How is the mind of a millionaire entrepreneur different from the typical entrepreneur? In my experience, a business mind is made up of five key layers: self-awareness, principles, prioritization, discipline and presence. However, we don’t always devote enough energy to all of them.
1. Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the ability to act as an objective observer of our own behavior. Self-awareness shapes everything we do, and this is where toxic identities and belief systems live. For example, thoughts like “I’m shy,” “I’m bad at technology” or “The hard way is the only way” are found in the self-awareness layer of the mind.
Millionaires are able to take a bird’s-eye view of their own cognitive processes, recognize their strengths and weaknesses and create an identity that helps them be the kind of person who accomplishes big things.
Gaining self-awareness starts with noticing how our minds work in the first place. A vital component of that is not beating yourself up for the negative or toxic habits you notice. Just notice them without judgment. To notice a pattern is to interrupt it, and that’s the first step to change.
2. Principles
Build on the foundation of self-awareness are your principles. These are the “what” and “why” of what you do, and they often become the values of your business itself. Without being self-aware, your principles will always be hard to find—and harder to commit to. Knowing what you stand for and why will guide your success.
3. Prioritization
A key layer of the millionaire mindset is the ability to plan, schedule and prioritize, and I’ve seen many entrepreneurs lose the plot at this stage. Some can burn entire days working on things that don’t really matter in the long run. They feel like they’ve made progress, but they’re just spinning their wheels. The millionaire knows to focus relentlessly on what matters. They might only accomplish a single thing one day, but it’s the thing that tilts the scale to success.