|
|
|
|
StrategicPlanning360.com - Strategic Planning Information At Your Fingertips... |
|
|
 |
|
Clearing the Path: 4 Ways Fear Wreaks Havoc on Your Dream and What to Do About It
Please take a moment before you read any further and answer these three simple questions: 1. Are you making daily progress towards accomplishing your business vision? 2. Do you find that despite a strong desire to make your vision happen, obstacles always seems to pop up and slow you down? 3. Do you find that doubt is chipping away at your vision, keeping it from ever becoming a reality? Thank you. Now let's do something about it. This lack of progression towards a desired accomplishment can rarely be blamed on someone else because it is you who must believe in it to make it happen. The root of the problem, often unseen and unnamed, comes from you, or more specifically, one part of you. No matter the level of success, every entrepreneur and small business owner with whom I have worked has experienced barriers while making their business dream a reality? even if they've already made millions. The barrier to them or for them is ALWAYS some degree of concern, procrastination, uncertainty, disconnection, lack of passion... fear. Yes, I said it. Fear. The dreaded f-word. Many of you may have immediately said, "I've worked through all of my fears." You may even say that you don't really feel fear any more. Or that you ignore fear's little twinges, or that you're good at feeling fear and doing "it" anyway. Frankly, you're just really skilled at pretending the thoughts don't exist. Don't worry, it's not you. It is just fear protecting its turf. Concerned about how tricky these thoughts can be? Let's see if fear is woven into your inner dialogue without you even knowing it. Let's start with your vision. * You have an idea for a new business you want to create, or an idea to expand the business you already have. * You see it in your mind's eye and it gives you a rush of energy just thinking about it. * It starts to take shape when you tell a few people close to you your idea and share emotionally how it's going to affect you. They feel it because you feel it. * With great gusto you make a plan, on paper or in thought, and you look for people and information to help you accomplish it. And then... things start to slow you down. Your path fills with some of following variations of entrepreneurial fears: * You start putting off the tasks that you have defined; you procrastinate each time you schedule a task or have a call to make. A clear example of this variation of an entrepreneurial fear is the epidemic of 'Shelf Help': buying a book or information product to assist you in making your business dream real. The product sits on the shelf without you ever applying the information in which you decided to invest. This dimension of fear will keep you in a feeling of a growing black hole? it will always feed the following three variations. Or * Once the initial energy rush of telling people about your dream and the plans to make it real starts to fade, a different feeling starts to flood in. Every time you think about taking a step forward doubt and second-guessing pop up. A clear example of this variation of fear is that you start looking for more information or other tactics to try without ever applying the ones you've already identified. This dimension of fear will keep you in the chase? and will always hold your dream like a carrot in front of you. Or * Despite painting a very clear emotional picture of your business dream to yourself and others, the rest of the picture starts to become cloudy. You become unable to see your way through to making it happen, and become stuck in the feeling of the dream. You look for a guarantee to make reaching for the dream worth it. A clear example of this variation of fear is when you start saying "I don't know"... or "I need some more validation," "if I could just find someone who has done the very same thing." You say these things... a lot. This dimension of fear ensures that you will never? know. Or * The buzz that you used to get from even thinking about your business dream is replaced with a feeling of hopelessness, and despite the power that once surged through your heart every time you thought about your dream, you now feel like victim. A clear example of this variation is when questioned about your progress you let yourself off the hook by saying, "it was a neat idea, but it's really pointless to even try," "I don't have the resources," etc. Even if you are never questioned, you say this to yourself. This dimension of fear is deadly. It leads to 'dream atrophy'? it often causes people to stay in businesses or jobs they don't love for their entire lives. Do any of these seem familiar? Don't worry. You are not alone. Everyone feels fear. Fear is a natural human reaction. Fear serves a function. It gets you out of the way of a speeding train or a growling bear. Don't strive to stop fear, you can't. Even if you are largely successful in the short-term, it will always come back in some other way and hit you harder because the stakes are bigger. There is an easier and more dependable way to deal with fear so that you can prevent these destructive energy leaks from taking the wind out of you and your dream. To point you in the direction of assuring that your dream becomes a reality, here are four insights into what is really going on behind the scenes of when you're in action: * First you must realize that each and every thought comes from your brain. Yes, your brain