7am. 8:15. 5:30. 2pm.
It doesn’t matter what time you wake up. There’s a force that gets you out of bed and takes you to work. It renews itself every day.
It’s true for the head of the largest organization in the world. It’s true for the waste picker working the streets.
The question isn’t whether you need to “motivate yourself more” to keep doing what you’ve always done. It’s whether your focus is on the right spot, and whether you’re making new, more assertive choices.
That’s why I get annoyed by those motivational messages everywhere. “Force and focus!” “Grit is everything!” “Hang in there, you’ll make it!”
It’s BS.
Keeping someone doing what they’ve always done is a way to get cheap labor. And many entrepreneurs are trapped in their own business like that.
We need to do BETTER. Sometimes that means doing less.
For those who have been at it for a long time and see THE RESULTS STAY THE SAME, this is both an insult and the truth. From NLP comes the old saying: do what you’ve always done and you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got. Want something different? Change something, anything. Test it. Keep changing.
Since we’re talking about purpose, here’s how I put what a business is for:
Businesses exist to meet the demand of a group of people, in a competent, fair and effective way, contributing to the whole network around them (team and their families, community, government), profitably and sustainably.
That’s not small.
Now go back in time. When you started, was it NEED (pay the bills, support the family) or OPPORTUNITY (a gap in the market, an underserved niche)? Most of us mix both. The point is to find the real motives. They might still be valid.
Five uncomfortable questions:
- Do you still serve most of your clients yourself?
- Do you trust your team to handle complex tasks?
- Are the processes of your business all in your head?
- Have your recent experiences with employees or partners brought only headaches?
- Does the business only work if you’re there every day?
I know they’re tough. I know you’re thinking about them right now. And I know the answers aren’t simple.
But you’re not alone in this fight. And small changes can have big effects.
Which of the five hit hardest? Tell me.
Is there a decision weighing on you? Sometimes what’s missing isn’t an answer, it’s a good conversation with someone from the outside. If it makes sense, let’s talk. No script, no strings.