As business leaders and brand builders what often holds us back from the big leaps we deserve is our thinking. The 5 issues below are things that easily trip us up and we need to break free of them to grow our business and our brand. They'll keep us from thinking big or they'll allow us to convince ourselves we're only dreaming.
Which one(s) trip you up?
You're not clear about what you want. Clearly articulating exactly what you want and are trying to accomplish is incredbily hard for lots of reasons. One simple one is the shear number of words and the subtly in definitions. It's hard to just find the words to appropriately describe what you're trying to create.
But it's really hard to do if you just don't have a clear picture of the end result. Just like you need to know your final destination before you start planning a trip, you've got to know where you're business is going before you can put together the tactics that will get you there.
You don't have a good strategy. You have a strategy for running errands. You even have a strategy for getting ready in the morning. That strategy may or may not be the best strategy. But you've got to HAVE a strategy before you can make it a good one. When's the last time you sat down and looked at your business strategy? This can be incredibly hard to do without help. Plan some time NOW to work on this as soon as possible, then sharpen your pencil and get to work.
You don't have the skills you need to accomplish what you want. If your team doesn't have the skills you need now and doesn't have the skills you'll need to move your company forward, then you've GOT to sit down with your staffing team and put together a plan to get them. You either aren't giving them the information they need to recruit effectively or your not giving them the money they need to find the right candidates, or you have the wrong people in the staffing function. If you can't FIND people with the skills your organization needs then you have to commit to training and developing who you have. You also better treat them well since you really can't afford to have them leave.
Your environment is holding you back. This is a big one. It could be your physical environment isn't set up to make you successful...maybe you haven't invested in new equipment...you've outgrown your space...or it's a depressing environment to work in. Or it could be the people in your environment...If you're surrounded my negative people that's going to weigh you down and stifle creativity in your company.
Your thinking is holding you back. This might be limiting beliefs, negativity, or other ways you're talking to yourself that you're allowing to keep you nailed right where you are. We're really our own worst enemy some times and this can be the hardest thing to work on. You need help to deal with this...either an incredibly honest friend or coworker or you've got to hire a consultant or coach to help you work through this. A great book is Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology. You can visit his site, AuthenticHappiness.com, to learn more and take some assessments to get a benchmark on some of these areas.
Are you aware of how any of these have held you back? Commit to breaking free of them today!
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