By Shirzad Chamine, chairman of CTI, the largest coach training organization in the world.

There is a significant “mind game” to entrepreneurship which I wish I had known when I founded my venture-backed software company. Today, almost 20 years later, I have coached literally hundreds of CEOs and their executive teams on the mind game of being a leader. Much of the lessons I teach are ones that I learned the hard way … by failing first.

I help leaders focus on the tug of war raging inside their minds between the “Sage” voice that serves them versus the “Saboteur” voices that undermine them. This war between Sage and Saboteur happens inside every mind, but it intensifies with most entrepreneurs. The reason is that stress fuels the Saboteurs. Research shows that only 20% of people achieve anything close to their true potential, due to the destructive power of their Saboteurs.