Here are four patterns, which I’ve seen time and again, that distinguish successful people from those who burn out early.
1. Overcome the "Seal of Hesitation."
One of the biggest patterns I see is a fear of truly starting, or a reluctance to break what's been called the "Seal of Hesitation." Everyone has a natural resistance to starting something new, especially when a mountain of unknown risk is involved. There are plenty of excuses to draw on: You convince yourself, for instance, that there’s more research to be done, that the business plan needs to be rewritten or that you need to take more lunch meetings with mentors before taking any action toward your goal.
But it's all just delay tactics. Many new entrepreneurs have an emotional resistance to starting on the critical work, like product development or marketing, because preparing and ideating is a safer activity than making and selling. Getting stuck in that early phase, where money is being spent and the stress of anticipating the delivery phase is only getting worse, is the fastest route to burnout. You don’t need to just break the seal, you need to shatter it.
2. Always be expanding and preparing for growth.
Growth can sneak up on you faster than you may realize. Many first-time entrepreneurs think they’re being prudent by staffing, planning and building inventory only in line with their current, and often modest, needs. However, one day you’ll get an order or client that requires you to double operations overnight. It will be the big break you’ve waited for but suddenly you'll have to scramble to scale. In this way your dream can quickly become your waking nightmare.
So, try to be operating at 70 percent to 80 percent capacity at all times. Give yourself room to grow. If you’re doing your job right, you will grow quickly -- it just won’t happen at a steady rate. Instead, you'll see your sales take big jumps at certain points and realize that you rarely have the ability to plan for those events. Instead, build in the capacity to grow quickly as needed.