Entrepreneurs Learn This Lesson Dont Sweat The Small Stuff
Entrepreneurs Learn This Lesson Dont Sweat The Small Stuff
Forget all those reasons you’ve heard as to why businesses fail. It’s the pressure of entrepreneurship that sends many folks running back to the supposed security of a real job. I’ve seen perfectly good businesses flushed down the tubes simply because the owner couldn’t handle the day-to-day pressure of keeping the doors open.
So I ask you again: is the pressure of being in business getting to you? Is worrying about your business taking up so much of your time that there’s no time left to actually work on the business? If so, take a deep breath and count to ten because there is hope. Here’s how I went from being a chronic worrier to someone who doesn’t sweat the small stuff. And that’s what most topics of worry are: small stuff.
The first step is to make a list of everything that’s worrying you. We’re discussing business here but if you’re worrying about personal things write those down, too. Do you have an employee who is giving you trouble? Are you afraid you can’t meet payroll next month? Are you worried about losing a big customer or not winning a big contract? Is your spouse unhappy with the number of hours you’re away from home? Write it all down.
Now divide what you’ve identified as worry topics into three categories: Past Worries (things you’re worrying about that have already happened), Present Worries (things that are happening now), and Future Worries (things that may happen in the future).
Now put a big fat X through all of the Past Worries and Future Worries you’ve listed. Forget the past. There’s nothing you can do about it now. Worrying about things that happened in the past is like a bald man pining over lost hair. If you owe someone an apology, apologize. If you owe someone a debt, make arrangements to pay it. If someone did you wrong either forgive or forget them. The past is history. Forget about it and move on.
The same is true for Future Worries. Why worry about something that hasn’t even happened yet or may never happen, at all? If there’s something looming on the horizon that is a valid point of worry you should have a plan to deal with it when it comes, not suffer in anticipation. Worrying about tomorrow today will drive you nuts. Forget the past and prepare for the future, but don’t waste time worrying about them.
Next divide the Present Worries into two subcategories: things you can do something about and things you can’t do anything about. Now put another big fat X through those things that you can’t do anything about. Worrying about things you can’t control is wasted worrying. You’re worried that a proposal you submitted won’t get accepted. You’re worried that a vendor might go out of business. You’re worried that a giant meteor is going to strike earth and that your building will be dead center in the strike zone.
You can’t do anything about these things except prepare to handle them if they do occur. In business you have enough legitimate things to worry about. Stop driving yourself crazy worrying about things you can’t control.
So now you have your list of present worry points that are within your control. Now prioritize them from most urgent to simply bothersome and create a plan to deal with each point. That’s right, instead of worrying about these things take a proactive stance and create a plan to do something about them. Face the monster head on. You’ll be surprised how much better you’ll sleep at night.
If you’re afraid you can’t meet payroll next month start looking for solutions today. Can you get a line of credit to see you through the lean times? Can you get extended terms with vendors that will free up cash? Can you find an investor who will put in the money and let you pay him back over time? Every problem has a solution. It may not be the solution you desire, but it will be a resolution that takes one thing off your plate.
Work through each point of worry until you have a plan to deal with each one. Then start dealing with them. And if you can’t do anything about an item mark it out as something you can’t control. This exercise will take some effort and discipline on your part, but trust me; you’ll immediately start sleeping better.
Entrepreneurs Learn This Lesson Dont Sweat The Small Stuff - To learn more about this author, visit Tim Knox's Website.
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Is the pressure of being in business getting to you? Do you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders? Do you lie awake nights with a thousand points of worry flashing through your poor, tired brain? Welcome, my friend, to the wonderful world of entrepreneurship. Come on now, you really didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?
Forget all those reasons you’ve heard as to why businesses fail. It’s the pressure of entrepreneurship that sends many folks running back to the supposed security of a real job. I’ve seen perfectly good businesses flushed down the tubes simply because the owner couldn’t handle the day-to-day pressure of keeping the doors open.
So I ask you again: is the pressure of being in business getting to you? Is worrying about your business taking up so much of your time that there’s no time left to actually work on the business? If so, take a deep breath and count to ten because there is hope. Here’s how I went from being a chronic worrier to someone who doesn’t sweat the small stuff. And that’s what most topics of worry are: small stuff.
The first step is to make a list of everything that’s worrying you. We’re discussing business here but if you’re worrying about personal things write those down, too. Do you have an employee who is giving you trouble? Are you afraid you can’t meet payroll next month? Are you worried about losing a big customer or not winning a big contract? Is your spouse unhappy with the number of hours you’re away from home? Write it all down.
Now divide what you’ve identified as worry topics into three categories: Past Worries (things you’re worrying about that have already happened), Present Worries (things that are happening now), and Future Worries (things that may happen in the future).
Now put a big fat X through all of the Past Worries and Future Worries you’ve listed. Forget the past. There’s nothing you can do about it now. Worrying about things that happened in the past is like a bald man pining over lost hair. If you owe someone an apology, apologize. If you owe someone a debt, make arrangements to pay it. If someone did you wrong either forgive or forget them. The past is history. Forget about it and move on.
The same is true for Future Worries. Why worry about something that hasn’t even happened yet or may never happen, at all? If there’s something looming on the horizon that is a valid point of worry you should have a plan to deal with it when it comes, not suffer in anticipation. Worrying about tomorrow today will drive you nuts. Forget the past and prepare for the future, but don’t waste time worrying about them.
Next divide the Present Worries into two subcategories: things you can do something about and things you can’t do anything about. Now put another big fat X through those things that you can’t do anything about. Worrying about things you can’t control is wasted worrying. You’re worried that a proposal you submitted won’t get accepted. You’re worried that a vendor might go out of business. You’re worried that a giant meteor is going to strike earth and that your building will be dead center in the strike zone.
You can’t do anything about these things except prepare to handle them if they do occur. In business you have enough legitimate things to worry about. Stop driving yourself crazy worrying about things you can’t control.
So now you have your list of present worry points that are within your control. Now prioritize them from most urgent to simply bothersome and create a plan to deal with each point. That’s right, instead of worrying about these things take a proactive stance and create a plan to do something about them. Face the monster head on. You’ll be surprised how much better you’ll sleep at night.
If you’re afraid you can’t meet payroll next month start looking for solutions today. Can you get a line of credit to see you through the lean times? Can you get extended terms with vendors that will free up cash? Can you find an investor who will put in the money and let you pay him back over time? Every problem has a solution. It may not be the solution you desire, but it will be a resolution that takes one thing off your plate.
Work through each point of worry until you have a plan to deal with each one. Then start dealing with them. And if you can’t do anything about an item mark it out as something you can’t control. This exercise will take some effort and discipline on your part, but trust me; you’ll immediately start sleeping better.
Entrepreneurs Learn This Lesson Dont Sweat The Small Stuff - To learn more about this author, visit Tim Knox's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle'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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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson'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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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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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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