What you need to succeed: focus, consistency and patience.
In this post, I will share the three things that a budding entrepreneur (or mumpreneur) requires to succeed in their chosen path.
It has taken me many years to realise the importance of these three ingredients for success.
So, what are the three things?
Focus, consistency and patience.
If we look at the example of a plant, it needs focus, consistency and patience to grow.
Let’s break down each of these three things in detail.
Focus
Have you heard the quote, “What you focus on will grow”?
What does this mean? Essentially, the things that you focus on and pay attention to are what you learn and create. The more attention and energy you give to something, the more it will grow and become a larger part of your life.
This principle can be applied to any aspect of your life. For example, if you focus your energy on negative thoughts and emotions, they will become more prominent and will undoubtedly have a negative impact on your life.
If we look at our example of a plant, we can see that focusing on one plant at a time is easier and more effective than focusing on multiple plants.
If we apply this principle to business, it becomes clear that we need to be fully focused on our business idea in order for our new venture to grow to its fullest potential.
I was listening to a podcast episode by Steven Bartlett (The Diary of a CEO), in which he spoke about his experience with focus in business. His mum owned a few businesses and none really seemed to succeed because she would keep starting new businesses.
From this experience, Steven learned that he needed to focus on one business at a time and give the business his full energy in order for it to succeed, and only pursue a new business after the success of the first.
So, let us discuss how we can apply the principle of focus to our ventures, whether that is content creation, a new business or a trade.
Once you decide to begin a new venture and you are happy with your choice, make a decision to focus all of your energy and attention on that venture.
For example, you have made the decision to become a content creator. You have chosen the type of content creation you will pursue. Let’s say you will make cooking content.
Your focus should be on sharing cooking content via various social media platforms (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, a blog) and you will not begin any other businesses or ventures. You will not share content about other things.
Before you know it, you will gain a following of people who want to consume your cooking content. As your following grows, you will be able to sell recipe books, merchandise, etc. to your following, as well as attract sponsors to your content.
You will focus on improving your cooking content over time, and with this laser focus on becoming one of the best cooking content creators, you will succeed, inshaAllah.
Only once you have achieved success as a cooking content creator should you look into expanding into other types of content creation or ventures.
One great way to achieve focus is to create a vision board related to your business, where you describe your venture in detail and outline your goals. This will certainly help you focus and avoid getting swayed so easily.
To really emphasise the importance of focus, here are some quotes to ponder:
“The ability to focus is a defining characteristic of successful individuals.” — Brian Tracy
“The more focused you are, the more successful you will be.” — Tony Robbins
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” — Bruce Lee
Consistency
The importance of consistency cannot be overlooked.
If you want a demonstration of just how important consistency is, look no further than Islam. Our religion (deen) is built on consistent deeds, for example, the five daily prayers and fasting every year for 30 days in Ramadan.
There is a well-known saying from Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), where he is narrated as saying that the most beloved acts of worship are those that are consistent, even if they are small. (Bukhari & Muslim).
Many businesses fail because their owners lack consistent effort and consistency in branding.
Many people, when they begin a new venture, go all in and dedicate the first few weeks or months to their new venture. Unfortunately, they end up getting burnt out and give up on their dreams after only a few weeks because they did not see the results they expected from the effort they put in.
“Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity.” — Bruce Lee
Let’s take the example of content creation again.
Person A and Person B (let’s call them Asiya and Farah) pursue their dream of becoming content creators in the cooking niche.
Asiya decides to post a recipe video every day for a month to get views and grow her following.
Farah uploads two recipe videos a week for a month to grow a following and gain views.
As Asiya and Farah have just started out as creators, it is very likely that their videos will not gain many views straight away (or perhaps very few views).
A likely scenario is that Asiya will become demotivated when she sees that her recipe videos hardly get any views, despite the amount of effort she has put into creating them.
She will end up giving up due to burnout and a lack of positive reinforcement (no or low viewership and not gaining the following she was hoping for).
Farah, on the other hand, is less likely to burn out because she is not dedicating as much time and effort to creating recipe videos. Although her recipe videos still don’t get many views, she does not feel as demotivated as Asiya because she knows that, in the long term, uploading recipe videos regularly and consistently will lead to the results she wants.
Looking at our plant example again, you need to water a plant consistently and at regular intervals.
If we water it too often, for example, every day, we could end up killing it. If we water it irregularly, so we might water it one week and then not water it for another few weeks, it could end up dying of thirst or neglect.
Watering a plant weekly or every fortnight, consistently, will help keep it alive and thriving, depending on the plant.
Quotes about consistency
“If you want to grow, consistency is key.” — John Maxwell
“Consistency is more important than perfection.”
“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” — Oscar Wilde
“Success is the sum of small efforts — repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
Patience
Patience is one of the most valuable virtues that a human being can possess.
Did you know that Allah (SWT) mentions patience many times in the Quran? If Allah (SWT) places so much importance on patience, then why are we so impatient at times?
What does patience actually mean?
Patience is the ability to accept delay, suffering or annoyance without complaining or becoming angry.
Allah (SWT) tells us to “endure patiently, with a beautiful patience.” (Quran 70:5).
As Muslims, when we are tested, we should not only be patient, but bear it with beautiful patience, without complaining or expressing anger at our circumstances.
When I ponder over this verse, I think of the Palestinians suffering in Gaza, who praise Allah (SWT) even when they are losing the most precious things to them, including their children, in the worst way possible.
They continue to praise Allah (SWT) and show gratitude to Him, which is a true demonstration of beautiful patience.
Let us relate patience to the business world.
Every entrepreneur dreams about becoming an overnight success. An overnight success is something or someone that becomes successful very quickly.
According to Forbes, overnight success is a myth and is statistically so rare that a person has a better chance of winning the lottery than becoming an overnight success.
If we accept that we are extremely unlikely to become an overnight success, we must instead practise patience as we try to succeed in our chosen venture.
It is essential for entrepreneurs who are just starting out on their new journey to understand that the process of becoming successful takes time.
One way to help remain patient is to focus on your end goal.
Look into the future and focus on where you see yourself and your business in three or five years. Play the long game.
Focus on how being patient now will lead to greater success in the future for yourself and your loved ones.
At those times when you feel like your patience is truly being tested and you are not making the progress that you would like to make, remember your core values and why you are doing what you are doing.
Being patient does not mean just waiting for your business to succeed. It involves making strategic plans and decisions that will lead to success.
Anas ibn Malik reported:
“A man said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I leave her untied and trust in Allah?’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Tie her and trust in Allah.’”
Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2517
It is important to take action every day to achieve our goals in business, not just wait around and hope to succeed through patience alone.
If we relate patience to our plant example again, a plant does not grow overnight. (They are not overnight successes!) Plants require patience and time to grow.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” — Aristotle
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you have focus, consistency and patience, you have three essential components for succeeding as an entrepreneur.
There is no guarantee that you will succeed with these three things alone, but you are extremely unlikely to succeed without them.
