Why Your Business Beliefs Are More Important Than Your Business Plan Your business plan will change. Your business beliefs should lead you to long-term success.

Do not spend more time working on your business plan than you do actually working on your business. A business plan is important, and you should take the time to make one. Just know that your beliefs about business will have a much greater impact on your success than what you put on paper.

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I know this because I've coached dozens of entrepreneurs and business owners from the very beginnings of their businesses. I've watched some of them grow their businesses all the way to six-, seven- and even eight-figure earnings, even when their initial idea looked shaky on paper. I've watched others struggle for years before giving up, even though their ideas looked foolproof on paper.

The short explanation here is that what you put on paper for a business plan will never match reality. Never. As soon as you start selling to and working with real people, things change. There's a certain amount of chaos. However, there is a way to harness that chaos and use it to build your empire, which is what I'm here to show you today.

Innovation is moving faster than ever before.

In the next five to 10 years, most of the jobs that exist today will be replaced by AI. For entrepreneurs, that means your business operations will be cheaper and more reliable than ever before. However, it also means that your daily operations will look completely different than what they look like today. Plus, many of these technologies will have unintended consequences. They're going to create problems that we've never had to deal with before (such as high unemployment).

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I don't say any of that to scare you. In fact, I'm extremely optimistic about the future, and you should be, too. My point is that none of us can afford to get stuck on how we do business today. If your idea of success is to find the next "hack" or "quick fix," then you're going to be sorely disappointed. Those hacks and quick fixes are going to become outdated almost as soon as they appear.

So, here's what you need to do instead: Become obsessed with the principles of wealth and success, not just the delivery system. Study the entrepreneurs and the businesses you admire most and look for the principles that guided their decisions.

Focus on principles, not quick hacks.

The most successful entrepreneurs on the planet are the ones that put in decades of hard work to build their empires. That means that they kept their businesses growing even in times of massive uncertainty, loss and change. How?

It comes back to their business beliefs, which is another way of saying principles. If your business beliefs are solid, you will quickly find a way to create new solutions when the old systems for doing business break down. For a great example of this, look at Ray Dalio. He's been listed as one of the 100 wealthiest people in the world, and he even wrote a book called Principles.

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He's also the founder of the investment firm Bridgewater Associates, which has a fund called the Pure Alpha fund that only lost money three times in the last 20 years. Keep in mind, that includes the 2008 housing crisis, which was the worst economic downturn in recent history. When most people were suffering financial disaster, Dalio and others like him kept their empires growing.

Again, it goes back to beliefs, aka principles. One of Dalio's core beliefs was that he could design an investment portfolio that would remain safe and keep growing under any economic season. Through years of researching and testing, he created the All Seasons portfolio and accomplished just that. And he accomplished that because he was looking for the principles that would keep his money growing over the long term instead of get-rich-quick tricks and hacks.

Another great example is Google. Google's mission statement is "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." That's not a hack or a get-rich-quick scheme. That's a guiding belief in what's possible. It's a huge idea that serves the needs of people all over the world. That's what has allowed Google to create billion-dollar solutions and rewrite how much of the world operates today.

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Beliefs can make you mentally strong -- or weak.

Let's bring this back down to a personal level. If you believe that you have the creativity, focus and discipline to solve any problem that comes up in your business, then that will come true. On the other hand, if you believe there's no room left for your ideas, or that you'll never be able to lead other people toward your vision, that will also come true.

With that in mind, let me offer you a set of beliefs that have helped me succeed in business. These are not beliefs I pulled out of thin air. These are beliefs I've seen in action with dozens of other successful entrepreneurs. I've tested them out in my own life and found that they each helped my businesses grow faster. I encourage you to read these aloud to yourself until they become habits in your own thinking.

• Money is attracted to decisiveness, action-taking and speed.
• I can learn whatever new skills I need to succeed and keep my business on the cutting edge.
• I can earn the respect and cooperation of anyone whose help I need.

Now, you might be wondering if I'm preaching some kind of woo-woo, "law of attraction" stuff here. I'm not. If you read those beliefs again carefully, you'll see that they emphasize taking action. They emphasize going above and beyond what most people are willing to do.

The whole point of this is to prime yourself to want to take these actions even when they are uncomfortable. You will do this because you believe that the rewards will come. No, the rewards will not come immediately. Yes, the reality will be a long and difficult road. That's precisely why you need deeply held, empowering beliefs to push you forward even when your plan falls apart. Focus on developing your core beliefs, and you will have the power to overcome any challenge on the path to empire.