Takeaways
- Excuses are the common denominator of failure
- Delusions, dishonesties, and foolishness control excuse makers even though in most cases they know better.
- Without a doubt, every perceived problem can be turned into a genuine opportunity for growth.
- If your business is failing, it is only because of you. Someone else is succeeding in the same position and under similar conditions. If you own the failure and truly blame yourself, you will fight it. Own your failures and you will own your success!
Excuse #1: FEAR
- “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
- When you hear yourself saying…
- I’m afraid of failing.
- I’m afraid of being embarrassed and humiliated.
- What if things don’t pan out?
- Others have tried this and failed.
- Trying this makes me feel scared and uncomfortable.
- What if I’m wrong?
- There aren’t any guarantees.
- What if my reputation suffers?
- What if I lose the respect of my peers?
- I might not be able to start over if things don’t work out.
…It’s time to to face your fears and stop bullshitting yourself!
- Don’t think about all the steps needed to get from A to B. Try thinking about the first small step you need to take. Break down a change into small, doable parts to avoid feeling overwhelmed, distracted, or defeated.
- FEAR – is false evidence appearing real.
- Flip your fear by turning it into a question to see how unrealistic or unfounded your fear really is.
- A crucial part of overcoming fear that may keep you from shifting course or tweaking strategies is to continually assess and examine your decision-making process. Knowing you review situations and make solid decisions builds confidence.
- To-Do List
- Think incrementally. Face fears by breaking them down into small action steps. Take one step at a time.
- Assess the risk. Ask yourself, is my fear rational? If it is rational, what is the worst thing that could happen if the fear is realized? Would it be devastating or something you could handle? The best way to get over any fear is to face it and act.
- Take corrective action. Have a plan B before you make a bold move.
- Check in with yourself. Reevaluating and asses your actions.
Excuse #2: KNOWLEDGE
- When you hear yourself saying…
- I don’t need to learn anything new. I know enough.
- I don’t know where to start.
- I don’t know how to start.
- I’m not an expert.
- What if I can’t learn?
- It’s too hard and all consuming to learn something new.
- I don’t see the value of going back to school or making the effort to learn more.
- What’s the point of going back to school or making the effort to learn more.
- What’s the point of learning something new when the field is constantly changing?
- I just can’t keep up with the constant changes in my field.
…it’s time to end the bullshit and learn something!
- Ten ways to develop a growth mindset
- Practice active curiosity. Question more.
- Embrace challenges.
- Listen and learn from criticism.
- Don’t lose your connection to your customers or stakeholders. Get rid of middleman, and go directly to the source of information.
- Try to learn something new every week.
- Keep yourself fresh and avoid getting too comfortable by seeking out opinions and knowledge from new sources.
- Always ask yourself if what you believe about your business is really true.
- Don’t automatically accept conventional wisdom.
- Don’t accept anything at face value. Dig deeper.
- Change your scenery. Take a different route to work. Travel to a new place
- Tips to become a continuous learner
- Own what you don’t know and make it a point to educate yourself. Don’t assume you know enough to continue to grow and succeed.
- Make a list of what you need to know to evolve your career or your life. Try to check one of those things off the list once a month. Review and update it monthly.
- Find someone you admire and learn how became successful. Do what he does.
- Before meeting someone important to your business or going on a job interview, do your homework.
- Devote at least 15 minutes a day to learning something new and continuing your education.
- To-Do List
- Expand your job whenever possible. Jump at the chance to learn a new skill and spend time with people whom you don’t see often or at all.
- Learn for longevity.
- Don’t wait until you know everything to start. There’s never a perfect time to start a new project or business. Start now and learn as you go.
- Access what’s available and devote the right resources to learning.
- Learn from those you serve.
Excuse #3: TIME
- It’s not that you don’t have enough time, it’s that you are not assessing and valuing your time properly.
- Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
- When you hear yourself saying..
- I’m too busy for that.
- It takes too much time.
- If I do that I won’t have time for anything else.
- I have too much to do so nothing gets done.
- Everything takes longer than I think it will.
- I am stuck on how to prioritize.
- Too many people make too many demands on me so I have no room for the things I want to do.
…It’s time to lose your time excuse and stop bullshitting yourself!
- If you are procrastinating, ask yourself, is my future important enough to do this, or some of it, today? Will I move forward or stay in my cage?
- Your “later” self won’t necessarily be more disciplined than your “right now” self. If you let yourself slack off now, you’re building a habit of procrastination and actually making it less likely that your later self will get anything done.
- Accomplishments and achievements do not happen by mistake or by themselves- they are the result of a conscious effort to take action. Life is not a coincidence; life is a consequence.
- A few ways to stop making excuses and take control of your time
- Spend the first 30 minutes of your day working, not checking.
- Make a list and do the first thing on it.
- Break down big jobs into small ones.
- Be nice.
- Remind yourself why you want to do it.
- If the timing isn’t right, figure out why and do it anyway.
- Manage priorities, not errands.
- What can you do today that will bring you closer to where you want to be tomorrow? Focus on two or three of the most important tasks with an eye toward completion. Ask yourself the following:
- What can I make progress on today (aspects of major projects)?
- What can I actually finish today (important tasks that won’t take more than a couple hours)?
- What can I get out of the way in a short, prescribed period of time (must-do tasks, like returning or making phone calls or answering emails)?
