This article is one in the multi-part series entitled The Entrepreneurial Mindset.
When it comes to reaching your small business goals, a number of viable options exist. And most of them consist of some sort of step-by-step procedure that requires that you write your goals down in black and white and make a concrete and specific plan to reach them. While that is great and all, what happens when you do this but your mind isn’t quite as motivated as you’d like in achieving these milestones?
Realistically, it doesn’t matter how good or well developed your plan is, when you don’t have the energy or drive to follow it, it is about as useful as a cellphone in a dead zone. That is why it is important to get (and keep) your mind motivated to reach your small business goals. By having it push you every step of the way, your actions become more automatic and pleasurable…and your dreams become within your grasp. How do you get your mind more in sync with your business goals?
Make Your Goals Personal
Psychology Today published a piece titled Achieve Your Goals by Tweaking Your Mindset and in it the author discusses how people who are motivated by external rewards, such as money or recognition, often have less creativity and drive than those who are motivated from within. Therefore, thinking about your goals on a more personal level may actually help you achieve them.
For instance, if your goal is to grow your company by 10 percent this year, why is this important to you as a person? Said another way, if you were to accomplish this goal, how would it make you feel and why? Identify this feeling, whether it is pride or a relentless desire to be the best, and let that help carry you on days when you feel like your goals are far out of reach. Use it to remind you why you have the goal in the first place, driving you to not stop until you achieve it.
Create Progress
We are easily motivated by progress and it is hard to deter us from our path once we start to make it. It is like when you are in the middle of mowing your lawn and a friend stops by and asks if you want to play a round of golf or go out for a drink. Although that certainly may sound more appealing, you look at the grass that is mowed and then the grass that isn’t and decide that you want to get it done, so you decline the offer and finish the job. Once it is complete, you are happy that you did because of the progress you made, which is the same type of feeling you need when it comes to your small business.
The best thing to do then is to continue to make progress toward your goals. Ideally, you want to do something every day that moves you closer to wherever it is you strive to be, starting that forward momentum and making you almost unstoppable. It doesn’t have to be big things that you do either. Even small steps are steps in the right direction, whether they are making a phone call or doing some research online. Set out to do something each and every day and you will create progress that helps propel you forward almost subconsciously.
Use the Right Language
How you talk to yourself also has a huge impact on your ability to achieve your goals. Speak in the negative, constantly telling yourself that your goals are too lofty or out of reach, and you may never feel them in the palm of your hand. However, use language that is encouraging and self-empowering when talking to your inner self and it is just a matter of time before your dream becomes your reality. How do you learn this language?
Tools for Abundance suggests that you “refuse to obey the negative commands that pop into your mind, and counteract them with positive self-talk” as this helps you overcome the anxiety and nervousness that you may feel about reaching your goal, making it easier for you to achieve it. So, for instance, if your mind is telling you that you won’t reach your small business goal because you don’t have the customer base necessary, a more affirming response to this may be that, even though you don’t have the necessary customer base right now, that doesn’t mean you can’t get it. You can even take that one step further and tell yourself that you will get it, even sitting down to create a plan as to how.
By making your goals personal, creating progress, and using the right language, you will likely notice that your mind actually helps you reach your small business goals versus hindering your ability to achieve whatever it is you have set out to do. Now that it is in the right place, just imagine what you can do. I can. Can you?
short url:
