I was looking at Bloomberg TV sometime ago and Donald Trump was being interviewed and he was asked: “What’s the most important real-life advice you can give to an entrepreneur?”
Here’s how he answered: You have to love what you do. Without passion, great success is hard to come by. An entrepreneur will have tough times if he or she isn’t passionate about what they’re doing. People who love what they’re doing don’t give up. It’s never even a consideration. It’s a pretty simple formula.”
I agree with the Don on this need to love what you do. The thing that I think is harder though is the “not giving up” part. How do you develop tenacity? How is it that some people see the glass half filled while others, like me, see it half empty, sometimes even when its filled. What’s the pill that one takes to develop sticktoitiveness? One solution I can come up with for someone who is not gifted with that quality, is to surround themselves with determined people. For sure the last thing I need is a pessimist like myself. For example, my wife Rebecca is great at seeing the good while I focus solidly on the bad. So love what you do and find yourself the right partner if you don’t have the tenacious gene.
