The Key Traits of High-Performing (Conscious) Entrepreneurs
Committing to a Long-term view, A Learning Orientation, 100% Responsibility
On a recent podcast appearance, I was asked what I think are the common traits of high-performing, conscious entrepreneurs.
My interviewer,
, reacted strongly to my answer: “Justin, have you published or written this anywhere? Because it’s really helpful. Not only is it inspirational, but it’s also really simple and clear. I would actually like to take it out and print it as a poster somewhere.”I hadn’t.
So here we are.
Thanks for the invitation Anil ❤️
The Key Traits of High-Performing Conscious Entrepreneurs
I don’t claim to have all of the answers, nor do I have a magic bullet that will guarantee your success. No one does, and anyone who claims otherwise is full of shit.
What I do have to offer is a series of traits—really orientations, states of consciousness, or ways of thinking, relating, and being, that I see the best entrepreneurs I know inhabiting.
It’s not that these orientations are “better” than any other.
But I have seen them reliably generate the sustained resilience, determination, and passionate aliveness that are essential to playing and “winning” the game of entrepreneurship.
A Patient, Long-Term Viewpoint
The highest performing entrepreneurs I know all hold a long-term view. They are willing to be patient.
Why is this important?
Because there’s no entrepreneur in the world who is beyond failure or making mistakes. I personally don’t know a single entrepreneur who hasn’t been kicked in the teeth, hard.
The way to win in entrepreneurship, in my experience, is to play the game for a long time. To be willing to confront failure over and over again, such that you stay in the game long enough for things to actually work out for you.
Entrepreneurship doesn’t operate on your desired time horizon. While timing is everything, you rarely get to choose it. The world operates on it’s own schedule. You may be able to influence it, but in my experience our capacity to influence timing is weak at best.
To have the resilience to be in the game for the long haul, you need to have a long-term vision. You need a purpose or mission that you’re willing to devote yourself to, even if it’s not this project or company that achieves it.
You need something bigger than you that’s pulling you forward.
Coupled with Short-Term Impatience
Paradoxically, I see these same people have an impatience when it comes to what needs to be done now.
While they stand on the foundation of a long-term and patient willingness to be devoted for years, they also have an impatient commitment to acting quickly in the near-term.
They are willing for it to take a decade, but prefer that it takes a year.
A Relentless Orientation Toward Learning
All of the best entrepreneurs I know are devoted to learning.
I don’t mean book learning, or listening to podcasts, or other traditional learning methods.
For some people it looks like listening to a lot of podcasts, reading a lot of books, or taking a lot of courses.
For others, it’s an orientation. They may not be reading any books or listening to any podcasts, but there’s a sense that they are using every moment of every day as an opportunity to learn.
To learn about themselves.
The world.
Their business, clients, and employees.
They are learning machines, taking information and data away from every moment of every day.
It’s not just learning for fun, though there may be some of that.
They are ruthlessly intentional in their learning. They do not learn randomly, or pickup books, podcasts, or courses as a means of distraction.
It’s learning in service of achieving the broader purpose they are committed to. They are honed in on what is most important to them, and learning everything about that thing, themselves, and the systems surrounding them.
Taking 100% Responsibility
You can think of responsibility as living in opposition to criticism and blame.
Here’s the reality:
If you’re a human being, you’re going to get triggered.
The most conscious of entrepreneurs will have times where they get trapped by short-term scarcity-induced thinking, get more interested in being right than learning, and fall into patterns of criticism and blame.
The thing about high-performing conscious entrepreneurs is that personal responsibility is the home base which they continuously return to.
When things aren’t going well, rather than blaming the world, they ask, “what’s within my control to help the company do better?”
If an employee is struggling, they look into how they’ve contributed to that person’s poor performance and how they can be more supportive going forward—even if that means that person might not be a good fit.
If they’re burned out and struggling, instead of being victim to burnout, they inquire into how they’re creating that burnout and how they can start to shift out of it.
This isn’t about self-blame.
It’s about continuously coming back to the position of creator, asking “how can I create that which I want in myself and the world?”.
Wrapping up
The reality of entrepreneurship is that there’s no foolproof method.
I can’t promise you that if you take on these traits that your company is guaranteed to succeed. There are no promises in entrepreneurship.
But these three traits are a powerful engine for entrepreneurs to have, and they’re the ones I believe give you the best shot at winning.
If you liked this post, consider listening to the entire episode on
’s podcast, Peaceful Growth. We discussed things like:My journey to executive coaching & conscious leadership
The entrepreneurs path to burnout
How to think about getting support, be it from a coach, therapist, or community
The challenges of getting feedback as a leader, and how to run a more effective process
How to balance peace and growth
Tools to not just recover, from burnout, but actually address the root causes
The Value of Tapping into Emotions to realign
You can watch of listen on your favorite platform:
Apple
Spotify
YouTube