alone. It has been put in the position of looking out for you since you were born. In fact, YOU gave it the job. It's the same manufacturing plant that gave you the ideas that became your dream. Each limiting thought is the result of your brain capturing things you experience, then projecting them onto the perceived experiences on which you are to embark. * You must also appreciate that your brain feeds you countless thoughts every day, even if they never enter your awareness or interrupt you in your daily tasks. They grow like unattended weeds in the fertile garden of your mind forming barriers of disbelief that prevent you from ever experiencing the fruits of your vision, sometimes from ever even 'seeing' them. * It may seem hard to comprehend but your brain has no emotional attachment to any of the thoughts it feeds you, none. It's simply doing its job of looking out for you by providing you with the thoughts. Both the thoughts of your dream AND the limiting thoughts are simply that? thoughts. You then get to decide what to do with them. It only becomes complicated because these thoughts trigger emotional reactions. * You need to develop the new skill of recognizing each and every one of the limiting thoughts, then create the habit of removing them before they take you down. Your 'garden' must be free of these 'weeds' so that you can actually plant the seeds of your business vision, which you can then tend as they grow. You can only create the business of your dreams if you have a fail-proof process for transforming fear and its variations into the fuel for growth. Embrace these simple understandings so you can take command over your thoughts and their effects on your dream and your entire life. It is far more powerful to make decisions from choice, instead of by reacting. Don't react - choose. Your dream will then become a reality faster than it is possible to imagine. Author and Brand Visioneer, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to tap into the full power of their business - the power behind the brand. Kim is the co-author of Why BrandU, the BrandU Bible and It's a BrandU Day, the fear transformation process and Journal. To learn more about her step-by-step programs, receive her FREE report 15 Mistakes That Kill Business Success, or sign up for her e-zine Why You?!, visit http://www.whybrandu.com
 Strategic Planning News for Monday, Feb 6, 2012...
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
A Backup To The Internet Is Vital & Now Cost Effective It doesn't take a Terrorist Act, Tsunami or Earthquake to put a business heavily dependent on the internet in the dark and effectively out of business, for hours or even days into weeks. The Power of Planning I am surprised how few sales professionals, independent consultants, and small business owners take the time to plan the strategy for their business. Most people spend more time writing out a grocery list or planning a vacation than they do planning the direction or outcome of their business. Many will determine a vague or general idea of what they want to accomplish but very few actually identify the specific action steps they will need to take in order to achieve their goals. I'm not suggesting you create a 25-30 page business plan like a good friend of mine writes every year, but I do recommend that you begin outlining the goals you want to accomplish and how you plan to get there. The Top 10 Priorities That Guard Your Five-Star Reputation Making money doesn't make your reputation... your reputation makes you money. Gala Gorman Microsoft Great Plains in Aerospace & Defense industries ? implementation & customization highlights Microsoft Great Plains fits horizontal markets clientele and in case of Aerospace and Defense industry we'll talk about contractors, parts and subsystems for government contracts. We do not necessarily talk about large corporation, however models described could be implemented for large publicly traded company. As a rule, market is represented by established companies with long history, including long history of its ERP and Computer Business System. It is difficult to stake on the computer operating systems future, however you may try to give high level of trust to the ERP coming from Microsoft Business Solutions, especially considering the fact of acquisition of such market leaders as Great Plains Software and Navision Software. If You Don't Focus, Innovate and Evolve, You Die After 128 years of business, a household word, Montgomery Wards, Inc., closed their doors forever and filed bankruptcy. Buying Used Detailing Equipment and Rainy Day Services Mobile auto detailing equipment becomes very inexpensive around March each year. If you look on eBay or your local classified section of the newspaper you will see. This is because mobile auto detailers are in a seasonal business. They find themselves scraping bottom when it is too cold to work because the water is freezing or it is raining and it becomes hard to sell detailing services. No one wants to see their business cards when it's raining. Why Six Sigma Will Work in Healthcare If ever there were an industry where we want zero defects, it's healthcare. Patients, medical professionals, and healthcare administrators all want mistakes eliminated and quality and efficiency improved. Although most industries have undergone some type of data-supported, systematic, quality-improvement process, healthcare still has not. Medical and technological advances continue to outpace process and education adjustments. Demand and