Want to know the most sinister thing killing your business growth?
This week I’ve had three specific conversations with people about this and it’s really gotten me thinking.
The subject has come up about easy it is to get distracted if you’re not doing this one thing.
So many people are full of great ideas, but find it really hard to stick with one idea and see it through to the end.
What’s the one thing?
Indecision.
Indecision Kills Our Business Growth
Indecision kills business growth because it stops us from fully running with something. We start building something and then we think it’s not the right thing. Then we have another idea and start working on that, so then we’ve got two things on the go.
We just keep adding all these things and we never finish anything.
The problem with this is, people can’t refer others to us because we are not crystal clear on our business. We need to always have referrals coming into us, and we do that by being super clear on what our business does and who our target market is.
I tried to do multiple things with different target markets and I didn’t want to let go and focus on only one thing. I felt if I did, I would not be able to be so creative. However, choosing my one thing, which is influence, encompasses so much and I can be very creative when talking about influence.
If people are confused about your message, it’s because they don’t know what you’re the master in. So you need to make this clear in your messaging.
For example; If you’re brilliant at teaching people how to write a book and your message is clear, then people can refer others to you because they know you’re the master in the area of how to write books.
When we try to hit too many people, we end up missing everyone.
So why are we so indecisive?
- We don’t want to be limited
- We don’t want to get it wrong
- We fear making a decision so we procrastinate
Tony Robbins talks a lot about decisions, and how, when we delay our decisions, we’re delaying our dreams.
He talks about the word ‘decision’ being like an actual incision with scissors.
He says that a true decision is cutting off other possibilities.
Three Reasons We Struggle to Make Decisions
1- Fear
Fear of change and being out of our comfort zone is one of the main fears that we have as humans. Personal development is all about learning and getting out of our comfort zone and growing, expanding and evolving.
We have a human need to grow, expand and evolve, but we also have a very strong need for security. Most people are clinging to their need for security, especially with all this uncertainty that’s happening in the world at the moment.
We fear change and we fear what people might think of us. We fear committing to one thing will have us boxed-in and labelled.
I felt like that when I decided to be a business coach. I was changing identities. People knew me as a mindset coach and before that, they knew me as a health and fitness coach.
To evolve in 2016 to become a business coach was a very difficult transition for me. It was a hard decision that I delayed, because I was fearful of what people might think. Classic imposter syndrome. It’s a real thing!
Fear of the unknown is also a way fear captures us. We fear not being safe and we fear being judged. Fear is one of the main reasons we don’t make decisions.
2 – Doubt
Doubt is a big reason we struggle to make decisions. We doubt the process is going to work because we don’t have any evidence. But the problem with that is, we can’t get evidence and clarity by staying still. Clarity comes when you’re moving on the journey.
We can’t sit back and wait for three months for our ideal client to reveal themselves to us. We can’t wait and hope that the right answer is going to come to us. We actually have to make a decision.
Once you make a decision, then you can change your mind, but so many of us are so stuck in that doubt, because we don’t want to change our mind. We don’t want to be seen being out in public saying one thing and then changing it.
I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to change our minds. You know, it’s almost like we don’t give each other the permission to be able to change and say, “I was dating that idea for a while. We went on a few dates. I dated that idea of that ideal client and I really like it.”
It’s okay to change your mind. In fact, if you want to progress in business you need to make strong decisions.
It’s been said that successful people make decisions fast and they change them slowly. Unsuccessful people make decisions slowly, but they change their mind all the time. They’ve always got all these projects on the go and never really commit to anything.
When you start a business, you do need to experiment and make decisions. But you also need to just go for it, knowing that you can change your mind later if you need. You need to commit and make adjustments as you need.
Big actions come from making lots of little decisions along the way.
3- Perfectionism
We get caught up in having the perfect idea or the perfect name for our Facebook group, or our freebie or webinar has to have the right title. I’m not saying have sloppy standards. Definitely have a standard of excellence, but to progress in business, you have to just commit.
