What do you do when you’re faced with a difficult decision? Keep working (or work harder) on the business…or shut it down? Stick with this problem employee…or let them go? Sell the 30-year-old family business…or refinance?
These are just a few of the questions business owners and leaders face every day, and they’re tough! And if this is your first time in the entrepreneurial pool…then can be even tougher.
On today’s installment of 7 Minutes in the Morning, Thom will wrap up the week and talk about how to make difficult decisions!
Have you ever had that feeling that maybe this just wasn’t meant to be? Even though I’ve worked really hard at it, for a long time, I should just cut my losses now?
The good news is, everyone who has ever tried something new, difficult, and/or worthwhile has felt that way…so you’re in really good company. The BETTER news is…well, watch or listen to the podcast…I don’t want to give it ALL away here!
Why do you work? Can you clearly articulate the end-state you are striving to achieve?
It’s a simple enough question but one that will probably stump you. I’ve asked this question to hundreds, maybe thousands of people and the most common answers they have given fall into one of two categories: 1) to pay bills, or 2) um, because I’m supposed to.
It is exactly this lack of goals, absence of vision, that lead over 70% of employees to be mentally and emotionally disengaged AT WORK! They just don’t care.
Among business owners it’s slightly better…but not much. In a recent Reddit thread the question was posed, “Why did you start your business?” and the majority of answers centered around what the job allowed them to escape, not what it was providing for them.
So whether you are an employee or a business owner, it’s really easy to get trapped in the “it’s what I’m supposed to do” way of thinking. That’s not intentional thinking and will NOT produce the results you’re looking for!
The reality is, if you don’t have a clear vision of what YOU call success, you will just wander around, doing whatever looks interesting and never really reaching your full potential!
So instead, why not give this thought experiment a try. Grab a piece of paper and finish this sentence, “I envision a time when…” What are the criteria you will use to decide if your journey has been successful?
Not only will this make answering the WHY question easier, but it also gives you a great decision-making tool! Use it when you face a choice and ask yourself which option moves me closer to my vision of success…then choose that one! Over time, you just might get there!
Are you living at your full potential? Is your business, your work, and your life as good as it could be? Even if the answer is “almost” then you still have work to do! Read on…
When energy is stored (like in a spring or a battery) and not used it is called POTENTIAL energy…potential because it is not being realized. You have the potential within you and it is stored in the form of a big, hairy, audacious goal…a BHAG…a dream that is so big and crazy that, until today, you have resisted even telling anyone else about it!
Well, today is the day you are going to share your big dream with the world. Here’s why…
Potential does nothing for anyone until it is released…but it can degrade. Over time an unused battery will lose its charge. A spring will be sprung (yep, that’s really what it’s called!) If you don’t begin releasing your potential TODAY you will begin losing it TODAY!
If you’ve been tracking with us all week, you know that Monday I challenged you to refine your BGAG into a clear concise sentence…Well, today is the day to share it with the world and what better place to start than right here!
Within the Thom Rigsby community you have people just like you, similarly situated to you, ready and willing to support YOU! Everybody here has a crazy, non-conformist dream, I just want you to be an UNASHAMED non-conformist!
So go ahead, drop that powerful sentence in the comments and let the rest of the community know what you will pursue and make a reality!
What is the one thing that you keep coming back to, time and time again? It keeps calling to you and you just can’t get it out of your head? Have you ever wondered why that is?
Because you are uniquely gifted, talented and placed to have an abundant life and do work that matters, you are like a puzzle piece, uniquely shaped to fill a given spot in the masterpiece. That means you have at least one matching piece out there somewhere…and it is calling to you! Unless you answer that call and do you part, there will always be a gap, a hole, an unfinished piece! You don’t want that do you?
Someone needs to benefit from your contribution. They need the product you offer, the service you provide, they need to hear what YOU have to say!
But answering that call will lead you into the unknown, the unfamiliar, and therefore will be at least a little bit scary! But hey, what great accomplishment comes without risk!
Indeed, as Emerson said, everything you want is out there and it also wants you. Like two magnets you will be drawn together to create something much greater than either one on your own can produce. Just think what great things you could do if you redirected your focus away from maintaining the status quo and toward success!
Go forth boldly today, with confidence, and pursue that which you desire…it’s trying to find you too!
