Stop telling yourself you can't: How to be a successful entrepreneur

Our company is now six weeks into the Tech Wildcatters accelerator program, and I am amazed at how much we have grown up and how much my team has been able to accomplish. We are learning a lot, being challenged and iterating as fast as we can. Yet even with everything we’ve done, we still have a mountain of work ahead of us.

Even with all the excitement, there have been a number of times that I come home after a long day and think: How am I going to do all of this? There’s so much work to be done! I can’t do it!

That’s when I remind myself to override that voice. I replace “I can’t do all this” immediately with “I can and I will”. The effect is powerful. The more you train yourself to replace that cynical inner voice with a positive one, the more likely you are to snap back to making progress.

I learned this from distance running. I love running half-marathons (one day I’ll do a full!) and this past December I reduced my time by 21 minutes. I accomplished this because when I was tired and my muscles ached and my mind was telling me to stop, I simply replaced the voice and said: “I can and I will. I’m going to finish this thing.” And I kept repeating it until I believed it. That’s what pushed me to run the fastest half I’ve ever done.

That’s what pushes me to keep building my company and pursuing my dream. There’s always a million reasons that your company/idea/product can fail. There’s always going to be people that doubt it can be done. There’s always an easier alternative. But why should your own inner voice join the chorus of others telling you it can’t be done? If you don’t believe in you, who will?

Stop telling yourself that you can’t do things. Start telling yourself that you not only can, but you will. Repeat it until you believe it. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.