How do you intend to break through your ‘glass ceiling’?
The problem I tend to find quite frequently these days is that business owners are really putting in the hours and the effort, but they can’t seem to get to where they want to be… and what’s more, they’re not really sure what the problem is.
Sometimes it might be that you’re struggling to grow your cash reserves or your profit. Perhaps you’ve been trying to break into new markets and you’ve failed. Or alternatively, you can’t seem to find the right staff with the right skill-set.
Whatever it is, you’ve been making a huge effort, but it still isn’t coming off for you.
The main reason for that being is this… Below you’ll see a simple formula that might mean nothing to you at the moment but I will talk you through it bit by bit.
So what does this mean and how might this help me?
Well, if we were focusing solely on what we want in life, what we want to HAVE in other words, that wouldn’t get us very far. To be honest though, I don’t find many people who only focus on what they want to HAVE. What I tend to find instead, is people who focus all their energy in business on what they need to DO in order to HAVE what they want.
But sometimes, as we know through experience, that’s not enough.
I heard someone say once that “we’re not ‘human doings’, we’re ‘human beings’!
If my job was to motivate you to succeed and push you to the next level and to push you to DO more and more, it might not help you because you’re probably doing a lot already.
That’s not the issue; the problem lies in the left hand side of the formula, the BE side. Maybe we need to BE someone different or act differently to be able to DO the things we need to DO to HAVE what we need or want to HAVE, and that is usually the sticking point!
The famous American Business Philosopher Jim Rohn once said…
“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”
What he meant by that is if we don’t change ourselves and the way we behave, we can’t do the things we need to do to get the results we want.
So, how do we know what to change about the way we behave and act?
Let me show you… below, you’ll see an illustration called the ‘Identity Iceberg’. This iceberg is a great representation of how we are as a person.
We all know that the majority of an iceberg is out of plain sight. Similarly, the majority of who we are as a person is also hidden.
What people see when they look at us is only our actions, our decisions and our behaviours.
But if we look below the waterline, what people can’t see about us are our skills (what we’re good at), our beliefs (what we hold to be true), our values (the way we tend to behave when no one is looking) and our identity, (who do we view ourselves as).
But you’ll notice, that like an iceberg is surrounded by water (which shapes the iceberg), we are surrounded by our environment (which shapes us).
We all pretty much know that to change our results, we need to act and behave differently… but what this Identity Iceberg illustrates perfectly, is what changes we need to make to who we are as individuals… our ‘BE’.
So can we agree that from what we’ve looked at, the main change we need to look at first is our environment?
If you agree, you’re probably now asking yourself, “What changes can I make to help me improve and grow as a business owner?”
Well… here are the three main areas…
1. You need to educate yourself on self-improvement or on business
When we got into business, we stopped learning to a huge extent. We learnt as we went, and we made big mistakes that cost us money. That’s not the way it’s going to be any more.
We need to learn the areas of business where we need the help. So have a think about those areas, whether it’s marketing, sales, operations, HR or finance. Think of the areas you need help on. If you have someone else doing that for you at the moment then that’s fine but maybe the thing you need to improve at is how you can recruit, hire and train the right person up to get them to where you want them to be.
2. Think of the people you are surrounding yourself with
If those people are dragging you down and holding you back, you’re not going to progress any further. So what you need is like-minded individuals, maybe a networking group, or a people you mix with outside work as well. If those are the people who drive you forward, then spend more time with those guys and less time with people who hold you back and put down every decision you make.
3. Finally, look at your physical environment
Whether that’s your office at home, whether that’s your workplace in general, or whether it’s the town you work in. Just spare a few moments to have a think… “Is my physical environment holding me back?”
Improving your environment is actually just one part of a nine step process we take our paying clients through, to take their business from good to great. So if you want to find out more, click the text below and let’s speak.