What are you not trying because you don’t feel qualified or ready?
I love this quote from Bruce Lee because it calls it perfectly…greatness is present in everyone, even the average person, but it requires effort to achieve.
With all the opportunity for distraction available to us…literally in the palm of your hand…we often fall prey to Distraction Over Action. We know that the next task or project is going to be taxing, stressful, or lengthy so we opt for a “quick” distraction. That quick distraction turns into a long one, the BAM…off your game.
One of the best ways I’ve found to defeat DOA is with block scheduling. Schedule a block of time, say 20 minutes, to focus on one task. Turn off all your notifications, don’t check email or answer the phone…just focus. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish in a short period of time.
How do you avoid DOA and get that To Do list knocked out? Leave your best tip in the comments!
You’ve probably heard the old saying that Cash Is King…right? What if it’s not?
As business owners and leaders, the odds can feel like they’re stacked against us. With more than 90% of new businesses not making it through the first five years, and their demise often attributed to inadequate funding (wrong, but that’s for another day) it’s easy to understand why so many businesses chase the money. But there’s another currency you should be chasing instead.
Harold Geneen once said, “In business, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”
Chasing the cash turns every customer interaction into a transaction. The truth is, this is very transparent to the customer, and many times they are fine with that. But there it also prevents the development of a relationship and any semblance of customer loyalty.
Now, I’m not saying you should do the work for free, but do consider what you are gaining from every interaction. There is something you can learn…and that might be worth much more than cash!
I find myself asking this question a lot at networking or other meetings where I’m running into people I know. It’s a pretty common greeting. Do you know what answer I get frequently? “Well, I’ve been pretty busy!” (or some variant of that)
While we’re taking a little break from the daily grind this week at the beach, I wanted to remind you that busy does not equal effective. In fact, it is a terrible measure of how things are going. The hamster is busy, and not moving an inch.
In my live workshop Making Time for Success, one of the key concepts addresses the mistaken idea that time management is about efficiency. The efficient use of time is to get more done is the same amount of time. This is wrong.
What you really want is the more effective use of your time…getting the right things done in the allotted time. This requires some hard decisions!
Right now, how many items are on your to-do list? I want you to take an honest inventory and identify everything on that list that, if you NEVER did them, nothing adverse would happen. You are probably like a lot of people that use a lengthy to-do list as a crutch to help you feel better about not getting anything done…but you’re busy!
I want you to go through your list and pick the five most important things on your list. The items you pick should all take less than a day to complete (if they are bigger than one day, break them down into day-sized chunks).
Now, armed with your next five moves…pick the one item that will have the greatest impact on your life if you do it today. That item is now your priority. Get that done first, then knock out the other four. Then tomorrow…rinse and repeat.
This is the P+4F method at work. You can find a video explaining it in more detail on my website (link in bio). Use it and it will change your life. Keep doing what you’ve been doing…and you’ll keep getting what you already have!
Building a business or expanding your career is hard work…and serious business. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun while you’re doing it! In fact, you SHOULD have fun…it will make it a lot more enjoyable while you’re doing the hard stuff!
Now I’m not saying that if you don’t have a ping-pong table or foosball table you’re doing it wrong. You can have fun without all the toys or games…in fact, it may even be better that way. When you lean on the games to bring the fun, then you’re not really putting in the effort to find the fun in the business.
I really love this quote from Einstein, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” It really emphasizes that it’s the process we should focus on and not rely on making it to the “finish line” before we get to enjoy ourself.
If you’re not having fun with the work you’re doing, take a quick time out and think about ways you can make it more fun and enjoyable. Can you make a game out of the work, maybe even pull your whole team into the brainstorming process!
How are you making your work fun? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Are you the best at what you do? Are you willing to say so?
I will frequently talk with business owners and leaders and have fantastic products or services but downplay their own effectiveness or impact! Heck, I’m even guilty of this (and my grandmother would be proud!).
The problem is that if you don’t express the confidence you have in your product or service…who will? Exactly nobody!
We think that we’re being humble or avoiding speaking ill of others…but the reality is that people, including your customers, want to know that you are confident in your capabilities! Would you rather want the brain surgeon who was “pretty sure he could do it” or the one that “knows what to do”?
Take a few minutes right now and think about the leader in your market. Do THEY say they’re the best? Then you DEFINITELY should!