mantras of being a successful entrepreneur is to work consciously every minute of it. If you work 1 hour, keep in mind that 60 minutes is helpful. You see, 1 hour of work is over 1 hour ago. The rest of the time, you can use another emergency. This will increase productivity many times.

02. Focus on just one task at a time

Focus is another key to success. Pay close attention to what you are doing. More extensive than that, start the day with the most critical work. As an entrepreneur, you need to know what work is most important for the success of your business.

Most “Ultra Successful Business People” – who work 2 hours deep after starting their day – do the most critical work for their business. But, unfortunately, at this point, they don’t talk to anyone or pay attention to anything else.

Their productivity is at its best during these ‘deep work’ hours, and they can do a lot of the rest of the day’s work as well. So pay close attention to what you do in the first 2 hours after the start of the day. Then, hopefully, the quality of your work will increase a lot.

03. Work on the calendar

Some people schedule even the most minor unnecessary things in their day. Kevin Cruz has learned from interviewing 200 extraordinarily successful people that it does more harm than good. If you schedule essential things, you can’t do less than 41% of them. Doing these things can harm the subconscious mind. The GTD method says the same something. Scheduling small tasks, not doing so leaves them in a subconscious mind, causing a problem called the “Zeigarnik effect.” This problem is caused by unnecessary stress, insomnia – etc.

Very successful people work according to the calendar, not keeping all the little things on schedule. That is, they schedule what they will do on what date. And divide those urgent tasks into more minor daytime schedules. Thus, their focus is only on critical studies, and they do not have to take unnecessary stress.

04. Think before you act to slow down

To be a successful entrepreneur or to be successful in anything else, eliminating procrastination is an important key. The evil of laziness is terrible. Many talented and skilled people have failed in life just because of this laziness or abandonment of work.

Like ordinary people, successful people want to take a break from work, take a break if they are not in the mood, watch their favorite movie or TV series on the day of release – etc. But they suppress these desires because they know what will happen in the future if they leave work or slow down.

Now the question is, do they know magic, or can they do time travel, or can they see the future?

None of this. They use a power that every human being has. That is, to be able to judge by reason and to be able to imagine.

Whenever they feel the urge to slow down, they imagine what it would be like to lose their job in the future. If you can’t finish the work on time, you may not submit the project on time. Maybe the relationship with the client can get worse, or not being able to deliver the product on time can lead to huge losses – etc.

If you think with a bit of logic, you can think of the evils of leaving work. And if you imagine these, your adrenaline hormone will start working. As a result, you will start working again from your natural survival tendency or “survival instincts.” – The hormone adrenaline usually activates people in the face of danger or the beginning of challenges. Since our brains show the same reaction in imagination and reality, imagining the risk of not working will create an urge to work inside. Successful people are in control of almost every single situation. You try too.

05. Keep a life out of business too

As an entrepreneur, of course, business is one of your main tasks. Kevin Cruz, referring to Andrew Glove (1937-2018), the late CEO and Chairman of Intel Corporation, said that successful entrepreneurs know what is most important to them in life.

Yes, they value their work terribly. But there is more to life than that. Legendary successful entrepreneurs value their business as well as their families. In addition to his contribution to the end of a person’s life, what he does to the Creator, and what he does to the family – become even more valuable. That’s why prominent billionaires like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or Jack Ma donate most of their money to human welfare, as well as to their children and families. Elon Musk goes on tour with his sons whenever he has time and regularly spends time with his sons amid hundreds of activities.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos never misses breakfast with family when he is in the country.

Without family ties and love, people’s lives are meaningless at the end of the day. Extraordinarily successful people know this very well. Unlike most Hollywood celebrities, they do not have a chaotic life. It is often reported that such stars have become impoverished by gambling, getting drunk, or losing all their money. But that is not the case with entrepreneurs because they have a meaningful life beyond money and glamor.

06. Reading and writing habits

Having the habit of reading and writing is one of the critical mantras for being a successful entrepreneur. Without this practice, you might be a successful entrepreneur at some stage – but it will never go to Steve Jobs or Jack Ma level.

