What is it that all successful people have in common? They have focus. An unrelenting determination to make it to the finish line no matter what. Certainly having a great reason why you are doing what you are doing is important but what I observe that often drives some to succeed where others fail is deadlines. There is something magical about committing to deliver a product/service by a certain date and then meeting that target. It motivates us and keeps us going. From my own experience I certainly know that I am so much more focused and productive if I have a deadline. As business owners I know you appreciate the importance of meeting your clients deadlines – we wouldn’t dare miss these, would we – and yet many of us fail to set deadlines or have focus in our own businesses. Kind of bizarre isn’t it that we don’t practice for ourselves what we do for others.
In his book Botty’s Rules, entrepreneur Nigel Botterill describes an interesting analogy about focus and deadlines. He likens being in business to a race like the Grand National. As a jockey you would not swap horses in the middle of the race. Great jockeys are focused on the finish line (the deadline) and with a rugged determination push their horse onwards to win the race. They are in the moment and nothing can stop them. They never consider changing horse mid-race and yet business owners (particularly entrepreneurs) often do this. They look for the next new shiny object or project that they can get involved in, without ever finishing the project they are currently working on.
Jockeys only ride one horse at as time, and as business owners in my experience it is best just to focus on one project at a time. Keep the deadline short so that you can see the finish line and be motivated to achieve this. For small business owners there is nothing more demoralising that looking at that To Do list that simply keeps getting longer and longer because you start new projects without finishing something else first. If anything will quash your desire to succeed it will be this as you can easily become overwhelmed.
If you recognise the traits of lack of focus and being attracted to new projects without finishing the one project you are working on right now then you may well be a Creator, as a creator is someone who loves new things but is notorious for starting something and not finishing. I should know as I am one!. To be successful in business all Creators need to work alongside people who are good finishers and can get into the process of meeting the deadlines. The visionary approach of the Creator needs to be balanced by the detailed and grounded approach of a Trader.
To find out which business profile you are and who else you need on your team to be successful take the Talent Dynamics Test here. It takes just 15 mins to complete the test and it may change your life and the way you do business forever.
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Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
