Handling complexity in business and life: eight business resolutions to ease your mind and help you chart the most successful course for your business.
Decisions to be made. Children to be taken to school – driving time + quality attention.
Team hiring and Team Firing.
What makes sense?
Where do I start?
What should I focus on? What is important?
How do I get there?
What should I delay and What should I focus on now?
What marketing systems should I focus on?
Should I take on this customer?
That is just a sample of one client’s life and business and there are more questions and more details yet to be uncovered.
Add to this the complexity of decisions and questions of a philosophical and personal nature – what are the real values that I am committed to? What is the vision that fulfills me? etc.
How can you start disentangling the cobwebs and knotted strings in my mind and start lifting the fog?
Eight Business Resolutions to Keep You Moving Forward
1. Business resolution #1: starting is better than stuck
Picking one safe place or area to start, even if the priorities are not immediately clear – may be the best thing to do to get the energy and brain moving.
2. Business resolution #3: DONE is better than PERFECT
Just getting one little thing done to good enough versus getting it perfect – getting things perfect is difficult to do and difficult to define.
3. Business resolution #3: Top-down design
Start with your mission statement or vision statement – from there, look to see what the long-term (one year) top four goals should be.
Work backward from there to fill out what needs to be done month by month – Focus on what should be done these next three months in order to increase your chances of the year being successful.
4. Business Resolution #4: Watch, politely observe the four horses of death
The four horses of death:
- Guilt
- Fear
- Resignation
- Frustration
For now, just observe when you are in any of these states and then ask yourself the question “Am I willing to do what it takes to have these four horses of death diminish over time with a focus on the future and a plan to get there?”
5. Business Resolution #5: Practice choice in the face of imperfect knowledge
Take a deep breath and let it go slowly. You are never going to know absolutely everything there is to know to make a perfect decision now.
Look at the choices or options in front of you now – list out the pros and cons. List out the return on investments and the risks for each.
Give yourself a timeline to decide.
6. Business Resolution #6: Take your vision for the future seriously
Practice putting more weight on the 5-year or 10-year plan (or even longer if you have one). The more often (daily is recommended) you review your longer-term goals, the less likely you are to be overly worried about the immediate present or past.
7. Business Resolution #7: Engage in dialogue ASAP
We are social animals. Our brains evolved to be social.
One advantage of interacting with others who will listen to you is that social engagement gives us an opportunity to clear the fog and become more decisive – especially in the direction of what will serve you and your business best in the long term.
8. Business Resolution #8: Significance vs. seriousness
My late father had a great sense of humor but he could be serious when he wanted to. Even in the midst of a serious conversation or effort, he would crack a wry joke or poke fun. Interestingly this led to people around him having more confidence and feeling great about themselves.
My old mentor used to tell me the same thing: “Sunil .. you can be serious… and have fun… or you can be significant and suffer unnecessarily… Please let me know your choice soon?”
Whatever your complexity, know that there are probably things in your life and business that are working. Be sure to acknowledge your accomplishments.
Are you ready to step into your bigger vision? Contact me or follow me on LinkedIn.
Since 1991, I’ve been reflecting on, designing, and implementing methodologies and systems for bringing a transcendent, creative and innovative approach to critical aspects of entrepreneurship.
