Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. It is toughness. Being an entrepreneurial practice owner requires toughness. Chances are when you look in the mirror you don’t see someone who could go six rounds with Mike Tyson. Even if some days you feel like you just have. I’m talking about mental toughness. To run a business, especially one that is striving for a higher standard, you need to be able to take punches. In fact, you need to be able to take punch after punch after punch and still be standing.

I’m often accused of being unemotional or detached in how I approach my work and deal with problems. But it’s really a function of the sheer quantity of problems that I get hit with on a weekly basis. I don’t have the luxury of dramatically over-reacting or moaning or wallowing on any of these problems because there are too many of them, and there is another coming along right behind it.

As Henry Kissinger said: “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.”

My approach, as best as I can do it, is to control what I can control. Deal with it. Fix it and move on. Quickly. This is the trait I see and admire our members too. I believe this trait is necessary if you want to get a lot done and achieve at a high level. When you put yourself in a situation where you are trying to do your best work and build a practice where everyone is doing their best work, it becomes a necessity. That pressure and caring and desire to do the work well is what brings out your toughness. You have to care enough about the work you’re doing, and the difference it can make for others, that you want to stay standing and you want to keep going, despite the endless stream of problems. Someone once said ‘Pain is good. Pain means you’re alive.’ Well problems are good too. Problems mean you’re actually striving to do something. And new, bigger, spicier problems mean you’re growing.

On an older episode of the Optical Entrepreneur Podcast, I interviewed hotelier Selina Horshi. I asked Selina what she is most excited about at the time for her business. Her response was brilliant. She said “I’m excited about the challenge. The uncertainty is what keeps the lifeblood of business flowing. There is no boredom. Everything at the minute is challenging and it’s exciting.”

To the tough ones, I salute you!