If your business is struggling you have likely been feeling the Pain of Regret for some awhile. It is hard to see past your pain and when someone like me says you need to build your business muscle - it rings hollow. So how do you build your 'business muscle' when you have been beat down by the Pain of Regret?

Move From Necessity Thinking

One discipline they do not teach in business school is how to maintain perspective when the going gets tough. The natural human tendency is to withdraw and pull back but the risk in that behavior is that you begin to think more about surviving instead of thriving.

Survival or necessity thinking alters your sense of perspective and impairs decision making at a time when you need to be thinking about what is possible.

Cultivate Possibility Thinking

This is much more than just maintaining a positive attitude because considering what is possible allows you to remain open to alternatives or notice a new course of action or solution. Whereas, necessity thinking limits your observational skills and affects your attitude.

I am not suggesting that you ignore the feedback you may be getting (drop in sales, inability to retain employees, working longer hours etc.) but I am suggesting that you maintain a firm grasp on reality. Keep your eye on the prize by thinking in terms of possibilities versus limiting yourself to the goal of simply surviving.

When you think about it what other option do you have other than shutting down or trying to avoid your problems by pretending that they do not exist? For a committed entrepreneur, that is simply not an option because you as soon as you begin to shut down or ignore your problems you are quitting on yourself.

"People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to." -- George Herbert Allen