It's been just over a week since SpaceX and NASA successfully launched two American astronauts into space. Space travel has long been considered one of the most technologically challenging endeavors and it has been nine years since the USA and NASA sent astronauts into space on one of our our space shuttles. If you missed the launch, check out this YouTube and see history be made!
Our friends over at Inc Magazine shared a great article that every entrepreneur should read. You can read the article in entirety here. In the meantime, we wanted to share an excerpt and a few additions.
"On Wednesday morning, before the Falcon 9 rocket was first set to launch, Musk gave an interview with CBS This Morning. In it, he shared three things we can all learn from how SpaceX and NASA put America back in the lead in space travel.
1. Don't be afraid of big challenges.
There are few things that inspire a greater sense of awe and wonder than the idea of people traveling through space. Equally, there are few things that require overcoming more challenges, or require greater technical accomplishments, with so much on the line. There's a reason we compare hard things to rocket science and brain surgery.
"This is the culmination of a dream. This is a dream come true. In fact, it feels surreal. If you'd asked me when starting SpaceX if this would happen, I'd be like '1 percent chance, 0.1 percent chance,'" said Musk.
Imagine if no one did the hard things. Imagine if you woke up and decided that starting a business was just too hard. Your customers and team are counting on you and your idea. They are counting on you to do the hard things that bring that idea to life as a business.
2. Focus on what matters.
Overcoming challenges requires a relentless focus on what matters most. When you're launching people into space, that means delivering the astronauts safely to their destination--in this case the International Space Station (ISS). According to Musk, their safety is "the only priority" for his team, and is "really all I can think about right now."
That isn't all that different for your business. Right now, the only thing that matters is figuring out how to best take care of your people, your customers, and your community. If you don't get that right, nothing else will matter.
3. Share credit and take responsibility.
Rarely does someone accomplish a really hard thing--whether that's launching a business or launching a rocket--on their own. Often it's the person at the top who gets the recognition, but a good leader knows to share the credit.
"I'm the chief engineer of this thing, so I'd just like to say that if it goes right, it's credit to the SpaceX-NASA team," said Musk. "If it goes wrong, it's my fault."
That second part may actually be the more important leadership lesson, though it isn't something we hear all that often lately. If you want people to join your idea or your adventure, show them that you're willing to be generous in sharing the credit for its success while being accountable for the outcome. "
We loved all three things Elon Musk shared and wanted to add a few of our own....
4. Failure will happen along the way.
No doubt that at some point in your pursuit of "the impossible", there will be bumps in the road or what some people call FAILURE.
But with a neutral mindset (#shamelssplug - check out the webinar with Russell Wilson's mental conditioning coach, Trevor Moawad, we did a few weeks ago about this very subject!), you are able to focus on the positive and what it takes to pass through failure.
If Elon Musk gave up the first time they blew up a rocket, if he would have gotten to scared to put a human in one, or if he simply decided the risk was too great - he never would have reached his dream.
In business, we can choose to look at failures or road blocks as the end, or we can learn and grow from them.
5. If you can dream it, you can do it.
We live in the land of opportunity where a man can dream of building a space shuttle, and sending humans into space in it. Dreams don't come easy, but this launch is proof that no matter how big they are, they are possible.
The mind of an entrepreneur is different. While they see risk, they don't let it stop them. Dreams all include risk, oftentimes failure and a constant drive to move forward. Obstacles may come, but the dream always stays in focus.
BizX is proud to be surrounded by a community of dreamers...people who have a dream and relentlessly move toward it.
We are living in unprecedented times, but it is during these times that we see the dreamers and the doers begin to thrive. We see them push forward against the odds.