expectations for medical care are increasing. Inefficiency also leads to (causes, brings about, etc.) overcrowded emergency rooms, customer complaints, and lost revenues. Leverage - A Small Step For You /A Big Change For Your Career Cassy was an employee of a nonprofit who had been at her job 5 years. She came to me because she felt that the organization she was working for didn't value her and was upset because others had been promoted but she had not. Getting Started with Succession Planning: Part I GETTING STARTED WITH SUCCESSION PLANNING: PART I Benefiting from Strategic Thinking I recently took an organizational behavior class where my professor conducted a strategic thinking exercise in which groups of students were to be a part of a scholarship committee. The purpose of our committee was to use strategic thinking on allocating a scholarship budget to reward several incoming freshmen to our university. I, along with some classmates represented freshmen candidates who would receive the scholarship. Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Healthcare/Hospital example - overview for consultant Microsoft Great Plains fits multiple services market niche and healthcare is not exemption. In the case of Healthcare/Hospital there is usually healthcare patient history tracking system in place and backoffice or accounting application should be integrated on the ongoing basis with the above mentioned system plus often Hospital or association is non-profit organization and non-for-profit accounting specifics should be taken into consideration. Sony's PSI Project In 1989, Sony founded its Institute of Wisdom at the request of its founder Masaharu Ibuka and former chairman Akio Morita. Six Key Areas For Evaluating A Strategic Alliance Strategic alliances are increasing at a rapid rate. It is good for business, good for the consumer. A strategic alliance is similar to a joint venture. Everyone remains in his or her own entity, yet come together for a single purpose or period of time to create something that could not otherwise be created. Defining Go for It Business Goals Many business start-up kits or consultants will tell you one of the first steps to starting a business is to define your business goals. Your goals may differ from the goals of another individual, for example; some people want freedom to do what they want to do, whenever they want, and without having to report to someone else. For others, the goal might be financial security. For another, flexibility or creativity might be their goal. Dotcom Business Plans Archive Project One of the most important initiatives in the domain of business documentation is that of professor David Kirsch from the University of Maryland, who thought of a dotcom Business Plan Archive - , a project that consists of collecting business plans for posterity. The project was started in 2002, through the Web portal businessplanarchive.org. The site was built by Webmergers.com and the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, in collaboration with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. The project received financial support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. SWOT Analysis If you've ever listened to Warren Buffett talk about investing, you've heard him mention the idea of a company's moat. The moat is a simple way of describing a company's competitive advantage. A strong competitive advantage, or a wide moat, gives a company sustainability, which, as investors, we're highly interested in. Business Plan 101 How to Write a Table of Contents No matter what business you plan to start in your next entrepreneurial endeavor you need to be thinking about writing a business plan. Even if you are not seeking funding for your new business or already have secured funds from family members, angel investor types, personal savings or partners. A business plan helps you start out on the right foot and makes you think about your future strategies. One important thing you need in a business plan is a table of contents that you can use as a guide, as you go thru the hectic and tedious steps to start your new business. There are a myriad of rules, regulations and inane paper work and you must stay focused at all times. Have You Identified the Enemy? One of the most powerful driving forces in human nature is competition. The desire to overcome something or some company, the need to win, the cause, can in many cases be more important than the day-to-day work of the company. Succession Planning: Problems Getting Started A survey released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in the spring of 2005 illustrates a widespread problem on the lack of succession planning [deciding who will take over running the firm when the current managers die or retire]. The survey found that 60% of responding certified public accountant (CPA) firms have owners who are in the 55-to-62-year-old age bracket, and more than half (56%) have at least one partner who will retire in the next five years. Are You Aware of Planning in Business? Human beings are rational agents. Rationality endorses one to take up planning in every sphere of life from shifting to a new house to marriage, as well as business. A business plan is the first and most significant premise to reach and run a successful business. It is not just that capital that makes a business successful but it is also planning done in a prudent manner that plays a crucial role.
|
Copyright © 2005 - 2012 StrategicPlanning360.com. All rights reserved. Legal Info Site Map |
 |
