Council Post: Eight Tenets For Building A New Entrepreneurial Mindset

While I am an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacements and a pioneer of robotic joint replacement surgery, I am also the CEO of a surgical center. Moreover, I am an Instagram influencer with a following and utilize digital marketing to disseminate important messages to the masses.

I choose to be multidimensional, and I employ an entrepreneurial and growth mindset. This has motivated me to not only expand my orthopedic career but to enter other industries I am passionate about, such as motivational speaking. And my DNA is in motivating others. I want to help others adopt a strong entrepreneurial mindset. Why? Because entrepreneurship is the now and the future of this generation and the younger generations.

My goal is to contribute to this world and leave a legacy of helping others build their own legacy. In line with this goal, the following are tenets of success and entrepreneurship that I believe can help you leave your own amazing legacy:

1. Focus on your ‘why’ and find your passions and purpose. Don’t disrespect that. Your passions and purpose will pull you rather than push you, meaning there will be much less resistance to grind for your passions. My passions — whether they be orthopedics, motivating or car racing — pull me.

2. Take action and be specific with your goals. Manifestation and dreams are only the start. They mean nothing without action. The most successful people in the world were people of action. I use this fact to take action on my dreams. Be action-oriented. Be specific about your goals. For example: “I will make $1 million by Dec. 1, 2020, at 5 p.m.”

3. Work hard. There’s no secret that executing your dreams requires hard work. There are no shortcuts to success. For me, being a successful surgeon required many, many years of hard work, but that hard work was so worth it.

4. Appreciate that time is our biggest commodity. Time cannot be replaced. Respect it and maximize it. With every second, minute, hour, day, month and year that goes by, we are nearing our end on this earth. This incites me to grind.

5. Don’t make excuses. Excuses are deflating and can paralyze you. With excuses, you have already lost the battle. It’s not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of resourcefulness. When I stopped making excuses and instead took responsibility, my life magically changed. Failure is a step to success. Embrace it. Have grit and never quit.

6. Have integrity and ethics. A lack of integrity and ethics is not sustainable. It will become apparent to others. More importantly, a lack of ethics will eventually lead to a lack of fulfillment and unhappiness. My integrity helps me be the best leader I can be and keeps me in tune with my soul and heart.

7. Have fun. Love what you are doing. Having fun will not feel like work, and it will ensure that divesting a lot of time in your pursuit will not lead to burnout.

8. Invest in yourself. Warren Buffett said that the best investment you can make is in yourself. I adopted this tenet many years ago, and it has changed my life by increasing my confidence, motivation and knowledge.

My mandate and mission is to help everyone achieve the life of their dreams. This mission is much bigger than me, and I want others to know that the path to fulfillment is out there. We just have to seek it, work hard for it and execute it.