Raise your hand if you know what you need to be doing to grow your business but just are not getting around to doing it. You are not alone.
I find many entrepreneurs know exactly what they need to be doing to grow their business but they just are not doing it. Either they are wasting time getting ready to get ready to do it or they are beyond genius at coming up with excuses of why there is not enough time to do the most critical things to grow their business.
By the way, any excuse will suffice. Failure is indifferent to what excuse you choose. Oh, I know it’s not an excuse …it’s a legitimate reason. Spare me your brilliance. Let’s face it, if your life depended on succeeding in business , you would either go through the excuse, under it, over it, around it or blow the darn thing up and thereby do what must be done.
The challenge for most entrepreneurs is they don’t realize they are trading their life in exchange for business failure. The deception is it goes by in increments of 10-12 hour work days that slowly transport them to the awakening to certain Key Performance Indicators like foreclosed homes, wiped out savings, maxed credit, and perhaps reduced health or strained relationships. BAM! All of a sudden you are on the brink. The brink is that of either waking up and proclaiming “Excuses Be Gone” and doing what you must or folding your tent and succumbing to your greatest fears.
It’s not magical hocus-pocus that’s going to save you. It is however HOCUS-FOCUS that may.
First, the only reason you are avoiding doing what you know you need to do to grow the business is because you are hallucinating about an outcome you fear as a result of doing it. That fear may be in the form of rejection, loss or embarrassment. Therefore, identify the fear and know it is simply an Hallucination (H). It hasn’t happened yet. You, therefore, are simply making it up. If you are going to hallucinate you may as well make up something that is empowering rather than disempowering.
Next, identify and associate to the Outcome (O) you do desire to experience. Imagine already having achieved it. You will feel more confident as you do so.
As you feel more confident it is then easier to take the Courageous (C) action you know you need to take. As you do take courageous action you will start to see positive results which will beget more confidence.
Undeceive (U) your imagined limitations. Realize your strength and capacity. Continue to build upon them by embracing them.
Simplify (S) your environments and limit or eliminate the distractions, obstacles and excuses that get in the way of you doing the key actions that must get done.
If you can remember HOCUS to help you stay focused on the important actions to grow your business you will in fact do exactly that…grow your business.
Make it up, make it fun & make it happen!