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Last Updated on July 27, 2021 by Tyler Clark
I’ve picked up on all kinds of millionaire and entrepreneur traits working with clients over the years.
I love this style of study.
Mono a mono, in a natural setting (non-interview) and over a long period of time.
It’s a deep dive and it lets you pick up on all the little things.
Sure, I saw the common traits such as being a hard worker, having good communication skills and the ability to lead people. And I agree with all of these characteristics but it was always more fun to spot the little morsels that flew just under the radar too.
This attribute was something I didn’t notice for quite some time.
It was one of those that I clued into way down the road and then looked back and saw it everywhere.
The ability I noticed was that:
Good Entrepreneurs had this ability to operate well in Chaos.
This doesn’t mean they were good under pressure (they were) but, this was different. It was more like they were good if things were messy, disorganized or piling up to the heavens.
In Business, Things Can Get Chaotic.
Even when things are going well, there’s lots going on in business. At the best of times, it’s chaotic and at the worst of times, it’s a storm of epic proportion.
It makes perfect sense now that you think about it, wouldn’t you need to be good with lots happening if you were going to run a company?
It’s just a reality that a lot of things are going to be happening around you, especially when it starts to grow.
They Were Calm and Cool
I knew my clients had a lot on their plate. They were running big businesses, had full family lives and were dealing with all kinds of little problems and challenges constantly.
They say you’re supposed to work on managing how you react to stress because you can’t stop stress from coming, you can just manage how you react to it.
So here I am, training a client and his phone is ringing constantly. How’s he reacting? There are a hundred plus people back at the bustling office and he’s ok with it. He’s balanced and yes he’s aware that things are busy but, he’s managing.
How are you in a big storm? Do you stand there calmly knowing you’ll be ok and that the storm will pass, or do you follow a more tense process?
Common Business Pro Behavior
I was able to see that many of the millionaires could handle a lot of action and keep their composure.
Not only did they not sweat the small stuff, they didn’t sweat the big stuff!
I was training them through huge deals and while they were running large companies and they were fine.
I had many regular clients that were far more stressed with much less on their plates. How could it be that the ones with the most stress were doing just fine?
As mentioned, the millionaires would often get business calls during sessions.
When Chaos Calls
Sometimes they would actually have to take the call during sessions.
I always thought this was interesting.
I thought it was fun to listen in on the “big deal”.
Though I can’t share the details of the calls, I can speak to the tone of them. It was typically controlled, measured and calm despite the emergency.
It’s a good pressure test on your ability to handle something serious.
You don’t want to hear the captain say the ship is going down. You don’t even want to hear that the ship could go down. These people were all captaining the ship in a manner that kept the crew calm even when the sea was stormy. I think this made people enjoy working for them. They liked the stability of their captain.
Their tone was calming and the direction was always simple and clear. I’d seen this in really good athlete coaches I’d worked with too.
If you ever look up in the stands during the Olympics, the coach will often do one thing for the athlete. They’ll tilt one way or point to their arm to remind the athlete of something. They don’t give 20 tips at once.
I saw similar direction given from my clients. It was clear and concise. It was a good way to handle chaos.
Where This Ability Came From
I believe this ability was inherent to many of the millionaires. They were naturally able to deal with all kinds of pressure and things happening around them. This allowed them to take on so much more without worrying about it.
It was no big deal to do a huge deal. Sure they felt the stress but they got through it and didn’t tip over in the middle of everything.
I think their attitudes and outlooks on life were so good that they never felt that they couldn’t find a solution or get though the mayhem.
They believed they would be fine and could handle it. That’s probably more than half the battle right there. If you believe you can handle it, you’re going to find ways to handle it.
If you think you’re going to fold, odds are you’re more likely to buckle time and time again.
Now though the millionaires were naturals, you can learn this ability too.
In sports, we teach the athletes how to move like the natural players. The naturals just do it with ease.
The danger to the natural is if they get coached out of their movement or forget how to do it. In the case of being taught how to move properly, it’s much more rare that you lose the ability. You’ve gone through the full learning process and have all the pieces of the puzzle.
In some ways, it’s a stronger foundation than the natural.
Stand Tall In Chaos
Next time you’re in a challenging situation, stay calm, stay focused and look for ways to get through it. As Winston Churchill says, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” If you’re behaving like a millionaire, go through hell with a smile on your face!
They knew and believed this was a better approach.
Chaos is a part of business and you could face it at many times during your career.
Manage it well and you may find yourself getting through the tough times and reaping the rewards when things calm down.
You’ll probably also build some pretty awesome coping skills.
Best of Wealth,
Tyler.
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