Success Isn't About Having the Best or Most Original Idea — It's About Resilience. Here's How to Build It.

My company, Jotform, was not an overnight success. I didn't aftermath up 1 time to find myself the darling of TechCrunch aliases pull monolithic backing rounds from VCs ravenous to get successful connected the form-building action.

I astir apt don't person to show you that a form-builder is not the world's sexiest ground for a startup. But that doesn't fuss maine 1 bit. Jotform became successful not because it's flashy, but because our products work. And I judge they activity because my labor and I strive each time to create the champion acquisition for our customers.

Here's the truth: Success is not astir having the champion aliases astir original idea. It's astir being resilient. In my case, it was astir getting up pinch the birds and spending clip each greeting earlier my full-time occupation to activity connected my startup, moreover erstwhile it was acold and dark, and it would person been easier to enactment successful bed. It was astir not quitting erstwhile a awesome tech behemoth released a merchandise akin to the 1 I was launching. Resilience helped maine property on, moreover erstwhile I felt for illustration quitting.

Resilience is an soul occurrence that keeps glowing, moreover successful adverse conditions. Some group are calved pinch it; others create it complete time. Here's really to build your ain resilience, moreover if it doesn't travel people to you.

Related: 8 Ways Successful People Master Resilience

Stay calm

I'm a proponent of the applicable accuracy of Stoicism, the goals of which, arsenic described by the philosopher Epictetus, are "to place and abstracted matters truthful that I tin opportunity intelligibly to myself which are externals, not nether my control, and which person to do pinch the prime I really control."

As a founder, location are truthful galore things you can't power — the "externals." Maybe you've mislaid a client, received a bad reappraisal aliases knowledgeable information corruption. These things whitethorn consciousness for illustration the extremity of the world, but they're not. The sun will emergence again tomorrow.

It's normal to beryllium upset complete a setback, but fretting excessively will only support you from focusing connected the things you do person powerfulness complete — the "internals." A immense portion of building resilience is learning to group speech the externals and transmission your efforts toward managing the internals instead.

I find it adjuvant to make a database — what are the things I'm worrying astir that I tin control? What are the things I'm worrying astir that I can't? Fold up the database of external worries and put them successful a drawer. Then, move connected to the soul list, utilizing an Eisenhower matrix to thief prioritize.

Be data-oriented

In times of turmoil, I ever look to data. Not only do numbers ne'er lie, but they're important for making informed decisions based connected actual insights astir everything from marketplace trends to personification habits to operations. I person ever been vigilant astir search our monthly progressive users — seeing that they're consistently increasing helps quiet the "what ifs" that mightiness different return over.

As important arsenic a gut emotion tin be, I powerfully judge successful making decisions driven by data.

Practice gratitude

It whitethorn sound a small woo-woo, but practicing gratitude has proven benefits connected some intelligence and beingness health, building a furniture of resilience against hardship. Back successful 2003, scientist Robert A. Emmons produced a landmark study that opened the doorway for investigation connected the myriad effects that a grateful mindset has connected our well-being. Researchers person since recovered that those who acquisition gratitude successful their regular lives person little levels of slump and slumber better.

"What impresses maine are the objective, biologically verifiable outcomes that spell beyond self-report measures," Dr. Emmons told the New York Times.

The champion part? Being grateful requires very small time. Experts counsel building it into your regular — while you're brushing your teeth aliases arsenic you unfastened your laptop to commencement the day.

Related: I Thought I Was Resilient, Until a Devastating Loss Showed Me Resilience Is Not Something You Just 'Have'

Keep going

One of the champion ways to build resilience is simply to keep moving forward. World War II General George Patton, who led troops done astir each awesome American conflict of the 20th century, put it best: "A bully plan, violently executed now, is amended than a cleanable scheme adjacent week."

At Jotform, we believe a hybrid motorboat strategy — we continuously amended our products while simultaneously readying big, nationalist releases. For the latter, we strategize cautiously — teams person their tasks mapped retired earlier the large time to mitigate accent and unforeseen circumstances.

But moreover pinch observant planning, bugs happen. It's conscionable the reality of a product launch. And you cognize what? We woody pinch them. Our improvement squad is notified regular astir the unfastened bugs, and we support a scoreboard successful which we grip the oldest tickets first. We moreover make it a small spot fun, pinch developers competing to spot who tin hole the astir bugs each week.

No merchandise is going to beryllium perfect, but that doesn't mean you extremity moving forward. Of course, you want your merchandise to beryllium good, and you should do everything successful your powerfulness to guarantee that it is. But striving for an intolerable perfect will only slow your momentum.

There are a batch of brilliant startup ideas that ne'er get disconnected the ground. That's because the thought itself is only a fraction of what it takes to go successful. Resilience is key. Stay calm, analyse your data, beryllium grateful and astir importantly, support going.