Commit to being consistent and just making a decision. That’s what strong, powerful leaders do.
If you want to be a strong leader and have a strong, sustainable business, you need to be really good at making decisions and you can’t let perfectionism stop your business growth.
So, how do we become more decisive?
Three Ways to Make Strong Decisions
1- Make Choices Based on Your Values
Think of a decision that you need to make right now. Maybe it’s who is going to be your target market or your ideal client. It could be a lead generation strategy.
Think about a decision that you need to make, and have been putting off. Have fear, doubt or perfectionism stopped you from deciding?
We often procrastinate and put off decisions and it’s a form of self-sabotage. Not making a decision means you can stay safe and secure. But the indecision kills us because we’re not progressing.
If we don’t progress, we don’t get a feeling of fulfilment. So you need to come back to your values and what is most important to you.
Write down everything you value, then you ask yourself, why is it important to me? Then choose your top three things you value most.
My top three values are freedom, growth and health. I value those things very highly.
The way you know your values is to look around your life. If you look around your bedroom, your lounge room, your office, your car. What’s on your walls? What’s in your phone or on your calendar? That’s what you value.
We build our lives around what we value so when I’m trying to make a business decision I come back to: Does it give me more freedom? Does it give me more growth? Does it give me more health? And if not, then I choose the decision that’s going to give me the most freedom, growth and health.
If you have loads of books on your bookshelf that you read, if you go to personal development and business events, and if you’re always researching and watching TED talks, then probably one of your top values is growth.
When you are struggling to make a decision, always come back to your values and ask yourself if this is this going to give you more or less of your highest values. It’s so simple, but incredibly powerful.
2- Have a Clear Vision
The second thing to do in order to make decisions faster is to have a clear vision. As a business owner, you’ve got to make decisions fast, you’ve got to be snappy and you cannot afford to wait around.
The entrepreneurs that are doing well are making fast decisions. They’re not spending time deciding on the colour of their logo. They go ahead and make decisions based on all the information they have at hand at the time and they launch.
To be successful, you’ve got to be able to be flexible, adaptable and make decisions fast.
About 90%, of people that I meet cannot clearly articulate their vision to me. I love talking about vision. So many people will tell me what they don’t want, but there are few people that can articulate what they are going for.
My 2030 vision is laminated and posted up on my wall, because every day I want it to be at the top of my mind. My future vision helps me make fast decisions in the present.
I know that I’m going to have a successful company. I will employ a great team, and we’ll be doing international touring and I’ll be holding workshops at my dream home.
My vision is so clear, I can see it, feel it and hear what I’m saying to myself when I achieve this vision.
Having a clear vision helps you make decisions faster, so you can get to your goals faster.
3- Surround Yourself With The Right People
The best way to increase your business growth is to surround yourself with people who know more about business than you.
To be successful in business, you need a community and a mentor.
Your knowledge increases when you’re hanging around with influential people who have the right business knowledge.
Make sure that you surround yourself with mentors who are increasing your knowledge.
Your knowledge is going to keep increasing for the rest of your life, especially if growth is a high value for you. When you have business mentors, they can help you make decisions more easily because they’ve been where you are at in their own business.
Business mentors pave the way before you and know the pitfalls of business. They’ve probably made wrong decisions in the past and you can learn from their experiences.
If you’d like to learn how to create an event that inspires incredible action from your participants, I’d like to invite you to my upcoming FREE live workshop “How to Get Clients With Online Events”
I’ll be revealing my step-by-step method to using events to educate, engage and inspire people to take action, so you can grow your business and help more people.
You’ll learn how to:
* Use FREE events to reach your financial goals & a lifestyle of freedom
* Grow your business by helping more people using my proven formula
* Build trust and connection fast, even if you struggle with nerves …
* Create engaging and profitable presentations
* Position yourself as an expert in your niche
* Consistently sell out your programs
You can learn more about the event or claim your complimentary ticket here
See you soon!
Kat
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