1. Keeping a healthy, postive mindset.
Who is the most important person in any company? Most people understand that the leader of any group is the most important figure to that organization. And what is the one thing about that person that will most effect how successful he or she is? Their mindset. The most successful western entrepreneurs (Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, etc.) have unbreakable "can-do" mindsets. They seem to never come up against a problem that can't be solved. And they never ever fall into the pervasive trap of "going below the line", i.e. blaming others for their mistakes, making excuses for failures, or denying their role in something that was unsuccessful or mistaken. They maintain positive attitudes even amongst times of challenge. All of those listed above have endured a great number of trials and tribulations in growing their companies to success. This is, in my opinion, the #1 and most important requirement of anyone seeking to be more successful than the average person.
2. Determining what the most productive use of their time will be.
As entrepreneurs, it's very easy to get pulled in a thousand different directions on any given day. We have all sorts of outside influences that, if allowed, can determine exactly where we spend our time each day if we allow them. The problem is this: I use an analogy with my clients that every business is like a large sail boat. The sail boat has a large sail on it. The business owner is the captain. The wind is any outside influence on the ship. Now, if the captain is running around the ship and nobody is steering the ship, it will go wherever the wind blows it. This is how many business owners operate on a daily/weekly/monthly basis without knowing it. How they spend their time on a daily basis is often determined by outside forces (the wind), like: telephone calls, emails, employee questions and problems, customers calling, etc. Obviously these things are all important to be dealt with, but how they are dealt with is often the problem. How many times have you finished working a full day and thought, "What did I actually accomplish today?" This question comes as a result of spending time on non-productive or low productive activities. It's like letting the wind determine where the ship goes. And when the wind is determining where the ship goes, it's most certainly not going to arrive at the desired location. As entreprenuers we MUST decide what the most productive use of our time will be today, and then, come hell or high water, get those things done.
3. Discipline.
This is, in my opinion, the most common differentiator between successful and unsuccessful businesses and people. In a study of CEOs who have grown $100 million plus companies, the final conclusion was that DISCIPLINE was the one most common golden thread running between those who were able to achieve the $100 million mark. And when taking into consideration numbers 1 and 2 above, they both take great discipline to do consistantly. This is why many companies, when searching for new hires, often seek runners and ex-military as employees. They know that to be a runner takes a great deal of discipline and that, generally speaking, ex-military personel are more disciplined than the average person. And discplined people produce greater results than people who lack discipline. The problem is that discipline is something so fundamental that there is only one way to attain it: through practicing it. In other words, if you want to get disciplined, be disciplined. It's a choice more than anything else. But in business, especially in a shaky econonmy, this will no longer be optional for most business owners. What entrepreneurs got away with doing or not doing during good economic times, they will not get away with during worsening times. They'll have to decide to start doing what they know they should be doing (making prospecting calls, learning how to effectively market a company, wake up earlier, plan their schedules, etc.) if they plan to be around when things pick up again. The good news: those who do will be far better, have more market share, more systematic and efficient companies, and will make a lot more money when the economy picks back up again. And that should be motivation for any business owner to make the decision to be more disciplined starting today...
If you're a business owner and would like to learn more, call my office or email me today: 651-275-8999/jonomalley@actioncoach.com
