EntryNo.3 The Biggest Enemy To Building Your Business
I know that this is a topic covered by many entrepreneurs much more experienced than me. What do you think the biggest enemy to your business is? Cash flow? Staff problems? Venture capital? No plan or goal? No effective systems? Of course they are all important but for me there is a much more sinister threat that is not often discussed in all those hugely successful businesss books. Of course by now you are asking What? What is it?
For me it is – discouragement!
You know, that feeling when nothing seems to go right. When no matter what you do and how hard you work it is just not happening. You pour everything you have into this great new idea – your time, love, money, energy, passion. You give up all the things you love to focus on making your dreams come true. Isn’t that what all the good books say?
That you have to stay focused. Block out everything else in your life and give everything you have to your dream. This is how the winners do it. If you don’t believe me read Napoleon Hill’s very famous book “Think and Grow Rich” (actually it is really worth buying a copy as you get lots of freebies such as courses, downloadable products and other books)
You know what? I believe them but it just doesn’t stop that terrible churning eating away at your stomach until you start to think – why am I doing this? It is just too hard.
Every so often I have days like this. Do you? If so, what keeps you going? We all realize that of course, if we do not keep going, then our dreams will not come to fruition. There is this wonderful experiment that was performed a number of years ago with preschool children. The children were taken into a room and told by the person looking after them that they had to leave the room. They put a marshmallow in front of the child and told them that if they could wait until they came back and not eat the marshmallow in front of them that they would receive two marshmallows when they came back. The worker then left the room and watched them through a window. Some children put the marshmallow straight in their mouths, others just licked them and put them back and others simply did not touch the marshmallow and promptly received another when the worker came back. This longditudinal study followed these children up later in life and found that the children who were able to delay gratification had achieved more success in their lives than the ones who could not delay gratification.
The immediate is not always easy and there is always something more inticing to do with our time than work. But history does show that the more we can delay gratification the greater our chance of success.
So what are some ways that I use to deal with discouragement( and thereby keep pushing ahead with my online business)?
1. Make sure you have good support networks. Sometimes you will really need to download a hard day with a very sympathetic ear
2. Give yourself some time out to enjoy your favourite activities
3. Try to mix with like minded people
4. Have a mentor or at least a mentoring program
5. Everyday come back to your commitment. What is it that you are trying to achieve and do you still want it just as much as you did originally?
6. You must have a strong belief that you can do this
7. An attitude that every problem has an answer – just make sure you look in the smartest places for an answer
8. One that I try and apply everyday is an attitude of gratitude regardless of the circumstances. There is always something to be grateful for
Please let me know how you cope with discouragement as I could really use all the help I can get and I’m sure that others can also
Until next time
Julie