- Examine how you organize your day. Make a note of what you do each hour using a chart.
- To-Do List
- Value your time properly. Work on things that matter.
- Delegate. The things that you are not good at, don’t like doing, are a waste of your time and could be done better, faster, and more cheaply by others.
- Stop procrastinating.
- Evaluate yourself on output, not activity. When assessing how you spent your day, look at what you actually accomplished, not the amount of busy work you did.
- Manage priorities.
- Stop thinking of family time as a time suck.
Excuse #4: CIRCUMSTANCES
- When you hear yourself saying…
- My physical condition prevents me from fulfilling my dreams.
- The neighborhood is bad.
- The demographics are wrong for my business.
- My location is bad.
- There are no good people around to hire.
- The weather destroys my chances for success.
- Government policies make it impossible for me to be profitable.
- My competition is killing me.
…it’s time to face your circumstances excuses and stop bullshittign yourself!
- It’s important to create an environment where failures and obstacles are seen as opportunities to grow. Here’s how:
- Always give a situation a second or third look.
- Ask yourself what a particular obstacle is telling you. What information can you glean from the situation so that you can turn it to your advantage?
- Understand why something failed. Can you remove those components and go back to the drawing board with what’s left?
- There are six ways you can practice being optimistic:
- Stop putting so much stock into what other people think.
- Don’t use toxic people and situations as an excuse for toxic reactions. You choose how you behave. You have control over your responses and reactions.
- Learn from the past but don’t live there.
- Get out of the constant information loop.
- Engage your community.
- Question your assumptions. Actively question negative assumptions about your situation. Be consciously proactive and solution oriented as opposed to reactive to negative events and conditions. Think of your circumstances as an asset, not an obstacle.
- To-Do List
- Take a second or third look.
- Take the existing environment and adapt to it so you can serve existing stakeholders and attract new ones. See unchangeable circumstances not as obstacles but as opportunities for growth.
- Get happy!
- Practice being optimistic.
- Deal with existing conditions; don’t be defined by them.
- Every “problem” has a solution.
Excuse #5: EGO
- When you hear yourself saying…
- I’m too old/ too young/ to short or tall/ too fat or thin.
- I’m not as good as/ not as attractive as…
- My friends and family don’t think i can or should do this.
- I don’t have anyone to do this with.
- It’s all about who you know – and I don’t know anyone who can help me.
- I have had a terrible day so i deserve to do X even though it’s bad for me.
- I am upset (or angry or anxious, etc) so I have to do this to feel better. / I am excited and happy so I have to do this to celebrate.
- I am never going to change so I will just give in.
- Just one more time, and then I’ll start on Monday.
…It’s time to give yousefl soem love and stop bullshittign yourself!
- Five ways to flip your script
- Implement a zero tolerance policy for your own dark feelings. Visualize throwing away negative feelings or literally do it by writing them down and throwing it away. Write down what’s bothering you.
- Practice being positive. Have gratitude. Get out of your comfort zone.
- Ask yourself if it’s really true – do you have proof? Is it just a story you tell yourself – or someone else’s story?
- Don’t compare yourself with others. The focus should be on you. You never have the full picture of another person’s life. Compare with yourself; compete with yourself.
- Give it time. Three things necessary for success are the ability to plan for the future; delaying gratification; and something called commonweal orientation, or a general concern for the well being of your community.
- “Just once” is the flip side of procrastination. Instead of putting off something that helps us, we do something that hurts us. It’s an easy trap to fall into because “just one more time” is a hard promise to hold.
- Look in the mirror and ask what behaviors are holding you back and who else is being affected by them. Consider the negative impacts on your own future as well as on that of your loved ones. Find a higher purpose.
- Help yourself:
- Be accountable. Use your family, a mentor, friend.
- Keep track. Write behavior in noteback, your emotions, the time.
- To-Do List
- Get past thinking you’re “too” anything.
- Flip your script.
- Self-pity is just a trap that you can get out of.
- Help yourself
- “Just one more time won’t hurt me.” Start to be accountable for your own behavior. Write down your triggers and notice the patterns of your behaviors so you can anticipate and change them.
Excuse #6: SCARCITY
- When you hear yourself saying…
- I don’t have the money to get started.
- There is no way I can reduce my expenses.
- I need to continue earning exactly what I earn now.
- I can’t make any changes until I pay off my debt.
- I need more savings before I take a risk.
- I don’t make enough money to put any aside.
- What if I can’t make any money at it?
- I have no safety net.
- If I fail, I will be left with nothing.
…It’s time to get over your scarcity excuses and stop bullshitting yourself!
- Page 165: Creating a business plan
- Make your idea specific.
- Give it a name.
- Give yourself a deadline.
- Broadcast it.
- Work on your business every day.
- Get creative about funding.
- To-Do List
- Just try it.
- Do what you can with the resources you have.
- Create a plan.
- Put things on paper.
- Get ready to work hard and be creative.
- Get in the trenches and make things happen.
- Finally takeaway
- Communicate with your clients, customers, and staff every day. Reach out, follow up, ask questions, and, most important, listen.
- Be present. Work and live in the now.
- Take time everyday to think about your business, come up with or review ideas, and gain personal insight into how your life and business are going.
- Educate yourself. What can you learn today?
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