Is It Time to Take A Stand

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!

When Limits Win

How do you know when it’s time to cut bait?

Yesterday we talked about boundaries… and I’m also a fan of pushing your limits. So how do you reconcile those? It’s really not as hard as it sounds When you start with personal responsibility!

As an individual, you are only responsible for your decisions and outcomes, then there are modifiers. Parents take on responsibility for their kids, entrepreneurs take on some of the burdens for their employees and customers…but there’s a limit.

About 18 months ago, my adult son died from the effects of alcoholism. In spite of our best efforts, he still made the choices that led to his demise.

You only have responsibility for others to the point of their freewill choice. You can’t make the decision for them, that is where you have to let them beat the weight of their own burden.

Focus on what you can control, make the decisions that are within your purvue, and do everything you can to let the rest go.

Good Fences Make For Good Neighbors

It’s easy to talk about your neighbor violating boundaries, but what about you? Today let’s talk about how boundaries help YOU stay focused and in your lane!

Especially as a business owner or leader, it’s super easy to drift…to “expand” the business into new areas where there seems to be a need. But what happens when you do that too early or with faulty research. Suddenly you find yourself in unfamiliar territory and, perhaps worst of all, the original business can fall on hard times due to your lack of attention.

Having and abiding by boundaries lets you focus your time, energy, and attention to create a result!

Establish boundaries early on. Create mechanisms to check yourself when you begin to drift and exercise the discipline to stay inside the lines!

Two Keys to Control: Know and No

How often do you say no to requests that don’t lead to your success or help you meet your goals?

Saying no is easier for some than others, but if you have any hope of living the life you crave, you must become a master of culling the invaluable. And THAT begins with knowing what you want.

So how do you KNOW what you want? Is it possible to be sure? To have no doubts?

I’m just going to go ahead and say it, you WILL have doubts along the way! It’s a long road full of hard work. Of course, you’re going to questions your choices. And that’s not the point! Questioning doesn’t derail you…quitting derails you. When you have doubts, that’s the most important time to say NO!

Saying no to others is always easier than saying no to yourself! Why? Well basically because you can rationalize anything to yourself…it is not until you have to say it out loud…to someone else, that you get slapped in the face with how weak it really sounds.

This is one of the three key values to working with a coach to achieve your results. You are uniquely gifted and talented and so was Michael Jordan…and he needed Phil Jackson to help him win!

If you have been considering working with a coach, or maybe you just have a difficult time getting the results you’ve been longing for, send me a DM. I will be happy to have a no-cost, no-obligation chat with you to help you find the best path forward!

Remember, your path to success will be a winding one. No one gets to walk a direct route. So stay the course, keep your eyes on the prize, and ask for help when you need it. THESE are the keys to taking back control and living the life you crave!

The Tree And the Fence

Quick, name one thing that is preventing your success or keeping you from reaching a goal.

Don’t dwell on the answer, just blurt it out! Now ask, is this something within my power to change?

Regardless of what your blocker is, the answer is YES, you can change your circumstances and remove any obstacle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Jh-uRZb6g

All too often we allow negative self-talk to rule out day. And when that’s not giving us the excuse we want, we turn to comparison shopping for progress. You know, “THEY are farther along than me…”. And don’t even get me started on believing in the “shoulds.”

You are a unique combination of gifts and talents and you are positioned in time and place to make a difference. And the reality is you are making a difference, the only question is, is it a positive or a negative one.

Just because you are talented and gifted doesn’t mean you don’t have to put in effort toward the outcome though. Pick any great athlete, they still had to put in the work to achieve greatness, and so do you!

Just like the tree in this picture, don’t let any fence stop you from following your path to success. Yeah, you might have to go under or around and it might not be the prettiest…but it will be yours!

You may look at a fence or a wall and see an obstacle, something that will influence you to change your course. Instead, see it as an opportunity to overcome something that would stop a lesser person, someone who will have to settle for mediocre while you enjoy the fruits of your effort.

When you get stuck and need a hand seeing past your next fence or wall, DM me. I can help. And join me for a bit of daily inspiration, watch or listen to my daily video podcast (link in bio).

When To Flex and When to Focus

Why do plans always fail?

When I was growing up, the A-Team was all the rage on TV. One of the characters in that show had a saying, “I love it when a plan comes together!” Why is that such a great thing? Maybe because it is such a rare thing!

One of the most frustrating things to me as a business coach is to see people put so much time and effort into a business plan only to file it away and never look at it again. Is THAT why so many businesses fail? I don’t believe it is.

A business plan, any plan for that matter, is just a set of intended actions and expected outcomes. It’s not cast in stone and there’s no guarantee that the expected outcomes will happen. So why do we hold so tightly to plans if they’re not going to work out? IDK…THAT’s a great question!

Many a business owner and entrepreneur have had to cut their dreams short not because of lack of planning … most do a pretty good job of that. No, I believe they fail because once the plan is done, they hold more tightly to the plan than they do the desired outcome! In fact, I’ve probably read hundreds of business plans that didn’t describe ANY desired outcome!

How do you make decisions if you don’t know the outcome you’re trying to create?

As Kathryn says in our quote of the day today, “…[be] focused on the goal but flexible in your execution.” You may think a pop-up shop is THE way to go, so you struggle and suffer for two years… when all along you could have been posting your products online!

