Neurosurgeons require massive resilience to build a successful career. Entrepreneurs do not. Entrepreneurs need something more.

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You see, people who are resilient learn to deal with stress (often extreme stress) and uncertainty in their daily lives. The neurosurgeon doesn’t know if the patient will survive surgery. They don’t save every patient. That’s the essence of resilience. The ability to cope with extreme stress and uncertainty. The process of successfully adapting to challenging experiences, both physically and emotionally builds resilience.

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Over my career (as an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor) I've encountered individuals attempting to start a business having never felt massive stress or uncertainty because they always received a paycheck every two weeks. They knew their job and what they were doing. And when they stepped into the arena to build a company, their lack of resilience was crippling to their success.

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So yes, entrepreneurs definitely need resilience.

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But downstream of resilience, the one true learned behavior entrepreneurs require where neurosurgeons perhaps do not (I hope) … Is GRIT - the desire to keep pushing in the face of what feels like constant failure. (That daily "punch in the face...").

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As an entrepreneur, you fall, you get up, you fall, you get up… Only to fall again. The only thing that feels constant is failing. Progress is slower than you'd like. Success feel elusive. But the focus on the goal to make a difference keeps you going. When resilience hardens, over time, it becomes GRIT. GRIT is about dealing with constant failure your first 100 tries.

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GRIT is the combination of having a passionate goal (The "G"), the physical and mental resilience to persevere (The "R"), the deep desire to make an impact (The "I"), and a temperament of confident expectation or optimism (The "T"). That combination is the stuff that great entrepreneurs are made of.

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Resilience, the ability to manage stress and uncertainty, is absolutely one of the raw ingredients to creating GRIT, but GRIT happens when you say, for the tenth time, “This isn’t working.” And, rather than quitting, your response is, “Now what? How do I modify now to make an impact? What’s missing that the customer really wants?”

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Resilience is the way you respond to stress - especially extreme stress.

GRIT is the way you respond to failure - nearly constant failure.

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Most all successful professionals require resilience. Entrepreneurs require GRIT.