Business Coach | This Will Cripple You

I’m writing this two days after election day.

You can breathe easy … it’s NOT about the election.

It’s about something else entirely.

Waiting.

We’re waiting for results. And while we wait, many people have
suspended normal activities. They’re on hold, not moving forward
on what’s important in their lives and businesses.

And that got me thinking about the larger issue of waiting …
waiting for things to settle down … waiting till the time is right …
waiting till there’s more clarity and certainty.

Look, I get it, especially these days … with the virus, the political
and social turmoil, the strains on the economy. You don’t want to
make an imprudent decision. And yet, as a business coach, I get
a front row view, and I’ve seen business owners on hold, not
taking action since March when the pandemic hit!

In contrast, I see clients who are taking actions and getting
results. One of my clients made her first offer at a speaking
engagement this month and walked away with four new clients at
her full rate.

So, sure, you have to assess your potential risk and reward
whenever you make an important move. That’s a given.

And yet, when we wait out of the desire for all the stars to align
more or less perfectly, we surrender our power. We surrender
our agency.

What I mean by that is we let something outside of ourselves
determine what we think and what we do, especially when it
comes to how we proceed … or don’t proceed … with our plans.
I see people all the time who decide to wait for conditions to be
optimal before they make a move. It’s the stance they default to.
The chances of their being really successful are diminished by
that instinct … that predisposition.

Success in business is about a continuous, thoughtful channeling
of energy and energy stagnates when you’re waiting …
suspended.

YOU are the most important element in your success. What’s
going on between your ears is the world you need to be most
concerned about, not the often turbulent and unpredictable
outside world.

When you make decisions about future direction, look inward
more than you look outward.

Hewlett-Packard was started during the depression. They’ve
done pretty well. The company is named after two individuals, Bill
Hewlett and Dave Packard.

They had an idea they were enthusiastic about. It was a good
idea. They ran with it. They didn’t let the business conditions of
1939 discourage them. That’s the lesson.

Let me be perfectly clear here. Waiting until you achieve internal
clarity is of paramount importance. But waiting until “the time is
right” amounts to being stuck in quicksand.

It’s like finding just the right time to have kids. Finding the perfect
time to make your move in business might prove to be next to
impossible. There will always be something that isn’t quite
optimal.

Some of this hesitancy to take the plunge is personality based.
Some of us are simply more cautious and circumspect. And
some folks have been burned by leaping before they looked
carefully enough. It can be hard to overcome your default style or
get past a bad experience.

But here’s what works.

Assess the situation as carefully as you need to, then make a
decision. It can be yes or no, but don’t let yourself get
caught in limbo.

If it’s a yes, you can almost always reverse course if you find
you’ve made a “mistake.” If it’s a no, you can always reconsider
later.

You just don’t want to end up like the two characters in the
absurdist theater play by Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot.
Waiting and waiting and waiting as life and opportunity pass you
by.

It would be so easy to wait till after the election results come in …
wait until after the holidays … wait until the virus passes. Don’t
waste the rest of 2020 waiting until all the stars align.

Assess. Decide.

Then, be at peace with your decision and “make it right.”

Best Wishes,

Denise