Take a minute right now and try to articulate your goal, out loud, in one sentence. If you can’t do that, then you don’t have a firm grasp on what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t do any more planning till you know what you’re building…your odds of creating a successful plan will go way up!

If you need help with your plan, DM me or follow me on my website at www.ThomRigsby.com (link in bio).

It’s Your Call

Business (and life) is a contact sport! What do you do when it gets to be too much?

Let’s face it, it happens to everybody! Sometimes all the moving pieces of your success and fulfillment seem to be moving in opposite directions! UGH! The answer though is pretty simple…

The more complicated things become, the more aggressively you have to simplify!

Overwhelm, and the feeling of lost control that accompanies it can be debilitating if you let it…but it doesn’t have to be.

Most people believe when they are experiencing overwhelm that the pathway out is planning or studying or some other distraction. The reality is, there’s only one way to dig out from overwhelm…simplify!

In the short term, find one thing you can control, that you can make an unimpeded decision about and make it. For Mel Robbins, author of the 5-second Rule, that was the snooze button on her alarm clock. It doesn’t have to be big or fancy, just something YOU control.

Now that you have some confidence taking control of your ‘alarm clock’ take on that giant pile of decisions that are overwhelming you. Simplify the decision point all the way down to, “which choice moves me closer to my goal.”

Take Jocko’s advice (slightly modified by Thom), “Relax, [take a breath], look around, and make a decision.” Those decisions are the reins of control in your business and your life…start deciding and take back control!

If you need help finding your clarity or simplifying your decision matrix, DM me or connect with me on my website (link in bio) at www.ThomRigsby.com.

The Freedom to Succeed

How bad does it have to get before you will take action?

You’ve probably heard that all human action is driven by one of two things, avoidance of pain or achievement of pleasure. It’s Independence Day here in the US and as I’m writing this I wonder…was it pleasure or pain that motivated the Founding Fathers?

As you are reading this right now, there is something you want to do. Something you want to accomplish. It might be a big, legacy type outcome…or maybe something small, like a raise or a promotion. In either case, you have to do something to make it happen.

See, the truth is that you already have the freedom you seek, you’re just keeping it locked behind excuses! All you have to do to have the freedom you so long for is just choose to act!

Now, bear in mind…choices come with consequences and freedom comes with responsibility. You have the freedom to choose friends that will build you up and support your journey…and that comes with consequences related to your existing friends. And then there’s family…

It’s kind of like getting your driver’s license. Yes, you get an immense amount of freedom when you can finally drive yourself where you want to go. But you’re also doing so in a 2,500-pound projectile that is more than capable of killing you and others. With that freedom comes great responsibility!

So today, as you celebrate our nation’s freedom, remember:
– freedom isn’t found in waiting for the answer
– freedom isn’t found in researching and reading
– freedom isn’t found in sitting still

No, freedom (and it’s requisite responsibility) can only be found by being bold, brave, and taking action!

What action will you take TODAY to move yourself one step closer to the life and lifestyle you crave? Leave a comment and let me know!

Confidence Is Fun

When was the last time you really had fun? Take a second right now and really think about it! How much did confidence have to do with it?

Joe Namath once said, “When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun.” But is that really true? Confident of what?

Have you ever watched children playing? Our granddaughter is 7 and she loves to sing along with songs and videos…but not when someone is watching. She’s very confident in herself when no one is looking. Add in an observer and her confidence takes a hit…and it becomes less fun.

You need a certain degree of confidence in order to really dive into something and go all out. And the funny thing is, it’s not even confidence in the outcome! You can have a great time playing a game and still lose. It’s confidence in yourself to compete…to have a chance! (remember that word, chance)

See, for any victory to be rewarding, there has to be some risk involved, there has to be a chance that you WON’T WIN in order to enjoy the game! When we take the risk away, there is no need for confidence…so in a misguided attempt to build confidence, they’ve actually taken the confidence from a whole generation! But I digress…

When I’m talking with aspiring business owners in my life and business coaching practice, I hear it all the time, “I want to get all my ducks in a row” or, “dot all my I’s and cross all my t’s.” The reality is not only is that not possible, but you also don’t want that!

Confidence is the result of experience. You have to try things to build the confidence you need to win…in little league, in business, and in life! What have you avoided trying lately? Go ahead give it a shot! Win some confidence and have FUN doing it!

Circumstances Do Not Dictate Outcomes!

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your circumstances?

You may have heard me say that opportunity is just a set of circumstances…facts or conditions that surround you. But is it possible to have so many opportunities or circumstances that we get stuck and can’t make ANY progress? Well, sure, it’s possible…so what do about it?

When you are feeling overwhelmed by circumstances, it is rarely the volume of opportunity that is causing the problem (that doesn’t change very much over time). Rather, it is the relative weight you are assigning to the opportunity or the outcome.

Sometimes, the weight is appropriate…get out of the street or be hit by that truck…but more often than not, the weight is arbitrary, just something you made up. If you made it up, you can change it!

In my life and business coaching practice, I see this a lot around goals (or expectations of outcomes). You start a business and expect million dollar results in the first year…then when it doesn’t happen, or it’s slow, you start looking at everything you need to do to improve…and there’s a lot…and BOOM…you’re overwhelmed!

This is one reason I came up with the P4F model for planning and GSD. It will help you find the five most important things to focus on today and prioritize them to create results.

I’ve made a short video about P4F and how it works. You can find it on my website at www.ThomRigsby.com/P4F. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a 6-minute breather and watch the video…it will change your life!