Say “NO”!

In Think Daily recently, I posted “Say YES!”.  It was about trying new things and finding what you love.

Ah yes, but the world is full of paradoxes – and this is Think Daily for Businesspeople.  The Businesspeople who are running 100 mph and can’t keep up.  They are optimists who say yes to everything because they feel capable and believe they can do anything.

You need to say NO.  You get a disproportionate number of ideas, invitations, challenges, and stuff coming your way on a daily basis – far more than the average person.  YOU need to say NO a lot.  

You need to say NO to most things.  

You need to stay focused on the few most important things.

So let’s practice – repeat after me – 

“Sorry, my schedule is full.”

“Sorry, I can’t.  Good luck.”

“I’m committed.  Have fun.”

See, that wasn’t hard.  Was it?

Better a moment of disappointment than hours or weeks or years of regret.

Stay focused.  Say no.

Trying to “get it right” will be the slow way

Trying to get things right will have you thinking, planning, and preparing forever.

I am just now completing construction on a three-year project.  It’s a 12,000 square foot meeting/entertainment space called “Podio”. (Podio is Spanish and Italian for “podium” or “stage”.) If I had to envision how everything was going to come together from the beginning, I’d be planning forever – and I would have made mistakes.  Sometimes you have to plan the big stuff, and feel out what it needs as you go.  

Doing, taking the first step, so that you can figure out what to do next, is a great way to learn and move forward. 

Action illuminates the next step, building momentum and enthusiasm in the process.

Don’t wait until you can see the whole map.  Just get started.

Movement > Analysis

You don’t figure things out by thinking nearly as well or fast as you do by doing.

Action leads to learning, understanding, and clarity.

Try it and learn fast.

Thoughts drive performance

What is your internal dialogue saying?

Discipline how you talk to yourself.

Speak to yourself like a coach, not a critic.

What are you saying to yourself about what you will be doing today?

Mastery takes practice and repetition

Willis Ponds commented – “Imagine how much better you became by writing TD over the years.”

By trying, by doing, over and over, day after day, week after week, year after year, I developed my thoughts and my voice.

Writing Think Daily has made me a better trainer, a better thinker, a better leader, and helped me deal with things that go on in my head and my life.

I can’t make this kind of commitment in many areas of life because it takes plenty of time.  But this area suits me.  I like it, so it doesn’t feel like hard work like it would otherwise.

We all have things we are good at that we like to do, and that we can develop to be REALLY good at with continued practice – the kind of practice we WANT to do.

What have you really mastered, or are you on your way to mastering?

Tell me with the orange button!

Success is a lousy teacher

“Success is a lousy teacher.  It seduces otherwise smart people into thinking they can not fail.” – Bill Gates

Failure teaches us what not to do.  It teaches us the fine points of execution – how to do things to get results.

Failure leaves an emotional footprint so we don’t forget.

But when we become successful, we think we have it all figured out.

Well, we did – in THAT business, in THOSE circumstances, in THAT time.  

Then we try to go do something else we don’t know much about.  What is waiting for us is a similar path through the dark forest of failure and a big portion of humble pie.

Am I right?

Comment with the orange button!

People are your way out, up, and forward

When I teach my School of Entrepreneurship classes (thesoe.com), I see some business owners sit there, all burned out and trying to hold onto a shred of hope that this can all ever work out, making excuses and blaming the world for why they have not done better.

Do you want to hear what I really want to say to them?  

Do you really want to hear the hard truth?

“It’s you.  You’re the problem.  You’re just not the kind of person you need to be to build a team of people that will commit to whatever it is that you are leading (yet, but that is up to you.)”

You see, the secret to growing and scaling is getting other great people on your team and fully committed.  But if you are not the kind of person good people will follow, and bet their futures on and their families’ futures on, then it ain’t gonna happen.

You’ll be stuck here by yourself trying to do it all – and you don’t scale.  You can work 16 hours a day trying, but you will just ruin your life that way.

You will have good people take a pass on working for you, or you may be lucky to hire good people who wind up leaving when they see where this ship is sailing – nowhere with you at the helm.

Sorry.  That’s the truth.

So get your act together.  Show up with clarity, energy, and kindness with a mission to be the best and win.  Be positive and make people feel important.  Create a place where THEY can be successful first, not you.  Care about other people because they know if you do or not.  Don’t be a jerk.  Don’t yell.  Be fair and honest to all.  Work on yourself.  Be a person that others WANT to follow.  

Other people are your way out, up, and forward.

The business will never outperform the leader – and that is you.

The business will not get better and grow until you do.

Truth.

The Freedom Test

If you are free from any responsibilities, you are probably selfish or wasting your life.

But many entrepreneurs started their business to have more freedom.  That is, they don’t want to answer to anybody, and want to do what they want when they want.

Well, how’s that working out?  Most find they have far less freedom.  They answer to customers, employees, and feel the constant pull on every minute of their time, and struggle mightily to keep up for fear that it will all fall apart – and to pay the bills and make payroll.

Here’s a test – 

Would you say you have financial freedom?

Would you say you have time freedom?

Would you say you have attention freedom?

Right path, wrong role

Feel like you can’t keep up?

Who said you had to play this game this way?

Who said your role had to be what you made it?

You’re not stuck in the wrong game, you may be just playing it wrong.

Waiting for a sunny day to cross the ocean

The conditions will never be perfect for you to start.

That’s like waiting for a sunny day to cross the ocean.

You have to work with the conditions you have or create the conditions you want.

What outcome is most important 1,3 or 5 years from now?

Let’s go.