Motivation – Mehran Muslimi

In business, we often look outward to explain stalled progress — market conditions, increased competition, shifting consumer trends, or funding gaps. While these factors matter, they’re rarely the root issue. The deeper constraint, more often than not, lies within. The real bottleneck to growth is not external — it’s the untrained mind.

Behind every decision, every strategy, every meeting and moment of execution is a mind. If that mind is scattered, reactive, or fear-driven, no amount of capital or opportunity will move the needle. Leaders today are navigating unprecedented complexity. Strategy alone is no longer enough. Mental clarity, emotional control, and disciplined thinking have become critical business assets.

In high-performing organizations, mindset is treated as infrastructure. The mental resilience of a founder under pressure, the clarity of a CEO making decisions in chaos, the discipline of a team staying focused when noise peaks — these are the intangible yet powerful drivers of performance. Without a trained mind, even the best strategies collapse under the weight of stress, distraction, and indecision.

An untrained mind in business shows up subtly. It disguises itself as chronic overthinking, decision paralysis, the inability to say no, and the addiction to comfort disguised as “stability.” It creeps in as short-termism, reactive leadership, or avoidance of risk. These behaviors erode momentum. They create a slow bleed that stalls innovation, weakens culture, and shrinks the capacity to lead at scale.

The truth is, talent and tools alone are no longer differentiators. Everyone has access to information. Everyone can hire smart people. But the leaders and organizations that consistently win are the ones that can think clearly under pressure, remain calm when stakes are high, and adapt faster than the chaos around them. That level of performance is not instinctual. It’s trained.

Training the mind doesn’t require retreating to silence or meditating on a mountain. It requires consistency, discipline, and awareness woven into daily routines. It begins with creating space to think — real thinking, not reacting. It involves choosing discomfort, making hard calls, and leaning into feedback rather than avoiding it. It means becoming conscious of your mental patterns, not to judge them, but to rewire them toward clarity, resilience, and purpose.

Mental training is not self-help. It’s self-leadership. And in a world moving at the speed of distraction, it’s the most underutilized business strategy of our time.

If your company is plateauing, if your leadership feels scattered, or if you keep hitting the same wall, it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with the business. Start asking what’s untrained in the mind running it.

Because ultimately, your business can only grow to the level of your thinking. And if the mind isn’t built for growth, no strategy will scale it.

Cast your mind back 44 years and the release of “Enter the Dragon’ starring Bruce Lee. It brought martial arts films into the global arena and popularised Lee’s specific form of unarmed Kung Fu films. Lee’s films made in Hong Kong, like “Fist of Fury” and “Way of the Dragon” attracted Hollywood’s attention and they realised that there was an audience for this kind of movie. As Paul Bowman, one of Bruce Lee’s biographers wrote: “A whole ‘Bruce Lee generation’ grew up in the wake of this transformation: the Tarantinos, the Wu Tang Clans, untold numbers of kids, choreographers, athletes, artists, cinematographers, and more, whose inspiration continues to be Bruce Lee.” I’d add entrepreneurs like myself to the list, who found in Bruce Lee a business and life mentor as much as an entertainer.

There is so much more to Bruce Lee’s legacy than a few films. Although his life was sadly brief, he had huge goals and he achieved them. He challenged racial stereotypes, took martial arts mainstream and had a movie career, but he also provided a series of inspirational quotes, which I’d encourage any business entrepreneur to stick in a prominent place and refer to them daily.

I interpret this as – make the most of your life by creating value to those around you.

Placing limits on what you can do will keep you trapped. Don’t put them on yourself, and don’t let others do it either. To realise your full potential you must ignore the idea of limitations and keep breaking through any self-imposed barriers.

You must define yourself. When you create a strong and amazing self-image, then you’ll grow into your own expectations.

He also said: “As you think, so you shall become.” This echoes what he says above, but puts it in a more succinct way. Know you have a ‘very best’ in you, believe it and you’ll become it.

I love this one because it’s so valuable in business. It is good to set goals, but never think that they are the end destination; they are just milestones on your journey. They keep you moving in the right direction, which is why making a plan with targets to meet is motivating.

In other words, don’t sit around thinking and dreaming about what you’re going to do; take some action, any action, no matter how small, to make what’s in your head become a ‘thing’ in the world.

This is just a small selection from Bruce Lee’s inspirational approach to life and I recommend you find out more about his philosophy for living and apply it to your business and personal life.

I hope you enjoyed this and found it useful. Please subscribe to my blog if you’d like to receive an alert when I post new content.

Mehran Muslimi

Category: Motivation

Clarity Over Chaos: Train Your Mind to Scale Your Business

The Bruce Lee Spirit