How to become the ultimate entrepreneur

Mon, Jul 13, 2009

Entrepreneurs are confronted with many different aspects of doing business. It is said that the ultimate entrepreneur has a mix of different personality traits, and lacks none. Most of us are not born with this mix of personality traits, I know I wasn’t. We have to work and learn through experience how to handle each situation.

The main distinction between the different personality traits is decided by the fact whether you are dominantly working with the right or the left hemisphere of your brain. The right hemisphere is the side of the brain concerned with visualizing. The left hemisphere is concerned with logic and analysis.

There are many tests to see which is your dominant hemisphere. A very simple one which can be done in a matter of minutes can be found on Similar Minds. Complete the test first, then read on. Or if you’re really anxious … read on and then do the test.

The ultimate entrepreneurial brain

In his book 7 habits of highly effective people Stephen Covey explains that most highly effective people have an almost perfect balance between the left and right hemisphere of their brain. Depending on the situation, they can use either half effectively.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll start from about the opposite, something like an 80-20 relation between the both. When I was a kid I used to be very creative, using mostly my right hemisphere. This helped me in some way with arts, math and physics. I play guitar and I loved drawing when I was younger (these days I prefer photography). These are all right-brain activities.

It wasn’t until I enrolled in Computer Science at university level that I developed a keen sense of logic. I remember struggling hard the first couple of logic courses, but in the end it got easier and easier. Right now I score about 50-50 at left/right brain testing.

Righties

If your right hemisphere is dominant, this means you fit the following criteria:

Being random
Acting intuitively
Holistic / Synthesizing
Subjective
You look at wholes

This used to be me when I was younger. If you are like I was then, in order to attain more of a 50-50 score, you’ll need to train your left side. Don’t worry, this won’t affect your right side at all. You’ll still be the same creative genius you are now. Training your other hemisphere will only open up new possibilities to you.

So how do you train your left hemisphere? Put simply, you’ll need to get cracking on some logic and math. Mastering logic and math is doable by everybody. The fact that you were not good at it in high school doesn’t matter. Did you know for example you can increase your IQ by as much as 10 points by practicing IQ tests? Same idea, practice makes perfect. Here are some ideas to train your left hemisphere:

Math.com – explanation and practice material starting from basic math
eMathematics.net – great mathematical resources and exercises

Lefties

If your left hemisphere is dominant however, you will fit these criteria:

Logical / Sequential
Rational
Analytical
Objective
You look at parts

This is the part that I have learned through taking many advanced mathematical classes at university. If this side of your brain is dominant, you’ll want to train the right side of your brain. Again, this won’t affect any of the current traits you have. Instead it will open up new, more creative ways of solving problems.

So … how to train that right hemisphere? Basically, you need to go and get creative. While that is easier said than done, here are some ideas you can try to see which suits you best:

Start playing an instrument – this takes time, but from experience I can assure you that playing an instrument is really good for creativity and for relaxing too
Take up photography – photography can be done with any camera; I found that Ken Rockwell has great material to get you started.
Drawing / painting – this is another easy-to-do activity that you can pick up. You can start by replicating easy things like Donal Duck and eventually think up your own monstrous creations.

Sticking with it

For this to work, you obviously need to stick with it. In my case, getting my master’s degree was the motivation to finally get good enough at math to ace my courses, and thus train my left hemisphere. I recommend you try Leo Babauta’s approach to creating a habit:

Tell your friends/family/relatives that you’re training your brain the next 30 days
Set apart an amount of time you know you can manage per day (say, 10 minutes)
Every day, for a month, do the exercises/play your instrument … 10 minutes per day
Tell your friends/family/relatives the progress each day. Most importantly tell yourself

You’ll notice improvement soon enough and this way you will create a habit of training your other brain hemisphere.