Warren Buffett still reads 500 pages a day, Elon Musk is immersed in books whenever he has time, Bill Gates reads 50 books a year, Mark Zuckerberg regularly reads about the culture and people of different countries to expand his business.

And when it comes to writing, it’s not about writing stories, poems, or essays. I’m talking about writing my own goals, plans, ideas, etc. Billionaire Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, has repeatedly said that he could not have made the Virgin Group a success – unless he had traveled around all the time with a small ledger. Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (not the philosopher Aristotle, but Aristotle, the modern-day merchant) said, “Keep a notebook with you at all times. Write down whatever comes to mind. It’s a million-dollar lesson – something no business institute will teach you. ” 

Kevin Cruz writes, “Ultra successful people keep their heads clean by writing everything down. If you write down urgent matters, they will not bother you for the time being. But they can be thought of later. Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest genius of all time, followed it very strictly. Almost all the self-development coaches in the world have emphasized writing down their goals and ideas. – You can use it as the key to success.

07. Check email and notifications less

The best successful entrepreneurs don’t check email and social media notifications all day. Or do not pay attention to the sound of mail or messages. Instead, like everything else, they have a set time. Maybe check mails and notifications half an hour after lunch a day. There is minimal urgency. Most of them check only once a day. Many do not even once. Give these responsibilities to your PS. They are only allowed to report something urgent.

08. Don’t waste too much time behind the meeting

When Kevin Cruz interviewed American billionaire Mark Cuban about his best productivity technique, Cuban said, don’t waste too much time behind the meeting if you don’t think it will be fruitful.

Meetings are a great way to save time. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs waste their time by giving extra time behind the meeting. Avoid nonsense at any business meeting. Starting and finishing work quickly is one of the keys to a successful business meeting. If you leave the main subject and take another turn, bring the word back to the point. And try to conclude as soon as possible. It will not waste time. It is essential to make the most of every minute.

09. Learn to say no

Warren Buffett, one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs of all time, famously said, “The difference between ordinary success and extraordinary success is that extraordinary successes say ‘no’ to almost everything.” According to the “Pareto Principle” or 80/20 Principal, 80% of human success depends on 20% work. Extraordinarily successful entrepreneurs do not take advantage of any opportunity. They know that most of their work will not be done. They only do things that will help them achieve their primary goal. They did not say everything else. Learning to say ‘no’ with proper consideration is essential as the key to being a successful entrepreneur.

10. Don’t go doing everything alone

Nothing can be done better in the end if you do everything alone. This is why teamwork is so essential for a successful business.

Kevin writes, “How can I do this?” Instead of asking, “How can this work best?” Ultra productive people don’t want to control everything alone. When launching a product or service, marketing, budgeting, production, engineering – all the responsibilities are not on the shoulders of one person, he chooses the best job according to his ability, he shares the work according to the power of others. As a result, the work is done quickly and in quality. An entrepreneur will keep track of everything, but don’t go for control alone.

11. Don’t do things once and twice

One of the best successful entrepreneurs takes one job and finishes another. Do one job a little at a time and leave it at that. There is a saying in psychology called “Residue of Thought”: when one job is left unfinished, and another job is left undone, the thoughts left behind by the previous job keep coming to mind. As a result, the next job is not good. If you want to work entirely, you have to finish one task and then start another study. As Kevin writes, this will reduce stress, and you will be able to do everything beautifully in a very light mood.

12. Follow a good morning routine

The most common thing Kevin found when interviewing 200 successful people is that almost all successful people have specific productive morning routines. The most common of successful people’s practices were waking up early in the morning, meditating or praying, exercising, reading inspirational books or listening to lectures, writing something good for one’s purpose, having a nutritious and healthy breakfast, and getting clean.

Miracle Morning, one of the best self-development books written about morning routines, also talks about this type of morning routine.

If the morning can be started beautifully and productively, then the chances of the day being successful increase a lot. So, a proper morning routine can be the key to success in any case.