Think back to when you first started your business. Do you remember your initial excitement and enthusiasm? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, the energy behind your enthusiasm allowed you to end 18-hour days with a smile on your face.
Are you still smiling?
If not, it’s time to ask why. This was your dream — your vision of independence. Yet, so often the dream gets lost in the demands and details of running a business. When this happens, the pattern of overwork can set in and repeat over and over.
When you started your business, did you visualize yourself having more time for relationships or recreation? Or creative projects such as writing a book or teaching? If so, realize that you can break your current pattern and revive your original dream — or even create a new one.
Below are steps you can take to help make it happen.
» 1. Rediscover your passion. What specifically did you imagine yourself doing once the business was up and running? Be honest. Be clear. It can be an interest outside of your business or related to it.
» 2. Next, make a conscious, fully committed choice to live it. Don’t ask how it will work. If it hasn’t so far, your head will tell you it never will.
» 3. Be vigilant about your choice. Guard your decision with a bulldog stance. It’s when we fall asleep that the dream gets trampled on or swept away in the debris of everyday life. Wake up in the morning and go to bed at night with a firm resolve to live it.
» 4. Prepare for changes. Assess your business carefully. Be practical. Are you wasting time on time-consuming details that can be streamlined or cut back? Your decisions most likely will affect your money, time, energy and relationships. Know that you are creating positive change. Be compassionate with yourself and others, but stand firm.
» 5. Be courageous. Write down three action steps toward your goal. Now act. Take the first step, then the second. With each step you take, fears will haunt you — most likely the same ones that have allowed you to stay stuck. Disregard them. Step over them. Move on.
Granted, it’s not easy to change once a work pattern has set in. But you will feel renewed and energized with each step you take to reclaim your business dream.
— Through her business, Mindset Management, Susan Ann Darley coaches and writes for businesses, entrepreneurs and artists from all disciplines. She offers a complimentary coaching session. For more information, click here, email her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 805.845.3036.
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