If you are going to become more successful – you have to face what isn’t working in your business. Over the years, I have coached a lot of entrepreneurs and the one thing that is consistent with all of them: DENIAL. They are stuck, they don’t know how to grow, but when you dig deeper you find they are just in denial of what they already know to be true – something they are doing is just plain not working. But instead of dealing with it, they are in denial over it. They think if they keep their head down and keep pushing forward everything will turn out fine. This couldn’t be further from the truth. So let’s break it down.
Fear
“Doing more of what doesn’t work won’t make it work any better” — Charles Givens
A big piece of denial is, in a word, fear. It is based on the notion that something even worse than the current situation not working will happen once they stop doing what they are doing and take action to fix it. Change can be scary and very difficult, but the definition of insanity is to keep doing what you always do and expect a different result. It takes courage to look at your situation and truly assess what worked and what didn’t and then make the proper changes. Just because you were taught or told to do something a certain way does not necessarily mean it will work. You have to get over the fear – you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. (This was a major piece of advice my coach and mentor told me ten years ago.) The good news is, the more you face uncomfortable situations and deal with them, the better you get at it. Then being uncomfortable just becomes part of your life as you grow more successful.
A perfect example is when I work with all of my new video clients. At first, they are terrified of being on camera, saying something inaccurate, not looking their best….the list goes on. But with determination and learning from the past, they quickly become more comfortable and effective at what they are doing.
Analysis Paralysis
Shit or get off the pot. –Emil Rombach
Okay, so we know we need to change. The next thing I see once people accept that something needs to change is what I call analysis paralysis. They start looking at different ways they can be doing things and then get overwhelmed with all the options. This freaks them out, which leads back to fear, which leads back to not facing what is not working. The world is full of flat squirrels who couldn’t make up their mind to cross the street.
Stop it.
If you have done your homework, and looked at the numbers, whatever it is cannot possibly be that bad. So what if trying something new doesn’t work? At least you learned what doesn’t work – you faced what wasn’t working and tried something else. Now you know two things that don’t work. However – what if it does? It could be the best thing for your business but you are too stuck analyzing to death every detail and hesitating to pull the trigger to find out. Get over it. Make a decision.
Okay – we need to face what is not working. So what do we do now?
Commit To Take Action
There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results. — Ken Blanchard
Make a list of what is and what is not working. Ask your staff or your team members what their opinion is. Gather your information. How can you improve? What action steps do I need to take in order to make this change? Once that happens – you have to be 100% committed to those action steps. See it through.
Get Help If You Need It
Because so often when we say we’re unqualified for something, what we’re really saying is that we’re too scared to try it, not that we can’t do it. — Jen Sincero
Another part of fear is fear of the unknown. But you have to move past that fear. If you don’t know how to do something to change your situation, then ask for help. Hire an expert, hire an accountability partner or other professional who does this every day. Enlist in a class that will teach you how to do it. Attend a training – whatever it takes. I guarantee there are tons of training programs online that can assist you in whatever you need to learn if you are wanting to do this yourself. But remember: DELEGATE is NOT a dirty word. If someone else doing what needs to be done gets the ball rolling – then for heaven’s sake hire them. Stay focused on YOUR core genius – what you like to do – and let someone else handle what you don’t want to do.
I see this often with my video clients, which is how they eventually get to me. They don’t have the time to not only do it, but learn to do it well. Use your time wisely. Hire an expert. Move on.
Yes, it is true it takes a lot of courage and a big leap of faith to face what isn’t working. So tell me – when is the last time you faced what wasn’t working? What action steps did you take to get past it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.