Question: What’s the best New Year’s resolution for an entrepreneur?
Answer: While many great ideas come to mind, there is one that is elegantly simple and it goes like this. I resolve to embrace entrepreneurship as a lifestyle of choice and responsibility. Doesn’t this statement epitomize entrepreneurship?
One of the greatest things about being an entrepreneur is the fact that we are free to make our own choices. While this is true for everyone – entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs alike – to succeed as an entrepreneur it is imperative that we understand the concept of choice. No one else makes our choices for us. We can choose to make rational decisions or irrational ones. We can choose to be positive or negative. We can choose to be creative; we can choose to be philanthropic; it’s our choice to win or lose, and we choose whether or not to be happy and prosper.
Choice is perfectly symmetrical with responsibility. We make our choices and then we take responsibility for the consequences of those choices. If we make rational choices we will succeed and if we make irrational choices we will fail. And we accept responsibility for this. If we choose to be positive, our life will be rewarding in countless ways. And if we choose to be negative, our life will be full of stress and strife. Above all, we accept responsibility for these choices. We are never victims of anything or anyone.
The power of choice and responsibility is one of the most liberating aspects of our lives. An entrepreneur who completely understands choice and responsibility can live a life absolutely free of fear for he or she is in control of his or her own destiny. I’m not a big resolution-maker as each year comes to a close. But from a big picture standpoint, I remind myself that what happens in my life – every single thing – is the result of a choice I made. I fully understand the results that stem from each choice. And if I don’t have this understanding it’s because I didn’t choose to do the necessary research in the first place to reach a full understanding.
Thus, it is my resolve to make the best choices I possibly can using the best possible information I can gather, and then let the chips fall where they may. But at the end of the day they are my choices and my responsibility. Happy New Year.
This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.
An Entrepreneur's Words to Live By 
Very nice, Lee, thanks for sharing.
I like your comments on choice. For many, the term Entrepreneur is synonymous with Risk. I think this relationship exists because many people don’t have the confidence to choose wisely and then to accept and own the responsibility of that choice. It is easier to rely on circumstances to make the choice. Maybe this is partly based on how you were raised? Or maybe just how you are wired mentally? Not sure. But I do think it is like “muscle memory” and is something that can be improved and strengthened. Maybe this is why so many successful entrepreneurs talk about how they failed so many times in the past. They were learning how to make wise choices and also learning how to recover from bad ones. I know I fall into that category.
Ron – I was definitely raised by parents who taught me about choices and that those choices all bore consequences. We tried to do that for our daughters. Of course we don’t always make the right choices but knowing that we “own” them provides added incentive to strive to make the right ones as often as possible. Isn’t this entrepreneurial journey a gas?!!!
Yes, its the “Bee’s Knees” 🙂
Great resolution, Lee! Thanks for the reminder!!! I appreciate it.
Hope you’re enjoying yourself there and I look forward to getting together with you upon your return.
Cheers,
Susan
Thanks Susan. Let’s have lunch when I return in mid-March.