Self Employed Success

A woman in one of my mastermind groups posed a question today: why did she spend all her time doing research and never actually go on with “doing” the thing she was researching? She loved looking up information, finding resources, interviewing people, gathering facts. But taking these facts and applying them to her business seemed to always be put on the back burner.

It’s called “analysis paralysis.” The idea is this: if I could just gather this information, if I could just find this fact, if I could make this list a bit longer — you get the drift. As a small business coach, I see this my clients get caught in this trap all the time.

The cause is simple: it’s easier for many people to research than to “do” because gathering research is often a successful task, while acting on the research is fraught with the possibility of failure, stress, or pressure. So we stay in the research mode because it’s safe and we get a lot of positive feelings about having uncovered the information we need.

Don’t get me wrong: research is vital. I’ve seen many businesses fail to thrive because they haven’t done the marketing research necessary to see if people WANT TO BUY the service or product theywant to sell. The key, as always, is balance. When you find yourself doing more and more research, then you can bet you’re procrastinating on the “doing” side of things. You have two choices:

1. Try to figure out why you’re not doing the work, or
2. Just do the work.

Either choice is valid, but guess what? Choice 1 is still “research!”

Good news…the FREE audio recording of the guest radio interview I did with The Coaching Show radio program is now available (see both segment 1 and segment 2, for a total of 30 minutes)

Click here to visit The Coaching Show radio program website to listen to the recording of the interview.

Listen online or download the MP3!

I’ve just got done reading “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell. Very interesting stuff, folks.

As self-employed small business owners, we need to learn to trust our intuition, our initial reaction to people, opportunities and our own thoughts. Blink gives us some good reasons to do just that, as well as cautions us about the down-side of making too-rapid decisions based on assumptions.

A definite must-read for small business owners!

Have you ever known what you needed to do to create the life and business of your dreams, but somehow you just never got around to doing what needed to be done?

After many failed diet attempts, I realized that I wasn’t going to lose weight unless I took a look at why I wanted to be slimmer. I wrote a “decision tree” of two things:  all the reasons I wanted to lose weight, and all the reasons I didn’t want to lose weight. The results were startling…

Reasons To Go On a Diet and Lose Weight

• Less stress on heart, lungs
• Less stress on joints, decrease risk of getting Osteoarthritis
• Less stress on kidneys, intestines, stomach
• Lower risk of heart attack
• Lower risk of stroke
• Lower risk of cancer
• Look, feel better
• Fit into clothing comfortably
• Able to walk, hike, exercise without struggle
• Feel sexier, more confident
• Less foot, knee, hip pain
• Can go to the beach and enjoy myself without feeling like a cow
• Can find and buy better quality clothing; to feel good while trying on clothing
• Improved concentration, memory, balance
• More energy
• Aids in the production of antibodies
• To properly utilize fats, carbohydrates and proteins in my diet
• To relieve irritability
• Prevent excessive deposits of fat in the liver
• Less back pain
• To have space between my stomach and the tray on the airplane.
• To be able to wear shorts in the summer
• Reduce blood pressure
• To be able to buy underwear at Victoria’s Secret
• So I can cross my legs
• To feel strong and fit

Reasons to NOT Go On a Diet

• I don’t want to

I know…you’re saying the second list is too short. No, it’s not. No matter what excuse or limiting belief I wrote on the second list, I ended up crossing it out and returning to “I don’t want to do it.”

Harsh? Perhaps, a little. But I firmly believe if you want something badly enough, you will move Heaven and Earth to get it. You will clear your limiting beliefs. You will cast aside your reasons why you can’t do it, or can’t be it, or can’t have it. You will face your fears,  face your personality quirks, and move forward anyway.

People are constantly asking me how I get so much done in my business, how I created such a successful business. The answer is simple: I wanted it strongly enough. Still do. Every day.

Want some inspiration along these lines? Read Berton Braley’s poem, Success. It’s the poem that Les Brown recites in nearly every one of his speeches.

As my grandma used to say, “Actions speak louder than words.” Saying you want something isn’t as powerful as taking action towards that goal.

So, what are your reasons for wanting a thriving, profitable business, and what are your reasons for NOT wanting it? I’d be interested to see if your second list is similar to mine.

P.S. I started Weight Watchers in January and have lost 16 pounds in 14 weeks. Guess I wanted to after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0