How Do Mental Challenges Fuel Entrepreneurial Success?

There is no triumph without challenge, enduring satisfaction without adversity, nor lasting success without failure. These seeming contradictions have stood the test of time and remain the groundwork of wisdom upon which the words of sages are immortalized. While it is possible to enjoy phenomenal success without challenges, that may be a costly victory. Easy come, easy go. True success is defined by the journey that shapes the pathway to victory. Challenges refine our character, teach us resilience, and offer invaluable lessons that shape our lives. Adversity forces us to confront our limits and push beyond them.

Trials and tribulations turn failures into steppingstones for growth and development. Without these obstacles, adversities, challenges, and pitfalls, all we learn about are hollow victories. When we overcome hardship, we understand how to savor success. There is depth and meaning to a well-deserved win. Many claim that the end justifies the means or that only the outcome matters, but the game of life teaches us otherwise. If our purpose were simply to arrive at point A or B, our entire lives would be defined by a moment, but it’s always the journey that truly defines our existence.

What Ingredients Do Entrepreneurs Need to Succeed?

There are many misconceptions about entrepreneurship, primarily about how they got started. Old tropes persist, but they are insufficient determinations of success. These tired adages have lost their shine a long time ago. The successful entrepreneurs of today and yesteryear built their fortunes on hard work, sacrifice, and adversity.

Granted, some were bestowed with an inherent advantage, but advantage alone is no guarantee of success. It’s the management thereof, coupled with overcoming mental challenges, that fuels entrepreneurial success. Many entrepreneurs engage in strategy games to fine-tune their skill sets. Indeed, the complexity of rigorous strategy-based games necessitates full faculty awareness, with an almost extrasensory perception of potential encumbrances, challenges, and externalities that may arise.

Entrepreneurs are constantly scanning their environment for threats and opportunities. Do strategy games improve intelligence as far as entrepreneurial success is concerned? The authors of this investigative op-ed, various management experts, behaviorists, and clinical psychologists, believe there is merit in this perspective. The role-playing paradigm of complex strategy-based games has incredible potential vis-à-vis real-world applications. Entrepreneurial success is one example of how this strategic mindset can be extrapolated into real-life success.

The next time you hear of copouts like I’ll never make it because of any of the reasons below, disregard them – they aren’t worth a dime.

• Old money fuels new money.
• It takes money to make money.
• Entrepreneurs use other people’s money to make money.

Entrepreneurs are calculated risk-takers. They understand that opportunities are fraught with challenges. But if the risk/reward ratio warrants, it is worth exploring the possibilities. Entrepreneurs are a special breed of people; they are constantly scanning their environment, searching for ways to satisfy needs that may not even presently exist. This may come as a new product, service, or idea that can be monetized.

Big-Time Entrepreneurs Who Play Strategy Games

Here is a list of highly successful entrepreneurs who dabble in online games to improve their intelligence so that they can become more successful business people:

Elon Musk

The mind behind Tesla and SpaceX credits many different games with sharpening his problem-solving and long-term planning abilities. These strategy games taught him how to think ahead—skills he uses to revolutionize industries.

Mark Zuckerberg

The founder of Facebook enjoys games like Risk, which focuses on resource management and strategic foresight. Zuckerberg applies these lessons to navigating Facebook’s growth and dominance on the global stage.

Reid Hoffman

LinkedIn’s co-founder has a penchant for gaming, Games honed his ability to form strategic partnerships and anticipate market trends, skills vital to LinkedIn’s success.

Bill Gates

Microsoft’s co-founder has been a lifelong chess enthusiast. Chess taught him critical thinking and how to anticipate moves—abilities that translated seamlessly into building one of the most successful tech companies in history.

Jeff Bezos

Amazon’s founder credits games like Tetris for fostering his creativity and strategic planning. This game helped him envision and execute his disruptive e-commerce strategies.

These entrepreneurs prove that strategy games are more than just entertainment—they are tools for developing the mental fortitude and foresight required for entrepreneurial success.