Suppose you had to come up with $1,000,000 (that you don’t have) in 10 days or the person you love the most would die. Maybe that person is your spouse, a child, or another close family member.

Imagine him or her being held hostage and there is no doubt in your mind that these bad guys will kill your loved one if you don’t produce the cash in 10 days.

You are the ONLY one that can save him or her. Sound scary?

After you freak out and panic about the situation, you realize that you have no option other than to find a solution.

You’re stuck and there is no way out. You can’t hide. You can’t complain about it not being fair. You can’t blame someone else. Crying won’t help…there is really no point in doing that! What do you do?

What would you choose to do with your time over the next 10 days?

The interesting thing is…once you realize that you are trapped and accept the situation, your mind begins to focus more intensely on how to solve the serious problem at hand.

You stop worrying about stupid, petty things. You become more careful about wasting your very limited and precious time. You take charge of the situation because you have no other choice.

It’s as if you are operating on a whole new level of thought and creativity.

The reality is that most people, when faced with big problems, freak out, panic, cry, then run away.

This is not because they are not capable of finding a solution, but because they simply are not perceiving the situation as a serious life or death matter.

They give themselves the option of NOT finding a solution. The option to quit. Therefore, they never get to the place beyond their fear, anxiety, and worry.

Getting to this higher level of thought, creativity, and decision making is your duty as an entrepreneur.

When the going gets tough and you allow yourself to think about the option of quitting and not solving business problems, it’s a sure sign you’re not taking things as seriously as you should.

Deep down you know that your business challenges are not really life threatening and that nobody is really going to kill one of your loved ones if you don’t produce the $1,000,000 in 10 days. Perceiving your problems in this manner is an incredibly toxic way to think about your business.

It’s vital that you eliminate the option to quit in your head. Mentally put yourself in LIFE or DEATH situations.

Take the biggest business challenge you are facing and ask yourself, “If my loved one was truly going to be killed, how would I approach this situation differently?”

Really act out this scenario in your head and come up with answers and potential solutions as if someone’s life was actually at stake.

Processing decisions like this will force your mind to work on a different level. Learning how to access your higher level of creativity and problem solving skills will give you an advantage in business as you are taking situations more seriously than your competition.

A warning about success that most people don’t talk about:

It’s very easy to become comfortable and complacent the more you succeed in business.

When you put a bunch of money in the bank, it feels good and you think you have finally reached a place where you can relax and coast through life. This is a VERY dangerous temptation you must avoid.

Here’s why…

Regardless of the level of comfort you may have achieved in your business, you have to learn how to process decisions with the life or death mentality I mentioned above.

It’s easy to fall out of this habit and become “soft” or “lackadaisical” in your decision making. This will affect your ability to solve problems and create continued success in your business.

When you are in a box, trapped, and things look hopeless, that is a sure signal that you are getting close to finding a solution. Comfort and complacency make it very easy to give up mentally and quit.

You have to fiercely push through this temptation to give up. It’s your duty as an entrepreneur to take your business this seriously. Remember, your loved one’s life is at stake.