Because being an entrepreneur is hard. And low points are inevitable. Written by Mike Scott, co-founder and CEO of NONA, a software development studio based in South Africa.

I started my first business when I was 16, and as I write this I am 36. In my 20 years of being an entrepreneur, I cannot even begin to count the number of times that I have had bad days that could have been the beginning of the end for the business in question. But they weren’t.

There’s a lot of press about the overnight successes, but the reality is that being an entrepreneur and business leader is about the hard, often lonely, work in between the few moments of clarity and celebration.

Being able to thrive in those less-than-newsworthy periods in between the moments of celebration is what makes a successful entrepreneur. It’s about continuous disciplined execution—and that is not easy.

This is why I developed a process that I activate whenever I hit a low point. I wanted to share it because it has helped me so many times.