Mark Bouris: Why winning is a state of mind for business owners

Whether you are Lleyton Hewitt in a Grand Slam dogfight or a small business owner fighting to stay afloat, the chance of you coming out on top depends more on your will to win than the environment in which you work, Mark Bouris writes.

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You’ve probably heard sports coaches refer to it as building a winning mentality; a way of training your brain into thinking that success is the only option, so much so that the possibility of losing simply doesn’t enter the equation.

Small business owners should develop the same mentality as athletes like Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Bouris says. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty

It’s what gave people like Lleyton Hewitt the toughness to fight back from two sets down in a Grand Slam final, and what gives the best football teams the confidence to snatch victory in the dying seconds of a match.

In their minds, the contest is never over, no matter how grim things are looking on the scoreboard. To them, winning is inevitable, it just sometimes takes a little longer.

That same mentality can be your best asset in the business world.

Because as anyone who runs a company, be it small or large, will happily tell you, the road to success often feels long and bumpy.

But if you don’t believe you’ll ever get there, you might as well close up shop today.

I make sure every single day begins with a series of self-crafted wins that give me that mindset of success before I even leave the house.

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For a start, I get up at 5am every morning.

And that alone feels like a win — I’m already ahead of the competition and thinking about my business while most others are still sleeping.

And every single morning starts with a hard session in the gym, which helps me get my body and brain firing before the working day really kicks off. And that’s another, easy win.

Would it be easier to sleep in?

Absolutely.

Are there days I don’t feel like dragging myself to the gym?

Of course there are. But starting every morning with easy wins before I even get to the office means I begin each day as a success, rather than sheepishly slinking into the office knowing that I’ve dodged a gym session or hit the snooze button.

Mark Bouris writes for The Sunday Telegraph. Picture: Kym Smith

And every night you need to replay all those wins in your head.

You might have had a great meeting with a client, which is a win. You might have negotiated a new contract, or closed a business deal, two more great wins.

It might sound simple, but if you haven’t tried it, this habit of constantly reaffirming the little wins, this practice of self-belief, will change the way you approach your business
life forever.

It’s the approach I’ve taken throughout my career, and one that I continue to embrace.

It’s also something that has been critically important to me over the past six months, given the challenges currently facing the finance industry.

In the words of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi: “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

The question you need to ask yourself in business is, which of those habits do you want make your own?

* Mark Bouris is chairman of the SME Association of Australia

* Mark Bouris, chairman of Yellow Brick Road, is one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs. He writes a column for The Sunday Telegraph, sharing his extensive business skills and answer your questions about doing good business.