Do you think like an entrepreneur?
This is one of many questions you will have to ask yourself if you are thinking about starting and running your own business. If you are not sure what it takes to be an entrepreneur, you will have to take the time to figure that out before you can move forward with a plan.
Entrepreneurship is hard work. You have to be able to identify problems and craft solutions in ways others have not thought of before. You have to be able to use a little logic, and a lot of creativity, to turn your ideas into actions.
If you want to find out if you think like an entrepreneur, or you want to learn more about how to think like one, you will first have to come to understand the different sides of the brain and how they contribute to our thinking in different ways.
What is the difference between the left and right part of the brain?
Both sides of the brain are different. They control different muscle movements and impact the way we feel and think. It is widely discussed that the right and left sides of the brain also control whether we are more creative thinkers or logical thinkers, depending on which part of our brains seem to be more dominant.
Some think that the right-brained thinkers are the more creative types of people, while left-brained thinkers rely more on logic and problem-solving to accomplish tasks.
So someone who is said to be right-brained might be good at writing and coming up with unique ideas, while someone who is said to be left-brained would be better at math and solving logical word problems and puzzles.
Do entrepreneurs use both sides of their brains?
What’s more tricky about understanding how entrepreneurs think is that, in order to both come up with ideas and execute them, you might have to use a little logic along with your creative thinking.
In general, both logic and creativity are essential for any successful person when it comes to thinking and problem solving, but at least one study has shown that entrepreneurs tend to rely more on the right side of their brains, the ‘creative’ side.
Jonny Nastor’s “Hack the Entrepreneur” podcast is known for asking entrepreneurs the tough questions. When Nastor asks his guests what they are “not good at,” the answers are often mixed. Some are better at the more logical side of entrepreneurship, such as handling finances, while others are more equipped to come up with the ideas and creative ways to sell those ideas.
In general though, entrepreneurs are known for coming up with their own ideas and turning them into products or services. That’s just what they do. It takes a lot of creativity to be able to make that happen, especially when coming up with ideas no one else has tried before.
Use this test to tell if you think like an entrepreneur
Whether you are right- or left-brained is something you may not have gotten the chance to test out before. You might have noticed that when you have to solve a problem, you are more prone to use logic to do so. Yet when you get an idea, you are one of those people who often focus more on the idea and its creative aspects instead of first figuring out how to turn that idea into something real.
There’s an easy way to find out whether you are more of a right-brained thinker or a left-brained thinker, and it’s as simple as a free, 10-minute online test. It’s the reason you clicked on this article, after all.
Ready to find out if you can take on the world as an entrepreneurial thinker? Take the test here. Your results might shock you.
You might actually find that you are closer to the middle of the scale than off to either one side or the other, evenly between right- and left-brained in terms of how you think and problem-solve. This is probably a good sign. It means that you are able to use your creative thinking skills, but can also apply logic when necessary.
In this list of common characteristics of great entrepreneurs, you will find that the best entrepreneurs are actually able to use their creativity and logic in tandem. They are good at managing money, but also good at planning things out and involving themselves in each branch of their business efforts. They can not only come up with the most creative ideas, but figure out, logically, how to make them happen in real life.
How to think like an entrepreneur
- Don’t just start with an idea: start with a goal you want to accomplish, know why you want to accomplish it and figure out the steps you need to take to turn that goal into a reality.
- List out potential barriers that might prevent you from accomplishing your goal, and how you are going to overcome those barriers.
- Never settle. If something does not work out, there is always a reason, and you can and will figure out the better way to do it next time.
- There is no such thing as failure. Treat every miss as a learning experience and use it to grow and improve the next time around.
The way we think is not just about how our brains are wired, but how we take thoughts and figure out how to make things happen. If you are right-brained, it means you will probably be more efficient coming up with the ideas and might have a bit of a harder time executing them. If you are left-brained, all it means is that, while you might spend more time coming up with a great idea that will work, you will have a much easier time figuring out exactly how you are going to make that plan actually happen.
Either way, you will be a successful entrepreneur. You will put in the time and effort necessary to achieve your goals and think through every detail before you move forward. Your ideas matter, and your brain is ready to help you transform them.
