Published 29th Sep 2023, 16:45 BST

Speaking in front of a packed audience at the Leeds International Festival of Ideas, he said: “Most of us would choose the certain misery of our current situation versus the uncertainty we have to encounter as we go in search of more. But in the context of a finite life, we have to realise we’re not going to live forever. There needs to be a certain appetite for both urgency and uncertainty.”

Mr Bartlett, 31, added that he was ‘a very good quitter’. “People tell me I’m young and I’ve done a lot of stuff,” he said. “That’s because I don't hang around. My redeeming skill in life is being really bad at doing things I don't want to do. I’d rather do nothing.”

The Dragons’ Den star was speaking on the first day of the four-day festival at Leeds Playhouse about “A New Generation of Entrepreneurship” alongside host Anisa Morridadi.

Dragons’ Den star and The Diary of A CEO podcast host Steven Bartlett was speaking about “A New Generation of Entrepreneurship” at the Leeds International Festival of Ideas held at Leeds Playhouse. Picture by Tom Martin.

Mr Bartlett, who founded social media agency Social Chain and is also the founder of Thirdweb, Flight Story and Flight Story Fund as well as an investor Huel and personalised nutrition programme Zoe, said he believes that burnout doesn’t come from working too many hours.

"It’s my opinion, from what I’ve seen, that burnout is nothing to do with how many hours you’re working. It’s how much meaning there is in every hour that you work. I work all the time and it feels like play to me,” he said.

"The only times I get burned out is when I start to compromise the foundation, my health. I stop sleeping then my mood starts to get dyregulated and I start to get emotional issues if I don’t keep my foundation in tact.”

He added: “I have to appreciate that everybody has entirely different circumstances and it’s not easy just to quit something when you have responsibilities. You have to apply practicality to your situation.

"However, I would personally start crafting your exit plan because in the context of a finite life I don’t think anybody has to accept a meaningless one.”

Mr Bartlett said the reason he was an entrepreneur today was because of the self belief he’d built up as a child. “The beliefs you have are based on evidence,” he said. “The only way to change it isn’t, in my opinion, looking in a mirror and telling yourself you’re something you’re not, because your brain won’t believe it. You need to go out and get a new stack of undeniable evidence and that exists outside of wherever you’re comfortable.”

He added: “I started conducting all these experiments around the house, selling stuff. I created evidence that if Steve wants to go on that ski trip at school and my parents give me zero pounds, I can sell enough things to make the money.

"At 12 to have that evidence is the reason I’m an entrepreneur today. I got lots of evidence, they call it self belief. It’s the most powerful thing in the world.

"The crazy thing with self belief is that it pushes you over so many hurdles. It makes you fail so quickly that the failure is feedback. Feedback is knowledge and the knowledge is your power.

"So the next time you have the opportunity to extend yourself outside of your comfort zone in whatever environment that is...remember all of that is going to start stacking undeniable evidence in your brain that will change some of those stubborn beliefs.”

Steven Bartlett: "Self belief is the most powerful thing in the world"