Sometimes the odds seem to be stacked against your business, with no hope of salvation. It is a good idea to compare the situation of a failing business, or one not performing as it should or you would like,  with the mindset of a person diagnosed with a serious cancer. By following the examples of those who have suffered with cancer  AND SURVIVED, you may see there is more in common to these two worlds than you would have initially thought, with many inspiring attributes that you could add to your business survival or enhancement strategies.

What Makes A Cancer Survivor?

 

Whether in business, sport or indeed surviving an aggressive cancer, the aspects of what help you survive can be difficult to work out. Is it just mindset? Can you work or try harder. We looked at the stories of a number of survivors from around the world and listed here attributes they all shared.

  • Worked to a strict treatment plan with discipline and commitment.
  • Created positive mindset and used various techniques like meditation to help accomplish this.
  • Did not accept it was the end, merely a challenge that needed to be overcome.
  • Took advice from as many medical outlets as possible in a bid to create the best treatment plan.
  • Exercised and modified their diet.
  • Seeking out other survivor stories to gain reassurance that they too can beat the disease.

These traits certainly enhanced their chances. Paul Kraus, the world’s longest Mesothelioma survivor (you can learn more about mesothelioma here) certainly adhered to all of the above. He attributes working with both doctors and alternative therapies for helping create a successful treatment plan, as well as worked hard to create a positive mental state through exercise and meditation.

Celebrities like Avengers actor Mark Ruffalo, (brain tumor), or Wolverine himself Hugh Jackman, (skin cancer, a  basal cell carcinoma), overcame their personal battles with similar adherence to many of the above attributes.

How Cancer Survivors Can Inspire You In Your Business

 

There are a number of ways that the two worlds share remarkable similarities:

  • Searching out expert advice for your business’s growth and enhancement
  • A positive mindset will help put issues into better perspective and make you less likely to accept failure or defeat. Meditation and avoidance of negative commentary will help here.
  • Getting advice from other people who have saved/grown their business and find out ways that helped them do it.
  • Take things step by step. Make sure that all elements of any plan are working as they should. Change anything that doesn’t work for something that does.

Just gaining inspiration from stories where others have overcome the odds, in the same way you are trying to do with your business, can help put things into a more positive perspective. You can see that others have done the impossible, why can’t you do it to improve your business?

What Else Can We Learn From Cancer Survivors?

Simply not accepting defeat is one aspect of surviving, for a cancer sufferer, and for a business to defeat all odds to grow year on year. However, you do need to make sure, in both cases actually, that the single-mindedness is part of a strategy that works, and can be or has been seen to work effectively.

The attention to detail for cancer treatment plans has to be remarkably well planned, due to the short timescales patients often have to use them. Time is also a factor for any business. You don’t want to be trying different strategies that are not enhancing your companies profits or improving it in a measurable way to justify the effort.

Just like a successful cancer treatment plan, your business strategy needs to be well honed and seen to perform.

Surviving cancer, like running a business, is a multiple-pronged effort. The more a business struggles, the more it needs to buckle down whilst improving its strategy to overcome its obstacles. Cancer survivors have had to do the same. The only difference is, instead of profits they get to live.

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