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JIMINY SELF-HELP HANDBOOK 16

much one can get done and when it is advisable to take a risk. I’ve now surrounded myself with
specialists and I've been reading up on how the decision-making process should develop in a company.
But the long and short of it for me is that the entrepreneur is the one who at the end decides yes or
no and I like that even though it's a lot of responsibility (…)”.

3. EXERCISES AND QUIZZES
3.1. Exercise 1
Practical Exercise: The entrepreneurial mindset in action

The learner will have the chance to reflect and practice about essential entrepreneurial skills and traits
in his/her day to day life, starting with the tiniest decisions. Being decisive, confident, responsible,
resilient, flexible, passionate, self-motivated etc. takes practice to master and it can begin even with
small decisions in the daily both personal and business life.

For example, “I want to become more decisive. The next time I will go out for lunch at a restaurant, I
will scan the menu just once and decide what to order without spending too much time!”

Following this example, the learner is asked to think about his own personality traits, decide which
characteristics and attitudes need improvement and find ways to build on his/her entrepreneurial
mindset, starting from “simple” things and then begin to use it in bigger and bigger ways.

3.2. Exercise 2
Practical Exercise: Learning from successful entrepreneurs

The learner is asked to identify a well-known successful entrepreneur and search on the web for
articles, interviews, videos and other sources referring to his/her life and career. The point is to collect
as much information as possible and answer/present or discuss the following questions:

 Why is the entrepreneur considered as successful?
 What are his/her main characteristics as an entrepreneur?
 How did he/she create value? What has he/she done in a different way?
 How did he/she use the resources available to satisfy needs or solve problems?
 What were the obstacles and how did he/she managed to overcome them?
 What can we learn from this entrepreneur’s example?

3.3. Exercise 3
Practical Exercise: How do we make decisions?

The learner is asked to use the following “Decision-Making Wheel” so as to reflect on his/her strengths
and weaknesses while making decisions in different situations and in different environments (e.g.
family, community, friends, work etc.). In addition, he/she is asked to think and discuss how other
people around him/her (friends, relatives, colleagues) make decisions.

It is important for the learner to give examples and after completing the exercise, to answer these
questions: “Did I learn something new about myself? If yes, what?”, “How could I improve my way of
thinking and decision making?”