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Last week I posted a blog about InfusionSoft co-founders Clate Mask and Scott Martineau.The duo's new book, called "Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business without Going Crazy," offers tips to small-business owners who might be feeling a little overwhelmed these days. One of the things they discuss is a concept called "disciplined optimism." Here's an excerpt from Chapter 5 on that topic.

The following excerpt from "Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business without Going Crazy" is presented by information SMB courtesy of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All rights reserved.

BOOK EXCERPT
Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business without Going Crazy
Disciplined Optimism

Of all the strategies, this is the one Clate is most excited to share with you. Perhaps it's because the chapter starts with an incredible story. Maybe it's because implementing this strategy was such a big turning point in his personal as well as his business life. Either way, it's a message that many business owners desperately need.

To understand the basis of disciplined optimism, we need to introduce the Stockdale Paradox to you.

The Stockdale Paradox is a term coined by Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great. Within the book, Collins talks about Vietnam prisoner of war James Stockdale. In the seven years Stockdale was held by his enemies in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, he was beaten repetitively but refused to succumb to the demands of his captors (even when it meant beating himself to keep from being used as propaganda).

Because of his resistance efforts, Stockdale was eventually removed from other prisoners and held in solitary confinement. When he was released, Stockdale could barely walk or stand up straight. But he went on not only to receive a Medal of Honor, but to serve for many more years in a distinguished Naval career, to become a business man, and eventually run for vice president of the United States alongside presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Collins recorded a conversation he had with Stockdale in his book. The answers Stockdale gave in his interview were so profound that they have stuck with us and inspired us in our business efforts. One of his statements left a particularly significant impression. He said, "I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."

When Collins asked who didn't make it out, Stockdale replied, "Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."

Stockdale then added, "This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-which you can never afford to lose-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be" (Collins 2001, 84-86).

That is the Stockdale Paradox: Faith you will prevail plus discipline to confront the brutal facts. You are not a prisoner of war. But the pain you suffer as a small business owner is very real. You are not being physically beaten, but we have seen far too many small business owners beaten mentally and emotionally by their inability to keep their business and personal lives running smoothly.

The practice of disciplined optimism adds upon Collins' Stockdale Paradox and applies specifically to small business owners.