What is stopping you from achieving more in business?

Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you’ll make a fortune.

Jim Rohn

There are only 4 ingredients that you need to build and run a successful business:

  • A great idea

  • Business know-how

  • Hard work and dedication

  • A great mindset

A great idea

I’m assuming that you’re all set with that one.

Business know-how

Running a business is both a process and a system.

You could also say that it’s a set of principles, and that those principles hold true whether you are running a manufacturing company, a restaurant, or a design agency.

I can’t help you with these skills, but I do know some great business coaches and would happily put you in touch.

Hard work and dedication

You must start out with a good work ethic, but it goes deeper than that.

You need to know how to motivate yourself and to stay motivated even when things are not going your way.

You also need to know how to focus, so that when the next new idea comes along you don’t find yourself chasing the next shiny object.

I can help with these.

More about motivation

People say things like, “I need to find some motivation.”

It’s not true.  You can’t find it because it’s not real.

It’s like looking for confidence, or your purpose in life. You can look under as many rocks as you want to, but you won’t find them.

Motivation is just a feeling. You either feel like doing something or you don’t. What you do need is to understand yourself better because motivation comes from within. It’s you who create that feeling of wanting to (and sometimes you create a feeling of not wanting to.)

If you’re like most people, the chances are that you’re not aware that you are doing it, let alone how you’re doing it.

Imagine how useful it’s going to be when you have the self-awareness to know when you motivation starts to dip, and the tools to help you to turn it around.

Let’s have a conversation

Mindset

The word mindset is very in vogue but what is it exactly?

One of the reasons that it can be difficult to describe is that it’s not one single thing. Rather the combination of several factors.

The way you think

Consider this simple equation:

Your Thinking drives your Actions. Your Actions drive your Results.

Working backwards. If you want different results, you must do different things. It’s obvious, we all know that.

What is not so obvious is that unless your thinking changes then the kinds of actions that you take will always be the same.

Let me give you an example. This is based on a passage from the book Change your Questions, Change your Life – by Marilee Adams.

Thousands of years ago human beings were nomadic and moved around following the food and water.  Out of the 2, water was most critical because if there was no water then there would be no animals or plants to feed on.

Therefore, man was driven by the thinking “how can we find water?”

Our ancestors may have had different actions such as, getting water from lakes, or digging wells but those actions always led to the same results. The results were that sometimes there was water and sometimes they had to move to a different part of the country to find it.

Then the thinking changed. It evolved to become “how can I make the water come to me?” From that simple, but profound, shift in thinking the science of irrigation was born and the future of mankind was changed forever.

Your personal Success DNA

We all have our own success blueprint, or DNA.   It consists of 3 things:

  • Your Beliefs
  • Your Values
  • Your Identity
Beliefs

Beliefs can be empowering or limiting. Here is an example of each:

  • I’m not clever enough. That is very limiting belief held by many people. There are hundreds of examples of people who have been wildly successful in life despite doing badly at school. Thomas Eddison was thrown out of school and labelled as being ‘addled’ (which roughly translates to having learning difficulties.) Despite this he went on to become one of the most prolific inventors ever.
  • I can achieve anything that I put my mind to. That is such an empowering belief to be carrying around with you. Is it objectively true? Probably not, but then neither are most of the limiting beliefs that hold people back in life.

One of the difficulties of working with beliefs is that it can be very difficult to spot them in yourself.

Values

Values are things that are important to you. They have a huge impact on your choice of actions.

Some people believe that financial security is one of the most important things in life. Others believe that family should come first, over and above having money in the bank.

Neither is right or wrong, but it’s clear to see how those values will drive very different decisions when it comes to career and business.

Identity

Your identity is how you see yourself as a person.

When combined, your Beliefs, Values and Identity drive the way that you think, this in turn drives your actions and ultimately defines your level of success in business and in life.

What now?

If you would like to learn more about how your mindset is either helping you, or holding you back, I’ve created some training for you.

Begin by joining me for this free and on demand webinar: Understanding and Updating Your Business Mindset. During this time, I’ll help you understand more about why your mindset is the key to your success, and what you can do to update it.

Or if you prefer, then give me a call and let’s begin a conversation.

Let’s have a conversation