I overheard a woman at the gym the other day telling her friends that she’d once run a marathon. While they were oohing and aahing over her accomplishment, she added some caveat that I didn’t catch. Then she said, “I’m not an athlete.”

She might run the world’s slowest marathon (well, actually, I probably do), but she still covered 26.1 miles.

I am an athlete. Not in the Carl Lewis, Jackie-Joyner-Kersee, Meb Keflezighi mold–but I train like a pro and have a lot of distance under my feet. My goals might be less than Olympian, but I set them and I set out to achieve them.

So what does this have to do with business? I’m glad you asked.

Skills without attitude leaves you stuck in a rut.

There are a lot of smart business people. But only a few of them are successful as entrepreneurs. If you don’t believe in yourself, why would anyone else invest in your vision?

Photo by Stacey Huggins (Flickr).