Your mindset has the power to create your reality ~ Anonymous.
Conor McGregor produced an extraordinary performance to dismantle Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds to win the UFC featherweight title, taking home a paycheck of around $16 million (almost $1.3 million for each second of action). Please note: this is almost 10 times the GMV per second that Alibaba generated during Singles day. Not too shabby. Jose Aldo was an undefeated champion for 10 years, but he got knocked out with record quickness.
Think about this for a second.
A 10 years undefeated champion. Knocked out in 13 seconds by an underdog that was so confident and outspoken about this fight that he actually went into this fight as the favorite and Aldo for the first time in 10 years was the underdog in a fight of this magnitude. The world was upside down and 13 seconds later Aldo with it.
“If you can see it and have the courage enough to speak it, it will happen,” McGregor said. “A lot of times people believe in certain things but they keep it to themselves, they don’t put it out there. If you believe in it enough the law of attraction will come into it and it will happen.”
Entrepreneurship
As entrepreneurs we are often confronted with a similar battle. We are challenging the status quo, disrupting the market and “dismantling” giant companies that have been the norm for customers for decades. Look at how companies like Airbnb, Über and Gojek (an Indonesian Über-like company that enable you to order a motorcycle taxi with a push of a button) have been disruptive and have changed the lives of millions of people.
In this battle that every entrepreneur’s is facing, confidence can be your friend or enemy. Because at the end of the day we’re all human and feelings of doubt could sneak into your mind. Am I taking the right decision? Is our product or service good enough? Are the doubters right? Is the competition too big? The big players in the market have massive funds and we don’t, why bother? Is our timing right or should we wait? And the list goes on and on.
3 lessons this epic fight can teach your startup mindset:
1: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right.” – Henry Ford
Your mind is a powerful tool. It can make you but it can also break you. Keep nourishing the garden of your mind with positive words and thoughts. Look at how Conor Mcgregor has been training his mindset on the outcome of this match. How he predicted almost every move in the fight.
[bctt tweet=”Believe in your idea and speak out how you will change the world with confidence.” username=”asenduk”]
2: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
Look at groundbreaking companies like Apple, Paypal or SpaceX. Nobody believed that these concepts would actually work. All the founders have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions, but they always believed in the impossible being possible and kept on pushing boundaries. Who would have expected that a 10 years undefeated champion would go down in 13 seconds? Not many, but it did happen. Who would have expected a gaming company that made 51 very mediocre games and almost went bankrupt to make a silly game about angry birds…and then 5 years later, 2.5 billion downloads and movie are reality. Nobody, but it did happen.
Don’t be discouraged by the doubters, non-believers or the status quo. Stay focused on the bigger picture and follow your gut feeling.
3: “Confidence is the key to maximising your potential” – Anonymous
A confident mindset is the button that can maximise your potential or turn it off completely. Your confidence level at each extreme is capable of producing two completely different people.
The average person’s mindset wanders around in the middle-to-lower end of the confidence spectrum. They make a devastating assumption – that the difference between the “great ones” and themselves is massive. The assumption is true – but is its own cause – a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Be confident, believe in yourselves and your team and go build an awesome company.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurs are warriors that are hustling and on a mission. At the same time we are human beings that are full with emotions that can affect our mindset. This amazing match has some remarkable lessons about how our mindset and confidence can make or break us and that things always seem impossible, until they are done. To put it in the legendary words of the master himself Steve Jobs:
“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”
Let’s keep on pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo. Please share your comments and thoughts, even if you’re not a UFC fan and are against violence :-).
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