Entrepreneurial Mindset for Transformative Education with Stephen Carter

These four stages, when built upon the firm foundation of the entrepreneurial mindset, exponentially increase the odds of success when it comes to starting a new business. We talk about ideation, creation, launch, and growth and how to do this from the launchpad of the entrepreneurial mindset. Let's Go!

The core of the entrepreneurial mindset is an approach of radical transformation--we, as people who think like entrepreneurs, are called on to transform ourselves so that we can transform the world. And that's no small feat--but it is made possible through small daily applications of renewing our mind. Let's go!

We can talk all day long, day after day, about the power of the entrepreneurial mindset, but until we commit to making serious and lasting change, it is all just talk. Time to take ACTION- time to get starting with real change to create the ideal life in order to become the person that we want. We can make the choice today to become better, but it is an intentional choice that will direct impact the habits that begin forming because consistency compounds and what we do day after day after day will directly influence the person we become (for better or worse).

We cannot fully live out the entrepreneurial mindset until we are willing to truly redefine failure--true failure is not trying in the first place. If we allow ourselves to become paralyzed by the fear of not succeeding, we will not only miss out on opportunity but we will leave ourselves at risk of living a life of regret on what "might have been."

When we choose a goal, we are looking for something that will stretch us and cause us to move beyond that which we thought possible. This is especially true if the goal is for a team or even a family. When we can come together and rally around the completion of this goal, it creates a powerful bond that best represents the power of the entrepreneurial mindset.

I had the unique privilege of sitting down with three time cancer survivor Johnathan Sams who, just after finishing chemotherapy treatment, walked an entire marathon (all 26.2 miles) through the halls of the hospital. Johnathan's take on life is that every day is awesome and it is up to us to live up to it--and to do this, we have to break out of the circles of incapacity that we paint for ourselves. This is at the core of the entrepreneurial mindset.

We all have "if onlys" in our life--if only we had more money, if only we had more time, if only we didn't have so many people relying on us, if only we had more opportunity...often these "if onlys" are excuses that weigh us down and cause us to accept mediocrity. But no more--now we can use them as the superpowers they are to help us find creativity in the constraints. Let's Go!

Entrepreneurs are biased for action and when in doubt, they act. This attribute is central to seeking opportunity--we have to overcome the paralysis of analysis and get up and seize the opportunities that are all around us. That's what Marcus and Nate did in order to successfully launch their business--these two high school students got up and figured out what problem to solve and started creating value in real time.

We have a dashboard in our car that tells us our speed, our oil status, the car's temperature, and other key metrics--at a single glance, we know the state of things. Imagine the power of applying this concept to other areas of our life, primarily our goals. Having a dashboard tells us where we are, without sugarcoating, so we know how far we have to get to where we want to be. Let's go!

Ever get in trouble in elementary school for selling something out of your locker to your classmates? Ever end up being chastised for not doing things in the right order or thinking outside the box? Often traditional education is at odds with the entrepreneurial mindset and if we are going to help cultivate this mindset in ourselves and in others, we have to allow for different approaches.