How Your Thinking Can Hurt Your Small Business and Your Life
How Your Thinking Can Hurt Your Small Business and Your Life
Oprah is currently doing a webcast book study of The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Power of Now. Tolle is a visionary whose ideas are so powerful that they have caused millions to experience more joy in their lives. I'm one of those people.
His basic philosophy is that we need to work to stay totally focused on the present moment and steer away from our incessant thinking loop about the past and future. Of course all that exists is the present moment, since the past is gone and the future is but a present moment that hasn't yet arrived. Staying totally present opens us to a whole new level of creativity and productivity. It deters you from thinking about and acting on past beliefs and habits that no longer serve you well and it stops you from believing that the present is just a means to arrive at some future time when you will have achieved enough to be happy.
How can staying fully present affect your business?
Here's an example. Say you sit at your computer answering e-mails and surfing the web doing "research", when you know that to move your business forward your time would be better spent on product development or calling and connecting with prospects. What is going on in your head that causes this self-sabotaging behavior? What are you feeling? Most likely the unconscious dialogue goes something like this.
"I feel guilty because I'm wasting time, which is what I always do since I know I can't succeed at this anyway"
"That project is so huge I don't know where to begin so I'll just not start".
"If I call that person I'll probably just get voice mail or they won't have time to talk to me so I'll wait until another day".
"If I don't make more money soon, I'll be a failure
" I'm so busy I don't have the time to create a strategy or plan, so I guess I'm stuck in overwhelm"
Where do these stories we tell ourselves come from? If you didn't tell yourself those stories, which come from past belief systems about yourself and the world that you're buying into, the scene would look more like this.
• Business owner sits at computer.
• Business owner feels inspired to write out product ideas and does so.
• Business owner wants to connect with people who truly need this product, so she makes calls.
Period. No mental junk. Only what is right in front of you at the moment that you are inspired to do from a peaceful place. And each task would feel like it just flows.
When we buy into past stories, or spend the present dreaming about the future, we end up wasting time now. The result could be any of the following:
• Resigning ourselves to never reaching your dreams
• Being regularly distracted
• Procrastination
• Incomplete projects
• Avoiding important networking events
• Avoiding making key phone calls
• Telling yourself a story about how life or the economy is keeping you from reaching your goals.
Spend just one day working on staying present. Here's a process that works for me.
• Put a post it on your computer that says, "CHECK IN" in caps.
• Each time you see it, stop, take a deep breath and pull your self out of your head and into the moment.
• Ask yourself if you're spending that moment doing what's important.
• See how you're feeling. If you feel angry, frustrated, fearful or guilty, ask yourself what story you're telling yourself that isn't really true.
• Don't let your mind tell you a story about how you don't have time to do this!
This is an eye opening exercise. There are many techniques that can help you begin to master this idea of staying present. When you begin to do so, you'll find that you're using time in a much more productive way and that your business and life will begin to flow in the right direction.
How Your Thinking Can Hurt Your Small Business and Your Life - To learn more about this author, visit Janis Pettit's Website.
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At one time I thought that how I spent my time was the essential ingredient in determining how well I succeeded. That's so true but I now also realize that how I think determines how I spend my time, so I go a bit deeper.
Oprah is currently doing a webcast book study of The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Power of Now. Tolle is a visionary whose ideas are so powerful that they have caused millions to experience more joy in their lives. I'm one of those people.
His basic philosophy is that we need to work to stay totally focused on the present moment and steer away from our incessant thinking loop about the past and future. Of course all that exists is the present moment, since the past is gone and the future is but a present moment that hasn't yet arrived. Staying totally present opens us to a whole new level of creativity and productivity. It deters you from thinking about and acting on past beliefs and habits that no longer serve you well and it stops you from believing that the present is just a means to arrive at some future time when you will have achieved enough to be happy.
How can staying fully present affect your business?
Here's an example. Say you sit at your computer answering e-mails and surfing the web doing "research", when you know that to move your business forward your time would be better spent on product development or calling and connecting with prospects. What is going on in your head that causes this self-sabotaging behavior? What are you feeling? Most likely the unconscious dialogue goes something like this.
"I feel guilty because I'm wasting time, which is what I always do since I know I can't succeed at this anyway"
"That project is so huge I don't know where to begin so I'll just not start".
"If I call that person I'll probably just get voice mail or they won't have time to talk to me so I'll wait until another day".
"If I don't make more money soon, I'll be a failure
" I'm so busy I don't have the time to create a strategy or plan, so I guess I'm stuck in overwhelm"
Where do these stories we tell ourselves come from? If you didn't tell yourself those stories, which come from past belief systems about yourself and the world that you're buying into, the scene would look more like this.
• Business owner sits at computer.
• Business owner feels inspired to write out product ideas and does so.
• Business owner wants to connect with people who truly need this product, so she makes calls.
Period. No mental junk. Only what is right in front of you at the moment that you are inspired to do from a peaceful place. And each task would feel like it just flows.
When we buy into past stories, or spend the present dreaming about the future, we end up wasting time now. The result could be any of the following:
• Resigning ourselves to never reaching your dreams
• Being regularly distracted
• Procrastination
• Incomplete projects
• Avoiding important networking events
• Avoiding making key phone calls
• Telling yourself a story about how life or the economy is keeping you from reaching your goals.
Spend just one day working on staying present. Here's a process that works for me.
• Put a post it on your computer that says, "CHECK IN" in caps.
• Each time you see it, stop, take a deep breath and pull your self out of your head and into the moment.
• Ask yourself if you're spending that moment doing what's important.
• See how you're feeling. If you feel angry, frustrated, fearful or guilty, ask yourself what story you're telling yourself that isn't really true.
• Don't let your mind tell you a story about how you don't have time to do this!
This is an eye opening exercise. There are many techniques that can help you begin to master this idea of staying present. When you begin to do so, you'll find that you're using time in a much more productive way and that your business and life will begin to flow in the right direction.
How Your Thinking Can Hurt Your Small Business and Your Life - To learn more about this author, visit Janis Pettit's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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